This Week at TheaterScene: November 2–8, 2026

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New York theater is in full autumn bloom. Between Election Day and the first chill of November, the coming week brings a Broadway musical Western’s opening night, a Pulitzer finalist starting previews on Broadway, a stack of Off-Broadway openings, and two benefit galas. Here is your guide to NYC theater this week: what’s opening, what’s starting previews, what’s closing, and what made news in the past week.

Broadway Openings This Week

Wanted opens Sunday, November 8

The new musical Wanted opens Sunday at the James Earl Jones Theatre. With music by Ross Baum, book and lyrics by Angelica Chéri, and direction by Stevie Walker-Webb, the show (formerly Gun & Powder) is inspired by the twin sisters Mary and Martha Clarke. Solea Pfeiffer, Liisi LaFontaine, Luke James and Ledisi star. Broadway News recently traced how Chéri’s family legend about bank-robbing twins became a Broadway musical Western.

Broadway Previews Begin

Here There Are Blueberries at the Ethel Barrymore

Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich’s Pulitzer finalist Here There Are Blueberries begins Broadway previews Monday, November 2, ahead of a November 9 opening and a limited run through January 10, 2027. The Tectonic Theater Project piece, seen earlier at New York Theatre Workshop, is directed by Kaufman. It examines a photo album of SS officers at Auschwitz, and Michael Cerveris, Kathleen Chalfant, Montego Glover and Conrad Ricamora are among the cast.

It’s a Wonderful Life and Much Ado About Nothing

The holidays arrive early at the Broadhurst, where Joe Landry’s It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play starts previews Wednesday, November 4. Jerry Zaks directs Andrew Rannells, Megan Hilty, Tituss Burgess, Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna, and it opens November 18. At the Winter Garden, Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell are already sparring in Jamie Lloyd’s London-born Much Ado About Nothing, which began previews October 31 and opens November 19.

Still in previews elsewhere: Bruce Norris’s Downstate, directed by Joe Mantello at the Booth (opens November 15), and Christopher Gattelli’s revival of The Fantasticks at the Hayes (opens November 16).

Off-Broadway Openings This Week

Odets, Hitchcock’s source and an election-night Rhinebeck play

It’s an unusually busy week Off-Broadway, according to Playbill’s Off-Broadway schedule. Classic Stage Company opens Clifford Odets’s Waiting for Lefty on Monday, November 2, marking Steven Pasquale’s directing debut. The cast includes Tala Ashe, Adam Chanler-Berat and Adam Kantor.

On Tuesday, November 3, The New Group opens Gordon Greenberg’s Rope at the Theater at St. Clement’s. Scott Elliott directs, and Elizabeth Gillies and Cameron Monaghan star. The same night, The Public Theater opens Richard Nelson’s We’ll See, a new chapter of his Rhinebeck Panorama set on Election Day, November 3, 2026. That means audiences watch it on the very day it depicts. Nelson regulars Maryann Plunkett and Jay O. Sanders return.

Thursday’s triple bill

Thursday, November 5, is a big night. Danny Robins’s twisty thriller 2:22 – A Ghost Story opens at the Lucille Lortel with Anna Camp, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Finn Jones and Martin Marquez. Manhattan Theatre Club opens Nick Payne’s The Unbelievers at New York City Center Stage I, directed by Knud Adams and starring Lauren Ambrose and Tom Riley. And at The Public, Jesse Austrian directs Miriam Silverman in Susan Glaspell’s modernist landmark The Verge.

Just before the week begins, Tarell Alvin McCraney and Tina Landau’s Ms. Blakk for President opens Sunday, November 1, at the Vineyard Theatre.

Off-Broadway Previews Begin

Lincoln Center Theater begins previews of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars on Thursday, November 5, at the Mitzi E. Newhouse. Ruben Santiago-Hudson directs Russell Hornsby and Chanté Adams, and it opens November 23. The King’s Critique starts previews November 3 at the Signature Center’s Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre and opens November 12. Irish Repertory Theatre begins Conor McPherson’s solo play The Good Thief, starring Christopher Fitzgerald, on Saturday, November 7. Bryna Turner’s The Visitors is already in previews at Second Stage, where Playbill shared first production photos, ahead of its November 9 opening.

Final Performances This Week

Last chance for Degenerates

Playwrights Horizons’ Degenerates, by Else Went and directed by Emma Rosa Went, ends its extended run Sunday, November 8. Victor Gluck called it “powerful and emotional” in TheaterScene’s review. It’s a three-hour journey worth catching before it’s gone.

Matthew Morrison’s Just in Time engagement

Matthew Morrison’s limited engagement as Bobby Darin in Just in Time at Circle in the Square wraps November 8, according to Playbill’s closings list, and Nicholas Christopher steps into the role next. Revisit TheaterScene’s review of the production.

Still playing: In the Heights at City Center

Not closing yet, but don’t wait too long. New York City Center’s gala presentation of In the Heights opened October 28 and runs through November 15. David Mendizábal directs, with Matte Martinez as Usnavi and Natalie Venetia Belcon as Abuela Claudia.

NYC Theater News and Announcements

Rent reunion raises $4.57 million

The Rent 30th Anniversary Concert at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on October 26 raised $4,571,464 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, enough for about 1.8 million meals. Michael Greif directed a reunion that included Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal and Idina Menzel. See Playbill’s photos and videos and Broadway News’s report.

Billy Crystal’s 860 extends

Less than a week after its October 21 opening, Billy Crystal’s solo show 860 extended at the Imperial through February 14, 2027. It had been set to end January 3.

Inter Alia sets its Broadway company

Rosamund Pike and Jamie Glover will reprise their West End roles in Suzie Miller’s Inter Alia, directed by Justin Martin. Previews begin November 10 at the Music Box ahead of a December 1 opening.

Michael Mayer wins the Mr. Abbott Award

Director Michael Mayer has been named the 2027 recipient of the SDC Foundation’s “Mr. Abbott” Award, to be presented March 22, 2027, at Gotham Hall. Mayer is in the thick of Galileo, which begins previews at the Shubert November 10 and opens December 6.

First look at Imitation of Life

Adrienne Warren and Jessica Vosk lead the John Legend and Lynn Nottage musical Imitation of Life, seen in rehearsal photos released this week. The production, from The Shed and National Black Theatre, begins previews November 21 and opens December 3 for a run through January 3, 2027.

Theater Galas and Benefits This Week

Abingdon Theatre Company’s 34th Anniversary Gala

On Monday, November 2, at 6 p.m., Abingdon Theatre Company celebrates 34 years at the Edison Ballroom with honorees Sandy Duncan, John Gasdaska and Michael Urie. Vanessa Williams is the special guest, and Samantha Pauly and Hannah Cruz are among the performers (BroadwayWorld).

Theatre Now’s “Theatre Then & Now”

Theatre Now New York’s Gala 2026 takes over The Players on Gramercy Park on Saturday, November 7, at 7 p.m. Bob Martin and Michael R. Jackson receive the Theatre Now Impact Award, and Lisa Lambert chairs the evening.

That’s the week. See you in the lobby, and check back next week for the next edition of This Week at TheaterScene.