Schedule of Upcoming London Shows | Playbill

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London News Schedule of Upcoming London Shows

What's announced and what's in previews in the West End.

PUSSYCAT IN MEMORY OF DARKNESS

  • Theatre: Finborough Theatre
  • Opening: March 28, 2023
  • Playwright: Neda Nezhdana, Translated by John Farndon
  • Director: Polly Creed
  • Cast: Kristin Milward

Donbas, 2014. A nameless woman stands in the street. Wearing a pair of dark black sunglasses, she tries to sell a basket of kittens. She has lost everything else she holds dear: her home, her family, her hope. Russia has taken over Crimea and stirred up ongoing violence in her beloved homeland of Donbas. Betrayed by her neighbour and brutalised by Russian-backed militia, her hope has waned for humanity. She can only now place her hope in finding a home for a basket of kittens, a home she cannot offer.

A LITTLE LIFE

  • Theatre: Harold Pinter Theatre
  • First Preview: March 25, 2023
  • Opening: March 30, 2023
  • Playwright: Hanya Yanagihara
  • Director: Ivo van Hove
  • Cast: James Norton, Luke Thompson, Omari Douglas, Zach Wyatt, Elliot Cowan, Zubin Varla, Nathalie Armin, Emilio Doorgasingh

A Little Life follows four college friends in New York City: aspiring actor Willem, successful architect Malcolm, struggling artist JB, and prodigious lawyer Jude. As ambition, addiction, and pride threaten to pull the group apart, they always find themselves bound by their love for Jude and the mysteries of his past. But when those secrets come to light, they finally learn that to know Jude St Francis is to understand the limitless potential of love in the face of life.

AIN'T TOO PROUD- THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS

  • Theatre: Prince Edward Theatre
  • First Preview: March 31, 2023
  • Opening: TBA
  • Book: Dominique Morisseau
  • Music: The Temptations
  • Director: Des McAnuff
  • Cast: Cameron Bernard Jones, Kyle Cox, Sifiso Mazibuko, Tosh Wanogho-Maud, Mitchell Zhangazha

Follow The Temptations’ extraordinary journey from the streets of Detroit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame—how they met, how they rose, the groundbreaking heights they hit, and how personal and political conflicts threatened to tear the group apart as the United States fell into civil unrest.

THE DRY HOUSE

  • Theatre: Marylebone Theatre
  • First Preview: March 31, 2023
  • Opening: April 6, 2023
  • Playwright: Eugene O'Hare
  • Director: Eugene O'Hare
  • Cast: Kathy Kiera Clarke, Mairead McKinley, Carla Langle

In the Irish border town of Newry, Chrissy promises her sister Claire that after one final drink she will go to The Dry House to get sober. Does she mean it this time? Follow the sisters as they attempt to overcome the devastating impact of alcoholism on their family in this powerful and timely exploration of grief, family, addiction – and the immense and redemptive power of hope.

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES

  • Theatre: Almeida Theatre
  • First Preview: April 4, 2023
  • Opening: TBA
  • Book:Lynn Nottage
  • Music: Duncan Sheik
  • Lyrics: Susan Birkenhead
  • Director: Whitney White
  • Cast: Ava Brennan, Tarinn Callender, Danielle Fiamanya, Rachel John, Mark Meadows, Abiona Omonua 

South Carolina, 1964. Lily Owens, a restless white teenager, struggles with her merciless father and the haunting memory of her mother's death. When Rosaleen, her black caregiver, is beaten and jailed for asserting her right to vote, Lily's rebellious spirit is ignited. She and Rosaleen escape on an adventure where they are taken in by a trio of black beekeeping sisters. While Lily tries to unlock the secrets of her past, she and Rosaleen find solace in the mesmerizing world of bees and spirituality in this extraordinary tale of awakening, fellowship, and healing.

DANCING AT LUGHNASA

  • Theatre: National Theatre (Olivier)
  • First Preview: April 6, 2023
  • Opening: April 18, 2023
  • Playwright: Brian Friel
  • Director: Josie Rourke
  • Cast: Louisa Harland, Bláithín Mac Gabhann, Siobhán McSweeney, Justine Mitchell, Ardal O'Hanlon, Alison Oliver, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor

Harvest time in County Donegal, 1936. Outside the village of Ballybeg, the five Mundy sisters battle poverty to raise seven-year-old Michael and care for their Uncle Jack. During the Festival of Lughnasa, Pagan and Christian meet and collide. The sisters fight each other, love each other, dance, yearn and survive.

