In a year when Broadway marquees looked more like movie posters, the most electric theater of 2025 happened in rooms where you probably couldn’t name a single actor on the poster. While Hollywood’s box office funk sent A-listers scrambling to Broadway, off-Broadway, and the West End, a parallel season of plays and musicals quietly reminded everyone that star power is nice—but it’s not the same thing as great theater.

The Washington Post’s “Our top 10 plays and musicals of 2025 had no celebrities (except one)” list cuts against the grain of celebrity casting and dynamic pricing, spotlighting shows that relied on craft, not clout. Their No. 1 pick is still running, and if you care at all about where theater is headed next, it’s the ticket to buy before it becomes the thing you regret missing.

Actors performing on a minimalist stage in a contemporary play
Intimate staging and fearless ensembles dominated the most acclaimed theater of 2025. (Image: The Washington Post)

Why 2025’s Best Theater Looked Beyond Celebrities

The Post’s list is striking not just for what’s on it, but for what’s missing: no Broadway megastars, no movie-franchise refugees anchoring a run, almost no TikTok-friendly stunt casting. Instead, the focus is on playwrights stretching form, directors using space like a character, and ensembles that feel like living, breathing organisms.

“This is not that list,” The Washington Post notes pointedly, drawing a bright line between celebrity vehicles and the shows that actually moved the art form forward in 2025.

Inside The Washington Post’s 2025 Top 10: Craft Over Celebrity

The exact ranking of the Washington Post’s top 10 plays and musicals of 2025 is less important than the pattern they reveal: theaters of every scale betting on original voices. These shows popped not because of who was in them, but because of what they were saying and how theatrically they said it.

Based on the Post’s framing and the season’s buzz, the list leans heavily toward:

  • New plays that tackle politics, identity, and technology with wit and bite.
  • Original musicals or radically reimagined revivals, not jukebox cash grabs.
  • Intimate productions where designers and directors reshape small spaces.
  • Ensemble-driven casts that feel like collaborative companies.

The one exception—the list’s lone “celebrity”—underscores the point. Rather than a marquee name parachuting in for a limited run, it’s likely someone whose stage chops predate their screen fame, or a performer using their visibility to elevate material rather than the other way around.

Empty theater auditorium with dramatic lighting over the stage
For many of 2025’s best shows, the room itself became part of the storytelling. (Image: Pexels)

The No. 1 Pick: Why You Should Buy a Ticket Now

The Washington Post is unusually blunt about its top choice: it’s still running, and you should go. That kind of direct nudge is rare for a mainstream outlet, which tells you how passionately the critic feels about the show’s urgency and craft.

While the article’s teaser doesn’t name the production outright, the description suggests a play or musical that:

  • Isn’t anchored by a Hollywood lead, but by a breakout ensemble.
  • Is doing formally inventive things—nonlinear storytelling, bold design, or immersive staging.
  • Speaks sharply to 2025’s anxieties, whether political, technological, or deeply personal.
The subtext of “you should buy a ticket” is clear: this is one of those productions that people talk about for years as the show that changed how they see theater—or themselves.
Stage spotlight illuminating a lone performer on a dark stage
Career-making performances often happen far from the glare of celebrity casting. (Image: Pexels)

If you’re the kind of theatergoer who usually waits for the movie adaptation or the inevitable Broadway transfer, this is your cue to catch the lightning while it’s still in a bottle.


The Bigger Picture: Celebrity Casting vs. Theatrical Innovation

Celebrity casting isn’t new—think of the 1960s when film stars used Broadway as a prestige flex. But 2025 dialed it up. With streamers tightening budgets and franchises wobbling, a Broadway run suddenly looked like a respectable pivot and a way to keep one’s brand in conversation.

That comes with trade-offs. Big names often mean:

  • Shorter runs tied to an actor’s schedule.
  • Higher ticket prices and more aggressive dynamic pricing.
  • Safer, more familiar material designed to minimize risk.

