The musical is based on the 2006 film of the same name, and is written by Tony winners William Finn and James Lapine. The musical had its world premiere in California at the La Jolla Playhouse, but the new production is a major reworking that only keeps three songs from that version. The new production will kick off the season on October 15, and an official opening will be held sometime in mid-November.

“I am thrilled to kick off our 35th anniversary season with Little Miss Sunshine and to welcome back William Finn and James Lapine, two artists who have significant histories with Second Stage, most recently with our production of their musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” said Carole Rothman, Second Stage artistic director, in a statement. “It seems appropriate to kick off this landmark season with a musical about optimism and resiliency, two qualities that are crucial for any not-for-profit theatre celebrating its past while also looking to its future. I can’t wait to introduce this exuberant, funny, and sophisticated new musical to our audience.”

Lapine will direct the Second Stage version. Here’s how it is being billed:

On life’s twisty road, sometimes you need to pull over and change direction. When the coveted title of ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ is unexpectedly within her reach, young Olive Hoover convinces her family to make the 800 mile trek to the pre-teen pageant of her dreams. Along the way, a series of mishaps threatens to derail the group’s quest for the crown, until they realize a young girl’s far-fetched goal may actually hold the key to the family’s happiness. From the Tony Award-winning team of James Lapine and William Finn comes Little Miss Sunshine, a new musical comedy about one modern family’s unexpected route to brighter days.

Levi will star alongside Krysta Rodriguez in the new production, which is set to open August 4 at The Longacre Theatre and will begin previews July 9. The musical is directed by Bill Berry, who also directed the world premiere of the show in Seattle. That production won four Seattle Times Footlight Awards, including best musical.

Austin Winsberg, best known for his work on the television show “Gossip Girl” wrote the book, and Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner wrote the music and lyrics.

Here’s how press notes describe the show:

When tightly wound Aaron (Levi) is set up with serial-dater Casey (Rodriguez) a quick drink at a busy New York restaurant turns into a hilarious, high-stakes dinner. As the date unfolds in real time, the couple quickly finds they are not alone on this date as Casey and Aaron’s inner critics take on a life of their own when other restaurant patrons and the wait staff get into the act. Dinner is served with sides of Google background checks, fake emergency phone calls, supportive best friends, manipulative exes and protective parents, who sing and dance them through ice-breakers, appetizers and potential conversational land mines. “First Date” is Broadway’s new hysterical and hopeful new musical about the chances we take to find love.

Other members of the cast include Sara Chase, Kristoffer Cusick, Blake Hammond, Kate Loprest and Vicki Noon.

Rodriguez is best known on Broadway as Wednesday Addams in “The Addams Family,” and also has appeared in “In the Heights” and “Good Vibrations.” In addition to his work on “Chuck,” Levi sang in Disney’s “Tangled.” He also will appear in the upcoming movie “Thor: The Dark World.”

The Daily Mail reports that talks are ongoing, and that if the show does play in London, it won’t happen until late spring 2014. But the paper also specifies that “it’s a big if,” referring to “if” the transfer will happen. If it does, it will be a limited engagement similar to the New York production.

The Broadway version officially opened April 1, and was recently extended for 16 additional performances through July 3 at the Broadhurst Theatre. It is also reported that the play already recouped its $3.6 million capitalization.

If all that weren’t enough, the show has been nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for Tom Hanks. Other nominations include Best Play, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, Best Direction of a Play, Best Scenic Design of a Play and Best Lighting Design of a Play.

Press notes describe the production as “a new play about the scandal- and graffiti-ridden New York of the 1980s, as told through the story of the charismatic and controversial tabloid columnist Mike McAlary. From his sensational reporting of New York’s major police corruption to the libel suit that nearly ended his career, the play dramatizes the story of McAlary’s meteoric rise, fall and rise again, ending with his coverage of the Abner Louima case for which he won the Pulitzer Prize, shortly before his untimely death on Christmas Day, 1998.”

Ephron is best known as a Academy Award-winning screenwriter, winning the Oscar for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) for “When Harry Met Sally,” “Sleepless in Seattle” and “Silkwood.” Hanks starred in “Sleepless in Seattle.”

The production will begin previews at the Walter Kerr Theater on October 22, and will officially open on November 17. Tony Award winner Jefferson Mays will continue to star in multiple roles in the production.

Here’s the official notes on the story:

When Monty Navarro, the black sheep of the D’Ysquith family, finds out he is ninth in line to inherit a dukedom, he decides to eliminate the other eight heirs standing in his way — all played by Tony Award winner Jefferson Mays (I Am My Own Wife). Set in England’s elegant Edwardian era, this witty music hall comedy explores how low we’ll go to make it to the top.