NO I.D.

  • Theatre: Royal Court Theatre
  • First Preview: April 18, 2023
  • Opening: TBA
  • Playwright: Tatenda Shamiso
  • Director: Sean Ting-Hsuan Wang
  • Cast: Tatenda Shamiso

Tatenda Shamiso tells the story of his experience as a Black transgender immigrant in the UK. Using the songs he wrote throughout his first year on testosterone alongside letters, signatures and a whole lot of paperwork, he guides us through what it takes to validate Black and queer identities in the eyes of the law. With laughter, music, and a healthy dose of care, NO I.D. is a love letter to gender transitions and an examination of how absurd our bureaucratic systems can be.

VILLAGE IDIOT

  • Theatre: Theatre Royal Stratford East
  • First Preview: April 13, 2023
  • Opening: April 19, 2023
  • Playwright: Samson Hawkins
  • Director: Nadia Fall
  • Cast: Mark Benton, Maximilan Fairley, Philip Labey, Joseph Langdon, Eileen Nicholas, Faye Wiggan

Townies have decided they want a lie in, so they’re building a new high-speed railway. Issue is, it’s going right through Barbara Honeybone’s house, and she ‘ent having none of it. Barbara’s grandson Peter works for the townies and it’s his job to convince the village that having a two-tonne bullet hurtling through the cabbage patches will actually be for the best. Then there’s Harry, Barbara’s younger grandson, he ‘ent that bothered about trains, he’s only got eyes for Debbie Mahoney. But the only thing Barbara hates more than townies is the Mahoneys. Welcome to Syresham, South Northamptonshire. It’s not quite the Cotswolds, not quite one of those posh villages Americans have in movies, but it does have Syresham’s Got Talent, the headline event of the village fair. There’ll be songs, dancing, magic, drag, a bit of wrestling, and Kevin’s doing a meat raffle (vegetarian option: two tins of Strongbow).

THE GOOD PERSON OF SZECHWAN

  • Theatre: Lyric Theatre Hammersmith
  • First Preview: April 17, 2023
  • Opening: April 21, 2023
  • Playwright: Bertolt Brecht, adapted by Nina Segal
  • Director: Anthony Lau
  • Cast: Suni La, Nick Blakeley, Melody Brown, Aidan Cheng, Jan Chew, Callum Coates, Togo Igawa, Camille Mallet de Chauny, Louise Mai Newberry, Tim Samuels, Ami Tredrea, Leo Wan

Three gods search for just one honest person on earth to justify humanity’s existence. Finding Shen Te, penniless but principled, they reward her with a life-changing amount of cash. But starting her own business in a money centred, unequal society, her fortune soon turns to frustration as the more kindness she shows, the more complicated life becomes.

ANIMAL

  • Theatre: Park Theatre
  • Fist Preview: April 19, 2023
  • Opening: April 21, 2023
  • Playwright: Jon Bradfield
  • Director: TBA
  • Cast: TBA

Meet David – gay, disabled and profoundly horny. He can’t eat, drink or shower by himself – let alone the rest. Totally inexperienced, he embarks on a sexual and romantic odyssey, armed with a fierce brain and impressive nudes (that he has to get someone else to take). But can David keep it casual whilst also relying on round-the-clock care? Can he manage the thrill and uncertainty of random hook-ups after a lifetime of knock-backs?

DIXON AND DAUGHTERS

  • Theatre: National Theatre (Dorfman)
  • First Preview: April 15, 2023
  • Opening: April 25, 2023
  • Playwright: Deborah Bruce
  • Director: Sam Mendes
  • Cast: Bríd Brennan, Alison Fitzjohn, Yazmin Kayani, Andrea Lowe, Posy Sterling, Liz White

Mary has just been released from prison. She wants to come home and forget all about it but Briana has other ideas. Over a tumultuous two days a family is forced to confront not just their past but themselves. Because even if you refuse to hear the truth, the truth doesn’t go away.

