On Broadway: A Season to Celebrate? Chorus Line, a new Twyla, and Bourne's Mary Poppins--this could be the year of the dance musical.

Broadway seasons don't necessarily lend themselves to a logical narrative. They tend to result from random combinations of events. Somebody breaks a foot and a high-profile show postpones its opening, so a producer decides to fill the newly available theater with his off-Broadway smash; or an out-of-town tryout gets withering reviews and goes back to the drawing board, so the star proceeds with a revival that had been scheduled for the following season. Then in retrospect we scratch our heads and try to figure out why everyone on Broadway was, say, doing the Charleston that year. Well, nobody planned it that way. It just happened.

So it's safe to say that it's just an accident that the coming Broadway season is shaping up as a classic showdown between dance-driven musicals and the other kind. This past season was a hands-down triumph for singing--the hits were hits despite their dance numbers, not because of them. By contrast, the coming season promises a new Twyla Tharp show and a revival of A Chorus Line. That would seem to put dance front and center. But the music-first charge will be led by revivals of Les Miserables and Company, two hugely popular but dance-challenged shows. Time alone will tell whether the year goes down as a good one for dance and dancers. Meanwhile, here are some of the plans for the coming season, arranged, suitably enough, at random. (Opening dates, always subject to change, are included where available.)

The Times They Are A-Changin'. Twyla Tharp's eagerly awaited follow-up to Movin' Out fashions the music of Bob Dylan into a mythic tale of a carnival owner, his son, and his mistress. Reviews in San Diego were mixed, but changes are in the works. Scheduled to open in the fall.

A Chorus Line. This 1975 musical about show dancers mass-marketed the word "gypsy." Bob Avian, who worked on it with Michael Bennett, is at the helm of this revival. Baayork Lee, the original Connie, re-creates the choreography. Previews begin Sept. 18 at the Schoenfeld.

Les Miserables. This show has the soul of an opera, not a Broadway musical. But you can't argue with success--eight Tonys, 6,680 performances from 1987 to 2003. Previews begin Oct. 21 at the Broadhurst.

The Pirate Queen. Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, the Les Mis composers, have turned their attention to the colorful life of the 16th-century Irish legend Grace O'Malley. Frank Galati is directing and Mark Dendy is doing the choreography.

Company. Even with Michael Bennett involved, this 1970 Stephen Sondheim classic was not a dance show. With John Doyle in charge, it's likely to be even less so--he's the British director whose coruscating production of Sweeney Todd features singer-actors who provide their own musical accompaniment. It would be a bit much to ask the performers to dance as well. Scheduled to open at the Ethel Barrymore in November.

Mary Poppins. The stage version of the Disney movie is a London hit, arriving on Broadway with Gavin Lee repeating his star-making turn as Bert the sooty chimneysweep. Matthew Bourne is codirector and choreographer. Previews begin Oct. 14 at the New Amsterdam.

Grey Gardens. An off-Broadway hit last season, this musical is based on the documentary film about two of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' weirder relatives. Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson won raves for their performances, with Michael Greif directing and Jeff Calhoun providing the musical staging. Scheduled to open in October.

Legally Blonde. Yes, Virginia, another musical based on a movie. The good news: Jerry Mitchell is director and choreographer. The not-so-good news: Don't expect Reese Witherspoon. (Mitchell is also on board for another film-to-musical adaptation, Catch Me If You Can, by the composing team that did Hairspray.)

High Fidelity. Well, this one may sound like it's derived from a movie--the endearing John Cusack vehicle directed by Stephen Frears in 2000--but it cites the original Nick Hornby novel about a slacker music buff as its source. The playwright David Lindsay-Abaire did the adaptation, and Walter Bobble will direct. Christopher Gattelli is the choreographer. (He's also scheduled to choreograph Adrift in Macao, the Christopher Durang musical slated for a January opening off-Broadway.)

Oh What a Lovely War. This British revue from the '60s returns to aim its ironic depiction of the gung-ho patriotism of World War I at yet another conflict. Scheduled to open this season.

Zanna! A revamped version of the off-Broadway hit, this whimsical tale of a magical high schooler is to be directed and choreographed by Devanand Janki.

110 in the Shade. Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones are famous for having written The Fantasticks. Their 1963 musical version of The Rainmaker is pretty much forgotten, along with the choreography provided by Agnes de Mille. Lonny Price will direct this revival, but de Mille's successor had not been announced at press time. Scheduled to open in the spring.

Paint Your Wagon. Another show that featured the work of Agnes de Mille, this 1951 Lerner and Loewe classic about the Gold Rush returns with choreography by Adam Cooper. Scott Faris directs.

Carmen: The Musical. If it's good enough for Aida, why not Carmen? Gypsy music as well as a new score by John Ewbank will accompany this retelling of the Merimee story, with direction by Franco Dragone of Cirque du Soleil fame.

A Tale of Two Cities. Jill Santoriello has written the book, music, and lyrics for this adaptation of the famed Charles Dickens novel about Paris and London during the French revolution. Thommie Walsh is the choreographer, working with director Michael Donald Edwards. Scheduled to open late this year.

Also in the works: One Heart at a Time, a musical biography of the black scientist George Washington Carver; Nefertiti, A Musical Romance, about the legendary Egyptian queen; and Princesses, in which private-school girls put on a show. Do the last two sound familiar? You've seen them on this list before. You may see them on this list again. On Broadway, as in life, stuff happens.

Sylviane Cold has written about theater for Newsday and The New York Times.