The best new London theatre for 2023 and 2024 – shows not to miss

Michael R Jackson’s by all accounts transcendently good meta-musical about a young, gay, Black writer, writing a musical about a young, gay, Black writer won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 2020 and ran on Broadway for nine months. Now it’s coming here.

‘Crazy for You’ is a golden age musical comedy that’s actually from 1992: writer Ken Ludwig took a load of classic songs by George and Ira Gershwin – largely from the 1930 musical ‘Girl Crazy’ – and spun them into a shimmeringly delightful retro confection that’s almost indistinguishable from the era it’s paying homage to, the odd knowing flourish aside. 

A year after he blew our minds with a reprise of his jaw-dropping turn in Jez Butterworth’s ‘Jerusalem’ – aka possibly the greatest stage performance ever – Mark Rylance is back…

Long-running Nickelodeon cartoon ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ is pretty weird, as is this eccentric Broadway musical adaptation spin-off.

Jamie Lloyd return to the National Theatre for the first time in over a decade to helm a productionof Lucy Prebble’s ultra cerebral romcom. The wondrous Paapa Essiedu will be paired with rising Canadian screen star Taylor Russell as Tristan and Connie, the two patients on an anti-depressant trial whose burgeoning romance causes a major ethical dilemma for their supervising doctors. 

It is a truth generally acknowledged that 1993's ‘Sunset Boulevard’ is on the relatively select list that comprises Andrew Lloyd Webber Musicals That Are Actually Quite Good…

Frankly a one-man version of ‘Uncle Vanya’ sounds like a terrifying idea, but when the man in question is Andrew Scott then you pretty much have to throw your arms up to the heavens and accept that it’ll probably be great.

An RSC stage version of Maggie O’Farrell’s bestselling novel ‘Hamnet’ was clearly always going to end up in the West End, and as it happens Lolita Chakrabarti’s adaptation has announced that it’s playing a limited 14-week West End run before its long-sold-out Stratford-upon-Avon run has even started.

Screen stars Lily James and Kristin Scott-Thomas join forces to star in Penelope Skinner’s ‘flipped’ revenge tragedy about a reclusive actress’s attempt to make a comeback.

Stephen Sondheim’s passing at the age of 91 at the end of 2021 led to widespread mourning on both sides of the Atlantic. It also prompted Cameron Mackintosh to put together a lavish London tribute concert last May called ‘Old Friends’,which has been reprised for a West End run starring the legendary Bernadette Peters.

It’s been a very long time since Kenneth Branagh last graced our stages with his eponymous company’s 2016 rep season.But finally he’s back, and really, it’s like he’s never been away. A self-directed production of Shakespeare’s ‘Lear’ is classic Branagh, then: certain of his status as a star draw, confident in his ability to both take on one of the most demanding roles in the Western canon and serve as its director, and in true Sir Ken fashion, being a bit on the young side for the role.

The National Theatre hasn't hosted a major musical in some time, with the troubled Christmas show ‘Hex’ being something of a pandemic-era stopgap. ‘The Witches’, though, is much more serious stuff, being a major adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved dark kids’ novel about a young boy who lives with his grandmother and stumbles across a conspiracy of villainous witches hoping to turn the world’s children into mice. 

The West End has played host to a Harry Potter sequel for years now – so why not a ‘Stranger Things’ prequel, eh?

David Tennant has played numerous villains on screen, but has steered relatively clear of them on stage, with his sundry Shakespeare credits not including any of the Bard’s many juicy villain roles… until now. 

US writer Lucas Hnath’s play ‘Dana H.’ was rapturously received by critics, but essentially too weird for mainstream Broadway audiences: it was forced to cut its 2021 run short. The Royal Court, however, would seem to be the perfect London home for the experimental show.

And just like that, Sarah Jessica Parker will make her West End debut next year opposite husband Matthew Broderick in a revival of Neil Simon’s 1968 comedy ‘Plaza Suite’.

The Scottish Play is always a popular choice, with 2023 revivals at the Globe and Donmar and now this: a Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma starring production directed by Simon Godwinthat will tour warehouses in Liverpool, Edinburgh, London and Washington DC.

Despite the lengthy West End run for the cheap and cheerful revue ‘Thriller’, it’s taken a very long time for an official Michael Jackson musical to make its way to the stage…