THE RETREAT

  • Theatre: Finborough Theatre
  • Opening: April 25, 2023
  • Playwright: Jason Sherman
  • Director: Emma Jude Harris
  • Cast: TBA

Rachel, a 30-something Hebrew school teacher, is aching to be a screenwriter. And it doesn’t help that she’s in hot water with her bosses for criticising Israel’s actions on the West Bank in front of her pupils. David and Jeff are two independent film producers in need of a good script. While Jeff is pragmatic about the schlock they put out, David yearns for artistic substance. He thinks he may have found it in Rachel’s ambitious but unwieldy script about a false messiah – but he soon finds himself enthralled by more than Rachel’s writing.

RICHARD III

  • Theatre: Rose Theatre
  • Opening: April 26, 2023
  • Playwright: William Shakespeare
  • Director: Adjoa Andoh
  • Cast: Adjoa Andoh

AUGUST IN ENGLAND

  • Theatre: Bush Theatre
  • Opening: April 28, 2023
  • Playwright: Lenny Henry
  • Director: Lynette Linton and Daniel Bailey
  • Cast: Lenny Henry

Charming, flawed, and with the gift of the gab, we all know a man like August Henderson. Between his three kids, devoted wife-to-be, and part-ownership of a fruit and veg shop, he is proud of the life he has built since landing in his beloved West Bromwich. So, when faced with deportation to a country he has no memory of, he isn’t prepared to go quietly. Listen up, he is ready to tell his own story.

THE MOTIVE AND THE CUE

  • Theatre: National Theatre (Lyttelton)
  • First Preview: April 20, 2023
  • Opening: May 2, 2023
  • Playwright: Jack Thorne
  • Director: Sam Mendes
  • Cast: Allan Corduner, Janie Dee, Ryan Ellsworth, Johnny FLynn, Mark Gatiss, Aysha Kala, Tuppence Middleton, Luke Norris, Michael Walters, Laurence Ubong Williams

Why would the most famous movie star in the world choose to do a play which everyone already knows? And what lures us back to the same plays, year after year? Richard Burton, newly married to Elizabeth Taylor, is to play the title role in an experimental new production of Hamlet under John Gielgud’s exacting direction. But as rehearsals progress, two ages of theatre collide and the collaboration between actor and director soon threatens to unravel.

BLEAK EXPECTATIONS

  • Theatre: Criterion Theatre
  • Opening: May 3, 2023
  • Playwright: Mark Evans
  • Director: Caroline Leslie
  • Cast: Featuring a rotating cast of guest stars including Tom Allen, Adjoa Andoh, Alexander Armstrong, Jo Brand, Jack Dee, Stephen Fry, Nish Kumar, Lee Mack, Stephen Mangan, Ben Miller, Sue Perkins

The riotous story that Charles Dickens might have written after drinking too much gin. Follow Pip's extraordinary exploits with sisters Pippa and Poppy plus best friend Harry Biscuit as they attempt to escape the calculating clutches of the dastardly Mr Gently Benevolent, defeat the hideous Hardthrasher siblings, and deflect disaster at every turn!

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND

  • Theatre: Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
  • Opening: May 10, 2023
  • Book: Lynn Ahrens
  • Lyrics: Lynn Ahrens
  • Music: Stephen Flaherty
  • Director: Ola Ince
  • Cast: Gabrielle Brooks, Stephenson Ardern-Sodje

Once on a golden and verdant Caribbean island, a little girl is rescued from a disastrous storm by four gods—Asaka, Mother of the Earth; Agwé, god of Water; Erzulie, goddess of Love; and Papa Ge, demon of Death. So starts the myth told in this breathtaking story of Black joy and sorrow, the aftermath of colonization and isolation, and the triumph of love against all forces. Told with Caribbean rhythms and instruments, this Tony Award–winning musical is a testament that a beautiful story simply told has the power to inspire and heal all.

HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING

  • Theatre: Southwark Playhouse
  • First Preview: May 12, 2023
  • Opening: May 16, 2023
  • Book: Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, Willie Gilbert
  • Music and Lyrics: Frank Loesser
  • Director: Georgie Rankcom
  • Cast: Tracie Bennett, Michelle Visage

Window-washer J. Pierrepont Finch schemes his way to the top of the World Wide Wicket Corporation in Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert's musical satire of big business.

A BRIEF LIST OF EVERYONE WHO DIED

  • Theatre: Finborough Theatre
  • Opening: May 16, 2023
  • Playwright: Jacob Marx Rice
  • Director: Alex Howarth
  • Cast: TBA

Graciela would really like everyone to stop dying. After the scarring loss of her beloved dog Buster at the age of five, Graciela decides that no one she loves will ever die. But stopping death is easier said than done. Time rolls on inescapably and, as she grows, Graciela will, like everyone else, gain and lose the people most important to her to the eternal absence of mortality.

