2024 Broadway fall season preview of plays, including shows starring Robert Downey Jr., Kit Connor, Mia Farrow

A new Broadway season has begun, and there are currently nine productions of plays (six new, two revivals, one older work making its main stem debut) set to open this fall. Could we see any of them contend at next year’s Tony Awards? Below, find the plot of each play as well as the awards histories of its author, cast and creative team, plus the opening and (where applicable) closing dates.

“The Roommate” (opens September 12; closes December 15)

In this new play by Jen Silverman, Sharon has never had a roommate before. But after her divorce she needs a housemate to pay the bills. That’s when Robyn arrives. The story follows an unexpected, life-changing friendship that’s both funny and deeply moving between two very different middle-aged women as they navigate the complexities of identity, morality and the dream of reinvention.

The production stars Golden Globe winner Mia Farrow (“Guns at Batasi,” 1965) and three-time Tony winner Patti LuPone (“Evita,” 1980; “Gypsy,” 2008; “Company,” 2022). It is directed by three-time Tony winner Jack O’Brien (“Hairspray,” 2003; “Henry IV,” 2004; “The Coast of Utopia,” 2007).

“The Hills of California” (opens September 29; closes December 8)

This new play by Tony winner Jez Butterworth (“The Ferryman,” 2019) is set in the sweltering heat of a 1970s summer. The Webb sisters return to their childhood home in Blackpool, an English seaside town, where their mother Veronica lies dying upstairs. Back in the 1950s, each night the four young sisters rehearse their singing act, managed by their fiercely loving single mom. But when a record producer offers a shot at fame and a chance to escape, it will cost them all dearly.

The production comes in following a successful premiere in London’s West End, where it earned two Laurence Olivier Award nominations (including Best New Play). The cast includes Tony nominee Laura Donnelly (“The Ferryman,” 2019), Leanne Best, Ophelia Lovibond, Helena Wilson, Bryan Dick, Richard Short, Drama League winner David Wilson Barnes (Off-Broadway’s “Becky Shaw,” 2009), Richard Lumsden, Ta’Rea Campbell, Nancy Allsop, Sophia Ally, Lara McDonnell, Nicola Turner, Max Roll, Ellyn Heald, Sawyer Barth and Cameron Scoggins. It is helmed by two-time Tony-winning and Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes.

“McNeal” (opens September 30; closes November 24)

In this new play by two-time Tony nominee Ayad Akhtar (“Disgraced,” 2015; “Junk,” 2018), Jacob McNeal is a great writer, one of our greatest, a perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. But McNeal also has an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind and an unhealthy fascination with Artificial Intelligence.

The production presented by Lincoln Center Theater stars Oscar winner Robert Downey Jr. (“Oppenheimer,” 2023), Lucille Lortel nominee Brittany Bellizeare (Off-Broadway’s “Flex,” 2024), SAG Award nominee Rafi Gavron (“A Star is Born,” 2018), Emmy nominee Melora Hardin (“Transparent,” 2016), two-time Tony winner Andrea Martin (“My Favorite Year,” 1993; “Pippin,” 2013), Tony winner Ruthie Ann Miles (“The King and I,” 2015) and Saisha Talwar. It is directed by Tony winner Bartlett Sher (“South Pacific,” 2008).

“Yellow Face” (opens October 1; closes November 24)

The Broadway premiere of David Henry Hwang‘s 2007 semi-autobiographical play follows Asian-American playwright DHH. Fresh off his Tony Award win for “M. Butterfly,” he leads a protest against the casting of Jonathan Pryce as the Eurasian pimp in the original production of “Miss Saigon,” condemning the practice as “yellowface.” His position soon comes back to haunt him when he mistakes a Caucasian actor, Marcus G. Dahlman, for mixed-race, and casts him as the lead Asian role of his own Broadway-bound comedy, “Face Value.”

The original production premiered at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater in 2007 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. This production presented by Roundabout Theatre Company stars SAG Award winner Daniel Dae Kim (“Lost,” 2006), Ryan Eggold, Greg Keller, Tony nominee Kevin Del Aguila (“Some Like It Hot,” 2023), Drama Desk nominee Shannon Tyo (Off-Broadway’s “The Chinese Lady,” 2022), Marinda Anderson and Francis Jue (reprising a role that earned him a Drama Desk nomination for the New York premiere). It is directed by two-time Tony nominee Leigh Silverman (“Violet,” 2014; “Suffs,” 2024).

