Broad Strokes: Cat Cohen, Tickets & Lucille Lortel Guide
Cat Cohen’s wildly funny, song-filled one-woman show about mortality, hypochondria, and the undeniable thrill of being the main character — direct from a sold-out Edinburgh Fringe run to the West Village.
Broad Strokes is Cat Cohen’s one-woman musical comedy making its Off-Broadway premiere at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in the West Village, following a sold-out run at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Cohen performs a show built around her experience having a stroke at 30 — funny, musical, and personal, directed by Tony winner Alex Timbers. Eight weeks only.
What Is Broad Strokes?
At 30, Cat Cohen had a stroke. The cause was a literal hole in her heart — a condition she’d had her whole life without knowing. The experience of nearly dying in your thirties, in the middle of your career, surrounded by the particular anxious energy of someone who was already, by most accounts, extremely worried about everything, could be a lot of things. Cohen made it a comedy show.
Broad Strokes is an autobiographical one-woman musical built around that experience — what happens to a hypochondriac when the thing she feared most actually happens, and what it feels like to survive it and come back and have to figure out what you’re supposed to do next. It’s funny. It’s got songs. It has the particular honesty that only comes from someone performing material they’ve lived through rather than invented.
The show premiered at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe, sold out, and came back with serious press behind it. This West Village run — directed by Tony winner Alex Timbers — is its Off-Broadway premiere, with eight weeks only before it closes.
The stroke is the premise, not the point. What Broad Strokes is actually about is mortality, hypochondria, the absurdity of the body, and the genuinely weird feeling of being the main character of your own near-death experience. Cohen’s comedy has always worked because she takes her own neuroses completely seriously and then makes you laugh at exactly how recognizable they are.
Who Is Cat Cohen?
Cat Cohen built her reputation through a combination of live comedy, her Spotify podcast The Twist…She’s Gorgeous, and a screen presence that includes Only Murders in the Building. She has a specific and devoted comedy audience — the kind that follows someone from podcast to live show to streaming special and back — and a voice that’s instantly recognizable once you’ve heard it: extremely online, genuinely funny, and very willing to humiliate herself in the service of a good bit.
Broad Strokes was preceded by Come For Me, her previous Edinburgh show, which she developed after recovering from the stroke. This is the follow-up — the more direct reckoning with what happened. Directed by Alex Timbers (Moulin Rouge!, Just in Time, Beetlejuice), with scenic design by Derek McLane and music supervision by David Dabbon, it’s the most produced version of the show Cohen has made.
If you know her already, this is the obvious next step. If you don’t, this is a strong introduction — the show is built to work for both audiences.
Broad Strokes Dates: Eight Weeks Only
First preview at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher Street.
Official opening night — New York press reviews follow.
Final performance — limited eight-week engagement closes.
Eight weeks is the full run. There is no extension announced and no tour scheduled from this engagement. If you want to see Broad Strokes Off-Broadway, July 14 through September 5 is the window.
How to Get Broad Strokes Tickets
Book through official or authorized ticketing sources — the Lucille Lortel Theatre box office or its official ticketing partner. Same-day rush tickets are available for $32 each, in-person purchase only at the box office.
- Best value: Preview performances July 14–26 and the same-day $32 rush if you’re flexible on date.
- Best certainty: Book before opening-night press lands — Cohen’s fanbase will respond quickly to strong reviews.
- Best for weekends: Saturday and Friday evenings will go fastest — book those well ahead if the date matters.
- Best for visitors: The Lucille Lortel’s West Village location makes pre-show dinner easy — plan around that rather than just the lowest price.
The Edinburgh run sold out. This is an eight-week limited engagement in a city where Cohen already has a real audience. Don’t wait on this one assuming inventory will last.
The Lucille Lortel Theatre, West Village
The Lucille Lortel Theatre sits at 121 Christopher Street in the West Village — one of the better Off-Broadway locations in terms of pre-show neighborhood energy. Christopher Street itself has been a center of New York cultural life for decades, and the surrounding blocks of the West Village are excellent for dinner before the show in a way that most Off-Broadway venues can’t match.
The Lortel is a 299-seat Off-Broadway house with a strong track record of presenting ambitious new work and solo performances. For a one-woman show like Broad Strokes, the intimacy of the room is part of the draw — you’re close to the performer in a way that changes what cabaret comedy can do.
Center orchestra, close-to-mid house — close enough for genuine intimacy without losing the full stage picture.
For a 299-seat room, most seats are good — a few rows back center is comparable to front row at significantly less cost.
Solo shows and cabaret tend to reward being close — the facial work and timing are part of the performance in ways that scale doesn’t capture.
Check the Lucille Lortel Theatre’s official site for current accessible seating availability and policies.
Who Broad Strokes Is Best For
This is the show her podcast listeners and comedy followers have been waiting for — built around her specific voice, her specific neuroses, and her specific near-death experience.
One of the few Off-Broadway shows right now that genuinely delivers comedy alongside real emotional honesty — a better date-night pick than most of what’s currently running.
If you love confessional cabaret — think Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Hannah Gadsby, or Bo Burnham — this is built from the same tradition, with its own very specific sound.
The Lucille Lortel’s neighborhood makes this one of the more pleasant Off-Broadway evenings logistically — the dining and nightlife before and after are genuinely strong.
One performer, one stage, no ensemble — this is the opposite of Broadway-scale production values. The scale is the point, not a limitation.
Not a dealbreaker — the show is built to work for newcomers — but audiences already familiar with her comedy will get more out of the specific register she’s working in.
