Schedule of Upcoming London Shows | Playbill

Related Articles
International News Schedule of Upcoming London Shows

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

This is a schedule of upcoming London shows, organized by opening date. To view all London shows, upcoming and currently running, check out our London listings page

BRACE BRACE

  • Theatre: Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
  • First Preview: October 3, 2024
  • Opening: October 9, 2024
  • Playwright: Oli Forsyth
  • Director: Daniel Raggett
  • Cast: Phil Dunster, Craige Els, Anjana Vasan

A man hijacks a plane. The plane begins to fall. Fight or flight. Back on the ground, survivors Ray and Sylvia struggle to reconcile their responses to this life-changing event. As cracks appear in their relationship, one closes themselves off, the other can’t focus on anything else.

THE FEAR OF 13

  • Theatre: Donmar Warehouse
  • First Preview: October 4, 2024
  • Opening: October 10, 2024
  • Playwright: Lindsey Ferrentino
  • Director: Justin Martin
  • Cast: Adrien Brody, Nana Mensah, Michael Fox, Aidan Kelly, Posi Morakinyo, Cyril Nri, Ferdy Roberts, Tommy Sim'aan

Nick’s got a story to tell you. About how a routine traffic stop turned into a conviction for murder. About how he spent the next 22 years on Death Row. About how he finally petitioned the court to ask not for an appeal, but for his execution date. And about what happened next…

A RAISIN IN THE SUN

  • Theatre: Lyric Theatre Hammersmith
  • First Preview: October 8, 2024
  • Opening: October 11, 2024
  • Playwright: Lorraine Hansberry
  • Director: Tinuke Craig
  • Cast: Joséphine-Fransilja Brookman, Cash Holland, Solomon Israel, Jonah Russell, Doreene Blackstock, Gilbert Kyem Jnr, Kenneth Omole

In a rented apartment on Chicago’s South Side, the Younger family is full of hope, dreams, grief, and big plans. Their beloved father has died, and the money from his life insurance policy could change their lives. Mama wants to put down roots in a home of her own. Her daughter Beneatha has her heart set on becoming a doctor. But her son Walter Lee thinks the money is his to spend — and he’s willing to sacrifice his values and his family to get what he wants. Each must face what it means to escape the confines of a segregated society. How do you create a meaningful life in a world designed to keep you down?

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

  • Theatre: Ambassadors Theatre
  • First Preview: October 10, 2024
  • Opening: TBA
  • Book: Jethro Compton
  • Music: Darren Clark
  • Lyrics: Jethro Compton, Darren Clark
  • Director: Jethro Compton
  • Cast: Matthew Burns, Jonathan Charles, Oonagh Cox, John Dagleish, Katy Ellis, Anna Fordham, Clare Foster, Philippa Hogg, Damien James, Elliot Mackenzie, Ann Marcuson, Jack Quarton, Benedict Salter

Under the light of a full moon, something most curious occurs… Benjamin Button is born old. Bound to the fate of growing younger each day, Benjamin wants nothing more than to live a little life. But will he ever find a place to belong? Only time and tide will tell…

STATUES

  • Theatre: Bush Theatre
  • First Preview: October 9, 2024
  • Opening: October 14, 2024
  • Playwright: Azan Ahmed
  • Director: Esme Allman
  • Cast: Azan Ahmed, Jonny Khan

Days after his father’s passing, English teacher Yusuf discovers a dusty mixtape that changes everything he knew about a man who barely spoke. Turns out, Mustafa spent the 90s rapping about pretty girls and Kilburn life, plotting dreams of superstardom with his best friend Omar. How did this passionate wordsmith become a silent statue? Yusuf’s mourning is overtaken by a journey into the past. Threaded together by Omar’s thumping beats and his father’s bars, Yusuf uncovers secrets that turn his world upside-down.

THE FORSYTE SAGA - PARTS 1 AND 2

  • Theatre: Park Theatre
  • First Preview: October 11, 2024
  • Opening: October 18, 2024
  • Playwright: John Galsworthy
  • Director: John Roche
  • Cast: Fiona Hampton, Joseph Millson, Flora Spencer-Longhurst

London, 1886. Wealthy solicitor Soames Forsyte is a man of property, and his beautiful wife Irene is his most prized possession. When he commissions an architect to build him a house in which to keep her, the cracks in their marriage finally begin to show, until something happens so shocking that it tears the Forsyte family apart. Years later, Soames’ daughter Fleur is haunted by the family secret when history begins to repeat itself…

AUTUMN

  • Theatre: Park Theatre
  • First Preview: October 16, 2024
  • Opening: October 18, 2024
  • Playwright: Harry McDonald
  • Director: Charlotte Vickers
  • Cast: Rebecca Banatvala, Nancy Crane, Gary Lilburn, Sophie Ward

Summer 2016. Britain has voted to leave the European Union, and low-paid art historian Elisabeth returns to the village she grew up in to read to the sleeping Daniel Gluck, her childhood next-door neighbour. The libraries are closed, new fences are being built, and no one will let Elisabeth renew her passport. Meanwhile, Daniel dreams: of his long-lost little sister; of the twentieth century; of art, of poetry and music.

