Ten Broadway shows we want to see in the UK in 2025

Maybe some Broadway producers’ New Years’ Resolutions should be to transfer more shows across the Atlantic!

As the wheels start turning, setting 2025 in motion, there is already a treasure trove of confirmed shows (new musicals, new plays, musical revivals and more) for the months ahead, but that won’t stop us from dreaming about the possibility of even more theatrical treats!

We certainly love our home-grown productions, but the UK also constantly has its eye on our friends stateside and welcomes celebrated shows from Broadway with open arms. This year will see productions such as The Great Gatsby grace the West End stage, and we have high hopes that a few more may cross the pond.

As last year’s list has drawn a blank (!!) we’ve incorporated some of our previous list into this one. Maybe some producers will finally give us the good stuff.

1. Beetlejuice

Us wishing for a West End transfer of Beetlejuice seems to have become an annual tradition here at WhatsOnStage, but with Tim Burton’s film sequel a solid success, we’re keeping our spirits high (pun intended) that Warner Bros Theatre Ventures see 2025 as the perfect time to finally pull the trigger on a UK premiere! Beetlejuice… Beetlejuice… Beetlejuice, please!

2. Stereophonic

The Tony Award-winning new play about a dysfunctional band trying to nail a new album was the talk of New York, and we’ve already had some vague signals that a UK premiere may come sooner rather than later. Now that the Broadway run is closing up, could the West End be next? We’d be pretty sad if it wasn’t…

3. Death Becomes Her

We are DYING to see this larger-than-life, lavish new take on the much-loved 1992 film of the same name. Tipped to be a strong contender at the next Tony Awards (in what is fast becoming a very crowded space, admittedly), it proves stage adaptations of films need not be stale re-runs of screen fare, but can actually make the most of the live entertainment format. Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard sailing to the UK would also be quite splendid.

4. Oh, Mary!

One of the most successful new plays of the century in terms of audience love and box office receipts, Cole Escola’s historical comedy about Mary Todd Lincoln’s ill-fated life is a confident admonishment of what many assume Broadway is for: stately and inoffensive comedy. As it turns out, irreverence and daftness can be big wins with punters. Given it’s a story grounded in US history, it’d be really fascinating to see how the show plays to UK audiences.

5. Hell’s Kitchen

“Guaranteed to send you into the streets singing“, Alicia Keys’ jukebox musical Hell’s Kitchen has wowed audiences both off- and on-Broadway. Just don’t ask Patti LuPone about volume levels. Here’s hoping that the show, inspired by the singer-songwriter’s early years in Manhattan Plaza, receives a UK transfer quicker than you can cry: “Girl on Fire”!

6. Kimberly Akimbo

Kimberly Akimbo is “the most satisfying new musical in ages” according to our colleagues across the pond and it seems the Tony Awards voting committee agreed with them, with the show being crowned Best Musical two years ago. David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori’s piece is a tender tale about a teenage girl, who suffers from a condition that causes her body to age rapidly, and her search to find happiness in the world. Could the musical’s next “Great Adventure” be a UK staging?

7. Parade

Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry’s 1998 musical made its way back to Broadway in February 2023 in a “simple yet stunning production“, following its stint at New York City Center. Documenting the 1913 trial and imprisonment (and subsequent lynching) of Jewish American Leo Frank, the show triumphed in the Best Revival of a Musical category at last year’s Tony Awards. Although we’ve had London stagings in 2007 and 2011, this production had two beautiful performances by Micaela Diamond (The Cher Show) and Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen) at its very heart, and we’ve got all our fingers crossed that they might reprise their roles on these shores in the not-too-distant future.

8. Spamalot

We believe it’s high time we looked on the bright side of life again! It’s been two long since Monty Python’s musical crowd-pleaser Spamalot graced the West End stage, and if we can’t get the recent cast of Broadway stalwarts to cross the pond (with clashing coconut shells in tow), then at the very least, can we have Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) reprise her WhatsOnStage Award-nominated performance as the Lady of the Lake? Please and thank you!

9. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

There’s “No Place Like London” for Broadway’s recent revival of the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler classic about everyone’s favourite butchering barber and his questionable pie-making partner. We’re praying this “superb staging” of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street makes a journey to its spiritual home sooner rather than later and if original cast members Josh Groban (Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812) and Annaleigh Ashford (Sunday in the Park with George) decide to come along with it, there’ll be no complaints from us! Maybe an appearance from Heartstopper’s Joe Locke would also be rather lush.

10. Maybe Happy Ending

Honestly, no one expected this intimate four-hander musical to be the surprise hit of the season, but Will Aronson and Hue Park’s chamber piece about two obsolete robots that fall in love has become a beloved new addition to the Great White Way. It’s directed by Michael Arden (who also helmed Parade) while Helen J Shen plays Claire and Darren Criss plays Oliver. We could see it having a similarly spellbinding effect on UK audiences if given the chance.

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