“Our Town” (opens October 10; closes January 19, 2025)

In the fifth Broadway revival of Thornton Wilder‘s 1938 drama, a stage manager narrates the daily lives of locals living in a small town, depicting a childhood friendship that turns into marriage and setting the stage for magnificent truths of what it means to be alive. The original production predates the Tonys, but it did win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The 1988 remounting won the Tony for Best Revival while the 2002 staging earned a nomination for Paul Newman.

This production stars four-time Emmy winner and Tony nominee Jim Parsons, Zoey Deutch, four-time Drama Desk nominee Julie Halston, Sfiya Kaijya Harris, Katie Holmes, Doron JéPaul, Drama Desk nominee Billy Eugene Jones (“On Sugarland,” 2022), Shyla Lefner, Anthony Michael Lopez (“Camelot,” 2023), John McGinty (“Children of a Lesser God,” 2018), Hagan Oliveras, Sky Smith, Tony nominee Ephraim Sykes (“Ain’t Too Proud,” 2019), Emmy winner and Tony nominee Richard Thomas, Bill Timoney, Donald Webber Jr. and Tony nominee Michelle Wilson (“Sweat,” 2017). It is directed by Tony winner Kenny Leon (“A Raisin in the Sun,” 2014).

“Left on Tenth” (opens October 23; closes February 2nd, 2025)

In Delia Ephron‘s stage adaptation of her 2022 memoir, Delia makes a surprising connection with a man from her past and falls into her own romantic comedy, complete with entertaining mishaps, unexpected sparks and plenty of plot twists.

The production stars three-time Emmy winner Julianna Margulies, Tony nominee Peter Gallagher (“Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” 1986), Lucille Lortel winner Peter Francis James (Off-Broadway’s “Stuff Happens,” 2007) and Kate MacCluggage. It is directed by five-time Tony winner Susan Stroman.

“Romeo + Juliet” (opens October 24; closes February 16, 2025)

In the 36th Broadway revival of William Shakespeare‘s 1597 tragedy, an impulsive pair of star-crossed lovers are left to their own devices in their parents’ world of violent ends as they hurtle towards their inescapable fate. Of the six prior revivals that were Tony eligible, none of them received nominations.

This production stars Emmy winner Kit Connor (“Heartstopper,” 2022), Golden Globe winner Rachel Zegler (“West Side Story,” 2021), Tony nominee Gabby Beans (“The Skin of Our Teeth,” 2022), Tommy Dorfman, Nihar Duvvuri, Ṣọlá Fádìran, Daniel Bravo Hernández, Taheen Modak, Jasai Chase-Owens and Gían Pérez. It is directed by Tony winner Sam Gold (“Fun Home,” 2015).

“Cult of Love” (opens December 12; closes TBA)

In this new play by Emmy nominee Leslye Headland (“Russian Doll,” 2019), the four adult Dahl children return to their childhood home for the holidays with partners in tow. The Dahl traditions include singing carols in harmony at the drop of a hat, but the gathering is anything but harmonious. Old conflicts resurface, new issues are battled and dinner is taking absolutely forever to be served.

The production presented by Second Stage Theater is directed by Drama Desk nominee Trip Cullman (Off-Broadway’s “A Small Fire,” 2011).

“Eureka Day” (opens December 16; closes January 19, 2025)

In this new play by Jonathan Spector, Eureka Day is a private California elementary school with a Board of Directors that values inclusion above all else, until an outbreak of the mumps forces everyone in the community to reconsider the school’s liberal vaccine policy. As cases rise, the board realizes with horror that they’ve got to do what they swore they never would: make a choice that won’t please absolutely everybody.

The production presented by Manhattan Theatre Club stars Zoë Chao, Tony nominee Amber Gray (“Hadestown,” 2019), two-time Tony nominee Jessica Hecht (“A View From the Bridge,” 2010; “Summer, 1976,” 2023), Tony winner Bill Irwin (“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” 2005), and Emmy nominee Thomas Middleditch (“Silicon Valley,” 2016). It is directed by Tony winner Anna D. Shapiro (“August: Osage County,” 2008).