As London slowly emerges from winter, a bevy of stars—from Hollywood stalwarts to theater veterans and emerging talents—are lining up to storm the West End stage. They’re set to reimagine Shakespearean classics; delight audiences with showstopping musical numbers, both new and familiar; make us weep with their takes on Arthur Miller and Eugene O’Neill; and bring to life the work of some of the most exciting young writers in the industry today. These are the 10 hottest tickets in town.
For Black Boys at the Garrick Theatre
The full title of Ryan Calais Cameron’s profoundly moving, Olivier Award-nominated examination of race, mental health, and modern masculinity is For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy—and while this may sound somber, this thrillingly dynamic show is anything but. It’s lighthearted and inventive, soaring and ambitious, devastating and then utterly life-affirming—the tale of six young Black men who meet for group therapy and delve deep into their passions, hopes, and traumas, clashing and connecting with each other as they ponder life’s biggest questions. After last year’s sold-out production at London’s Apollo Theatre, the play is back in the West End with a brand new cast: Tobi King Bakare, Fela Lufadeju, Albert Magashi, Mohammed Mansaray, Posi Morakinyo, and Shakeel Haakim, the latter of whom is a Royal Academy of Dramatic Art student who was actually working part-time as an usher at the Apollo during For Black Boys’s last run. If his story, and this transcendent piece of theater, don’t make you shed tears of joy, nothing will.
Until May 4
Opening Night at the Gielgud Theatre
Stage legend Sheridan Smith returns to the spotlight with this new musical based on John Cassavetes’s blistering 1977 film of the same name, about an actor at the height of her powers whose latest play is heading to Broadway when her life begins to spiral out of control. Grammy nominee Rufus Wainwright has penned over 20 new songs for the occasion, Tony-winning visionary Ivo van Hove is directing, and the supporting cast includes Unorthodox’s Shira Haas, but all eyes, presumably, will be on its leading lady. “It’s going to be really close to the bone,” Smith told British Vogue of the experience of playing someone who struggles with anxiety and alcoholism, much like she herself has in the past. Her goal? “Catharsis.”
Until July 27
Cabaret at the Playhouse Theatre
Since this immersive and sumptuous West End reimagining of the classic Kander and Ebb musical first opened in 2021, the likes of Jessie Buckley, Madeline Brewer, Aimee Lou Wood, Maude Apatow, and Self Esteem have all stepped into Sally Bowles’s thigh-highs to belt “Mein Herr” and “Maybe this Time.” (A Broadway iteration of the production opens at the August Wilson Theatre in April.) The latest to succeed them in the part will be none other than the electrifying Cara Delevingne, who will make her West End debut at the delightfully debauched Kit Kat Club, supported by Luke Treadaway as the gleeful Emcee. Our setting is Berlin at the twilight of the Jazz Age, as the Nazis are gaining power, and the employees and regulars at a seedy cabaret are navigating their ever-changing world—and having a lot of fun doing it. If you’re somehow yet to see this exuberant reinterpretation, which set an Olivier record as the most awards-laden revival in history with its seven wins, now is the time.
Delevingne will play Sally Bowles from March 11 to June 1.
Red Pitch at Soho Place
Sex Education’s Kedar Williams-Stirling, The Power’s Emeka Sesay, and Small Axe’s Francis Lovehall will win your heart with their fleet-footed performances in this joyous, invigorating play, penned by Tyrell Williams and directed by Daniel Bailey. The trio take the parts of promising young Black footballers growing up in rapidly gentrifying south London who are gearing up for tryouts, while also contemplating their futures and that of their tight-knit community. It’s a sensitive assessment of ambition, friendship, the desire for a life that’s better than the one you were born into, and the fear of losing the things you hold most dear if you leave it behind. After two sold-out runs at the Bush Theatre, this West End transfer is richly deserved—and one you shouldn’t miss.
March 15 to May 4
Instructions for a Teenage Armageddon at the Garrick Theatre
A one-woman show starring Bridgerton’s Charithra Chandran, written by Rosie Day, and directed by Georgie Staight, this razor-sharp and darkly funny play is a breathless, headfirst dive into the chaos of adolescence: the story of a teenage misfit’s agonizing coming-of-age in the wake of her sister’s death. She finds some solace in joining a local scout group, and as she earns her badges, the narrative deftly navigates a range of weighty themes, from eating disorders to consent and difficult parental relationships. Despite its comparatively modest scale and lack of bells and whistles, this is a thoroughly absorbing piece of work which, in its previous iterations, captivated audiences at the Old Red Lion Theatre and Southwark Playhouse. This new limited run should be no different.