LIZZIE

  • Theatre: Hope Mill Theatre
  • First Preview: October 17, 2024
  • Opening: October 20, 2024
  • Book: Tim Maner
  • Lyrics: Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, Tim Maner
  • Music: Alan Stevens Hewitt, Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer
  • Director: William Whelton
  • Cast: Kayleigh McKnight, Katie Tonkinson, Jen Caldwell, Emilie Louise Israel, Emma Louise Hoey, Eve Kitchingman

Lizzie The Musical explores the life of Lizzie Borden, who was accused of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe in the late summer of 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts. The musical delves into her complex psyche and speculates on the motivations she may have had: loss of inheritance, history of sexual abuse, oppression, and madness.

BARCELONA

  • Theatre: Duke of York's Theatre
  • Opening: October 21, 2024
  • Playwright: Bess Wohl
  • Director: Lynette Linton
  • Cast: Lily Collins, Álvaro Morte

Late night in Barcelona. An American tourist goes home with a handsome Spaniard. What begins as a carefree, one-night stand becomes an invitation to danger, as the personal and political catastrophically intertwine.

THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA

  • Theatre: Barbican Theatre
  • Opening: October 22, 2024
  • Playwright: Emma Rice and Hanif Kureishi
  • Director: Emma Rice
  • Cast: Dee Ahluwalia, Ankur Bahl, Tommy Belshaw, Rina Ratania, Natasha Jayetileke, Naveed Khan, Deven Modha, Katy Owen, Simon Rivers, Lucy Thackeray, Ewan Wardrop

South London in the late seventies. High unemployment, high inflation, food shortages and strikes. But despite the winter of discontent, 17-year-old Karim’s life is about to explode into glorious technicolour as he navigates a path to enlightenment. Or at the very least, Beckenham.

FLY MORE THAN YOU FALL

  • Theatre: Southwark Plahouse
  • First Preview: October 18, 2024
  • Opening: October 23, 2024
  • Book: Eric Holmes
  • Music: Nat Zegree
  • Lyrics: Eric Holmes, Nat Zegree
  • Director: Christian Durham
  • Cast: Keala Settle, Cavin Cornwall, Robyn Rose-Lie, Maddison Bulleyment, Max Gill, Edward Chitticks, Bessy Ewa, Harry Mallaghan, Sara Bartos, Kieran Usher, Zasha Rabie, JoJo Meridith

Following her Mother’s terminal cancer diagnosis Malia’s life is thrown into turmoil. Yet as she navigates the next stage of her own life, Malia finds solace and strength in her writing and in her stories, Malia creates an imaginative world where a brave bird named Willow mirrors her own journey of resilience and growth. Through the support of her friends, the guidance of her family, and her own inner resolve (along with a banging soundtrack), Malia learns to face her fears and embrace hope, discovering that even in the darkest times, we can find the courage to soar.

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

  • Theatre: Dominion Theatre
  • Opening: October 24, 2024
  • Book: Kate Wetherhead
  • Music: Elton John
  • Lyrics: Shaina Taub
  • Director: Jerry Mitchell
  • Cast: Vanessa Williams, Georgie Buckland, Amy Di Bartolomeo, Matt Henry, Rhys Whitfield, James Darch, Debbie Kurup, Akeem Ellis-Hyman, Christopher Parkinson, Ciro Lourencio Meulens, Eleanor Peach, Elishia Edwards, Elizabeth Fullalove, Ella Valentine, Ethan Le Phong, Gabby Antrobus, Harriet Samuel-Gray, Jinny Gould, Jon Reynolds, Kayleigh Thadani, Liam Marcellino, Lloyd Davies, Luke Jackson, Maddy Ambus, Natasha Heyward, Olivia Saunders, Pamela Blair, Robertina Bonano, Samuel How, Selena Barron, Tara Yasmin, Theo Papoui

Runway magazine. The supreme authority of the high-fashion world, and the new home of assistant Andy Sachs. It’s a position a million people would kill for, but under the sharp stilettos of Runway’s legendary editor-in-chief, Miranda Priestly, the job is no dream. Up against Miranda’s blistering leadership and stratospheric expectations, Andy is pushed to the edge, forced to choose between her career and her own happiness. Based on the hit film and featuring an all-star creative team, The Devil Wears Prada, The Musical is a glamorous and hilarious story about finding your place and discovering what matters most.

