Top stage shows and musicals to see in 2024

Sarah Crompton has selected her most-anticipated shows for the new year – take a peek below to see what’s coming up!

The Hills of California

The last time Sam Mendes directed a play by Jez Butterworth it was the multi-award winning The Ferryman. Now the team reunite for The Hills of California which is set in a guest house in Blackpool in 1976, the driest summer in 200 years, which becomes the scene for a family reunion.  As both The Ferryman and Jerusalem showed, Butterworth is a master at making the epic from a domestic setting and this family drama, starring Laura Donnelly, Leanne Best, Ophelia Lovibond and Helena Wilson, is full of promise that he can once again do the same. Harold Pinter Theatre, from 27 January

An Enemy of the People 

Matt Smith returns to the stage to star in Thomas Ostermeier’s reimagining of one of Ibsen’s most searing dramas as Dr Stockmann, who becomes ostracised when he reveals a horrific discovery about the healing water in his town’s baths. The show, originally produced at Schaubuhne Berlin, marks Ostermeier’s West End debut and his bold vision is sure to make the relevance of a man’s discovery of the danger of contaminated water vividly clear in a time of climate crisis and denial. Duke of York’s Theatre, from 6 February

Dear Octopus

This intriguing revival of Dodie Smith’s Dear Octopus, a play about the family, and what it means to grow up and leave it, stars Lindsay Duncan as the matriarch celebrating her golden wedding anniversary on the eve of World War II. Smith is better known, of course, as the author of I Capture the Castle and 101 Dalmatians, so it’s fascinating that director Emily Burns wants to bring this gently heartbreaking family drama back to the stage. National Theatre, from 7 February

The Human Body

A new play by Lucy Kirkwood is always a cause for celebration.  She follows her success with The Witches with a romantic drama that brings Keeley Hawes and Jack Davenport together in a story set in Shropshire in 1948 where a Labour-supporting GP meets a man who turns her world upside down.  The play which like Nye (see below) examines a critical moment in modern British history, will also mark co-director Michael Longhurst’s final production as artistic director of the Donmar. Donmar Warehouse, from 16 February 

Nye

Michael Sheen feels like perfect casting as Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan, in Tim Price’s new play about the man who brought the NHS into being. This epic drama, a co-production with Wales Millennium Centre, takes us through his life and legacy from the perspective of his deathbed. It’s directed by the National’s artistic director Rufus Norris who is on a bit of a roll at the moment, with hit following hit. Described as a ‘fantasia’ this feels like a big, exciting gamble, with a woman (Stephanie Jacob) playing Clement Atlee and the wonderful Tony Jayawardena giving us his Winston Churchill.  Can’t wait. National Theatre, from 24 February 

MJ

Playwright Lynn Nottage and director and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon (associate artist at the Royal Ballet) scored a huge hit on Broadway with this jukebox musical about Michael Jackson, winning four Tonys including best actor in a musical for its star Myles Frost. Frost leads the cast in London too, in a show that cleverly avoids the controversies surrounding Jackson by focusing on his preparation for the 1992 Dangerous tour. Prince Edward Theatre, from 6 March

Opening Night

A musical written by Rufus Wainwright, starring Sheridan Smith, and directed by Ivo Van Hove ticks an awful lot of boxes. Add in the fact that this is based on John Cassavetes’ legendary film, about a company staging a major new play on Broadway rocked by turmoil in their leading lady’s life – and the fact that the same film provided the scene that Ruth Wilson performed over and over again in The Second Woman in 2023 – and the lure is irresistible. Gielgud Theatre, from 6 March

Long Day’s Journey Into Night 

Eugene O’Neill’s towering, bleak Pulitzer Award-winning play about the bickering Tyrone family has astonishing power – and one of the best roles ever written for a leading actor. It’s a part that has been waiting for Brian Cox who, fresh from Succession, takes on another oppressive paterfamilias, leading a cast that also includes Patricia Clarkson as his drug-addicted wife, and Daryl McCormack and Alex Lawther as his damaged sons.  Directed by Jeremy Herrin, it’s sure to be one of the shows of the year. Wyndham’s Theatre, from 19 March

Player Kings

Robert Icke returns to the UK to adapt Shakespeare’s Henry IV parts one and two and direct Ian McKellen as Falstaff. The combination of one of the greatest Shakespearean actors and a director who sees to the heart of classic plays, with an adaptation that bundles two histories into one evening, is a potent one. Further casting has still to be announced. Manchester Opera House, from 14 March, then Noël Coward Theatre, from 1 April

Red Pitch 

The Bush Theatre’s belief in supporting new writing gets a boost with the West End transfer of Tyrell Williams’ superlative coming-of-age story about three boys who meet to play football on a pitch that is surrounded by the demolition of their neighbourhood. Their hopes, fears and dreams are beautifully expressed in a play that never loses sight of character in making its powerful points. The exceptional cast – Kedar Williams-Stirling, Emeka Sesay and Francis Lovehall – are directed by Daniel Bailey. @sohoplace, from 15 March

The Cherry Orchard

Australian director Benedict Andrews has been much acclaimed for his radical direction of Chekhov, including a Three Sisters at the Young Vic in 2012 which had the whole cast singing Kurt Cobain. Now he tackles Chekhov’s final play, with the astounding German actress Nina Hoss (perhaps best known for Homeland) as Ranevskaya, the aristocrat who refuses to see the need for change. Her co-stars include Adeel Akhtar, so memorable in Sherwood and Murdered by My Father who is returning to the stage for the first time since 2015. Donmar Warehouse, from April 26

Waiting for Godot

It is going to be a long wait for this particular Godot, but the prospect is enticing. James Macdonald, a director who is brilliant at coaxing meaning out of silence and pause, directs the wonderful combination of Lucian Msamati and Ben Whishaw in Samuel Beckett’s enduring and always meaningful play. Theatre Royal Haymarket, from September