The book for the musical is written by Robert L. Freedman and the music is by Steven Lutvak. Freedman and Lutvak collaborated on the lyrics. The musical is based on the Roy Horniman novel “Israel Rank.”

Freedman is probably best known for his Emmy-winning work on the ABC miniseries “Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows,” and also worked with the network on “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella.” He won the Writer’s Guild Award for HBO’s “A Deadly Secret.” He has often worked with Lutvak, and the pair won California Musical Theater Award Competition for “Campaign of the Century.” Lutvak also wrote the title track to the film “Mad Hot Ballroom.”

Darko Tresnjak will direct, and he also staged the musical at Hartford Stage last fall and then at Old Globe Theater in San Diego this spring.

Joey Parnes and John Arthur Pinckard will produce, in association with the two theaters that have previously presented the production. Parnes is best known for his association with “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” and Pinckard worked with “Hair.”

As of yet, no dates, cities, venues or casting has been announced for the tour.

“Pippin” recently was nominated for 10 2013 Tony Awards, including Best Musical Revival. It opened on April 25 at the Music Box Theatre following previews that began March 23.

The current production is a new take on the original dark coming-of-age musical by Roger O. Hirson and Stephen Schwartz. The new production originally appeared at the American Repertory Theater in Boston last fall.

Diane Paulus, known for her work in “Porgy and Bess” and “Hair,” directs the musical that features circus choreography and acrobatics. Both “Porgy and Bess” and “Hair” won Tony Awards for Best Musical Revival.

Here’s what the official website for the Broadway version says about the new production:

Everything has its season… and this season, “Pippin” returns to Broadway for the first time since it first thrilled audiences 40 years ago! With a beloved score by Tony Award nominee Stephen Schwartz (“Godspell,” “Wicked”) that includes the favorites “Magic to Do,” “Glory” and “Corner of the Sky,” “Pippin” tells the story of a young prince on a death-defying journey to find meaning in his existence. Will he choose a happy but simple life? Or will he risk everything for a singular flash of glory?

The original production premiered on Broadway in 1972, and went on to play 1,944 performances before it closed five years later. That production won five Tony Awards, including Best Director and Best Choreographer. Since that time, the musical has gone on to become a favorite to be performed by high school and college theater troupes around the country.

The Getaway, a 4,000-passenger ocean liner, will sail out of Miami in January 2014, and “Legally Blonde” will be performed in the Gateway Theater on the ship, which houses 787 fans.

“Legally Blonde” is based on the 2001 Reese Witherspoon movie of the same name, and opened on Broadway at the Palace Theatre in April of 2007. When the run ended in October of the following year, it had performed 30 previews and 595 regular performances. That production gathered seven Tony nominations, including Best Original Score, Best Book, Best Actress (for Laura Bell Bundy) and Best Choreography.

The musical contains music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin. Heather Hach wrote the book.

The musical recently went on a UK national tour, and here’s how the story was described in notes for that production:

Elle Woods can handle anything. So when her boyfriend, Warner, dumps her she decides to follow him to Harvard Law School and win him back. With some help from new-found friends Paulette, Emmett and her chihuahua Bruiser, she learns that it’s so much better to be smart.

On previous musical cruises (which have presented “Hairspray” and “Chicago” on certain voyages on the Royal Caribbean company), the original productions were shortened, but there’s been no word yet if this production will follow suit.

Throughout the seven-day cruise, the Gateway Theater also will host productions of the ballroom dance spectacle “Burn the Floor.” The Broadway version of that show was directed and choreographed by Jason Gilkison and featured 32 champion ball room dancers.

The original film starred Luke Wilson and Selma Blair in addition to Witherspoon. It was written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, and directed by Robert Luketic.

The series has been leading up to the reveal for its entire run, though the episode stopped short of showing how the mother meets Ted. That character, played by Josh Radnor, has been telling his future kids how he met their mother through a series of flashbacks, so it would be assumed that Milioti will play a large part in the ninth and final season of the show when it returns this fall.

Milioti is best known for her Tony nominated role as Girl in “Once,” which received the Best Musical Tony last year. She also has been seen on Broadway in “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” and “Coram Boy.” She has appeared on television in “The Sopranos,” “The Good Wife,” “Nurse Jackie” and “30 Rock.” She also appeared in the 2012 movie “Sleepwalk With Me” along with Mike Birbiglia.

The mother character has of course been teased throughout the series, and though she made her first appearance in season three as “The Girl With the Yellow Umbrella,” viewers had yet to see her face until last night. There have been many recurring characters throughout the show in addition to the main ensemble cast, and there have been quite a few “bait and switch” tactics, so it remained unclear if the mother would be a familiar face or someone new.