HOW TO SURVIVE YOUR MOTHER

  • Theatre: King's Head Theatre
  • First Preview: October 23, 2024
  • Opening: October 25, 2024
  • Playwright: Jonathan Maitland
  • Director: Oliver Dawe
  • Cast: TBA

A chance meeting leads a writer to investigate his mother’s secret past and trawl through memories of her colourful life. It’s perfect subject matter for a play. But should he be exposing her private life for public entertainment? And why is he starring in the play as himself?

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, 1936

  • Theatre: Trafalgar Theatre
  • Opening: December 28, 2024
  • Playwright: William Shakespeare, adapted by Brigid Larmour and Tracy-Ann Oberman
  • Director: Brigid Larmour
  • Cast: Tracy-Ann Oberman

Tensions in London’s East End are rising and Shylock, a resilient single mother and hard-working businesswoman, is desperate to protect her daughter’s future. When the charismatic merchant Antonio comes to her for a loan, a high-stakes deal is struck. Will Shylock take her revenge, and who will pay the ultimate price?

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE

  • Theatre: Wilton's Music Hall
  • Opening: October 29, 2024
  • Libretto: W.S. Gilbert
  • Music: Arthur Sullivan
  • Director: Sasha Regan
  • Cast: TBA

Frederic, mistakenly apprenticed to a band of pirates when a child, is now out of his indentures and, once free, vows to devote himself to the pirates' extermination. However, when a secret of his birth is revealed, Frederic finds his sense of duty put to the test.

WOLVES ON ROAD

  • Theatre: Bush Theatre
  • First Preview: November 9, 2024
  • Opening: November 14, 2024
  • Playwright: Beru Tessema
  • Director: Daniel Bailey
  • Cast: Ery Nzaramba, Alma Eno, Kieran Taylor-Ford, Hassan Najib

Manny dreams of being a big dog – but right now he’s hocking fake designer goods, living with his mum and dealing with her new boyfriend. The glittery skyscrapers of Canary Wharf he sees out the window every day have never seemed so far away. But when his best friend offers him a way to make money faster than he could ever imagine, he pulls his whole family into a world that’s almost too good to be true.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (ISH)

  • Theatre: @sohoplace
  • Opening: November 16, 2024
  • Book and lyrics: Nick Mohammed
  • Music: Oliver Birch
  • Director: Matt Peover
  • Cast: Nick Mohammed, Martha Howe-Douglas, David Elms, Kieran Hodgson

When Santa cancels Christmas on Christmas Eve, he’s visited by three ghosts who must convince him to see the error of his ways and rediscover the magic of Christmas. But with mere hours to go, and only one working reindeer, how will he deliver everything on time?!

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

  • Theatre: Old Vic Theatre
  • First Preview: November 9, 2024
  • Opening: November 20, 2024
  • Playwright: Jack Thorne, adapted from Charles Dickens
  • Director: Matthew Warchus
  • Cast: John Simm

Transporting audiences to a bitterly chilly Christmas Eve night, a hard-hearted miser is visited by four ghosts, who take him on a journey to worlds past, present and future. But will Scrooge save himself from the results of a lifetime of fear and selfishness, now that he can see the ramifications of his lonely existence?

THE PURISTS

  • Theatre: Kiln Theatre
  • First Preview: November 14, 2024
  • Opening: November 22, 2024
  • Playwright: Dan McCabe
  • Director: Amit Sharma
  • Cast: TBA

On their stoop in Queens, New York, Lamont, a legendary emcee and Mr Bugz, a hall-of-fame DJ, have been winding up Gerry, a musical lover, for as long as they can remember. But when two young women, Nancy and Val, put their rap battling skills to the test, they are forced to confront their convictions on race, sexuality and music. Struggling with secrets and their fears for the future, they realise they have more in common than they thought.

THE LIGHTNING THIEF

  • Theatre: The Other Palace
  • Opening: November 23, 2024
  • Book: Joe Tracz
  • Music and Lyrics: Rob Rokicki
  • Director: Lizzi Gee
  • Cast: TBA

Adapted from the book Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Percy Jackson, the 12-year-old son of Poseidon, struggles with dyslexia and ADHD as he's pulled into an unfamiliar, mythological world full of treacherous encounters and challenges thrust upon him by the Greek Gods.

