For teachers planning a student trip to New York City, the right Broadway show can do more than fill an evening. It can connect to what students are learning, give them a new way into a familiar story, or become the moment they remember most from the trip.
This season, three new musicals stand out: GALILEO, DOLLY: A True Original Musical, and Paddington The Musical.
Here’s what’s coming and why each one is worth watching.
GALILEO Brings Science, History and Rock & Roll to Broadway
Previews begin November 10, 2026 | Opens December 6, 2026 | Shubert Theatre
Science, history and theatre teachers may finally have a Broadway show they can all agree on.
GALILEO follows Galileo Galilei, the astronomer whose discoveries changed how we understand the universe and put him in conflict with the powerful institutions of his time.
Four-time Tony Award nominee Raúl Esparza stars as Galileo alongside Jeremy Kushnier and Tony nominee Joy Woods. The musical features a book by Danny Strong, music and lyrics by Zoe Sarnak and Michael Weiner, and direction by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer.
This is not a history lecture with songs added.
The show digs into curiosity, ambition, belief, power, and what happens when new evidence challenges accepted ideas. For students, that opens the door to connections with astronomy, physics, Renaissance history, religion, ethics, and scientific inquiry.
GALILEO is currently recommended for ages 10 and up.
Classroom Connection
Before the trip, have students choose one of Galileo’s discoveries and look at why it was controversial at the time. After the show, compare the historical Galileo with the character they saw onstage.
History. STEM. Broadway. We love a crossover.
DOLLY: A True Original Musical Celebrates an American Original
Previews begin December 7, 2026 | Opens January 19, 2027 | St. James Theatre
There was really only one person who could tell Dolly Parton’s story properly: Dolly Parton.
Before her passing in August 2026, Parton helped create DOLLY: A True Original Musical, co-writing the book with Maria S. Schlatter and contributing new music alongside songs generations already know.
The musical follows her journey from Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains to international stardom, featuring songs including “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” “9 to 5,” and “I Will Always Love You.”
Directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher, the production comes to Broadway after its world premiere in Nashville.
For students, Dolly’s story reaches far beyond the music. It connects to Appalachian culture, American music history, women in entertainment, entrepreneurship, literacy advocacy, and the challenge of building a creative career while holding onto your own voice.
For theatre and music students, there’s another layer: how do you turn real life into a musical? What gets condensed? What becomes a song? And how does familiar music change when it becomes part of a larger story?
DOLLY: A True Original Musical is currently recommended for ages 12 and up.
Classroom Connection
Have students choose a Dolly Parton song before the trip and research when it was written, what inspired it, and where it falls in her career. After the show, talk about whether seeing it in context changed the way they heard it.
Bonus points if the bus makes it home without a full-group rendition of “Jolene.”
We’re not counting on it.
Paddington Is Packing His Suitcase for Broadway
Previews begin March 30, 2027 | Opens April 18, 2027 | Al Hirschfeld Theatre
Please look after this bear.
After a hit run in London’s West End, Paddington The Musical is heading to Broadway in spring 2027.
Based on Michael Bond’s beloved books and the STUDIOCANAL films, the musical features music and lyrics by Tom Fletcher, a book by Jessica Swale, and direction by Luke Sheppard, whose Broadway credits include & Juliet.
It also arrives with some serious credentials: the London production won seven Olivier Awards in 2026, including Best New Musical.
At its heart, Paddington has always been a story about kindness, belonging, family and making a home in an unfamiliar place. For younger students, those themes create natural connections to empathy, immigration, British culture and storytelling.
There’s also plenty for theatre students to study.
How do you take a character from a children’s book, move him through film and then make audiences believe in him onstage eight times a week?
Future designers, puppeteers and theatre technicians may spend the entire ride home trying to figure that one out.
Classroom Connection
Read excerpts from Michael Bond’s original A Bear Called Paddington before the trip. Ask students what they think makes Paddington feel like Paddington, then watch for how those traits show up through performance, music, movement, and stagecraft.
Marmalade sandwiches optional.
Why Broadway Belongs on a Student Trip to New York City
Seeing a Broadway show is fun. That part is easy.
But live theatre can also make classroom subjects feel immediate in a way few other experiences can.
A historical figure becomes a person standing onstage.
A scientific argument becomes a human conflict.
A character students already know suddenly exists right in front of them.
Broadway brings together music, literature, history, technology, design and performance in one room, in real time. That makes it a natural fit for an educational trip to New York City.
With GALILEO, DOLLY: A True Original Musical and Paddington The Musical joining the Broadway lineup, teachers have three very different ways to connect the stage to the classroom.
One reaches for the stars. One celebrates an American icon. And one shows up from Peru with a suitcase, a red hat, and a deep commitment to marmalade. That’s a pretty good season.
Bring Your Students to Broadway with ETA
Whether you’re planning a performing arts trip to New York City, adding a Broadway show to a class trip, or building a completely custom NYC experience, Educational Travel Adventures can help create an itinerary around your students and goals.
From Broadway performances and workshops to museums, landmarks, and behind-the-scenes experiences, we’ll help you build a trip that gives students plenty to talk about long after they get home.
Ready to start planning your student Broadway trip to New York City?
