A Look Back at the Season
The Best Broadway Shows of 2025
What were the best Broadway shows of 2025? It depends on who you ask — and that’s exactly why one theatregoer spent the year in the seats, keeping score.
2025 gave New York audiences a season worth arguing about: big-swing new musicals, starry revivals, plays that sent people out onto the sidewalk still talking, and Off-Broadway productions that outshone shows ten times their budget. Across the country, Seattle’s stages had a season of their own that deserved more national attention than it got.
Most of those productions have now closed. The sets are struck, the marquees have changed, and the only places the 2025 season still lives are in the memories of the people who were there — and on the page. The Best of Broadway (and Beyond): A 2026 Review of Last Year’s Standout Shows is that page: a look back at the musicals and plays that defined the year, written for readers who saw them and want to relive them, and for readers who missed them and want to know what all the fuss was about.
How the standouts were chosen
The shows in the book weren’t picked from press releases or box-office charts. Author Brian Guy saw them — from the seats, across the full year, in New York and in Seattle. A few things guided what made the cut:
- The whole production, not just the headline. Writing, direction, design, and the performances that made a night unforgettable all counted.
- Musicals and plays alike. The best of 2025 wasn’t only the big musicals — some of the year’s most memorable nights were plays.
- Broadway and beyond. The book steps past the Broadway marquees to standout theatre in Seattle, plus two surprise shows that earned their place.
- No spoilers. Every review is written so the story’s surprises stay intact — whether you saw the show or only wish you had.
The result isn’t a ranking or an awards ballot. It’s a record of a season: which shows stood out, which performers delivered the year’s unforgettable performances, and the backstage and in-the-audience stories that don’t make it into reviews written on deadline.
Why a book about shows that have closed?
Because a theatre season is the most perishable art form there is. When a production closes, there’s no rewatch, no re-release, no streaming it later. A season book is how a year of theatre gets remembered — the program you keep, at full length.
That’s also why readers keep choosing the hardcover with dust jacket: it’s the keepsake edition, and the one most often bought as a gift for the theatre lover who spent 2025 in the seats — or who followed the season from afar and wants the full story.
Who wrote it
Brian Guy is a Broadway insider and co-producer of Mexodus, the Off-Broadway musical that won Outstanding Musical at the 2026 Lucille Lortel Awards, Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical at the Outer Critics Circle Awards, Outstanding Production of a Musical at the Drama League Awards, and three 2026 Drama Desk Awards. He is also the author of Broadway for Beginners, a BookLife Reviews Editor’s Pick from Publishers Weekly.
Read the Full Reviews
The Best of Broadway (and Beyond) — a #1 Amazon and #1 IngramSpark best seller — collects the complete, spoiler-free reviews and stories of 2025’s standout shows. Available in hardcover with dust jacket (the keepsake edition), paperback, large print, and eBook.
Where to BuyFrequently Asked Questions
Which shows does the book cover?
The standout musicals and plays of 2025 in New York — on Broadway and beyond — along with standout theatre from Seattle and two surprise shows that made the cut. The picks themselves are part of the fun, so they’re revealed in the book.
Are the reviews spoiler-free?
Yes. Every review is written to preserve each show’s surprises, so the book is safe to read whether or not you saw the productions.
Most of these shows have closed. Is the book still worth reading?
That’s the point of it. The book is a look back — a keepsake of the 2025 season — not a ticket-buying guide. If you saw the shows, it’s a way to relive them; if you didn’t, it’s the story of what you missed.
What formats is it available in?
Hardcover with dust jacket (the gift edition), paperback, a large print edition, and eBook. See where to buy for booksellers in New York and the Seattle area, online retailers, and signed copies.