TENDER

  • Theatre: Bush Theatre
  • First Preview: November 19, 2024
  • Opening: November 25, 2024
  • Playwright: Eleanor Tindall
  • Director: Emily Aboud
  • Cast: TBA

Ivy has life sorted; she’s got a flat, a boyfriend and she knows exactly where it’s all headed. Except there is this thing that she tries not to think about. The thing she left in her childhood bedroom. Ash is having the time of her life. Fresh from leaving a bad relationship, she’s got no idea what’s next. But there’s something about her new flat. The wallpaper pulses and sometimes it sounds like a heartbeat. Two women. A chance meeting. Giddy kisses they never should have shared. Tender is the story of two people who find each other without even knowing they were looking.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

  • Theatre: National Theatre (Lyttelton)
  • First Preview: November 20, 2024
  • Opening: November 28, 2024
  • Playwright: Oscar Wilde
  • Director: Max Webster
  • Cast: Sharon D Clarke, Ncuti Gatwa, Hugh Skinner, Richard Cant, Amanda Lawrence, Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́, Eliza Scanlen, Julian Bleach, Shereener Browne, Jasmine Kerr, Gillian McCafferty, Elliot Pritchard, John Vernon

Being sensible can be excessively boring. At least Jack thinks so. While assuming the role of dutiful guardian in the country, he lets loose in town under a false identity. Meanwhile, his friend Algy takes on a similar facade. Unfortunately, living a double life has its drawbacks, especially when it comes to love. Hoping to impress two eligible ladies, the gentlemen find themselves caught in a web of lies they must carefully navigate.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

  • Theatre: Barbican Theatre
  • Opening: December 3, 2024
  • Playwright: William Shakespeare
  • Director: Eleanor Rhode
  • Cast: Matthew Baynton

With Mathew Baynton (Ghosts, Horrible Histories) as Bottom, this hilarious production of Shakespeare’s captivating comedy will transport you from deepest midwinter to the most magical of midsummer nights. As four young lovers are faced with the prospect of unhappy marriage or worse, they flee the court of Athens and stumble into an enchanted forest, where the real and fairy worlds collide.

BALLET SHOES

  • Theatre: National Theatre (Olivier)
  • First Preview: November 23, 2024
  • Opening: December 5, 2024
  • Playwright: Noel Streatfeild, Kendall Feaver
  • Director: Katy Rudd
  • Cast: Sonya Cullingford, Jenny Galloway, Nadine Higgin, Helen Lymbery, Xolishweh Ana Richards, Sid Sagar, Grace Saif, Josin Salinger, Daisy Sequerra, Eryck Brahmania, Cordelia Braithwaite, Michelle Cornelius, Courtney George, Georges Hann, Yanexi Enriquez, Pearl Mackie, Stacy Abalogun, Philip Labey, Sharol Mackenzie, Nuwan Hugh Perera, Katie Singh, Katie Lee

In a crumbling house full of dinosaur bones and fossils, three adopted sisters – Pauline, Petrova and Posy – are learning who they are and what they want to be. Under the watchful eyes and guidance of their guardian Sylvia, Nana, and some unlikely lodgers, they fight to pursue their individual passions. But in a world that wasn’t built for women with big ambitions, can they forge a future, keep their family together, and even learn a dance or two along the way?

THE PRODUCERS

  • Theatre: Menier Chocolate Factory
  • First Preview: November 26, 2024
  • Opening: December 9, 2024
  • Book: Mel Brooks, Thomas Meehan
  • Music and Lyrics: Mel Brooks
  • Director: Patrick Marber
  • Cast: Mark Antolin, Andy Nyman, Harry Morrison, Joanna Woodward, Trevor Ashley, Raj Ghatak, Charis Alexandra, Michael Franks, Matt Gillett, Leah Harris, Hana Ichijo, Esme Kennedy, Josh Kiernan, Alex Lodge, Kelsie-Rae Marshall, Chloe Saunders, Jermaine Woods, Nolan Edwards

Mel Brooks' adaptation of his 1968 film features fading producer Max Bialystock, who convinces accountant Leo Bloom to partner with him in producing Springtime for Hitler, a guaranteed flop, and then running off with the money they've raised.

OLIVER!