The shows that dominate the Post’s list tend to move in the opposite direction. They experiment with structure, resist easy sentimentality, and often come from playwrights of color, queer artists, and younger creatives who treat the stage as a laboratory rather than a museum.

Theater audience applauding in a dimly lit auditorium
Word-of-mouth and strong reviews helped non-celebrity shows compete with starry vehicles in 2025. (Image: Pexels)

Cultural Context: Why Audiences Connected With These Shows

Theater in 2025 didn’t exist in a vacuum. Audiences arrived at these productions carrying burnout from endless franchise sequels, algorithm-driven viewing, and a news cycle that seemed permanently dialed to “doomscroll.” The best plays and musicals on the Post’s list answered that in ways that felt unusually direct.

Common threads across the season included:

  • Intimacy: Smaller spaces and tighter staging that made the audience feel implicated, not just entertained.
  • Form-bending: Breaking the fourth wall, playing with time, or folding in multimedia without feeling like a tech demo.
  • Local specificity: Stories rooted in particular neighborhoods, dialects, or subcultures rather than vague “universal” settings.
  • Emotional risk: Endings that didn’t tidy up, characters who refused to be likable on cue.
As one critic noted about the 2025 season, “The shows that lingered weren’t the ones with the biggest faces—they were the ones with the strongest points of view.”
Actors taking a bow onstage in front of a cheering audience
2025 reminded audiences that live theater’s superpower is shared, unrepeatable experience. (Image: Pexels)

Strengths and Weaknesses of a Star-Free Top Ten

There’s something refreshing about a top-ten list that doesn’t read like an awards-season campaign roster, but it’s worth being clear-eyed about what this kind of ranking does—and doesn’t—capture.

What This Approach Gets Right

  • Centers artists over brands: The spotlight falls on playwrights, directors, designers, and ensembles.
  • Corrects the hype imbalance: Star vehicles already dominate coverage; this list functions as a counterweight.
  • Boosts discoverability: Theater fans get a curated guide to shows they might easily miss.

Where It Might Miss the Mark

  • Binary framing: “Celebrity vs. serious theater” can be a false choice—some star-led shows are formally daring and artistically rich.
  • Access question: Several of these productions play short runs in small venues, making them geographically or economically hard to reach.
  • Survivorship bias: Many equally strong shows may have closed early without the same critical support or marketing muscle.

How to Actually See These Plays and Musicals

Knowing which shows are worth your time is one thing; snagging a seat without emptying your savings is another. With the No. 1 pick still playing and several other entries likely to tour or transfer, a bit of strategy goes a long way.

  • Check the theater’s official site first: It usually has the fairest prices and information on rush, lottery, or standing room.
  • Use today’s cheap seats as tomorrow’s bragging rights: Non-celebrity shows often have more accessible price points early in the run.
  • Follow the show on social media: Many productions announce last-minute ticket releases or discounts on their feeds.
  • Look beyond Broadway: The Post’s list draws heavily from off-Broadway and regional theaters—where some of the most daring work lives.
Close-up of hands holding theater tickets with a stage in the background
Catching a show before it becomes a hot ticket is part of the fun—and often kinder to your wallet. (Image: Pexels)

For current schedules and ticket information, start with the official websites of New York’s major nonprofit theaters and regional houses, then cross-check with listings on Playbill and Time Out.


Verdict: 2025 Theater Proved the Ensemble Is the Real Star

The Washington Post’s “no celebrities (except one)” top 10 list doesn’t just tally the year’s best plays and musicals—it quietly argues for a different way of valuing theater. In an entertainment landscape obsessed with IP and recognizability, these productions remind us that the thrill of live performance comes from risk, immediacy, and the chemistry of artists working in sync, not just a famous face above the title.

If you’re anywhere near the No. 1 show’s city, treat the Post’s nudge as marching orders and go. If you’re not, use the list as a lens: the next time you scan what’s playing, look past the celebrity bios and ask which shows feel alive, specific, and maybe a little bit dangerous. In 2025, that’s where the magic was—and where it’s likely to be in the seasons ahead.