JaJa’s African Hair Braiding: A decade ago, Jocelyn Bioh was a Broadway actor before she turned to writing and made a splash with the much-admired, sharply comic off-Broadway hit School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play. This fall, she makes her Broadway debut as a playwright with JaJa’s African Hair Braiding, set in a single day in a Harlem hair-braiding salon where neighborhood women commiserate about life and love while their hair is transformed into magnificent coifs. Through Oct. 29

Gutenberg! The Musical: It’s been a dozen years since Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad starred in the audacious smash The Book of Mormon and established a Broadway bromance for the ages. Now the pair returns in this equally goofy two-hander, which had a successful off-Broadway run in 2006, about novice theater-makers who write a musical about the inventor of the printing press and try to attract investors. Rannells and Gad play dozens of characters to chaotic comedic effect. Through Jan. 28

Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch: Leslie Odom Jr., best known for his Tony Award-winning turn as Aaron Burr in Hamilton, returns to Broadway in this scathing comedy about a preacher’s efforts to reclaim his inheritance. The play was penned by the legendary Ossie Davis, who starred in the original 1963 production with his equally accomplished wife, Ruby Dee. Through Jan. 7

Here We Are: For more than a decade, Stephen Sondheim chipped away at an ambitious new musical based on two films by the influential surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel. Shortly before he died in 2021, he gave his blessing to the show, enabling his longtime collaborators—the playwright David Ives and director Joe Mantello—to forge ahead with this posthumous off-Broadway premiere. Sept. 28 – Jan. 7

Fall for Dance: For 20 years, this annual autumn showcase has been the city’s premier sampler platter of dance. Five programs spread over two weeks give audiences a taste of myriad dance styles performed by top-notch local and international artists. Highlights this year include work by Crystal Pite performed by Ballet BC (Program 1) Spain’s virtuosic Sergio Bernal Dance Company (Program 2) and excerpts from the pioneering hip-hop production Jam on the Groove (Program 4). Sept. 27 – Oct. 8

New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre: City Ballet celebrates its 75th anniversary with a fall season entirely comprising works by its legendary co-founder, George Balanchine; it features five distinct programs that illustrate the stunning breadth of his artistry, from lush grandeur to sleek neoclassicism. American Ballet Theatre will then move into the Koch Theater with an eclectic lineup. Through Oct. 15 (NYCB); Oct. 18-29 (ABT)

Hell’s Kitchen: Nearly 10 years in the making, this new musical, inspired by the life of Grammy-winning artist Alicia Keys, finally arrives onstage. Hell’s Kitchen follows a 17-year-old girl’s turbulent adolescence in a New York housing complex and features some of Keys’s hit songs, as well as new material she wrote for the production. Directed by Michael Grief (Rent) and arriving with comparable buzz in the theater where Hamilton was born, it has raised high expectations. Begins Oct. 24

Danny and the Deep Blue Sea: Fresh off an internet-breaking, Emmy-nominated turn in White Lotus, Aubrey Plaza makes her stage debut in this off-Broadway revival of John Patrick Shanley’s 1984 two-person play Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, already one of the season’s hottest tickets. Christopher Abbot plays the volatile stranger she meets in a Bronx dive bar, and together they embark on a brutal romantic roller coaster of violence, tenderness and musings about love. Oct. 30 – Jan. 7

How to Dance in Ohio: This season’s most intriguing, original and poignant new musical, based on Alexandra Shiva’s 2015 documentary of the same name, follows a group of young autistic adults at a counseling center in Columbus, Ohio, as they prepare for a spring formal and confront their social anxieties. Much of the creative team is making Broadway debuts, as are several cast members, including the seven autistic actors who originated their principal roles. Begins Nov. 15

Appropriate: For years, the playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has been crafting some of America’s most startling theater. Now, the two-time Pulitzer finalist will make his Broadway debut with this 2013 play about a dysfunctional family that gathers in Arkansas following its patriarch’s death. Naturally, secrets surface and the family grapples with its past, which leads to an unraveling that Jacobs-Jenkins renders with stinging wit. And Sarah Paulson stars. Begins Nov. 29

The Rite of Spring: common ground(s): It seems as if every choreographer has made a version of The Rite of Spring, the infamous ballet that first made waves in 1913, in part because of Stravinsky’s shocking score. Pina Bausch’s feverish 1975 take, considered a masterpiece, will be performed here by an ensemble of 36 dancers from 14 African countries. It will be accompanied by common ground(s), a new work by the eminent Senegalese choreographer Germaine Acogny. Nov. 29 – Dec. 14

Dance at the Perelman: The inaugural lineup of New York’s gorgeous new performance space includes a trio of compelling dance offerings: The premiere of Watch Night, directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones, mixes opera and poetry (Nov. 3-18); Is It Thursday Yet? stars Jenn Freeman in an autobiographical work about her autism diagnosis (Dec. 8-23); and The March, an exploration of collective movement by the esteemed choreographers Tenday Kuumba, Annie-B Parson and Donna Uchizono.

Florencia en el Amazonas: Daniel Catan’s beloved 1996 opera gets a brand-new production from Mary Zimmerman. In one of the contemporary repertoire’s rare Spanish-language pieces, viewers follow a diva’s trip into the Amazon in search of her lost lover in a tale inflected with magical realism. Its lush, soaring score will be conducted by the Met music director Yannick Nezet Seguin, and real-life diva Ailyn Pérez will star. Nov. 16 – Dec. 14