  • Theatre: Gielgud Theatre
  • Opening: December 14, 2024
  • Book, Music, and Lyrics: Lionel Bart
  • Director: Matthew Bourne
  • Cast: Simon Lipkin, Shanay Holmes, Aaron Sidwell, Billy Jenkins, Philip Franks, Oscar Conlon-Morrey, Katy Secombe, Stephen Matthews, Jamie Birgett, Cian Eagle-Service, Raphael Korniets, Jack Philpott

Oliver is a young orphan living in Victorian England. After escaping a workhouse and an abusive apprenticeship, he finds himself amongst a group of petty thieves and pickpockets, and so begin Oliver's whirlwind adventures and his search to find the true love of a family. Lionel Bart's Tony® and Olivier Award®-winning musical interpretation of Charles Dickens' classic novel has been regarded as a masterpiece among audiences for seven decades.

NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812

  • Theatre: Donmar Warehouse
  • First Preview: December 7, 2024
  • Opening: December 16, 2024
  • Book, Music, and Lyrics: Dave Malloy
  • Director: Tim Sheader
  • Cast: TBA

Arriving in the glittering opulent world of Moscow High Society, the impulsive and romantic Natasha Rostova awaits the return of her fiancé from the front lines. But when she falls under the spell of an intoxicating aristocrat, it is up to the unlikely hero, Pierre, to pick up the pieces of her shattered reputation.

THE TEMPEST

  • Theatre: Theatre Royal Drury Lane
  • First Preview: December 7, 2024
  • Opening: December 17, 2024
  • Playwright: William Shakespeare
  • Director: Jamie Lloyd
  • Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Jude Akuwudike, Jason Barnett, Selina Cadell, Mathew Horne, Mara Huf, Forbes Masson, Mason Alexander Park, James Phoon, Oliver Ryan, Tim Steed

The legendary Sigourney Weaver makes her West End debut as Prospero in this enchanting story of revenge and forgiveness.

CYRANO

  • Theatre: Park Theatre
  • First Preview: December 11, 2024
  • Opening: December 17, 2024
  • Playwright: Virginia Gay, after Edmond Rostand
  • Director: Clare Watson
  • Cast: Virginia Gay

Cyrano is the most interesting person in any room – a wordsmith, a charmer. She works twice as hard and runs twice as fast as the pretty boys, because she’s deeply ashamed of something about herself. Enter Roxanne: brilliant and beautiful, with a penchant for poetry and a way with words, just like Cyrano. But Roxanne only has eyes for Yan: hot, manly Yan; all brawn-and-no-brains Yan; who is dumbstruck around Roxanne. Probably shy, right? Until suddenly he starts saying the most amazing things. But it’s not Yan writing these perfect love scenes, it’s Cyrano …

TITANIQUE: UNE PARODIE MUSICALE

  • Theatre: Criterion Theatre
  • First Preview: December 9, 2024
  • Opening: January 9, 2025
  • Playwright: Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli, Tye Blue
  • Director: Tye Blue
  • Cast: Darren Bennett, Lauren Drew, Jordan Luke Gage, Stephen Guarino, Rob Houchen, Kat Ronney, Charlotte Wakefield, Layton Williams, Freddie Ting, Adrianne Langley, Madison Swan, Rodney Vubya, Kristina Walz

Want to find out what really happened to Jack and Rose on that fateful night? Our story begins when Céline Dion hijacks a Titanic Museum tour and enchants the audience with her totally wild take, recharting the course of Titanic’s beloved moments and characters with her iconic song catalog.

KYOTO

  • Theatre: @sohoplace
  • Opening: January 9, 2025
  • Playwright: Joe Murphy, Joe Robertson
  • Director: Stephen Daldry, Justin Martin
  • Cast: Stephen Kunken, Jenna Augen, Olivia Barrowclough, Jorge Bosch, Nancy Crane, Andrea Gatchallan, Togo Igawa, Kwong Loke, Dale Rapley, Raad Rawl, Ferdy Roberts

Welcome to the Kyoto Conference Centre, 11 December 1997. The nations of the world are in deadlock and 11 hours have passed since the UN’s landmark climate conference should have ended. Time is running out and agreement feels a world away. The greatest obstacle: American oil lobbyist and master strategist, Don Pearlman…

THE LONELY LONDONERS

  • Theatre: Kiln Theatre
  • First Preview: January 10, 2025
  • Opening: January 16, 2025
  • Playwright: Roy Williams
  • Director: Ebenezer Bamgboye
  • Cast: TBA

1950s London. Newly arrived from Trinidad, Henry ‘Sir Galahad’ Oliver is impatient to start his new life in London. Carrying just pyjamas and a toothbrush, he bursts through Moses Aloetta’s door only to find Moses and his friends already soured on city life. Will the London fog dampen Galahad’s dreams? Or will these Lonely Londoners make a home in a city that sees them as a threat?