42ND STREET

  • Theatre: Leicester Curve Theatre / Sadler's Wells Theatre
  • Opening: May 17, 2023
  • Book: Michael Stewart, Mark Bramble
  • Lyrics: Al Dubin
  • Music:Harry Warren
  • Director: Jonathan Church
  • Cast: Ruthie Henshall, Adam Garcia, Les Dennis, Nicole-Lily Baisden, Sam Lips, Erica-Jayne Alden, George Beet, Charlie Bishop, Briana Craig, Ashleigh Graham, Alyn Hawke, Aimee Hodnett, Connor Hughes, Sarah-Marie Maxwell, Ben Middleton, Benjamin Mundy, Anthony Ofoegbu, Jessica Wright

This love letter to Broadway is the ultimate show biz fairy tale of the chorus kid who becomes an overnight star. A 1930s backstage musical packed with plenty of pizazz, it will set your heart pounding with its rhythmically tapping feet and a hit parade of songs, including "Lullaby of Broadway," "We’re In The Money," "Shuffle Off To Buffalo," and of course, "42nd Street." It’s tap dance heaven!

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

  • Theatre: @sohoplace
  • First Preview: May 10, 2023
  • Opening: May 18, 2023
  • Playwright: Ashley Robinson
  • Director: Jonathan Butterell
  • Cast: Mike Faist, Lucas Hedges, Eddie Reader

Wyoming 1963: a wild landscape where people live in extreme rural poverty in tight, insular and conservative communities. When Ennis and Jack take jobs on the isolated Brokeback Mountain, all their certainties of life change forever as they flounder in unexpected emotional waters of increasing depth. Dan Gillespie Sells’ beautiful Country and Western songs weave heartbreakingly through this intense tale of an irresistible and hidden love spanning twenty years and its tragic consequences.

ROSE

  • Theatre: Ambassadors Theatre
  • Opening: May 23, 2023
  • Playwright: Martin Sherman
  • Director: TBA
  • Cast: Maureen Lipman

Blending the personal with the political, this sharply drawn portrait of a feisty Jewish woman traces Rose’s story from the devastation of Nazi-ruled Europe to conquering the American dream. Rose reflects on what it means to be a survivor. Her remarkable life began in a tiny Ukranian village, took her to Warsaw's ghettos and a ship called The Exodus, and finally to the boardwalks of Atlantic City, the Arizona canyons, and salsa-flavoured nights in Miami beach.

ASPECTS OF LOVE

  • Theatre: Lyric Theatre
  • First Preview: May 12, 2023
  • Opening: May 25, 2023
  • Book: Andrew Lloyd Webber
  • Lyrics: Charles Hart, Don Black
  • Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
  • Director: Jonathan Kent
  • Cast: Michael Ball, Jamie Bogyo, Laura Pitt-Pulford, Anna Unwin, Danielle de Niese

A young man has an affair with an older actress who later marries his uncle, with whom she has a daughter who eventually falls for the young man years later.

GREASE

  • Theatre: Dominion Theatre
  • Opening: June 2, 2023
  • Book: Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey
  • Lyrics: Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey
  • Music: Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey
  • Director: Nikolai Foster
  • Cast: TBA

Danny and Sandy fall for each other during a carefree summer fling. But when the school year begins, Danny is torn between his feelings for good-girl Sandy and his image with the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies.

THE CRUCIBLE

  • Theatre: Gielgud Theatre
  • Opening: June 7, 2023
  • Playwright: Arthur Miller
  • Director: Lyndsey Turner
  • Cast: TBA

Arthur Miller's tale of the Salem witch trials, in which a group of girls accuse upstanding women in the town of witchcraft to divert suspicion from their own activities, has been seen as an allegory for Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-Communist crusades of the 1950s.

GROUNDHOG DAY

  • Theatre: Old Vic Theatre
  • First Preview: May 20, 2023
  • Opening: June 8, 2023
  • Book: Danny Rubin
  • Music and Lyrics: Tim Minchin
  • Director: Matthew Warchus
  • Cast: Andy Karl

Phil Connors is a cynical Pittsburgh TV weatherman who is sent to cover the annual Groundhog Day event in the isolated small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, when he finds himself caught in a time loop, forced to repeat the same day again and again…and again. As each day plays out exactly the same as before Phil becomes increasingly despondent, but is there a lesson to be learnt through his experiences, will he ever unlock the secret and break the cycle?

