10 best Broadway shows of 2025, from 'Ragtime' to 'Dead Outlaw'

NEW YORK – This year, Hollywood’s A-list descended on Broadway like never before. 

But with the exceptions of Jake Gyllenhaal (“Othello”) and Alex Winter (“Waiting for Godot”), most of these star vehicles didn’t leave much of a lasting impression. Instead, we were most enamored by scene-stealers Lizzy McAlpine (“Floyd Collins”), Jalynn Steele (“Mamma Mia!”) and Jak Malone (“Operation Mincemeat”), who dazzled us with their breathtaking voices and spellbinding stage presence. 

Beltress extraordinaire Lea Michele, meanwhile, made a five-course meal of “Nobody’s Side” in “Chess,” while the wry yet wrenching trio of June Squibb, Cynthia Nixon and Danny Burstein turned in career-best work in “Marjorie Prime.” 

Off-Broadway was also a treasure trove, thanks to Josh Sharp’s whip-smart “Ta-Da!,” a dizzying emotional roller coaster told through 2,000 uproarious PowerPoint slides, and New York City Center’s deliriously wacko “Bat Boy,” carried by the indomitable Taylor Trensch and Kerry Butler. 

Of the three dozen new Broadway plays and musicals that hit the boards in 2025, here were our favorites: 

10. 'Little Bear Ridge Road'

Saying that Laurie Metcalf is phenomenal may sound redundant at this point, but the two-time Tony winner will shatter your heart as a beaten-down Idaho curmudgeon hiding a grim diagnosis from her once-estranged nephew (Micah Stock). Speaking from our experience, playwright Samuel D. Hunter ("The Whale") is spot-on in capturing queer life in the Pacific Northwest, as well as the panicky and frequently awkward early days of the pandemic.

9. 'Boop!' and ‘Smash’ (tie)

Two fizzy and flawed musical comedies that shuttered far too soon, both with toe-tapping scores and sensational triple threats in Jasmine Amy Rogers and Robyn Hurder, respectively. "Smash" was a delightfully weird showbiz satire that was far smarter than people gave it credit for. And "Boop!" was boosted by the endearing duo of Ainsley Melham, playing Betty's jazz-loving beau, and Phillip Huber, who puppeteered the impossibly cute Pudgy the Dog.

8. ‘Purpose’

Family dramas are a dime a dozen on Broadway, but few in recent memory have been as immensely satisfying as Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ incendiary tragicomedy, which grippingly walked a thin line between deliciously dark and harrowing. Kara Young was reliably marvelous as an outsider stumbling into a scandal-plagued political dynasty, but it was Alana Arenas – as a congressman’s stifled wife – who was the play’s biggest revelation.

7. ‘English’

Set in Iran in 2008, Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer-winning drama follows four Iranian adults studying for an English exam so they can travel abroad. The play grapples with weighty themes of identity and the pressures of cultural assimilation, exploring the parts of ourselves that are lost when we lose our language. But Toossi always maintains a light touch, with a hilariously literal analysis of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" performed by the scintillating Ava Lalezarzadeh.

6. ‘Liberation’

In Bess Wohl's sneakily emotional wallop of a memory play, six women from different walks of life meet in a school gymnasium in 1970s Ohio, where they have a spirited discussion about the merits and shortcomings of the feminist movement. Kayla Davion and Kristolyn Lloyd are remarkable standouts in a play that gives every character a chance to shine. In the most moving sequence, the entire cast disrobes and has frank conversations about their naked bodies, free of judgment or sexualization. While "Liberation" may sound didactic on paper, it's actually the most quietly radical thing you'll see this year.

5. ‘John Proctor is the Villain’

Kimberly Belflower’s modern deconstruction of “The Crucible” felt alive in a way that few plays do, centering on a group of young women in rural Georgia (led by the captivating Sadie Sink) as they reckon with the bad behavior of boys and men, debating power dynamics and what they’re no longer willing to accept. It’s the rare Broadway show that became a genuine Gen Z phenomenon. But its electrifying finale – a thrashing dance set to Lorde’s “Green Light” – was the sort of transcendent moment that brought nearly every theatergoer, regardless of age, to cathartic tears.

4. ‘Ragtime’

With a robust 28-piece orchestra and cast of 30 strong, this resplendent revival is indisputably the best-sounding show to hit Broadway in ages. The ensemble is uniformly excellent as they tell an interwoven story about immigrants and racial injustice at the turn of the 20th century, but it's the thunderous Joshua Henry and Nichelle Lewis ‒ in a pair of Tony-worthy performances ‒ that will make you leap to your feet with their stirring "Wheels of a Dream."

3. ‘Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)’

British writing duo Jim Barne and Kit Buchan will restore your faith in romance with this enchanting new musical comedy, which is both laugh-out-loud funny and a grab-the-Kleenex tearjerker. Christiani Pitts and Sam Tutty bring crackling wit and easy chemistry to a mismatched pair bopping between boroughs. Tutty, in particular, radiates the kind of explosive charm that ought to make him a Broadway mainstay for decades to come, should we be so lucky.

2. ‘Oedipus’

A ticking countdown clock is the chilling centerpiece of Robert Icke’s suspenseful and exhilarating political thriller, which artfully transports the Greek tragedy to present-day campaign headquarters, where the progressive Oedipus (Mark Strong) and his family await election night results. Even if you know the mama trauma that awaits, you won’t be prepared for the sheer brilliance of Lesley Manville, whose controlled yet devastating work in the play’s final third will leave your jaw on the floor.

1. ‘Dead Outlaw’

A deceased bandit (Andrew Durand), whose embalmed corpse became a sideshow curio for decades, was the unlikely star of “Dead Outlaw,” a deeply bizarre true story that was also one of the most ingenious musicals to hit Broadway in quite some time. Anchored by David Yazbek’s eclectic score, and a game supporting cast including the luminous Julia Knitel, this woefully underseen oddity was both a playful and poignant rumination on legacy. Much like our mummified miscreant Elmer McCurdy, "Dead Outlaw" will still live on as the very best show of the year.