Is there any place more enticing to spend a Friday evening than among the glitz and glamor of Broadway? Each of its 41 stages promises audiences a night to remember, from contemporary black comedies to reimagined Shakespearean tragedies. But take it from the Arts desk: There’s much more to theater than the shows that call those venues home. After all, the only thing separating Broadway from off-Broadway is audience size. Just a handful of the hundreds of productions performed in the city every year make it to the Great White Way — but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth your time. Raise your theater IQ with these four amazing shows that have never hit a Broadway stage.

‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ by Peter Parnell 

Based on Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel and the more recent 1996 Disney film, it’s a shame Peter Parnell’s dark adaptation of Stephen Schwartz and Alan Menken’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” has yet to reach Broadway. With an onstage chorus reminiscent of a Greek tragedy, the vocals at the La Jolla Playhouse and Paper Mill Playhouse productions — in California and New Jersey, respectively — are truly unbelievable, especially in “The Bells of Notre Dame.” Not to mention that Quasimodo is a beast of a main character, forcing the actor to hit the impressive notes of “Out There” all while remaining hunched over. Sure, it might be an obvious pick, but it deserves its spot for good reason.

— Skylar Boilard, Arts Editor

‘Ghost Quartet’ by Dave Malloy

Dave Malloy deserves a formal apology from the Broadway community — and not just because his musical “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812” lost the Tony Award for Best Musical to “Dear Evan Hansen” in 2017. The most despicable robbery Malloy has suffered is that “Ghost Quartet,” his four-person musical song cycle spanning seven centuries, was never performed on a Broadway stage. The show, which premiered in 2014 at the Bushwick Starr, was last played at the McKittrick Hotel nearly a decade ago. Malloy’s eerie score draws from jazz, folk and gospel to create a haunted cabaret that feels simultaneously intimate and all-encompassing as characters bond over whiskey and urban legends. Not only is it Malloy’s best work, but it’s one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written for the stage — hopefully, one day, Broadway will hear its chilling melodies.

— Chantal Mann, Performing Arts Editor

‘John’ by Annie Baker

It’s a crime that Pulitzer Prize-winner and NYU Dramatic Writing alum Annie Baker has never had a play produced on Broadway — though not entirely surprising, as her scripts often deal with the mundane lives of ordinary people. But her 2015 play “John,” which tackles universal themes of human connection and loneliness, would fit perfectly on a Broadway stage. In “John,” young couple Elias and Jenny stay at a bed-and-breakfast in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, run by the elderly Mertis. Baker specifies a set filled with small objects, and the characters watch over these miniatures as they ponder the possibility of a larger presence watching over them all. Although the over three-hour runtime is a tough sell, casting a gang of TV actors — as is the norm now — would draw legions of viewers to Baker’s incomparable gift for naturalistic dialogue.  

— Ethan Li, Copy Chief

‘The Wild Party’ by Andrew Lippa

In 2000, Andrew Lippa’s take on Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 poem “The Wild Party” opened at the Manhattan Theatre Club with dreams of a Broadway transfer. Unfortunately, Michael LaChiusa’s adaptation of the same poem beat him to it — meaning that Lippa’s adaptation never had a chance to make it to Broadway. It’s a shame, because the two composers have such original and widely different takes on their shared source material. While LaChiusa’s version is darker and more experimental, Lippa’s is enticing in its own right with a focus on the twisted love triangle between Queenie, Burrs and the mysterious Mr. Black. Lippa’s score fuses jazz and rock to create incredible powerhouse ballads — Julia Murney’s staggering performance of “Raise the Roof” as Queenie is reason enough to seek out the cast album.

— Ella Sabrina Malabanan, Copy Chief

Contact the Arts desk at [email protected].