Billy Crystal to Return to Broadway With New One-Man Show, ‘860’

 

Billy Crystal to Return to Broadway With New One-Man Show, ‘860’

Billy Crystal, who turned family memory into Broadway gold with 700 Sundays, will return to the stage this fall with a new one-man show shaped by loss, resilience and the stubborn consolations of laughter.

The production, titled 860, will begin previews Oct. 1 at the Imperial Theater and open Oct. 21 for a limited 14-week engagement, running through Jan. 3, 2027. It will be directed by Scott Ellis, the Tony-nominated director whose Broadway credits include Take Me Out, Tootsie, She Loves Me, and On the Twentieth Century.

The show is being produced by Janice Crystal, James L. Nederlander, Larry Magid, and Face Productions.

In 860, Crystal reflects on the aftermath of the Palisades fires, which destroyed his home, and looks back on the family, friendships, career, and moments that shaped him. The show is described as an intimate and comic meditation on love, luck, loss, and the way humor can help carry people through even the most devastating chapters.

Presale tickets will be available to Audience Rewards members beginning Monday, June 15, at 10 a.m. Eastern, through Thursday, June 18, at 9:59 a.m. Tickets go on sale to the general public Thursday, June 18, at 10 a.m. through Telecharge.com and by phone at 212-239-6200.

Crystal’s return to Broadway brings him back to the form that gave him one of the defining triumphs of his stage career. His 2004 solo show, 700 Sundays, won the Tony Award for special theatrical event and became, at the time, the highest-grossing nonmusical in Broadway history. The production later returned to Broadway and was filmed for HBO.

A Tony and Emmy Award winner, Crystal has spent more than five decades moving between stand-up, film, television, theater, and awards-show hosting. He first drew major television attention in the 1970s on Soap, then became a breakout cast member on Saturday Night Live, where his Fernando character and “You look mahvelous” catchphrase entered the comedy bloodstream.

His film career includes When Harry Met Sally…, City Slickers, The Princess Bride, Analyze This, Mr. Saturday Night and the voice of Mike Wazowski in Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. films. He has hosted the Academy Awards nine times, won multiple Emmy Awards and received both the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and a Kennedy Center Honor.

Crystal previously returned to Broadway in 2022 with Mr. Saturday Night, the musical adaptation of his 1992 film, earning a Tony nomination for leading actor in a musical.

Ellis, currently interim artistic director of Roundabout Theatre Company, has directed extensively on Broadway and Off-Broadway, with a résumé that spans revivals, comedies, musicals and new work. His television credits include 30 Rock, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Weeds, and Modern Family.

The complete creative team for 860 will be announced in the coming weeks.