Since closing its doors during the pandemic in 2020, Broadway has struggled. The Phantom of the Opera lowered the curtain in April last year after more than thirty-five years. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical, Bad Cinderella, shut in June, less than three months after it opened, and other musicals, such as the tortuously-named Britney Spears-inspired Once Upon a One More Time, have fared little better.

Meanwhile, productions are still scrambling to get butts on seats: audience numbers are down 17 percent from their pre-pandemic highs. And yet, for theater aficionados, there is hope. Spring in the Big Apple promises a wealth of new openings: from reworkings of classic plays to musical revivals to brand new world premieres, many anchored by celebrities in starring roles.

Here are six not to be missed:

1. An Enemy of the People

In Succession, Jeremy Strong portrayed the troubled, and tragic, son of media tycoon Logan Roy. Now he returns to Broadway for the first time in sixteen years to play a very different character: that of the morally upstanding small-town doctor Thomas Stockmann in Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, who finds himself ostracized and silenced when he tries to blow the whistle on contamination in his local town’s spa baths. Star power is strong in this production, which also stars Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos, The White Lotus) and Victoria Pedretti (You). Newly adapted by Tony Award-nominated playwright Amy Herzog, who was lauded for her recent revamping of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House starring Jessica Chastain, this is bound to be a hit. It’s only running for sixteen weeks, so get your tickets now.

Performances start February 27 at the Circle in the Square Theatre.

2. Sally & Tom

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks premiered Sally & Tom at Minneapolis’s respected Guthrie Theater in 2022. Now, as the playwright-in-residence for the Public Theater, she is bringing the play to New York. Parks, who is black, has a knack for confronting racial dynamics, in this case between Thomas Jefferson and the enslaved Sally Hemings. But the complexity of Sally & Tom doesn’t stop there: the story is served up as a play within a play, with an off-Broadway theater troupe trying to find their own way to tell the narrative. Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III, it’s not only a deep dive into history, but an ode to theater itself.

Performances run from March 28 to April 28 at the Public Theater.

3. The Wiz

Almost fifty years after its original outing to Broadway in 1975, The Wiz is finally back. The musical — which won seven Tony Awards when it first premiered — was radical in its day as an all-black take on the children’s classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In 2024, it will no doubt bring new pathos to its audience. The production is part of a national tour, which launched in Baltimore last September, and has already garnered stellar reviews for “powerhouse performances” by its cast, including Nichelle Lewis, Deborah Cox, Kyle Ramar Freeman and Wayne Brady. Schele Williams — a founding member of Black Theatre United — directs.

Previews start March 31 at the Marquis Theater, with an opening night set for April 17.

4. Cabaret

In 2021, Eddie Redmayne wowed London audiences in Rebecca Frecknall’s startling production of Cabaret; the Guardian called his performance “electric.” Now Oscar and Tony-award winning Redmayne — surely one of the most interesting British actors of his generation — is bringing his rendition of the shapeshifting Emcee to Broadway. For this immersive production, the August Wilson Theatre will be transformed into Berlin’s Kit Kat Club where “the toast of Mayfair” Sally Bowles (played by Gayle Rankin, a new addition), charms audiences with her sultry songs. But while the décor may be decadent, and the songs alluring, expect Frecknall to confront the full horrors of the Nazi rise to power head-on.

Performances start April 1 at the August Wilson Theatre.

5. Uncle Vanya

Beloved actor Steve Carell is best known, of course, for his comedic prowess. His unique talent in mixing slapstick with vulnerability, crassness with sweetness, made rom-coms such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Crazy, Stupid, Love hits, not to mention The Office, for which he won a Golden Globe. In the Lincoln Center premiere of Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece Uncle Vanya, however, Carell takes on a decidedly more tragic role as the title character. Newly translated by Pulitzer-nominated playwright Heidi Schreck and directed by Lila Neugebauer (The Waverly Gallery), expect to see a different side of America’s funny man.

Previews start April 2. Uncle Vanya runs until June 16 at the Lincoln Center Theater.

6. Mother Play

Written by a woman, directed by a woman and starring a woman, Mother Play is a love letter to the matriarchy. Set in 1962 just outside Washington, DC, this world premiere follows Phyllis and her two children Carl and Martha as they try to find equilibrium, and independence, in a world that is changing fast. Two-time Oscar winner Jessica Lange, a seventy-four-year-old titan of the stage, is starring, alongside Celia Keenan-Bolger and Jim Parsons, of The Big Bang Theory fame. Directed by Tony nominee Tina Landau, it marks a new triumph for playwright Paula Vogel, now in her seventies, who won the Pulitzer Prize for How I Learned to Drive.

Previews start on April 2 at the Hayes Theater.

This article was originally published in The Spectator’s March 2024 World edition.