Plan the Night Around the West Village
121 Christopher Street is one of the better Off-Broadway addresses in New York for building a full evening around. The West Village has a serious restaurant scene in every direction — Italian on Bleecker, wine bars on Hudson, neighborhood spots down Christopher itself — all within easy walking distance and none of the tourist-trap pressure of the Times Square corridor.
For an evening curtain, dinner starting around 6:00–6:30 PM gives enough time without rushing. The Lortel box office opens three hours before each performance. After the show, the West Village stays lively — this is genuinely one of the better neighborhoods in the city for a late drink, whether you want something quiet on a side street or livelier on Hudson Street.
Transit options depend on where you’re coming from — the 1 train at Christopher Street/Sheridan Square is the most direct, with the A/C/E at 14th Street as an alternative. Rideshare or taxi drops easily on Christopher or the surrounding blocks. See the Greenwich Village neighborhood guide for more on the area, and the getting home late at night guide for exit strategy after the show.
The West Village is as good as it gets for building an Off-Broadway night out — calmer than the Theater District, better restaurants per block than almost anywhere else in Manhattan, and easy enough to navigate that the logistics don’t get in the way of the evening.
FAQ: Broad Strokes
Broad Strokes is Cat Cohen’s one-woman musical comedy about surviving a stroke at 30 caused by a literal hole in her heart — wildly funny, song-filled, and built around mortality, hypochondria, and the undeniable thrill of being the main character of your own near-death experience.
Yes — a one-woman musical comedy, blending confessional storytelling with musical cabaret. Book, lyrics, and music are by Cat Cohen with David Dabbon. It is not a traditional book musical with an ensemble cast.
Off-Broadway. It plays at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher Street, in the West Village.
Previews begin July 14, 2026, with an opening night of July 27. The limited eight-week engagement closes September 5, 2026.
Tony Award winner Alex Timbers directs, with scenic design by Derek McLane and music supervision by David Dabbon.
Yes — the show sold out at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it received strong critical attention. It also had a pre-Broadway tryout at Huntington Theatre Company in Boston in June 2026 before its Off-Broadway premiere.
Yes — same-day rush tickets are available for $32 each, in-person purchase only at the Lucille Lortel Theatre box office. The box office opens three hours before each performance.
Yes — especially for anyone who already follows Cat Cohen’s comedy or who wants a funny, musical, intimate Off-Broadway night rather than a large-scale Broadway production. See the first-time visitor guide for the full range of current options.
Eight Weeks. One Performer. Real Comedy.
Broad Strokes is Cat Cohen at her sharpest — a sold-out Edinburgh show, now in a West Village room that suits it perfectly, directed by one of Broadway’s stronger creative talents. If you know her comedy already, this is the obvious show to see. If you don’t, it’s a very good introduction to what solo musical comedy can do when the material is genuinely earned rather than assembled.
Eight weeks only, July 14 through September 5. See the Off-Broadway hub for everything else currently running, or the Off-Broadway archive for what’s recently closed.
Edinburgh sold out. This is Cat Cohen’s Off-Broadway premiere — limited to July 14–September 5. Same-day rush: $32 in-person at the Lortel box office.
Broad Strokes
- VenueLucille Lortel Theatre
- Location121 Christopher St · West Village
- TypeOne-woman musical comedy
- Previews / OpensJul 14 / Jul 27, 2026
- ClosesSep 5, 2026 · 8 weeks only
- PerformerCat Cohen
- DirectorAlex Timbers
- Rush Tickets$32 · same-day · in-person only
What Critics Said
- “A rich, perfectly formed show from one of the most can’t-take-your-eyes-off-them acts in comedy.”The Guardian
- “Her best show yet… the show of her career.”The Times
How to Book
West Village Evening
Related Guides
“She had a stroke. She made a comedy show about it. It sold out in Edinburgh. Now it’s in your neighborhood for eight weeks. Do the math.”
Tickets, West Village & Cat Cohen Night-Out Planning
From finding the right seat at the Lortel to dinner on Christopher Street to getting home from the West Village — everything you need to make Broad Strokes worth the trip.
Off-Broadway Shows in NYC
Current Off-Broadway productions — compare Broad Strokes with everything else worth seeing this summer.
Browse Shows → ✨ Lincoln CenterThe Whoopi Monologues
Kerry Washington and Kara Young at Lincoln Center — another major summer Off-Broadway event with a strong female ensemble at the center.
Show Guide → ⚡ 42nd StDisruption
John David Washington leads a tech-thriller ensemble at Pershing Square Signature Center — a sharper, darker summer Off-Broadway pick.
Show Guide → ⚖️ CompareBroadway vs Off-Broadway
What the difference actually means for tickets, venues, and expectations.
Read the Comparison → 📍 West VillageGreenwich Village Guide
The best Off-Broadway neighborhood in the city for a full evening — dining, bars, and the walk to and from the Lortel.
Neighborhood Guide → 💛 Date NightDate Night NYC
Broad Strokes is one of the better date-night Off-Broadway picks right now — funny, honest, and a natural conversation starter for the drink after.
Date Night Ideas → 🍽 Pre-ShowBest Pre-Theater Restaurants
The West Village has some of New York’s best pre-show dining — these picks are timed and located for the Lortel specifically.
Find a Restaurant → 🚕 Getting HomeLate-Night Transportation
Getting out of the West Village at night — subway options, rideshare, and what to expect on Christopher Street after a show.
Transit Guide →