Looking Forward to New Shows…
Photo credit: Matt Crockett
Besties, as we look forward to the next twelve months on West End stages, there are plenty of new productions to tempt us. An interesting discussion is about the average ticket prices achieved. While SOLT still maintain that ticket prices are not rising in real terms, the headline top prices certainly are! The Stage recently published its annual survey on ticket prices and stated that the average top ticket prices was now £173.74 (up from £162.61) with top tickets at over £300 for a musical and £279 for a play. These soaring prices are driven by demand and dynamic pricing, and we are seeing average prices held down by discounting and seat filling offers for less successful shows.
As in New York, we are seeing all but the very top shows, seeing a later booking pattern with savvy audiences waiting for discount offers from the producers, either through the venue directly or one of the ticket platforms. Booking in advance requires meeting the premium ticket prices but buying in the last 24 hours with flexibility of what you want to see secures very large discounts. We recently paid £45 for Row E of the Stalls for Cyrano de Bergerac at the Noel Coward Theatre in that period and were not surprised to see a full Stalls on the night.
Cyrano de Bergerac - Noel Coward Theatre - Until 5 September
Cyrano De Bergerac by Edmond Rostand is a familiar story to most. The romantic poetical man with a very large nose is in love with Roxanne but despite his bravery in the field of battle, fears rejection by her due to his looks. He supports Christian, a young good-looking man who is also in love with her, but can’t find the words to express himself outside of simply declaring his love. It has all of the elements you need for a heroic romantic tale.
Simon Evans (who also directs) and Debris Stevenson’s adaptation for the RSC ran at The Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon last year. It certainly helps that the theatre cooling system seems to be working well as the excellent Christan Patterson as Ragueneau strolls out on the forestage to welcome us before the house lights dim. It sets the scene, we are in a theatre as they prepare for a performance before another suitor of Roxanne, Comte De Guiche (Scott Handy) and their star man, Cyrano, has gone missing again. It is a delightful immersive comic opening.
However, the show belongs to Adrian Lester who is magnificent as Cyrano. His performance is full of swagger, humour, pathos, romance, and some very impressive sword fighting. We can see his physical bravery, hear his poetical elegance and yet he reveals his insecurity due to his looks and his timidness in the presence of Roxanne too. His performance is full of humour, nuanced looks, and bravado in the face of attacks. He was acclaimed for his performance in the 2025 RSC run which earned four and five star reviews from The Guardian, Whatsonstage, The Telegraph, The Stage. and ourselves.
Beetlejuice at Prince Edward Theatre
It has taken nearly eight years for the stage version of the 1988 Tim Burton’s film to make its way over from Broadway where it opened in 2018 to the West End, but Beetlejuice is finally here at the Prince Edward Theatre, and it will certainly have its cult following to drive initial interest. It opened to fairly mixed reviews with three stars from the Telegraph, The Times, the Guardian and Whatsonstage, and just two stars from The Stage.
It’s a production which you have to see with an open mind and go with the styling flow since, as the opening song says, “This is a musical about death” and while it pays tribute to original film, it also revels in its own theatricality and silliness. It is as if Brad and Janet of Rocky Horror fame have stumbled into the home of the Addams Family while they are preparing to stage a pantomime directed by Tim Burton. You simply can’t take any of it seriously, but the music is not as strong as Rocky Horror or The Addams Family, although the projection and illusions are great fun and add to the atmospherics of the setting.
In case you didn’t know, Beetlejuice, an ancient demon, must find a living human to say his name three times so that he becomes visible and can cause chaos around the world. He meets Adam and Barbara Maitland when they die in an electrical accident and tries to help them scare the people who buy their house, Charles and Delia Deetz, away. Charles’ daughter Lydia, in mourning for the death of her mother, finds she can see Beetlejuice and makes a pact with him. What follows is a battle of wills between Lydia and the demon as they try to outsmart each other.
Indeed, the musical elevates the character of Lydia, brilliant played and sung by young American Hannah Norberg, into the central role and she dominates the stage while Beetlejuice, played by David Fynn, becomes a cross between the Rocky Narrator and a stand-up comic in pantomime. The funniest moments are undoubtedly those added for the UK audiences, with jokes about Sir Kier Stamer and Paddington the Musical. The music and lyrics are by Eddie Perfect, but the best musical moment is the chaotic close to Act 1 with ‘Day-0 (The Banana Boat Song)’, a Jamaican folk song made famous by Harry Belafonte, though Lydia does impress with the opening ‘Invisible’ and later ‘Home’.