Even the appearance of Milioti as the mother might lead to questions as to whether this was just another attempt at misdirection, but CBS has confirmed that she is in fact the mother and Ted’s future wife.

The rest of the cast includes Alyson Hannigan, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders and Neil Patrick Harris. It was recently announced that Harris will return to host the Tony Awards for the fourth time next month.

A nine-week run will begin previews November 5 at the Imperial Theater, with opening night scheduled for November 13. The limited run will end after a January 5 performance, and the production is being called the last for the play.

“700 Sundays” tells Crystal’s story of growing up on Long Island, and originally opened in 2004 at the Broadhurst Theater where it ran for 163 performances. The title references the number of Sundays Crystal’s father was alive. It won a Tony Award the following year for Special Theatrical Event. The production is written by Crystal with additional material from Alan Zweibel, and is directed by Des McAnuff.

“‘700 Sundays’ has, without question, been the most satisfying experience of my career,” said Crystal in a statement. “When we originally opened on Broadway, all I knew was that I had a story that I was compelled to share. Now that I’ve performed my play across the country and internationally, I’m gratified to know that the love of family, through joy and pain, is perhaps the most universal story. I’ve now decided to tell this story one last time in my own backyard, where it all took place. It is a privilege to return to Broadway to say goodbye to one of the greatest thrills of my life.”

In other news concerning Crystal, it was announced yesterday that he is attached to “Winter’s Discontent,” an upcoming film to be directed by Frank Oz. He was recently seen in “Parental Guidance” with Bette Midler and Marisa Tomei, and will lend his voice to the upcoming Pixar film “Monsters University.” Frank Oz also is a voice actor in that project, along with John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Bonnie Hunt and John Ratzenberger.

NBC has now confirmed those fears with the release of its new lineup for the upcoming season. “Smash” will be no more after its second season, which is scheduled to end on May 26.

“Thk u to everyone who watched Smash! Been an amazing ride. & thanks to @nbc 4 the opportunity 2 play a great gal such as Karen. So grateful,” star Katharine McPhee tweeted after the news was released. The show also starred Debra Messing and Anjelica Huston.

McPhee later added “Ahhhh! Love you all! Ur passion is so heartwarming! Life is about chapters & the relationships u make along the way. Next chapter! Exciting.”

Co-star Andy Mientus took a more Broadway-centric view of the news, appropriate for the theme of the show.

“So sad that Smash is officially going Non-Equity,” he wrote, later adding, “But in all seriousness, I love Smash, am so grateful to its fans, had the time of my life working with such talent and will never forget it!”

Around the time of the schedule change, it was reported that Messing and McPhee were thinking about leaving the show regardless of whether it was canceled, though both denied the rumors and also denied that there was any tension among cast members.

However, Messing was already working with CBS on a pilot at the time, though it was said to be a back-up in case “Smash” did end up being cancelled. That pilot is not listed in the initial lineup by CBS, though there is still a possibility it could still be picked up.

Of course, Messing took to Twitter, as well, writing, “Thank you 2 all the Smash fans for your love and faith. I LOVED our show, our cast, the music and dance, and will 4ever B grateful & proud.”

King wrote the book for the southern gothic musical, while Mellencamp and legendary producer Burnett teamed up to work on the musical.

The tour will kick off October 10 at the Indiana University Auditorium in Bloomington, Ill., and will run through a November 6 performance at the DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids, Mich. The rest of the tour will take place primarily in the Midwest, with stops in Evansville, Ind.; Akron, Ohio; Rockford, Illinois; Milwaukee; Sioux City, Iowa and South Bend, Indiana, among others.

A release by presenter AEG Live says the show, 13 years in the making, “is a haunting tale of fraternal love, lust, jealousy and revenge.” An ensemble cast of 15 actors will perform the musical along with a four-piece live band.

Here’s the official description of the musical:

Set in the tiny town of Lake Belle Reve, Mississippi, the Ghost Brothers’ story centers on two sets of brothers: the ghosts of Jack and Andy, dead in an apparent murder/suicide, and their nephews, the living Frank and Drake, who seem to be headed toward the same downward spiral as their uncles. Joe, younger brother of Jack and Andy, father of Frank and Drake, has decided it’s time to reveal his own terrible secret at the site of the tragedy, before it’s too late.

In the statement, King also spoke of why he wanted to take on this project.

“John can make rock & roll records and I can write books for the rest of our lives, but that’s the safe way to do it, and that’s no way to live if you want to stay creative,” he said. “We were willing to be educated, and at our age, that’s an accomplishment.”