HOPE HAS A HAPPY MEAL

  • Theatre: Royal Court Theatre
  • First Preview: June 3, 2023
  • Opening: June 9, 2023
  • Playwright: Tom Fowler
  • Director: Lucy Morrison
  • Cast: TBA

Years and years ago, Hope disappeared. Now, she’s back. To find something she left behind. But in the People’s Republic of Koka Kola – a world of dwindling resources, corruption and corporate giants – what happens to Hope?

ROMAN HOLIDAY

  • Theatre: Theatre Royal Bath
  • Opening: June 10, 2023
  • Book: Paul Blake, Kirsten Guenther
  • Music and Lyrics: Cole Porter
  • Director: Jeremy Sams
  • Cast: TBA

A beautiful princess is on yet another annual, busy but extremely strict tour of Europe. Striving for a little semblance of freedom like normal girls her age, she slips away instead of attending yet another a diplomatic ball. Meanwhile, a disgruntled American journalist sent to cover the royal family's tour across Europe finds the scoop of his career when he happens upon the princess sleeping on a park bench. Not recognizing her, he takes her home to rest. The next day, news of the princess' escape breaks, and he realizes who the girl really was. Now determined to be the first to find and interview her, he joins the scramble. However, when he does find her, he recognizes a kindred spirit within, and whilst both trying to elude the agents, the paparazzi and the police, they embark on an exciting spree around Rome, and fall in love in the process.

WHEN WINSTON WENT TO WAR WITH THE WIRELESS

  • Theatre: Donmar Warehouse
  • First Preview: June 2, 2023
  • Opening: June 13, 2023
  • Playwright: Jack Thorne
  • Director: Katy Rudd
  • Cast: Stephen Campbell Moore, Adrian Scarborough

In May 1926 Britain grinds to a halt, as workers down tools for The General Strike. With the printing presses shut down, the only sources of news are the government’s The British Gazette, edited by Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill, and the independent, fledgling British Broadcasting Company, led by John Reith. What follows is a fierce battle for control of the news and who gets to define the truth.

THE RETURN OF BENJAMIN LAY

  • Theatre: Finborough Theatre
  • Opening: June 13, 2023
  • Playwright: Naomi Wallace and Marcus Rediker
  • Director: Ron Daniels
  • Cast: TBA

2023. A Quaker meeting house on the Finborough Road or is it a theatre? Benjamin Lay – shepherd, sailor, prophet, and the British Empire’s first revolutionary abolitionist – returns from the grave almost 300 years after his death, as feisty and unpredictable as ever.

SCHOOL GIRLS: OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY

  • Theatre: Lyric Theatre Hammersmith
  • First Preview: June 9, 2023
  • Opening: June 15, 2023
  • Playwright: Jocelyn Bioh
  • Director: Monique Touko
  • Cast: TBA

As the reigning queen bee of Ghana’s most exclusive boarding school, Paulina has her sights on the 1986 Miss Universe pageant. But the arrival of a new transfer student from America changes the game.

ROBIN HOOD: THE LEGEND. RE-WRITTEN

  • Theatre: Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
  • Opening: June 17, 2023
  • Book: Carl Grose
  • Lyrics: Carl Grose
  • Music: Carl Grose
  • Director: Melly Still
  • Cast: TBA

Think you know the story of Robin Hood? Think again. Prepare for a thrilling new take on the classic tale, set in a desperate, divided kingdom where only the truly cunning can outwit the sheriff’s terrifying wrath. Promising humour, heart and a forest full of secrets, expect the arrows to fly in a bold new direction as trickery and truth collide with fiery results.

DEAR ENGLAND

  • Theatre: National Theatre (Olivier)
  • First Preview: June 13, 2023
  • Opening: June 20, 2023
  • Playwright: James Graham
  • Director: Rupert Goold
  • Cast: Joseph Fiennes

The country that gave the world football has since delivered a painful pattern of loss. Why can’t England’s men win at their own game? With the worst track record for penalties in the world, Gareth Southgate knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt to take team and country back to the promised land.

