"Wanted" Opens on Broadway, Drawn From a Family Story About Two Sisters
The new musical Wanted had its official Broadway opening night on Sunday, November 8, 2026, at the James Earl Jones Theatre. Broadway.com reported that the show began its Broadway performances on October 15. Those earlier shows, called previews, let a production play for an audience and make changes before the official opening.
The show is written by Angelica Chéri, a playwright and lyricist, and directed by Stevie Walker-Webb. Chéri is a 2013 graduate of the Columbia University School of the Arts, the school said in a 2025 announcement. Walker-Webb is an Obie winner, a prize for work Off-Broadway, the city's second tier of professional theater.
Wanted is inspired by Chéri's great-great aunts, Mary and Martha Clarke. The producers describe it as a "mostly true story," and the show's billing calls it "the epic tale of Mary and Martha Clarke: sisters, outlaws, legends." Chéri has said the musical grew out of a long-held family story.
Solea Pfeiffer plays Mary and Liisi LaFontaine plays Martha. Ledisi plays Tallulah, Nathan Quay Thomas plays Mr. Billingsley, Bradley Jaden plays Jesse Banks, and Luke James plays Elijah. Two of the musical numbers are "Inheritance" and "Mary's Nightmare."
The music is by Ross Baum. Paul Byssainthe, Jr. leads the orchestra. Beowulf Boritt designed the sets, and Stefania Bulbarella designed the video and projections, according to Variety, which covered the production.
The theater has its own history. It was renamed in 2022 in honor of the actor James Earl Jones, who died in 2024 and was known for a long career on stage and screen.
Broadway shows are small businesses, and opening night is the point where the money side gets much more visible. Every week, the Broadway League, the industry's trade group, publishes what each show took in at the box office. Those figures show how many seats were sold, the share of seats filled, and the average price paid per ticket. Investors who put up the money to open a show, known as its capitalization, are paid back from that income, and a show that has earned back its costs has "recouped."
For a ticket buyer, the practical question is simpler. Tickets sold for performances still to come are called the advance, and it is the first number to watch once the reviews and the crowds start to show up.
Wanted now joins the Broadway calendar with the first of its official performances behind it. The next Monday will bring the first full week of grosses for the show.