Sinatra: The Musical at the Aldwych Theatre, currently booking until 10 April 2027
The production features twenty iconic hit songs. Having seen the cabaret version of his life in Sinatra: Raw, written and performed by Richard Shelton, providing a wonderfully insightful play that in a drink fuelled confessional, both recreates the singer’s greatest songs but also goes behind the sparkling blue eyes and reveals his thoughts and motivations. Sinatra, he tells us was a fighter and we get a real sense of how difficult he must have been to live with and work with.
The new show has many faults, but the whole band are outstanding, Jon Morrell's costumes are suave, colourful and sophisticated, and it is refreshing to experience such great sound design from Jonathan Deans. What's more though, the cast are battling against a lopsided script, Joel Harper-Jackson showcases why he is not just one of the best singers in the West End, but also one of its best storytellers. He gives us a wonderfully complex and troubled Sinatra. Sinatra had such a unique sound, and it can absolutely be forgiven that, from time to time, Harper-Jackson sounded more like Jamie Cullum than Sinatra. His work on the role is evident throughout, and the future is limitless for his career.
Jesus Christ Superstar plays at London Palladium until 5 September, and then transfers to Drury Lane on 16 October - 9 January
Told through the eyes of Judas, the musical charts the final days of Jesus' life as friendship, faith and political power collide. Tim Rice's lyrics and Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock score transform one of history's most familiar stories into something beautifully theatrical.
Much of the anticipation surrounding this revival rests on its casting. Sam Ryder, who shot to international fame after representing the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2022, makes his musical theatre stage debut as Jesus, and is joined by an exceptionally strong company including Tyrone Huntley as Judas and Desmonda Cathabel as Mary Magdalene. The deliciously theatrical role of King Herod is shared by a rotating roster of guest stars, beginning with Jesse Tyler Ferguson and continuing with performers including Boy George and Layton Williams at the Palladium. Following this summer run, the production transfers to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, where Matt Bomer, Michael Ball and Simon Russell Beale are among those stepping into Herod's extravagant shoes.
Arcadia transferred into the Duke of York for 12 weeks from 20 June
We saw the original staging at the National in 1993, but it has been acclaimed as one of Stoppard’s finest works. Sonia Friedman describes Arcadia in her expensive programme notes (£7.40 for a programme!) as “a masterpiece that captivates audiences with its wit, intellect and humanity. It rewards every encounter, revealing something new with each audience that discovers it and deepening with every return visit”.
The underlying plot has interest in it. In 1809, Thomasina Coverly, the daughter of the Sidley Park estate, is a precocious teenager with ideas about mathematics, nature, and physics well ahead of her time. She studies with her tutor Septimus Hodge, a friend of Lord Byron. In the present, writer Hannah Jarvis and literature professor Bernard Nightingale engage at the house: she is investigating a hermit who once lived on the grounds; he is researching a mysterious chapter in the life of Byron. As their studies unfold - with the help of Valentine Coverly, a post-graduate student in mathematical biology, the truth about what happened in Thomasina's time is gradually revealed.
The Old Vic production, directed by Carrie Cracknell, presents this play in-the-round or, in fact, not so much in-the-round as on the stage being the proscenium arch with audience seated on three sides around a revolve. Most of the audience watch as usual from the auditorium .
The Oresteia plays at the Bridge Theatre until 19 September
This latest modern-day reimaging of the Greek classic play stars David Morrissey and RADA graduate Rosie Sheehy and runs for a terrifying 3.5 - 4 hours! We saw this classic Greek tale at the Olivier in the 1981 Peter Hall directed version by Tony Harrison with Jim Carter, Barry Rutter and Greg Hicks, which lived long in the memory from that glorious period when the National Theatre delivered show after show.
Death Note plays at the Barbican on 11 August - 12 September having received strong reviews for its Palladium concert version in 2023, with five stars from West End Best Friend.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre relaunches as a one-part show on 9 October after the wonderful two-part show closes on 20 September. We recommend catching the two-parter before it closes for the full experience.
The Cherry Orchard with Kristin Scott Thomas runs at Harold Pinter Theatre from 3 October - 9 January, though you may prefer to catch Kenneth Branagh’s version at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon, playing until 29 August.
The Lives of Others arrives at the Adelphi Theatre on 14 October for thirteen weeks with a large budget and Keira Knightley, Luke Thompson, and Stephen Dillane, directed by Robert Icke, promising to be one of the hot tickets this autumn.
Allegra runs at the Harold Pinter Theatre until 15 August after a UK tour and stars Dame Maureen Lipman .
