PEOPLE's 10 Best Broadway Performances of 2025: From Jonathan Groff and Betty Boop to the Daring Women of “Liberation”
- - PEOPLE's 10 Best Broadway Performances of 2025: From Jonathan Groff and Betty Boop to the Daring Women of “Liberation”
Dave QuinnDecember 18, 2025 at 6:01 AM
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Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman; Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman; Little Fang
Jonathan Groff in 'Just in Time,' Jasmine Amy Rogers in 'BOOP! The Musical' and Susannah Flood in 'Liberation' -
Broadway's 2025 season highlighted bold, risk-taking performances, from solo acts to powerful ensemble casts
Sarah Snook and Jonathan Groff were among those who delivered standout roles, earning acclaim for their transformative stage presence
Liberation's all-female stars and Purpose's perfect cast showcased the power of collective storytelling
Broadway had plenty of big swings this year, but the performances that stuck out weren’t about spectacle alone.
Whether in quiet dramas like John Proctor Is the Villain or crowd-pleasing musicals like Just in Time, the actors who treaded the boards in the second half of the 2024-2025 season and the first half of the 2025-2026 season locked into their roles so fully that everything around them snapped into focus.
These were stars doing work rooted in clarity, confidence and a deep trust in the material; the kind of performances that only lands when there’s no camera between the actor and the audience.
Some of those moments belonged to individual stars who carried their shows on sheer presence and precision, like Jonathan Groff. Others came from ensembles working in perfect sync like the female cast of Liberation, where every performance sharpened the next and the collective impact mattered more than any single turn.
Across the board, 2025 was a year defined by performers willing to take risks and leave every bit of themselves on the stage.
Take a look at PEOPLE's top 10 Broadway performances (listed in order of their show's opening):
01 of 11
The Cast of 'Purpose'
Marc. J. Franklin
Alana Arenas, Kara Young, Harry Lennix, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Glenn Davis and Jon Michael Hill in 'Purpose'
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Purpose landed with the force of a revelation — and its power came from an ensemble working at absolute full tilt. LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Harry Lennix, Jon Michael Hill, Alana Arenas, Morgan Jasper, Glenn Davis and Kara Young (who picked up her third consecutive acting Tony Award for the role) built a family drama that simmered and flared in equal measure, charting a Southern Black household confronted with old wounds, buried secrets and the question of who gets to shape their shared legacy. No single performance dominated; instead, the cast moved with uncanny cohesion, each actor sharpening the stakes for the next. It was a masterclass in collaborative storytelling — proof that sometimes the most thrilling performance of the year belongs not to one star, but to an ensemble breathing the same fire.
02 of 11
Sarah Snook in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'
Marc Brenner
Sarah Snook in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'
It wasn’t enough for Sarah Snook to play just one role for her Broadway debut; she had to tackle 26! In this thrilling one-woman production of Oscar Wilde’s gothic horror, the Succession star fearlessly executed a theatrical high-wire act, cycling through every character in the story with razor-sharp precision and breathtaking balance. Technology multiplied her presence, but Snook’s talent remained the centerpiece. It was a mesmerizing, tour-de-force turn that rightfully earned her a Tony and recharged this 135-year-old classic.
03 of 11
Jasmine Amy Rogers in 'BOOP! The Musical'
Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Jasmine Amy Rogers in 'BOOP! The Musical'
BOOP! revived Betty Boop for a new generation, but its real magic trick was turning Jasmine Amy Rogers into a star right before our eyes. As the iconic cartoon come to life, the newcomer radiated a fizzy, irresistible charm, grounding all of director Jerry Mitchell’s high-concept whimsy with real emotional warmth and a comic charm to irresistible to resist. Her voice was bright, agile and packed with firepower, snapping each number into place with show-stealing confidence. It was a breathtaking Broadway debut; the kind that makes you realize you’re watching a star take shape in real time.
04 of 11
Sadie Sink in 'John Proctor is the Villain'
Julieta Cervantes
Sadie Sink in 'John Proctor Is the Villain'
Sadie Sink brought a different kind of action to Broadway. After fighting monsters in the Upside Down, the Stranger Things star returned to the lights of the rialto for the first time in a decade in John Proctor Is the Villain, playing Shelby — a high school junior caught in a classroom reckoning over power, gender and truth. It was a performance Sink played with a sharply tuned emotional awareness that made every moment of Shelby's anger, confusion and dawning clarity feel painfully real. By the time the character finally found her voice, Sink had delivered one of the season’s most quietly devastating performances: intimate, fearless and hard to shake.
05 of 11
Jonathan Groff in 'Just in Time'
Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Jonathan Groff in 'Just in Time'
Jonathan Groff tears into Broadway’s hit Bobby Darin bio-musical with a volcanic, full-body performance that never lets up. Sweaty, breathless and gloriously alive, the Tony Award-winning actor electrically captures the “Mack the Knife” crooner’s nightclub-animal magnetism while showing off his own knockout musical talent, emotional range and irresistible presence. Oh, and he does it all while working the room with a fearless, up-close presence, pulling the crowd into the action with him. This is a star working at full burn, who leaves the stage sizzling in his wake.
Catch him in the show through Sunday, March 29, 2026.
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06 of 11
Jinkx Monsoon in 'Oh, Mary!'
