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What’s happening off-Broadway? BroadwayWorld is here to guide you through the top picks for theatre this month. Start the new year off right with shows featuring big stars, like An Ark with Ian McKellen; the reunion of The Band’s Visit’s George Abud and Katrina Lenk in The Threepenny Opera, and much more!
BroadwayWorld selects shows to feature based on a variety of factors such as popularity, critical acclaim, world and New York Premieres, stars on the stage, and more. BroadwayWorld’s senior editorial team closely follows the Off-Broadway scene to stay informed about upcoming and currently running productions. They consider a range of offerings each month, including musicals, plays, and more to provide a well-rounded selection of recommendations to readers.
Take a look at BroadwayWorld’s recommendations for the best shows to catch off-Broadway in December!
Always Young
Always Young is a heartwarming, magical reflection on school days in the eighties. Discover the possible stories behind the characters we all remember from school. An insightful and thought provoking look at how our childhood experiences and parenting influenced who we are today.
A show for adults about our collective memories. A nostalgic yet disconcerting reality check, that uses music, and tall tales to deliver powerful messages.
Our unreliable Narrator takes you on a journey through his past and introduces us to many different characters in a British school somewhere. These individuals, often seen as misfits, outcasts or troubled youths explore their own self-discoveries, reflections, passions, ambitions, and nightmares as they try to conform to society or just fit in at school.
20 Original musical numbers with lyrics by Mark Tunstall and musical score by Lulu Chen and various artists, accentuate the stories with genre bending sounds and styles that traverse musical history. Honky-Tonk Piano meets Contemporary Rock Anthem Stylings, Hip Hop, Jazz, Rock n Roll, Bitter-Sweet Ballads and Toe Tapping Feelgood Broadway and Vaudevillian style numbers.
Always Young explores many themes at large today, not just childhood insecurities. The show explores acceptance and inclusivity of LGBTQ, the development of individuality verses forced conformity, crime, neglect, abuse, mental health, bullying and unrecognized neurodiversity in its many guises.
Read More: Eleanna Fin Joins the Cast of ALWAYS YOUNG at Theater for the New City
An Ark
An Ark, the first play created for and in mixed reality, will make its world premiere at The Shed. Written by Olivier and Tony Award winner Simon Stephens, directed by UK Theatre Award winner Sarah Frankcom, and produced by mixed reality pioneer Todd Eckert, An Ark is a genre-defying production, transforming universal human experiences into a profoundly intimate, one-of-a-kind, theatrical performance.
The cast will include Ian McKellen (Film: Lord of the Rings, X-Men; Stage: Richard III, Amadeus), Golda Rosheuvel (Bridgerton), Arinzé Kene (Misty, Get Up, Stand Up!), and Rosie Sheehy (Machinal, Old Vic).
The production will run for an exclusive seven-week engagement from January 9 to March 1, 2026, in The Shed’s Level 2 Gallery.
Following Kagami (2023), the first concert ever presented in mixed reality, An Ark marks Tin Drum’s return to The Shed with a new, dimensionally recorded theater experience. In this groundbreaking format, an audience of up to 200 people seated in The Shed’s Level 2 Gallery will share a performance that feels intensely intimate—where the ensemble of actors appear in a headset to speak directly to each audience member. Though the actors will not be physically present, this radical reimagining of live theater is made possible by the magic of mixed reality.
In An Ark, we sit face to face with actors of astonishing power in a way that is completely new. For the first time, we are invited to join the circle of human connection, with a truly magnificent intersection of cast, script, and direction,” said producer Todd Eckert.
An Ark is a lyrical meditation on the human condition, traversing the span of a lifetime in just 47 immersive, affecting minutes. From the wonder of childhood and the joy of first love to the complexities of parenting and the inevitability of death, the play invites audiences into a deeply personal exploration of what it means to live, to grieve, and to connect.
Read More: Ian McKellen and More Will Lead Mixed Reality Play AN ARK at The Shed
DATA
Matthew Libby’s play DATA will make its New York stage premiere, directed by Tyne Rafaeli (Weather Girl, Becoming Eve) starring Karan Brar (“Jessie”) reprising his role from the Arena Stage production, as Maneesh, as well as Brandon Flynn (“13 Reasons Why”) as Jonah, Sophia Lillis (It) as Riley, and Justin H. Min (“The Umbrella Academy”) as Alex.
