Too introverted for a costume bash, too old for trick-or-treating, and totally not into the slasher films at the cineplex...but you still want to go out this Halloween weekend? We get you.
Check out these 10 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows with just enough fright to satisfy your Halloween curiosities, but not throw your anxiety levels into hyperdrive. From singing ghosts to singing witches to singing monsters, these plays, musicals, and parodies have everything that your cold, black heart desires. Except for full-size candy bars.
Beetlejuice
If that whole “being dead thing” is your thing, then hop on over to the Marquis Theatre, where the ghost-with-the-most haunts the building eight shows a week. Based on the 1988 Tim Burton film, the Tony-nominated musical adaptation stars Tony nominee Alex Brightman as the title poltergeist.
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Hadestown
The 2019 Best Musical Tony winner is more gods and goddesses than ghosts and ghouls, but when one of those gods is the King of the Underworld with bass notes to die for, it’s certainly suitable for Halloween. Reeve Carney and Eva Noblezada lead the cast as Orpheus and Eurydice, with Patrick Page and Jewelle Blackman ruling the road to hell.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
This spell-binding spectacular begins 19 years after the J.K. Rowling novels end, with adult Harry, Ron, and Hermione (and their rival Draco) as parents to a new generation of wizards and witches. Find your patronus on the way into the Lyric Theatre, because as “always,” there’s an epic battle between good and evil. Beware of dementors.
The Phantom of the Opera
Now in its 35th (and final) year, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical delivers on a gothic romance that's perfect for a Halloween date night. Based on the fantasy-horror novel by Gaston Leroux, the tuner transforms the Majestic Theatre into the Paris Opera House, complete with the misty underground lair of its resident Phantom.
Wicked
What's Halloween without witches! This fantasy musical imagines Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch as schoolmates, perhaps even friends, in their younger years…long before Dorothy ever landed. This also introduced audiences to the characters who would become perennial Halloween costumes.
It: A Musical Parody
The Losers’ Club meets nightly at Chelsea Table and Stage for the final weekend of the musical comedy spoof on the Stephen King horror classic, starring Garrett Clayton as killer clown Pennywise. You'll laugh and scream.
Little Shop of Horrors
It’s right there in the title. The classic horror musical (comedy) by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken centers on a hapless florist and his carnivorous plant with a thirst for human blood. The musical currently stars Rob McClure as Seymour, Lena Hall as his love interest Audrey, and Bryce Pinkham as her sadistic dentist boyfriend.
peerless
Jiehae Park borrows from Macbeth for her dark comedy set in the world of elite college admissions, which finds twins M and L willing to kill for their rightful (damn) spots in the freshman class.
Sleep No More
Wander around the McKittrick Hotel in the immersive thriller inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth and film noir. Or explore “The Lost Garden” in this year’s Halloween Ball at the hotel, one of the city’s classiest annual costume celebrations.
Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical
Singing monsters, 80s camp, and #JusticeforBarb! The parody musical, running at Playhouse 46 at St. Luke's, lampoons the upside down from the creepy hit Netflix series.
