Press Night Season, Seven Broadway Openings in Eleven Nights

Seven Broadway productions hold their official openings between Monday, November 9, and Thursday, November 19, by our count of the published schedule. That is seven press nights in 11 days, with the last of them a week before Thanksgiving.

An opening night is the performance critics review, usually after weeks of previews in which the show can still change. Producers pick the date. This fall, most of them picked the same fortnight.

We built the calendar from Playbill's schedule of upcoming shows as it stood on November 9, checked against BroadwayWorld's weekly listings, then counted the days between each first preview and opening.

When Does Each Show Open?

Here There Are Blueberries went first, on Monday, November 9, at the Ethel Barrymore, after seven days of previews. Wanted, the new musical at the James Earl Jones, opened just before it. Playbill dates that opening to November 8.

Now You See Me Live, a magic show based on the Lionsgate film series, opens Wednesday, November 11, at the Al Hirschfeld. Playbill lists no first preview date for it.

The next stretch is five openings in five nights. Downstate, Bruce Norris's play about convicted sex offenders living in a halfway house, opens Sunday, November 15, at the Booth after 24 days of previews, under Joe Mantello. The Fantasticks, revised as a gay love story, opens Monday, November 16, at the Hayes after 25 days. Blue Man Group makes its Broadway debut with a holiday show at the Lunt-Fontanne on Tuesday, November 17, after five days of previews.

It's a Wonderful Life, A Live Radio Play opens at the Broadhurst on Wednesday, November 18, after 14 days. Much Ado About Nothing, Jamie Lloyd's staging with Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell, transferred from London, opens at the Winter Garden on Thursday, November 19, after 19 days.

Then the calendar thins. Inter Alia, Suzie Miller's play from London's National Theatre with Rosamund Pike, opens at the Music Box on Tuesday, December 1. Galileo, the new musical with a book by Danny Strong, opens at the Shubert on Sunday, December 6, after a scheduled 26 days of previews.

Seven press nights in 11 days, with the last of them a week before Thanksgiving.

What the Count Shows

Plays outnumber musicals. Of the ten productions opening between November 8 and December 6, five are plays, three are musicals and two are specialty shows, the magic act and Blue Man Group. That tilt fits what we found in the Broadway League's grosses last week, where plays held their houses better than musicals in Halloween week.

Preview periods range widely. Among the seven shows with a firm published first preview, the median run of previews is 19 days by our arithmetic, from five days for Blue Man Group to 26 for Galileo. We left out Inter Alia, because BroadwayWorld's listings carry a headline saying its first preview has been delayed. Blueberries needed only seven, which makes sense for a production that had already played La Jolla Playhouse and New York Theatre Workshop. Much Ado, a transfer, took 19.

After Galileo, nothing opens for 32 days. The next opening on Playbill's schedule is Awake and Sing! at the Samuel J. Friedman on Thursday, January 7, 2027. That house turns over fast. School Girls, or the African Mean Girls Play closes there on Sunday, November 15, according to BroadwayWorld. Dolly, the Dolly Parton musical, follows at the St. James on January 19, and Mix and Master at the Todd Haimes on January 27.

Who Moves Into the Barrymore Next?

Short runs are part of the rush. Here There Are Blueberries plays a limited engagement through January 10, 2027, 62 days after it opened, according to 1 Minute Critic's listing. Playbill's schedule shows the Barrymore's next tenant, Small Mouth Sounds, starting previews on February 10 and opening March 11. We covered that production's early start in October. Downstate is also a limited run, a 12-week engagement according to BroadwayWorld.

For theatergoers, most of the season's new work lands in those 11 nights. For our read of how the first of them was received, see our count of the Blueberries reviews.

What to Watch Next

Two dates are worth marking. The Broadway League's grosses for the week ending November 22 will be the first to cover every November opener after its opening night. And December 6, when Galileo opens, closes the calendar for 2026.

Then Broadway goes quiet for a month, and the holiday crowds take over the houses that are already open.