10 most intriguing Boston theater performances for fall 2024

Arts

Narrowing down the musicals, plays, operas, and dance performances hitting the city this September-November.

Another season, another lineup of world-class shows coming to Boston’s Theater District. This fall, countless musicals, plays, operas, and dance performances hit the city’s many theaters, so below, you’ll find details on 10 of the district’s most intriguing shows between now and Dec. 1.

Smash hit jukebox musicals like “Mamma Mia” and “& Juliet” roll through town, along with crowd pleasers like the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and Boston Ballet’s seasonal contemporary show. You’ll also find hidden gems like lesser-known experimental shows: “POTUS,” “Nassim,” and “On the Eve of Abolition,” for example. And since we couldn’t limit the list to just 10, you’ll find plenty of honorable mentions at the bottom, too. 

The smash hit “Mamma Mia” might be the highest profile show coming to town this season, running now for two weeks, through Oct. 6. Via the classic hits of ’70s Swedish pop group Abba, the musical tells the joyful story of one daughter’s search for her father on the eve of her wedding, bringing three men back to the fictional Greek island where her mother lives. While the “Mamma Mia” movie (and its sequel) did numbers at the box office, there’s nothing like hearing those hits like “Dancing Queen” and “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” performed live on a stage. Through Sunday, Oct. 6, Citizens Opera House, 539 Washington St., $45-$325

Titled in full, “POTUS Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” this energetic political comedy comes to the intimate stage at Emerson’s Greene Theater this weekend. The all-female farce, which debuted on Broadway in 2022 with a star-studded cast including performers like Rachel Dratch and Julianne Hough, follows a US president’s PR nightmare-turned-global crisis and the seven women in charge of the man in charge of the free world. Through Saturday, Sept. 28, Greene Theater, 10 Boylston Pl. 6th Floor, $8-$12

Emmy-nominated dancer and choreographer Dianne McIntyre brings her new dance theater work to Emerson’s Paramount Center this weekend, called “In the Same Tongue.” Using language, sound, and movement, the 80-minute show demonstrates how dance and music speak to each other, showing some unexpected connections between writers, dancers, and musicians while highlighting artistic movements like ’20s Harlem salons and the Black Arts Movement of the ’60s and ’70s. McIntyre’s legacy includes credits like the choreography for the movie adaptation of Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” and other artists featured in the show include composer Diedre Murray and poet and playwright Ntozake Shange. Through Sunday, Sept. 29, Emerson Paramount Center, Robert J. Orchard Stage, 559 Washington St., $10-$93

The play “Nassim,” written and performed by Nassim Soleimanpour, sounds like it’d be a one-man show. But it’s not — each performance features a different local, unrehearsed actor reciting much of the show. The Iranian playwright demonstrates the difficulties of understanding a new language with a script in a sealed box waiting for a new reading each night. Most of what’s read is translated from Farsi to English, with all the loss inherent in translation, showing how language can both unite and divide us. The experimental and internationally touring show approaches performance number 500 during its three-week run at the Huntington Calderwood. Check their website as the show nears for each night’s guest performer. (Spoiler alert: On Oct. 16 it’s Keith Lockhart, of all people.) Friday, Oct. 4 through Saturday Oct. 27, Calderwood / BCA, 527 Tremont St., $29-$135

The National Ballet of Ukraine comes to town for one night only this season as part of the country’s official ballet company’s first tour of the US in over 30 years. The company of 44 artists puts on pieces of iconic ballets like “Swan Lake,” “Don Quixote,” and “Giselle,” while vibrant Ukrainian Shumka Dancers and their colorful folk costumes and athletic choreography also make an appearance. The show is set against the backdrop of a massive 3D LED screen, bringing the Ukraine and its culture and scenery to vivid life. A portion of the show’s proceeds go to Humanite, an aid organization helping restore the lives of Ukrainian families affected by the war. Thursday, Oct. 10, 7:30 p.m., Shubert Theatre, 265 Tremont St., $69-$139