MRS. DOUBTFIRE

  • Theatre: Shaftesbury Theatre
  • First Preview: May 12, 2023
  • Opening: June 22, 2023
  • Book: Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell
  • Music and Lyrics: Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick
  • Director: Jerry Zaks
  • Cast: Gabriel Hick, Carla Dixon Hernandez, Cameron Blakely, Marcus Collins, Ian Talbot, Joshua Dever, Samuel Wilson-Freeman, Maria Garrett, Kiera Haynes, Adam Lyons, Lisa Mathieson, Ellie Mitchell, Matt Overfield, Tom Scanlon, Vicki Lee Taylor Rebecca Donnelly, Amy Everett, Paulo Teixeira

After losing custody in a messy divorce, Daniel Hillard creates the kindly alter ego of Scottish nanny Euphegenia Doubtfire in a desperate attempt to stay in their lives. A hilarious and heartfelt story about holding onto your loved ones against all odds, Mrs. Doubtfire is the musical comedy we need right now — one that proves we’re better together.

A STRANGE LOOP

  • Theatre: Barbican Theatre
  • First Preview: June 17, 2023
  • Opening: June 28, 2023
  • Book, Music, and Lyrics: Michael R. Jackson
  • Director: Stephen Brackett
  • Cast: TBA

Usher is a black, queer writer, working a day job he hates while writing his original musical: a piece about a black, queer writer, working a day job he hates while writing his original musical. Michael R. Jackson’s blistering, momentous musical follows a young artist at war with a host of demons — not least of which, the punishing thoughts in his own head — in an attempt to capture and understand his own strange loop.

THE TEMPEST RE-IMAGINED FOR EVERYONE AGED SIX AND OVER

  • Theatre: Regent's Park Open Air
  • First Preview: June 30, 2023
  • Opening: July 7, 2023
  • Playwright: William Shakespeare, adapted by Jennifer Tang
  • Director: Jennifer Tang
  • Cast: TBA

When the sorcerer Prospero conjures up a storm to shipwreck his enemies, he sets the scene for an enchanting tale of spells, monsters, revenge and romance. In this 75-minute show, The Tempest re-imagined for everyone aged six and over brings Shakespeare's text thrillingly to life for younger audiences.

DR. SEMMELWEIS

  • Theatre: Harold Pinter Theatre
  • First Preview: June 29, 2023
  • Opening: July 11, 2023
  • Playwright: Stephen Brown
  • Director: Tom Morris
  • Cast: Mark Rylance

In Vienna, a city of artistic and scientific revolution, thousands of women are still dying in childbirth each and every year. Only Dr Semmelweis can see the invisible killer at work, but to stop it, he must convince his colleagues to admit culpability and approve change.

CUCKOO

  • Theatre: Royal Court Theatre
  • First Preview: July 6, 2023
  • Opening: July 12, 2023
  • Playwright: Michael Wynne
  • Director: Vicky Featherstone
  • Cast: TBA

Doreen and her two grown up daughters sit at the table – eating fish and chips, distracted by their phones. Upstairs, 17–year-old Megyn has locked herself in her grandmother’s bedroom and refuses to come out. And no one is entirely sure why…

MISS SAIGON

  • Theatre: Sheffield Theatres
  • First Preview: July 8, 2023
  • Opening: July 13, 2023
  • Book: Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg
  • Music: Claude-Michel Schönberg
  • Lyrics: Richard Maltby, Jr., Alain Boublil
  • Director: Robert Hastie and Anthony Lau
  • Cast: Joanna Ampil

Set in 1975 during the final days of the of the Vietnam War, Miss Saigon is an epic love story about the relationship between Chris, an American GI and Kim, a young Vietnamese woman. They are separated when the country falls, until she returns to his life years later, in this musical inspired by the opera Madame Butterfly.

WORD-PLAY

  • Theatre: Royal Court Theatre
  • First Preview: July 20, 2023
  • Opening: July 26, 2023
  • Playwright: Rabiah Hussain
  • Director: Nimmo Ismail
  • Cast: TBA

In the Downing Street Press Office an emergency meeting has been called. The Prime Minister has been ad-libbing on live tv (again) and his words are going viral. There are accusations of Islamophobia, and demands for an apology; but as the team debates what to do next, it’s already too late. His words have found their way to dinner parties, bus journeys and newspaper columns across the nation – and not everyone is angry.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES

  • Theatre: Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
  • Opening: July 29, 2023
  • Book: Harvey Fierstein
  • Lyrics: Jerry Herman
  • Music: Jerry Herman
  • Director: Timothy Sheader
  • Cast: TBA

Jerry Herman's musical, based on the French play of the same name, is the story of a flamboyant gay couple who must pretend to be straight for one night — with one of the men in drag — to dupe the conservative political family of their son's fiancee.

