9 Recent Broadway Shows You Can Watch at Home

​The show: Come From Away

Why you should watch: This feel-good tearjerker of a musical seemed to come out of nowhere when it took the Broadway season by storm in 2017: Its Canadian creators, Irene Sankoff and David Hein, had previously only written the Fringe festival hit My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding. Based on true events, Come From Away is set in the tiny town of Gander, Newfoundland, in the week after the September 11 attacks, when 38 planes were forced to land and the townspeople sprang into action to help 7,000 stranded passengers. It’s a cleverly scrappy production, with a cast of 12 playing myriad passengers, flight crew, volunteers and more, and the unabashedly uncynical tone is a strong reminder of how good people can be to one another when the going gets tough.

You’ll love it if you like: heartwarming human-interest stories and rootsy folk music. 

Watch it: Come From Away on Apple TV+

​The show: Purlie Victorious

Why you should watch: This raucous 1961 Ossie Davis play follows a Black traveling preacher who returns to his segregated Georgia town with the hopes of claiming his cousin’s inheritance, defeating a cruel plantation owner and buying the community’s church. It returned to Broadway last fall in the first major New York production in six decades and earned raves for its star, Hamilton Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr., and breakout supporting actress Kara Young, who has been nominated for back-to-back-to-back featured actress Tonys for her first three Broadway roles. One of the most critically lauded productions of the season, Purlie Victorious earned six Tony nominations and was recorded to air on PBS as part of its Great Performances program.

You’ll love it if you like: feel-good comedies with a message — and discovering a next-big-thing star at the start of her career.

Watch it: Purlie Victorious on PBS

​The show: Waitress: The Musical

Why you should watch: Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles adapted the sweet 2007 indie film of the same name into a lovable 2016 musical with a rare, all-female production team. Diner waitress Jenna is in an abusive relationship, and when she gets pregnant unexpectedly, she begins an affair with her married OB/GYN. Her dream: to parlay her love for inventing creative pies into winning a baking contest and escaping her dead-end life. It originally ran from 2016 to 2020 — meaning it lost all its Tonys to juggernaut Hamilton — but it returned to Broadway for a limited run in 2021 with Bareilles taking on the title role. The return engagement was filmed and shown in theaters, and fans can now stream it online.

You’ll love it if you like: sweet tales of female friendship and the witty lyricism of its creator.

Watch it: Waitress: The Musical on Apple TV, Prime Video

​The Show: American Utopia

Why you should watch: Former Talking Heads singer David Byrne, 72, made a name for himself in the 1970s and ’80s for his innovative and artful approach to pop music, and his outsize spirit of creativity is on full display in this theatrical concert, which British music magazine NME wrote “just may be the best live show of all time.” Byrne is joined onstage by 11 musicians from around the world, who dance, march, sing and play for 100 minutes of perpetual motion. It’s all captured on film by another New York legend, director Spike Lee, 67.

You’ll love it if you like: the 1984 Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense.

Watch it: American Utopia on HBO and Max

The show: What the Constitution Means to Me

Why you should watch it: In this warm and thought-provoking one-woman show, playwright Heidi Schreck, 52, recreates Constitutional debate speeches she delivered as a teen to earn scholarship money from the American Legion. You’ll learn a ton about the namesake founding document, as well as immigration, women’s equality, domestic abuse and the Supreme Court — topics that seem more important than ever just before the election. The show went on to be nominated for best play at the Tonys and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

You’ll love it if you like: the Emmy-winning special Nanette by Australian stand-up comedian Hannah Gadsby.

Watch it: What the Constitution Means to Me on Prime Video

The show: We Are Freestyle Love Supreme

Why you should watch: Back while he was working on In the Heights in 2005, Lin-Manuel Miranda cofounded the improvisational hip-hop comedy musical group Freestyle Love Supreme, with a rotating cast that included Wayne Brady, 51, and Hamilton’s Daveed Diggs and Chris Jackson. They brought their show to Broadway in 2019-2020, but if you missed the brief run, watch the Hulu documentary on it, which includes behind-the-scenes footage and performances.

Watch it: We Are Freestyle Love Supreme on Hulu