Matthew Libby’s suspenseful new play DATA pulls back the curtain on Silicon Valley’s darkest ambitions. When a brilliant young programmer learns his own algorithm is the key to a massive AI surveillance project, he’s forced to challenge the tech world he once dreamt of joining. Confronting today’s most controversial headlines, this subversive thriller follows the terrifying choices at our fingertips—and the high cost of disrupting a system that tracks your every move.
The strictly limited 11-week Off-Broadway engagement will begin Friday, January 9, 2026 ahead of an opening on Sunday, January 25, 2026 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.
The creative team for DATA includes Enver Chakartash (Costume Design), Marsha Ginsberg (Set Design), Daniel Kluger (Original Music and Sound Design), Amith Chandrashaker (Lighting Design) and casting is by Taylor Williams, CSA. Ashley-Rose Galligan will serve as the Production Stage Manager.
Read More: Karan Brar, Brandon Flynn and More to Star in DATA New York Stage Premiere
Heathers: The Musical
Heathers features book, music and lyrics by Kevin Murphy (Reefer Madness The Musical) & Laurence O’Keefe (Legally Blonde The Musical, Bat Boy The Musical), based on the film by Daniel Waters.
Welcome to Westerberg High, where popularity is a matter of life and death, and Veronica Sawyer is just another nobody dreaming of a better day. But when she’s unexpectedly taken under the wings of The Heathers – three beautiful and impossibly cruel classmates all named Heather – her dreams of popularity finally start to come true. That is until J.D., the mysterious teen rebel, turns up and teaches her that it might kill to be a nobody, but it’s murder being a somebody.
Heathers currently stars Kuhoo Verma as Veronica Sawyer, Casey Likes as Jason “J.D.” Dean, Jodie Steele as Heather Chandler through January 25, 2026, Peyton List as Heather Chandler starting January 26, 2026, Jackera Davis as Heather Duke, Elizabeth Teeter as Heather McNamara, Tony Award nominee Kerry Butler as Ms. Fleming/Veronica’s Mom, Erin Morton as Martha Dunnstock, Xavier McKinnon as Ram Sweeney, Cade Ostermeyer as Kurt Kelly, Ben Davis as Ram’s Dad/Big Bud Dean/Coach Ripper, and Cameron Loyal as Kurt’s Dad/Veronica’s Dad/Principal Gowan.
Read More: Peyton List to Join HEATHERS THE MUSICAL as Heather Chandler
Just Desserts: A Musical Bake-Off
In JUST DESSERTS: A Musical Bake-Off, we meet a variety of contestants: A determined young woman dreaming of opening her own bakery. A twice-divorced nail technician who wants to fit in with her new boyfriend’s circle of friends. A shy school nurse who is torn between family obligations and a desire to participate. A mysterious man from Brooklyn who arouses suspicion about his past. And the reigning champion who disguises her ruthless drive to win with smiles and pleasantries. Who will win? Who will lose? Who will get their Just Desserts?
Read More: Klea Blackhurst and More to Star in JUST DESSERTS: A Musical Bake-Off
My Joy is Heavy
My Joy is Heavy by Obie-winning duo & NYTW Usual Suspects The Bengsons (Hundred Days, The Keep Going Songs) is a deeply personal portrait of a young family yearning for connection amidst the loss of a pregnancy in rural isolation. Surrounded by snow and wrapped in loneliness, they uncover the unexpected joys and humor that can emerge in the wake of loss.
Read More: MY JOY IS HEAVY Full Creative Team Announced for New York Theatre Workshop World Premiere
The Disappear
Audible Theater will soon present the world premiere of The Disappear, a new comedy written and directed by BAFTA Award nominee Erica Schmidt – featuring Dylan Baker, Madeline Brewer, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Hamish Linklater, Anna Mirodin, and Miriam Silverman.
The Disappear is the second Audible Theater world-premiere production that Erica Schmidt will present, following the 2023 live staging and global audio release of The New York Times Critic’s Pick Lucy, starring Brooke Bloom, Lynn Collins, and Charlotte Surak.