CRAZY FOR YOU

  • Theatre: Gillian Lynne Theatre
  • First Preview: June 24, 2023
  • Opening: July 3, 2023
  • Book: Ken Ludwig
  • Music: George Gershwin
  • Lyrics: Ira Gershwin
  • Director: Susan Stroman
  • Cast: Charlie Stemp, Carly Anderson, Matthew Craig, Tom Edden

A banker with a yen for show business is sent to foreclose on a property that turns out to be a theatre. After falling in love with the local postmistress, he decides to put on a show to save the theatre, in this musical featuring classic Gershwin songs and a Ken Ludwig libretto inspired by the 1930 musical Girl Crazy.

NEXT TO NORMAL

  • Theatre: Donmar Warehouse
  • First Preview: August 12, 2023
  • Opening: TBA
  • Book and Lyrics: Brian Yorkey
  • Music: Tom Kitt
  • Director: Michael Longhurst
  • Cast: Caissie Levy, Trevor Dion Nicholas

The 2009 Tony Award®-winning pop/rock musical and winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama lifts the veil on family loss and the individual responses to crisis and endurance, while pushing the boundaries of contemporary musical theater.

REBECCA

  • Theatre: Charing Cross Theatre
  • Opening: September 4, 2022
  • Book: Michael Kunze (English Adaptation by Christopher Hampton)
  • Music: Sylvester Levar
  • Lyrics: Michael Kunze (English Lyrics by Christopher Hamption)
  • Director: Alejandro Bonatto
  • Cast: TBA

In this musical adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's novel, Maxim De Winter brings his new wife to his estate at Manderlay, where she meets the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, who constantly compares her unfavorably to the previous Mrs. De Winter, Rebecca.

STEPHEN SONDHEIM'S OLD FRIENDS

  • Theatre: Gielgud Theatre
  • Opening: September 16, 2023
  • Music and Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
  • Director: Matthew Bourne and Julia McKenzie
  • Conceived by Cameron Mackintosh
  • Cast: Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga, Christine Allado, Janie Dee, Bonnie Langford, Jeremy Seacomb, Beatrice Penny-Touré, Joanna Riding, Jac Yarrow

A tribute concert to late musical theatre trailblazer Stephen Sondheim.

THE SCORE

  • Theatre: Theatre Royal Bath
  • Opening: October 12, 2023
  • Playwright: Oliver Cotton
  • Director: Trevor Nunn
  • Cast: Brian Cox

Spring 1747. Potsdam, Prussia. Johann Sebastian Bach reluctantly visits the court of Frederick II, Europe’s most ambitious and dangerous leader. The two men could hardly be more different. As the Age of Enlightenment dawns, they stand in opposite camps. Bach is deeply religious, Frederick is an atheist. Bach loathes war, Frederick revels in it. Bach studies scripture, Frederick reads military history. Frederick remains in awe of Bach’s genius however and has mischievously prepared a musical conundrum that he hopes will baffle the composer and amuse his court. The explosive events of the following days could not have been predicted by either man.

PETER PAN

  • Theatre: Rose Theatre
  • Opening: December 1, 2023
  • Playwright: J.M. Barrie, Adapted by Evan Placey
  • Director: Lucy Morrell
  • Cast: TBA

Chasing his runaway shadow, a mischievous young boy crash lands through an open window and meets a headstrong young girl not yet ready to face growing up. With a sprinkle of fairy dust, they take flight on a whirlwind festive voyage over pirate ships, through mermaid lagoons and into the heart of Neverland.

DANA H.

  • Theatre: Royal Court Theatre
  • First Preview: January 16, 2024
  • Opening: January 22, 2024
  • Playwright: Lucas Hnath
  • Director: Les Waters
  • Cast: Deirdre O'Connell

Dana was a chaplain of a psych ward where she met a charismatic patient, an ex-convict searching for redemption. A harrowing true story, Dana was held captive with her life in this man’s hands — trapped in a series of Florida motels, disoriented and terrified — for five months. Told in Dana's own words and reconstructed for the stage by her son Lucas Hnath, this innovative work shatters the boundaries of the art form and our understanding of good and evil.

 
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