Top 10 Broadway Shows Of This Decade Since 2020. The 2020s May Just Be Getting Started, But Broadway Has Already Wowed Audiences With A Wide Variety Of Shows.
Best Shows on Broadway This Decade From 2020 Onwards To Present
Even with a global pandemic shutting Broadway down for more than a year starting in 2020. In 2022 reopened and Broadway rebounded stronger than ever.
Before you call us out on including shows that premiered prior to 2020, we’re treating those like false starts. Also noteworthy, many of the musicals on this list happen to be dominated by major music icons onstage and on the creative side. Apparently, Broadway audiences want it that way.
10. A Strange Loop (2022)
With book, music and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson, this work of autofiction won almost every conceivable theatrical award including the Best Musical Tony and the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. At the center of the loop lives Usher, a queer Black man composing a musical about a queer Black man composing a musical, and so on. Audiences were divided on the raw, lurid depiction of Usher’s story but critics across the board sang its praises loud and proud.
9. Life of Pi (2023)
In the wake of the sinking of a cargo ship, 16-year old Pi finds himself marooned on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. But he’s not alone. Four other survivors— an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena and a massive Royal Bengal tiger round out the company. Like the book and film the play by Lolita Chakrabarti is based on, Life of Pi grapples with the intersection of time, nature and survival.
8. Jagged Little Pill (2021)
Songstress Alanis Morissette has never shied away from theatrical narratives so her catalog was a natural fit for a Broadway musical. With a kitchen sink of a book that tried to comment on drug abuse, gender identity, porn addiction, adoption and even rape, among others, all over the course of one loud jukebox musical. But what the show lacked in depth it made up for in wattage: hearing those 90s bangers fully belted and orchestrated was worth the price of admission alone.
7. Into The Woods (2022)
Originally conceived as a limited run as part of City Center’s popular Encores series, the runaway hit— perhaps the enterprise’s biggest to date— found a way to mount this storied revival on Broadway with most of its cast intact. Audiences who wished to go to the festival the first time could now experience the magic beans for themselves. In an effort to share the Grimm fairy tale mashup to even more theatregoers, the musical set out on a national tour, led by Stephanie J. Block in the role of the Baker’s Wife.
6. How I Learned To Drive (2022)
Is it a revival if the show never actually played on Broadway? In this case, yes. Paula Vogel’s compelling drama which uses the metaphor of driving to interrogate themes of manipulation and control first premiered off-Broadway in 1997. Not only did the play hold up, so did the original production’s leading actor David Morse, and leading actress Mary-Louis Parker, who reprised their roles and took home Tony Awards for their consummate performances.
5. Sweeney Todd (2023)
Attend the tale, indeed! Naturally, this beloved albeit macabre Sondheim classic would make the, um, cut. In this incarnation, global superstar Josh Groban inhabits the demonic barber of Fleet Street and Broadway darling Annaleigh Ashford takes on the devilish role of Mrs. Lovett. The 2023 revival also notably features Jonathan Tunick’s classic 26-player orchestration on an epic scale, which hasn’t been replicated since the original.
4. & Juliet (2022)
Just when you think the well of new and innovative Shakespeare modernizations have run dry, along comes & Juliet, a jukebox musical that dares to consider an alternate universe in which Juliet lives. While jukebox musicals usually center on the body of work of one performer, the connective tissue here is songwriter Max Martin, whose many bops include N’Sync’s I Want It That Way and Britney Spears’ …Baby One More Time.
3. David Byrne's American Utopia (2021)
Part concert, part theatrical fever dream, part dance party, David Byrne sure knows how to push the boundaries of form and content. Famous for blurring conventional genres, Byrne turned his American Utopia concept album into a singular experience on Broadway, bringing his iconic music to thrilling life, accompanied by an eclectic band of percussionists, instrumentalists and singers. Same as it ever was…and yet totally different.
2. Kimberly Akimbo (2022)
Based on his own play of the same name, bookwriter David Lindsay-Abaire joined forces with his Shrek collaborator Jeanine Tesori to create a musical version of the show about a girl with progeria. In other words, protagonist Kimberly has to grapple with being a teenager who happens to age more than 4 times faster than the average human. The result is a quirky charmer that encourages all of us to live in the moment, and celebrate life’s great adventure.
1. Springsteen on Broadway (2021)
If there were rankings for the most expensive tickets ever sold on Broadway, this one would probably top the list. The Boss’s intimate one-man show sold out nearly every single one of its 267 performances. Through acoustic song and story, Springsteen turned the theatre into a living room, making his audience feel right at home. No overamplification. No E Street Band. Just Bruce.
