London musicals

This long-gestating musical version of ‘Back to the Future’ is so desperate to please that the producers would doubtless offer a free trip back in time with every ticket purchase if the laws of physics allowed…

Where is it? Adelphi Theatre

A quintessential ’90s high school comedy that launched the brief Hollywood career of Alicia Silverstone, Amy Heckerling’s 1995 ‘Clueless’ is a smart rewrite of Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’. Now it’s a musical, with Heckerling writing the book and big-in-the-’00s Scottish songwriter KT Tunstall doing the music, with direction from Rachel Kavanaugh.

Where is it? Trafalgar Theatre.

A labour of love that has worked its way slowly to the West End over the five years since it debuted at Southwark Playhouse, at its best Jethro Compton’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an extraordinary thing, a soaring folk opera that overwhelms you with a cascade of song and feeling.

Where is it? Ambassadors Theatre.

The Devil Wears Prada had me flummoxed. It is an adaptation of the 2006 millennial classic about a mousy young journalism graduate who blunders into the job of PA to a tyrannical, Anna Wintour-alike fashion editor. The songs are by none other than Elton John, with lyrics by Shania Taub and Mark Sonnenblick. The director-choreographer is Broadway veteran Jerry Mitchell. There’s some serious talent involved. And yet being turned into a musical does… almost nothing for it.

Where is it? Dominion Theatre.

Following its acclaimed summer 2024 run at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Fiddler on the Roof transfers to the Barbican as park of a tour of the UK.

Where is it? Barbican Centre.

F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novella about the dark side of the American Dream has been endlessly adapted for the stage and that’s kicked into overdrive now that the US copyright has expired – there are two big US musical adaptations. Here’s the first: a year after it opened on the Great White Way, The Great Gatsby will transfer to London, playing the limited summer season at the huge London Coliseum.

Where is it? London Coliseum.

What a long, strange trip it’s been. Indie-folk musician Anaïs Mitchell’s musical retelling of the Orpheus story began life in the mid-’00s as a lo-fi song cycle – going through the next 14 years blow-by-blow would be time-consuming, but in short thanks to what I can only describe as THEATRE MAGIC, Hadestown is now a full-blown musical directed by the visionary Rachel Chavkin, its success as a show vastly outstripping that of the record.

Where is it? Lyric Theatre.

Okay, let’s just get this out of the way. ‘Hamilton’ is stupendously good…

Where is it? Apollo Victoria.

The imminent arrival of new Stephen Sondheim musical is a furiously exciting and sadly never to be repeated experience and what a coup for Rufus Norris to score it as the centrepiece of his final season running the NT. 

Where is it? National Theatre. 

Occupying the gap left by the mighty Frozen at the huge Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Hercules is a fascinating choice of Disney film for the megacorp to adapt as its new stage musical…

Where is it? Theatre Royal Drury Lane.