Ballet isn’t all tutus and ribbons — as Boston Ballet’s many contemporary performances, like their yearly “Spring Experience” and “Fall Experience,” go to show. This year’s “Fall Experience” runs for two weeks and comprises four short works. Crystal Pite’s contemporary “The Seasons’ Canon” is based on Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and features a whopping 54 dancers; Sabrina Matthews’ intimate “Ein von Viel” features just two dancers and a pianist; and “Plan to B” features six dancers and, according to the New York Times, is a “high-tech ballet in human terms.” The program also includes the world premiere of an original work by Boston Ballet principal dancer Lia Cirio. Thursday, Oct. 24 through Sunday, Nov. 3, Citizens Opera House, 539 Washington St., $25-$205

The cult classic 1975 comedy/horror/musical Rocky Horror Picture Show’s even cultier stage performance comes to town for one night only on, appropriately, the weekend before Halloween. As is tradition, costumed actors perform as a shadow cast while the unedited film plays, and guests can also expect a costume contest and audience participation. This 49th anniversary tour features Australian actress Nell Campbell, who played Columbia — the tap dancer extraordinaire — in the original film, and guests can opt to purchase tickets for a VIP meet and greet, too. Friday, Oct. 25, 8 p.m., Emerson Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston St., $39-$114

Into experimental theater? Check out this multimedia, bilingual piece coming to the Paramount for one weekend this fall. Part sci-fi, part prison abolition treatise, “On the Eve of Abolition” is set in an imaginary 2047 in which the prison industrial complex is on the brink of collapse, with formerly incarcerated people and organizers working to end all prisons in the land formerly known as the US and Mexico. Developed in conjunction with abolitionist organizations and currently and formerly incarcerated people, the show by the theater collective Papel Machete features puppetry, videos, sets, and other visually captivating media to tell this radically imaginative story. Thursday, Oct. 31 through Sunday, Nov. 3, Emerson Paramount Center, Robert J. Orchard Stage, 559 Washington St., $10-$93

In the new Broadway hit “& Juliet,” music from five-time Grammy Award-winning songwriter Max Martin tells a different story about Shakespeare’s Juliet — what if she didn’t die at the end of the story? The jukebox musical takes viewers on a high-energy, coming-of-age romp featuring music by the brain behind such pop hits as “Since U Been Gone‚” “Baby One More Time,” and “Can’t Stop the Feeling.” The rom-com opened to acclaim on the West End in 2019, and is now making its way through the States. Tuesday, Nov. 5 through Sunday, Nov. 17, Citizens Opera House, 539 Washington St., $35-$130

Part of the Celebrity Series of Boston, the Martha Graham Dance Company brings a two-show-only program to the Cutler Majestic Theater this fall. The oldest dance company in the United States, Martha Graham turns 100 in 2026 — and they’re embarking on their three-year GRAHAM100 celebration now. A prolific choreographer who created over 100 ballets and was named among the female “Icons of the Century” by People magazine, Graham and her legacy carry on through her dance company. The company performs works both classical and modern, some choreographed by Graham and some by others, for one weekend this November. Friday, Nov. 22 through Saturday, Nov. 23, Cutler Majestic Theater, 219 Tremont St., $34-$104

Also of note:

• Another (more traditional) take on the classic love story “Romeo and Juliet,” Aug. 31 – Oct. 6, A.R.T.’s Loeb Drama Center
• Tom Stoppard’s most recent hit play, “Leopoldstadt,” Sept 12 – Oct. 13, Huntington Theater
• The musical comedy “Urinetown” at Boston’s oldest theater company, Sept. 20 – Oct. 20, Lyric Stage Company 
• Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic “Jesus Christ Superstar” at Berklee, Sept. 26 – 29, Boston Conservatory Theater
• The star-studded “Festival of Laughs Tour,” Oct. 11, Wang Theatre
• The five-time Tony Award-winning “Titanic: The Musical,” Oct. 29 – Nov. 10, North Shore Music Theatre, Beverly
• “Sojourners,” a story of marriage, migration, and the pursuit of education by playwright Mfoniso Udofia, Oct. 31 – Dec. 1, Huntington Theater

• One night of Verdi’s opera “Aida,” Nov. 10, Emerson Colonial Theatre