March 17 to April 28
Long Day’s Journey into Night at Wyndham’s Theatre
Before Brian Cox was eviscerating his rivals in the boardroom as Logan Roy, the acting titan was a West End and Broadway regular with two Oliviers to his name. Fittingly, he returns to his theatrical roots by heading up another bitter and dysfunctional family in this fresh staging of Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize-winning magnum opus, with Patricia Clarkson as his troubled wife, and Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’s Daryl McCormack and How to Build a Girl’s Laurie Kynaston as their bickering sons. On the agenda: deep-seated resentment, regrets, longing, betrayal, struggles with addiction, health scares, explosive outbursts, and the unspooling of family secrets, all in the space of a single summer’s day in Connecticut. (So far, so Succession.) Under the direction of Jeremy Herrin, it’s almost certainly guaranteed to be a scorcher.
March 19 to June 8
Player Kings at the Noël Coward Theatre
Any opportunity to see the incomparable 84-year-old Ian McKellen treading the boards shouldn’t be passed up—even more so when he’s embodying one of the greatest figures in the Shakespearean canon (and for the very first time, no less): the swaggering and debauched Falstaff, who’ll take center stage in this epic and ingenious retelling of both Henry IV Part One and Two. Opposite him as Hal is Ted Lasso’s Toheeb Jimoh, while Fantastic Beasts’s Richard Coyle is King Henry IV, with the adaptation and direction overseen by the critically lauded Robert Icke. Expect contemporary resonances in its depiction of a divided nation with crumbling leadership, as well as a barnstorming take on the quippy, charismatic drunkard from the verified national treasure.
April 1 to June 22
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) at the Criterion Theatre
One of the most effervescent and uplifting productions I’ve seen so far this year, Jim Barne and Kit Buchan’s glorious new musical is about to transfer to the West End from the Kiln Theatre—and those who’ve slept on it would be wise to book their tickets stat. This is a toe-tapping two-hander which owes its success to a spate of catchy tunes and the sheer charisma of its leads: Hamilton’s Dujonna Gift as jaded New Yorker Robin and Dear Evan Hansen’s Sam Tutty as wide-eyed Brit Dougal. He arrives in the Big Apple for the second wedding of a father he’s never known, and she, the bride’s dutiful sister, picks him up. Cue a hilarious clash of cultures, personal revelations, and, eventually, the blossoming of a tender romance which takes them from a Brooklyn bakery to a suite at the Plaza Hotel and, later, a low-lit noodle joint in Chinatown. The chemistry is palpable, the set wonderfully innovative, and the script impossibly sweet without being saccharine. It’ll have you singing all the way home.
April 4 to July 14
Romeo Juliet at the Duke of York’s Theatre
The news that Tom Holland will be embodying one half of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers in a new rendering of the blood-soaked tragedy from Jamie Lloyd immediately sent the internet into a tailspin last month, prompting an estimated 60,000 people to join the virtual queue for a ticket. Within two hours, the show was sold out—though, thankfully, a final batch of seats has yet to be released. It makes sense: the chance to witness the homecoming of a Hollywood heartthrob who got his start on the West End stage at the age of 12 in Billy Elliot and is now poised to perform the Bard’s work for the first time is obviously the theatrical equivalent of the Renaissance or Eras Tour. Keep your eyes peeled for more announcements, including the casting of his Juliet. A million girls would surely kill for that part.
May 11 to August 3
A View From The Bridge at the Theatre Royal Haymarket
Fresh off the final season of The Crown, Dominic West is the anguished Brooklyn longshoreman Eddie Carbone in this new Lindsay Posner-directed production of Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, leading an impressive ensemble that also features Macbeth’s Kate Fleetwood, It’s a Sin’s Callum Scott Howells, and Persuasion’s Nia Towle. The latter embodies the young niece our tortured leading man secretly lusts after, and when she falls for the charms of another, his resentment and fury tear their world apart. Following a sell-out run in Bath, tickets will be in high demand—and rightly so, considering you’ll get to see a seasoned theater actor turned global star tackling one of the most emotionally complex parts of his career to date.
May 23 to August 3
