Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – An embarrassment of riches: Assessing the recent slew of new musicals on the boards of Off-Broadway stages

• By drediman
• July 23, 2026
• No Comments

Last season, only six new musicals opened on the Great White Way. Contrast that to the five eclectic musicals that opened Off-Broadway in just the past few weeks alone. And for this to be happening during the summertime — when theater openings have traditionally been slower — makes it all the more an interesting turn of events. Here is my assessment of this recent slew of new musicals to hit the boards this summer.

GIULIA: THE POISON QUEEN OF PALERMO
Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC)
Through August 2

One of the most anticipated new musicals of the summer is Giulia: The Poison Queen of Palermo (RECOMMENDED) at PAC NYC. Written by and starring renowned recording star Julia Nettles in the title role, the musical tells the story of a woman (the titular Giulia) who, in the position of an apothecary, supplies abused wives in her Italian community with life-ending poison to allow them toescape their toxic marriages. At this point in the musical’s development – yes, the work is still very much a work in progress – there are already elements that stand out beautifully. Veteran director Mary Zimmerman’s resourceful production is visually striking to look at (much of it due to Daniel Ostlig’s scenic design, which pays elegant homage to Renaissance paintings). Much of Nettles’ pop-tinged score is expertly produced and often striking to listen to. Tonally, however, the work doesn’t know whether if should take its lead from Hamilton or Sweeney Todd. As it currently stands, the work vacillates wildly between musical numbers without fully gelling into a convincing whole. Additionally, many of the performances tend to register on the broad/obvious end of the spectrum, particularly those from the men in the company (who, to be honest, do their best with the cartoon-like characters they’ve been handed). Fortunately, Nettles is a captivating singer and actress, holding the show together with a gutsy and impassioned performance in the title role. Smartly, the country western star surrounds herself with a fierce ensemble of women who boldly claim and take up space whenever they’re onstage.

A WALK ON THE MOON
Laura Pels Theatre
Through August 22

Then there’s New York premiere of A Walk on the Moon (RECOMMENDED), which you’ll be able to catch renting out the Laura Pels Theater (note that the production is not a Roundabout Theatre Company presentation). Of the bunch, the new musical is arguably the most commercially-oriented of the bunch (the work was previously seen and developed at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and George Street Playhouse in Northern New Jersey). Based on the 1999 film of the same name, the musical parallels the historic 1969 moon landing with the sexual awakening of a woman named Pearl during her family and friends’ annual summer getaway at a bungalow colony in the Catskills. The score by AnnMarie Milazzo is pleasant if a tad on the generic side, as is the staging by director Sheryl Kaller. Thankfully, the production features the excellent Talia Suskauer in the central role of Pearl. The musical comes to focus whenever she’s is onstage, grounding the production with a beautifully-sung performance of quiet gravitas and aching inner life. Other noteworthy performances are also being given by Max Chernin, Andréa Burns, and Sophie Pollono as, respectively, Pearl’s steadfast husband, observant mother-in-law, and tempestuous daughter. Together with Suskauer’s introspective performance, they nicely flesh out the delicate nuances of an otherwise predictably plotted new musical. 

MUSIC CITY
St. Luke’s Theatre
Open run

One of the best new musicals to open this summer is the commercial remounting of Bedlam’s Off-Broadway production of Music City (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) at St. Luke’s Theatre. The theater company is best known for adventurously excavating the classics (e.g., Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw), not necessarily presenting original musicals – let alone jukebox musicals – like this one. In short, the show tells the story of young musicians trying to make it big in Nashville’s competitive music scene while dealing with their own aching matters of the heart, using J.T. Harding’s terrifically varied country-rock songbook to flesh out the drama. Thanks to Peter Zinn’s emotionally astute book, these songs arise organically from the characters’ often raw circumstances. Eric Tucker’s intimate and cozy environmental staging – which is largely set in a dive-y honkytonk bar – feels just right and comes across more convincingly than before. He also elicits some honest and heartfelt performances from his hardworking cast. Standouts include Stephen Michael Spencer and especially the radiant Lauren Pritchard – a welcome newcomer to the production – who are convincing as the show’s young romantic leads, as well as the multi-tasking pair of Leenya Rideout and Andrew Rothenberg, both of whom all but disappear into their multiple roles. Then there’s the matter of Hardings’ blood-pumping songs, which invariably cut to the heart of the human drama they’re fleshing out. Unlikely as it may be, Music City is a prime example of how to execute a jukebox musical.

THE POTLUCK
Soho Rep and INTAR Theatre at Playwrights Horizons
Through August 2

Over at Playwrights Horizons’ Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, you’ll find The Potluck (SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED), a musical that’s stubbornly uncompromising and firmly ensconced in the avant-garde. A co-production between Soho Rep and INTAR Theatre – a pair of enterprising Off-Broadway theater companies – the overlong and unfocused new musical endeavors to pay homage to the five mortal victims of the Greensboro Massacre (i.e., a horrific incident during which members of the Klu Klux Klan and the National Socialist Party of America opened fire on demonstrators). It’s an aggressively dark premise for a musical, for sure, which the show’s creator César Alvarez openly and bizarrely admits with a shrug. In addition to its stated subject matter, The Potluck is also a commentary on the current dire circumstances surrounding the creation of art in this country. Indeed, the musical actively vocalizes its hesitancy over its very own existence. Unlike other self-referential shows like [title of show] and Urinetown, the meta-theatrical games The Potluck plays are far less exuberant, uncertainly ping ponging between its competing priorities with lackadaisical pacing.. Things pick up after a musical séance conjures the ghosts of the five aforementioned victims towards the end of the first act, but unfortunately it’s a case of “too little, too late”. Despite my misgivings about the meandering piece, it boasts a fascinatingly idiosyncratic score, Anthony Alfaro’s sensational central performance as Alvarez, in addition to accomplished turns by veterans like Barbara Walsh and Andrew R. Butler in supporting roles.

DUKES
SoHo Playhouse
Through August 2

Lastly at SoHo Playhouse, there’s the new two-hander musical Dukes (RECOMMENDED). Featuring SNL cast member Jane Wickline alongside comedian Liva Pierce, the piece chronicles the friendship between the duo’s alter egos Jane and Liva, queer roommates whose mis-adventures put into focus the realities of contemporary life (e.g., the existential woes of dating, worklife, etc.), largely through the lens of a fabricated alternate universe. Unsurprisingly, given the show’s pedigree, the scenes are episodic and sketch-like, giving the production an appealingly scrappy and improvisational quality that the sold-out audience at the historic downtown Off-Broadway venue gladly ate up. Both the writing and performances are insistently quirky, landing successfully more often than not due to the palpable and downright delightful chemistry between Wickline and Pierce (who are friends in real life). Indeed, Dukes’ irreverent portrait of friendship – complete with pseudo-coded interactions – is refreshingly authentic and poignancy nuanced, calling to mind such iconic comic duos as Bill and Ted, Beavis and Butt-Head, and Wayne and Garth. The ditty-like score, accompanied solely by Wickline on keys, is conversational and unspools with organic stream-of-consciousness. The production has been directed with a deceptively light touch by Henry Hornbuckle and Mabel Lewis, whose staging is slyly observant and fits cozily on SoHo Playhouse’s intimate stage.