INSIDE NO. 9 - STAGE/FRIGHT

  • Theatre: Wyndham's Theatre
  • Opening: January 18, 2025
  • Playwright: Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith
  • Director: Simon Evans
  • Cast: Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith

Expect the unexpected as the acclaimed BBC TV series comes to life on stage, weaving its signature web of twisted tales and black humour. From the eerie to the absurd, Inside Number 9 - Stage/Fright combines comedy and horror with a dramatic script that will leave you guessing until the very end.

SECOND BEST

  • Theatre: Riverside Studios
  • Opening: January 24, 2025
  • Playwright: Barney Norris
  • Director: Michael Longhurst
  • Cast: Asa Butterfield

At ten years old, Martin Hill was on the brink of stardom, down to the final two contenders for the role of Harry Potter but narrowly missing out. Now an adult, Martin is about to embark on the ultimate adventure – fatherhood. As he navigates this whirlwind of emotions, he is pulled back to that pivotal moment in his past as he struggled to move beyond imagining what his life might have been.

OEDIPUS

  • Theatre: Old Vic Theatre
  • First Preview: January 21, 2025
  • Opening: February 4, 2025
  • Playwright: Ella Hickson, adapted from Sophocles
  • Director: Matthew Warchus and Hofesh Schechter
  • Cast: Rami Malek, Indira Varna

ELEKTRA

  • Theatre: Duke of York's Theatre
  • First Preview: January 24, 2025
  • Opening: February 5, 2025
  • Playwright: Sophocles, translated by Anne Carson
  • Director: Daniel Fish
  • Cast: Brie Larson

Elektra follows its titular character in the days following her father's assassination and the return of her long-lost brother, Orestes, both looking to avenge the murder.

CLUELESS THE MUSICAL

  • Theatre: Trafalgar Theatre
  • Opening: February 15, 2025
  • Book: Amy Heckerling
  • Music: KT Tunstall
  • Lyrics: Glenn Slater
  • Director: Rachel Kavanaugh
  • Cast: TBA

Cher Horowitz is the most popular student at Beverly Hills High, renowned for her unique talent at finding love for others. She’s about to embark on her biggest project yet – making over her awkward new friend, Tai, and setting her up with the most handsome boy in school. But what happens to Cher when, for the first time, everything is not perfect? This fresh musical comedy is fun, fashionable, and, like, so way cool.

RICHARD II

  • Theatre: Bridge Theatre
  • First Preview: February 10, 2025
  • Opening: February 18, 2025
  • Playwright: William Shakespeare
  • Director: Nicholas Hytner
  • Cast: Jonathan Bailey

Richard II is charismatic, eloquent and loved by his friends. And a disastrous King – dishonest, capricious and politically incompetent. Echoing down the centuries is the perennial problem: how to deal with a ruler who has a rock solid right to rule but is set on wrecking the country he leads. Shakespeare’s subtle, ambiguous and beautiful play finds feudal England on the cusp of modernity, as a divinely sanctioned monarch is confronted, in the figure of Henry Bolingbroke, by the hard-headed pragmatism of real authority.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

  • Theatre: Theatre Royal Drury Lane
  • First Preview: February 10, 2025
  • Opening: February 19, 2025
  • Playwright: William Shakespeare
  • Director: Jamie Lloyd
  • Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Hayley Atwell

Tom Hiddleston is Benedick and Hayley Atwell is Beatrice. Two of their generation’s finest actors collaborate with director Jamie Lloyd again in this savagely funny and beautifully tender battle of wits.

BACKSTROKE

  • Theatre: Donmar Warehouse
  • First Preview: February 14, 2025
  • Opening: February 20, 2025
  • Playwright: Anna Mackmin
  • Director: Anna Mackmin
  • Cast: Tamsin Greig, Celia Imrie

Bo is busy - balancing the pressures of work and the needs of her struggling daughter. When her mother, the irrepressible force-of-nature Beth, is admitted to hospital following a stroke, the practical realities of the present collide with the complexities of their past.

THE SCORE

  • Theatre: Theatre Royal Haymarket
  • Opening: February 20, 2025
  • Playwright: Oliver Cotton
  • Director: Trevor Nunn
  • Cast: Brian Cox, Nicole Ansari-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. 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.