Evan Zimmerman for Murphymade
Cole Escola’s Oh, Mary! is a deliriously unhinged comic fever dream, and Jinkx Monsoon tore through it with total command. As a boozy, attention-hungry Mary Todd Lincoln, the two-time RuPaul’s Drag Race winner delivered a performance so precisely chaotic, it felt like a master class in comic control. She moved at lightning speed between wounded, wicked and wickedly funny, conducting the audience with every raised eyebrow and deadpan pause. Every line landed with that signature Jinkx timing — sly, lethal and impossibly precise — confirming once again that she’s one of the most versatile talents working on the stage today.
Monsoon returns to Oh, Mary! from Jan. 8, 2026 to Feb. 1.
07 of 11
Joshua Henry in 'Ragtime'
Matthew Murphy
Every actor in the Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of Ragtime is working at the top of their game, but there’s a moment in “New Music” where Joshua Henry breaks out from the pack. As Coalhouse Walker Jr. tries to get his estranged love Sarah to forgive him, Henry sings a note so resonant that it doesn’t just inspire Sarah to come downstairs and embrace him — it also makes you want to get out of your seat and do the same! From there, Henry’s performance only deepens. He plays Coalhouse with a quiet, righteous resolve that gradually tightens into heartbreak, fury and hard-won grace. And in every song, that unmistakable Henry baritone channels Coalhouse’s passion and pain so clearly, his story becomes the production’s beating heart.
Ragtime is now playing through June 14, 2026 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.
08 of 11
The Women of 'Liberation'
Little Fang
Betsy Aidem, Kristolyn Lloyd, Irene Sofia Lucio, Adina Verson, Audrey Corsa and Susannah Flood in the Broadway production of 'Liberation'
Liberation thrives on the courage and unity of its ensemble. Led by Susannah Flood and joined by Betsy Aidem, Audrey Corsa, Kayla Davion, Kristolyn Lloyd, Irene Sofia Lucio and Adina Verson, the cast delivers a performance built on trust, precision and shared purpose. Set around a 1970s consciousness-raising group and braided with present-day reflection, the play asks its characters to strip themselves down — emotionally, politically and, at one charged moment, literally — in service of examining power, identity and the cost of hard-won freedom. Each woman brings a distinct voice to the work, moving seamlessly between humor and heartbreak while never losing sight of the collective whole. Together, they make Liberation a powerful reminder that some of the year’s most essential performances come from artists willing to stand fully seen and fully together.
Liberation is in performances at the James Earl Jones Theatre through Feb. 1, 2026.
09 of 11
Kristin Chenoweth in 'The Queen of Versailles'
Julieta Cervantes
Say what you will about The Queen of Versailles; the musical may have felt like it was still under construction, but Kristin Chenoweth’s performance supplied the Stephen Schwartz show with a sturdy foundation that kept it standing. As Florida socialite Jackie Siegel, the Tony winner opened the show with a glossy, glam promise and then — echoing Siegel’s still-unfinished 90,000-square-foot mansion — let the cracks surface, exposing the desperation, ambition and heartbreak under all that shine. Most impressively, she did all of that while ditching her signature wink-to-the-audience comedic broadness, opting instead for something quieter and more lived-in. It was a sharply focused turn, powered by vocals that cut cleanly through the musical’s excess. Sometimes, one singular performance can still carry a show.
The Queen of Versailles closes at the St. James Theatre on Dec. 21.
10 of 11
Nicholas Christopher in 'Chess'
Matthew Murphy
Lea Michele and Aaron Tveit may be the marquee names powering this starry revival, but Nicholas Christopher is the one who walks away with the show. As Russian chess champ Anatoly Sergievsky, Christopher carries himself with a controlled, almost haunted calm, as if every move on the chessboard lands somewhere deep inside him. The moment he sings, though, the restraint shatters — his rich, muscular voice rising with such force and clarity you can feel the character’s entire inner life snap into focus. It’s a revelatory, star-making performance that reintroduces the stage veteran as a bankable Broadway talent.
11 of 11
Honorable Mentions
Matthew Murphy
Natalie Venetia Belcon in 'Buena Vista Social Club' -
Natalie Venetia Belcon, whose Tony-winning performance in Buena Vista Social Club carried quiet authority and gravitas, anchoring the show with a presence that's both restrained and deeply felt.
George Clooney showed that his screen charisma translates effortlessly to the stage with his Broadway debut in Good Night, and Good Luck.
Lea Salonga and Bernadette Peters in Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, for turning an evening of Sondheim into a celebration of Broadway history in motion while proving that greatness doesn’t dim — it deepens.
Robyn Hurder proved she's this generation's Chita Rivera, embodying the true meaning of being a triple-threat talent with her star-making role in SMASH.
Louis McCartney, who hurls himself headfirst into Stranger Things: The First Shadow, giving the blockbuster stage event its bruised, human center.
Manuel Harlan
Louis McCartney in 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow' -
Andrew Durand, for spending half of Dead Outlaw standing motionless onstage. Who knew stillness could be such a daring performance choice that made the show’s tension and emotional release land even harder?
Rebecca Naomi Jones offered luminous work in Hadestown, adding a fresh voice to a role audiences thought they already knew.
Will Harrison, whose ferocious commitment in Punch made the play’s violence, vulnerability and reckoning impossible to ignore.
Laurie Metcalf and Micah Stock's fierce, tightly coiled work in Little Bear, Ridge Road turned a family drama — which closes on Dec. 21 — into something quietly devastating.
Mark Strong and Lesley Manville bring towering gravitas and emotional precision to Oedipus, anchoring the tragedy with devastating authority.
June Squibb makes history in Marjorie Prime, the 96-year-old filling every moment of the heartbreaking drama with quiet wisdom and aching humanity.
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