It’s autumn: Do you feel a song coming on? Broadway sure does — and this season’s new musicals have something for every taste.
Those craving a big ol’ traditional tuner can look forward to “Big Fish,” which starts previews Thursday at the Neil Simon Theatre. Based on the novel and movie of the same title, this fanciful new show about a father-son relationship has a dandy résumé: score by Andrew Lippa (“The Addams Family”), choreography and staging by Susan Stroman (“The Producers”), and a mouth-watering cast led by the irresistible Tony-winner Norbert Leo Butz (“Catch Me If You Can”).
Plot isn’t as key to a pair of new jukebox musicals. For “A Night With Janis Joplin,” newcomer Mary Bridget Davies takes on the daunting role — and vocal cord-shredding stylings — of the rock icon who lived fast, overdosed young. Previews begin Sept. 20 at the Lyceum.
Starting a month later, on Oct. 18, at the Brooks Atkinson, the revue “After Midnight” transports us back to the glory days of Duke Ellington and Harlem’s Cotton Club. Guest canary Fantasio Barrino — who’d made a big splash in “The Color Purple” — will swing to the sounds of the Jazz at Lincoln Center’s All-Stars.
If you prefer some madcap mayhem, the Victorian-set black comedy “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” (Walter Kerr, previews start Oct. 22) is a promising option. Jefferson Mays (“I Am My Own Wife”) is playing eight different parts, a tour de force that may just land another Tony on his bookshelf.
But the big names aren’t all on the Great White Way this season: Some old favorites are off-Broadway.
Book writer/director James Lapine and songwriter William Finn return to Second Stage — where they originated “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” — with their adaptation of the popular 2006 movie “Little Miss Sunshine.” The production starts previews Oct. 15 with a terrific ensemble that includes “Mystery of Edwin Drood” alums Stephanie J. Block and Will Chase, as well as Rory O’Malley, who played a memorable vest-wearing, closeted elder in “The Book of Mormon.”
Another comeback kid is Jeanine Tesori, whose new “Fun Home” is likely to be closer in spirit to the composer’s earlier “Caroline, or Change” than to her Broadway venture “Shrek.” The book is by the acerbic Lisa Kron (“Well”), who adapted Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic novel about her relationship with her closeted father. Previews start Sept. 30 at the Public Theater.
One of the fall’s most intriguing — and eagerly awaited — shows is “The Landing,” which starts previews at the Vineyard Oct. 3.
Made up of three loosely related stories about “desire, love and loss,” this new musical is by composer John Kander, of “Cabaret” and “Chicago” fame. For his first outing since the death of his lyricist partner, Fred Ebb, Kander’s teamed up with playwright Greg Pierce.
Add Greg’s ever-likable uncle, David Hyde Pierce, to the cast, and you’ve got a hot ticket on your hands.