ALTERATIONS

  • Theatre: National Theatre (Lyttelton)
  • First Preview: February 20, 2025
  • Opening: February 27, 2025
  • Playwright: Michael Abbensetts
  • Director: Lynette Linton
  • Cast: Arinzé Kene, Cherrelle Skeete

Walker Holt has big dreams for his tailor’s shop, and an even bigger order to complete. Over the course of 24 hours he must work tirelessly to satisfy his new client’s impossible tailoring needs. But as the night goes on, it’s not just the trouser hems that start to fray as tensions rise and Walker’s friendships and relationships are pushed to their limits. His success comes at a cost, but what price is he willing to pay?

THE SEAGULL

  • Theatre: Barbican Theatre
  • First Preview: February 26, 2025
  • Opening: March 6, 2025
  • Playwright: Anton Chekhov, adapted by Duncan MacMillan and Thomas Ostermeier
  • Director: Thomas Ostermeier
  • Cast: Cate Blanchett, Tom Burke, Priyanga Burford, Emma Corrin, Zachary Hart, Paul Higgins, Tanya Reynolds, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jason Watkins

DEAR ENGLAND

  • Theatre: National Theatre (Olivier)
  • First Preview: March 10, 2025
  • Opening: March 18, 2025
  • Playwright: James Graham
  • Director: Rupert Goold
  • Cast: TBA

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.

MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO

  • Theatre: Gillian Lynne Theatre
  • First Preview: March 8, 2025
  • Opening: March 20, 2025
  • Playwright: Tom Morton-Smith
  • Director: Phelim McDermott
  • Cast: TBA

Exploring the magical fantasy world of childhood and the transformative power of imagination, My Neighbour Totoro follows one extraordinary summer in the lives of sisters Satsuki and Mei as they are swept up in exciting adventures with their new neighbours – transported to a long-forgotten realm of spirits, sprites, and natural wonder.

ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS

  • Theatre: Theatre Royal Bath
  • First Preview: March 22, 2025
  • Opening: March 27, 2025
  • Book: Jay Dyer
  • Music and Lyrics: Steven Lutvak
  • Director: John Doyle
  • Cast: TBA

For over a decade, Alfred Hitchcock Presents was must-see television in America, as the whole country joined to watch some of Hollywood’s biggest stars in episodes of mystery, mayhem and classic Hitchcockian wit, presented by the man himself. This world premiere musical weaves together spine-tingling episodes to take audiences on a whodunnit musical journey like no other. Featuring a jazz-infused score and a cast of characters who simply can’t help themselves from getting into the kind of delicious trouble that only Mr. Hitchcock could concoct, all will be reminded that we think we know a lot but…we do not.

STILETTO

  • Theatre: Charing Cross Theatre
  • First Preview: March 24, 2025
  • Opening: March 31, 2025
  • Book: Tim Luscombe
  • Music and Lyrics: Matthew Wilder
  • Director: David Gilmore
  • Cast: TBA

In Italy during the 18th century, an average of 5,000 boys were castrated annually. Almost exclusively, they came from poor families. Their treble voices intact, castration promised those who survived a chance to earn fame and fortune by singing female roles in the opera. A few made it, but most didn’t and were swept aside.

SHANGHAI DOLLS

  • Theatre: Kiln Theatre
  • First Preview: April 3, 2025
  • Opening: April 10, 2025
  • Playwright: Amy Ng
  • Director: Katie Posner
  • Cast: TBA

When two penniless actresses meet in Shanghai at auditions for Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, they quickly become inseparable. But as political upheaval rips through China, their tumultuous friendship will alter not only the course of their lives, but the course of history. One will become China’s first female director. The other, the architect of the Cultural Revolution.

MURIEL'S WEDDING

  • Theatre: Curve Theatre, Leicester
  • Opening: April 10, 2025
  • Book: PJ Hogan
  • Music and Lyrics: Kate Miller-Heidke, Keir Nuttall, ABBA
  • Director: Simon Phillips
  • Cast: Megan Ellis, Annabel Marlow

Undateable. Unemployable. Unstoppable. Stuck in a dead-end life in Porpoise Spit, Muriel dreams of the perfect wedding – the white dress, the church, the attention. Unfortunately, there’s one thing missing: a groom. Following her dreams to Sydney, Muriel ends up with everything she ever wanted – a man, a fortune and a million social media followers.

That’s when things start to go really wrong.

THE BRIGHTENING AIR

  • Theatre: Old Vic Theatre
  • First Preview: April 10, 2025
  • Opening: April 24, 2025
  • Playwright: Conor McPherson
  • Director: Conor McPherson
  • Cast: TBA

The family home is more than merely a building. It can be a destination of pilgrimage, an inherited investment, a repository of memory or even magic. And, for brother and sister Stephen and Billie, home is all they have. Mucking along in their decaying farmhouse, they’re doing just fine. That is, until the arrival of an ex-clergyman uncle with an unscrupulous plan, a sister-in-law seeking a miracle, and a prodigal brother hell-bent on trouble.