The writer, Pete Quilter, has already proven himself to be an accomplished playwright with his brilliant play about the last days of the iconic Judy Garland, End of the Rainbow, and more recently the quirky tale of Glorious! about Florence Foster Jenkins. All three plays feature women for whom music was their life. While Rainbow focused on Garland’s final live performances in London on the edge of a nervous breakdown, and Glorious! celebrated Jenkins performance at the spectacular Carnegie Hall in New York, the music of Allegra is sometimes just in her head.
When Allegra bursts into song in public locations around her local town, it brings the police to her door with complaints about the disturbances and drugs to suppress her irresistible urge to sing. It seems an unlikely scenario but sets up a series of slightly bonkers fantasy sequences around a narrative which has moments of great comedy, moments of sadness and poignancy and huge flights of fancy dance routines. The action stops, the fourth wall is broken and Allegra bursts into ‘Tiptoe Through the Tulips’, ‘Singin’ in the Rain’, and ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ as the sets comes alive with projected images and comedy props. These moments provide the show’s highlights and convey the simple joy and release that Allegra feels with music, even if it only in her head. Her public disturbances are simply sharing the joy with those around her.
The Truth has opened at the Apollo Theatre and runs until 12 September with Stephen Mangan, Sarah Hadland, Ardal O’Hanlon and Janie Dee.
The combination of that cast and Florian Zeller’s usually excellent writing promises a fun evening and got four-star reviews from Telegraph and Whatsonstage, plus a five star from the Guardian.
Trainspotting: The Musical runs at Theatre Royal Haymarket from 15 July - 5 September, some thirty years after the iconic film about drug crazed kid:s Sick Boy, Bebgie, Spud, Tommy and Kelly.
It is followed by The Standard of Living from 21 September - 12 December. It is the latest play from James Graham whose prolific output of such quality makes him the greatest living UK playwright. Directed by Nick Hytner and starring Rory Kinnear, it takes as the unlikely subject the influential economist John Maynard Keynes and looks into his personal life too. Should appeal to A level Economic students as well as fans of Graham’s works.
Even more intriguing was the announcement of Popinjay Cavalier, billed as a swashbuckling comedy written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and set in 1830 Europe. Due to arrive in West End in 2027, we believe following Stranger Things into the Phoenix Theatre, it will either be a glorious hit or a total mess, and we look forward to finding out which.
The RSC production of Game of Thrones: The Mad King opens in Stratford upon Avon on 29 July and runs until 5 September, surely following on in 2027 into London. We believe that it will arrive in 2027 in a new venue in Greenwich.
We assumed it would follow the RSC production of My Neighbour Totoro into the Gillian Lynne Theatre when that closes in January 2027, but it has now been announced that this will be followed by a stage adaptation of the TV reality show The Traitors - Acts of Betrayal in May 2027. It is promoted as a story that unfolds in five different ways: the game begins identically each night, but the Traitors change, and a character banished early in one version emerges victorious in another. Then on Saturdays, the power shifts to the audience, who decide who wears the hooded cloak in that night’s showdown. Each play stands alone as a complete, gripping drama; together they form a theatrical event of paranoia, betrayal and shifting alliances unlike anything the West End has staged before - a sliding-doors exploration of fate where nothing is certain, and no one is safe. We believe that this is planned to run for at least a year and will need to if it is to recoup the upfront costs. It will be interesting to see if the phenomenal response to the celebrity version on TV translates to audiences for the play
We are still awaiting news of where The Greatest Showman: The Musical will transfer into after its sold out run at the Bristol Hippodrome earlier this year. The obvious place is Theatre Royal Drury Lane to follow the two Disney musicals Frozen and Hercules which ends its run on 5 September. But Jesus Christ Superstar follows with its celebrity casting as Herod from 16 October - 9 January, so it will not be until 2027.
Two Broadway shows that must surely be looking for a West End home are The Outsiders based on a novel by SE Hinton that was made into a Francis Ford Coppola film, and Schmigadoon! based on the Apple TV show that ran for two series, it is a marvellous parody of musical theatre and won four Tony’s at the recent awards ceremony. Both will surely seek a West End home in 2027.
It all bodes well for the offering in West End in 2027, although with continually rising top seat prices and recoupments that requires financial capacity sales well over 80% over the run, it feels an expensive place to spend your cash for both audiences and Angels, without which producers may be less willing to seek that West End venue, when it becomes free.
Nick Wayne
Nick has been involved as a Trustee/Director in UK Producer and Venue Organisations for twenty-six years, seen over 1350 productions, visited over 160 of the UK Venues, seen overseas productions in USA, Canada, France, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, and Australia and invested in over 40 West End Productions. You can read his long form articles on Stage Whispers UK - Nick Wayne