Power couple Benjamin Braxton and Mira Blair see their picture-perfect life go gloriously off script-taking their friends, affairs, and daughter along for the ride. Written and directed by Erica Schmidt, The Disappear peels back the curtain on fame, ambition, marriage and reinvention in a smoldering comedy about how keeping it together sometimes means letting it all go.
Read More: Meet the Cast of Erica Schmidt’s THE DISAPPEAR
The Honey Trap
Irish Repertory Theatre will present a return engagement of the New York Premiere of The Honey Trap in January 2026. Written by Leo McGann (Friends Like These) and directed by Matt Torney (The White Chip), the production will return to the Irish Rep stage January 10, 2026, for a limited run through February 15, 2026.
Belfast, 1979. At the height of the Troubles, two off-duty British soldiers think they’ve hit it off with two local girls at a unionist pub on the city’s outskirts. But what begins as a night of flirtation and playful sparring soon turns dark. Decades later, as one of the soldiers recounts the events for an American oral history project, long-buried memories resurface, drawing him back to Belfast in search of answers and revenge.
Joining the production will be Rebecca Ballinger (How the Sausage Gets Made), who will take over the role of Emily, currently played by Molly Ranson. The cast of The Honey Trap includes Tony & Olivier Award nominee Michael Hayden (Judgment at Nuremberg, Carousel, Cabaret), Doireann Mac Mahon (Corruption), Daniel Marconi (Sweeney Todd), Samantha Mathis (33 Variations), Harrison Tipping (Up The Town), and Annabelle Zasowski (“Evil”).
The Honey Trap features set design by Charlie Corcoran (The Weir), lighting design by Michael Gottlieb (The Weir), costume design by Sarita Fellows (One of the Good Ones), sound design by James Garver (Doubt) and properties by Nicole Rozanski (Irishtown). April Ann Kline (A Child’s Christmas in Wales) serves as Production Stage Manager, with Pamela Brusoski (Aristocrats) as Assistant Stage Manager. Casting is by Geoff Josselson, CSA.
Read More: THE HONEY TRAP to Return to Irish Repertory Theatre in January 2026
The Opening
The Opening is loosely inspired by a viral meme that emerged from the shocking 2022 chess scandal, in which a chess player was wrongfully accused of cheating via a vibrating buttplug.
In The Opening, Newton Anderson, a 17-year-old chess prodigy, is facing the greatest player in the world: Carson Marlsen. With international notoriety and $100,000 on the line, Newton and his clueless Best Friend, Jim, hatch an…unconventional…plan to cheat. Hilarious hijinks ensue. As the Chess World Championship looms, this bro-comedy meets coming-of-age story asks audiences: just how far would you be willing to go for a dream?
Read More: New Musical THE OPENING to Premiere at The Players Theatre
The Threepenny Opera
Off-Brand Opera will present George Abud’s new adaptation of Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera, with the score adaptation by Jake Landau. Abud’s adaptation, commissioned by Off-Brand Opera, sets Threepenny in present day New York City against the backdrop of a Mayoral Inauguration. Themes of immigration abuse and class warfare burn beneath a vaudevillian veneer of riotous Brechtian comedy.
Tony Award Winner Katrina Lenk (Company) stars as Pirate Jenny, with Tony nominee Barbara Walsh (Falsettos) as Polly Peachum and George Abud (Lempicka) as Macheath. They are joined by Paula Gaudier as Pam/Young Polly, Mahira Kakkar as Tiger Brown, and Aline Salloum as Mrs. Peachum. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.
The creative team includes Jake Landau who will provide new orchestrations and additional lyrics for the production, choreography by Brianna Mercado, and costume design by Raul Luna/”>Luna/”>Luna. Further creatives to be announced. Off-Brand Opera is lead by Artistic Director Veronica Shea, Executive Director Erin Kennedy, and newly-appointed General Manager Noah Harouche. Performances will take place January 15-25, 2026 at the Theatre at St. Jeans.
Read More: Katrina Lenk, Barbara Walsh and George Abud To Star In 3PENNY Opera
