Broadway Is Coming Back This September, With 'Hamilton,' 'Wicked,' Disney's 'The Lion King' And 'Aladdin' Raising The Curtain

The neon lights are turning back on, on Broadway. Broadway is reopening this September with a string of mega-hits including The Lion King, Hamilton, and Wicked to bring audiences back into the theaters that have lay empty for the past year-plus.

Broadway has been closed since last March, when the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced theaters on the Great White Way to close. Now the lights are blinking back on and the curtains are being raised to prepare for the grand Broadway reopening on September 14, 2021. The shows that audiences can expect to see on Broadway on opening day are three of the stage's greatest biggest hits: Disney's The Lion King, the cultural phenomenon Hamilton, and the long-running Broadway staple Wicked. Joining them two weeks later will be Disney's Aladdin.

You can expect to see The Lion King at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre, while Aladdin resumes performances at the New Amsterdam Theater on September 28. Tickets for all the aforementioned shows are on sale now. But if you buy tickets through Disney, the House of Mouse is offering special ticketing benefits that take into account the unprecedented times we're in. Disney pays 100% of the Ticketmaster service and order fees and gives audience members the freedom to exchange or cancel tickets at no charge, up to the day of the performance.

Producers of high-profile shows like The Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, Come From Away, and Tina: The Turner Musical also detailed their comeback plans, per The Washington Post. Other musicals set to return between late September and the end of the year include Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations, Company, and Mrs. Doubtfire. Tickets are on sale for most of these plays.

But you'll have to wait a little longer to find out reopening information about other hit musicals. Dear Evan Hansen is expected to disclose its return plans soon. A few plays have been announced for the upcoming season, including Antoinette Nwandu's Pass Over, which has thus far been a success off-Broadway and in regional productions, and Keenan Scott II's Thoughts of a Colored Man. Neither has disclosed any dates.

Meanwhile, nonprofit groups Roundabout Theatre Company and Second Stage Theatre, which operate both Broadway and off-Broadway houses, have also unveiled their seasons. Second Stage includes the winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Price for drama, Stephen Adly Guirgis's Between Riverside and Crazy, while Roundabout will feature a revival of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori's musical Caroline, or Change.

The announcement comes a week after New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo lifted nearly all of the state's capacity restrictions on retail stores, movie theaters, museums, and of course, Broadway. While productions don't expect seats to start filling up immediately, Broadway hopes to operate at 100% conventional capacity by September. For now, it's time for the actors and players to dust off those dancing shoes and get practicing.