HERE WE ARE

  • Theatre: National Theatre (Lyttelton)
  • First Preview: April 23, 2025
  • Opening: May 3, 2025
  • Book: David Ives
  • Music and Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
  • Director: Joe Mantello
  • Cast: Tracie Bennett, Rory Kinnear, Denis O'Hare

It’s a perfect day for brunch. Leo and Marianne Brink have found the ideal spot to take their friends. With great reviews, impeccable service and an extensive menu it seems like nothing could go wrong. But after a series of strange events interrupt their meal, they soon realize they’ve bitten off more than they can chew.

THE DEEP BLUE SEA

  • Theatre: Theatre Royal Haymarket
  • Opening: May 7, 2025
  • Playwright: Terence Rattigan
  • Director: Lindsay Posner
  • Cast: Tamsin Greig, Finbar Lynch

When you’re stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea, the deep blue sea can sometimes look very inviting. In this powerful drama of passion versus loyalty, Hester Collyer, the daughter of a clergyman and wife of a judge is floundering in the closing stages of a hopeless affair. Freddie Page, her lover, a handsome but shallow ex-Battle of Britain pilot, is out of his depth in their relationship, overwhelmed by the strength of an emotion he is incapable of reciprocating…

JUST FOR ONE DAY

  • Theatre: Shaftesbury Theatre
  • Opening: May 15, 2025
  • Book: John O'Farrell
  • Music and Lyrics: Various
  • Director: Luke Sheppard
  • Cast: Craige Els

Political unrest, social revolution, boom and bust. In a decade of neon and noise, one moment made the world stand still and brought 1.5 billion people together – and they all have a story to tell about ‘the day rock ‘n’ roll changed the world’.

LONDON ROAD

  • Theatre: National Theatre (Olivier)
  • First Preview: June 5, 2025
  • Opening: June 12, 2025
  • Book: Alecky Blythe
  • Music: Adam Cork
  • Lyrics: Adam Cork and Alecky Blythe
  • Director: Rufus Norris
  • Cast: TBA

Autumn, 2006. The everyday life of the Suffolk town of Ipswich is shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women. The occupant of No. 79 London Road is arrested, charged and finally convicted of the murders. Caught in the headlines and the invasion of their quiet road, the community grapples with what it means to be at the epicentre of the tragedy.

INTIMATE APPAREL

  • Theatre: Donmar Warehouse
  • First Preview: June 20, 2025
  • Opening: June 26, 2025
  • Playwright: Lynne Nottage
  • Director: Lynette Linton
  • Cast: Samira Wiley

New York, 1905. Esther sews exquisite lingerie for women from all walks of life. Successful and fiercely independent, she dreams of opening her own beauty salon, but can’t shake the longing to fall in love. When she begins to receive beautiful letters from a lonesome stranger, it looks like it could just be her ticket to happiness.

NYE

  • Theatre: National Theatre (Olivier)
  • First Preview: July 3, 2025
  • Opening: July 10, 2025
  • Playwright: Tim Price
  • Director: Rufus Norris
  • Cast: Michael Sheen

From campaigning at the coalfield to leading the battle to create the NHS, Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan is often referred to as the politician with greatest influence on our country without ever being Prime Minister. Confronted with death, Nye’s deepest memories lead him on a mind-bending journey back through his life; from childhood to mining underground, Parliament and fights with Churchill in an epic Welsh fantasia.

SING STREET

  • Theatre: Lyric Theatre Hammersmith
  • First Preview: July 8, 2025
  • Opening: TBA
  • Playwright: Edna Walsh
  • Music and Lyrics: Gary Clark and John Carney
  • Director: Rebecca Taichman
  • Cast: TBA

It’s Dublin, 1982, and sixteen year old Conor can’t catch a break. His parents are fighting, his brother won’t leave the house and he’s not fitting in at his new Catholic school. Enter Raphina, a mysterious girl who’s too cool for school and on the lookout for a modelling job. In an effort to impress, Conor hires her to star in a music video for his band. Only problem is he doesn’t have a band. Yet.

 
RELATED:
Recommended Reading:
 X

Blocking belongs
on the stage,
not on websites.

Our website is made possible by
displaying online advertisements to our visitors.

Please consider supporting us by
whitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.
Thank you!