Next Fall Tickets

Next Fall is a play about an odd relationship over a five year period. The relationship is not odd because the couple are gay, but odd because one is very religious, the other is an atheist. The website www.nextfallbroadway.com has described the play as, “two men in love, two parents in denial, and two friends on speed dial.”

Love and Faith

Next Fall was written by Geoffrey Nauffts, who has worked extensively as an actor on and off-Broadway, as well as in movies and TV. Nauffts has also directed plays, and he has also gotten together with Elton John to work on Showstopper, a screenplay that will be produced by Ben Stiller.

Geoffrey Nauffts said that Next Fall is about two people “struggling to find a commonality,” but it encompasses so much more. Next Fall deals with issues of faith, beliefs, what love and family really means, and learning to live with people’s differences. As one member of the cast said, “Part of the beauty of what Geoffrey has done is create real people without judgment.”

As one of the play’s performers, Patrick Heusinger said, ”This play does not preach to anything. It doesn’t say pick a side or another. It raises a lot of questions.” Nauffts also said, “My intention when I wrote the play was to start a dialog going.”

Elton John and his partner David Furnish are also producers of Next Fall. They had previously produced the Tony award winning stage play version of Billy Elliot. John and Furnish said in a statement: “We are excited to join the team bring Geoffrey Nauffts’ extraordinary play to Broadway. After fulfilling experiences bringing new musicals to the stage, it was seeing this inspiring and timely new work that attracted us to take on our first play.”

Furnish has also said, “I was just blown away by what I saw on stage. I thought the quality of the writing, and the message of the play, so many important messages, and so relevant to where America is sitting right now.”

John also said, “I feel blessed to have my name involved with it. It’s a no-brainer, this is a wonderful piece of work. This is the fifth thing I’ve been involved with on Broadway. The American dream is to have a play on Broadway, we are living that dream.”

Falling For Next Fall

Next Fall debuted Off-Broadway in 2009, and proved a bit hit. Next Fall went to Broadway the following year, and it received rave reviews. One critic called it “artful, thoughtful and very moving,” and that the play’s creator Geoffrey Nauffts “has written the kind of gently incisive, naturalistic play that rarely materializes anymore.”

The New York Times gave it a five-star review and hailed it “The best new play of the season,” and also called it “the little play that could.” Next Fall was nominated for two Tonys and two Drama Desk awards.