West End shows confirmed for 2027

As the clocks fall back, we are looking forward!

The West End in 2027 is looking exciting with new musicals based on hit films, like The Greatest Showman and Nanny McPhee, as well as star-studded plays and returning favourites.

The Greatest Showman

This is the moment we’ve waited for! After a hit world premiere in Bristol, The Greatest Showman will set up its big top at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Leading the company are Oliver Tompsett as P T Barnum and Samantha Barks as Charity Barnum – watch out ’cause here they come!

Dates to be confirmed

Rachel Zegler – Live in London

Multi-award-winning Rachel Zegler returns to London ahead of Evita‘s Broadway transfer. In her most intimate setting to date, the performer will play a concert residency in the West End, with a setlist including numbers from her extraordinary career. It’s going to be star quality!

Runs at @sohoplace from 5 to 17 January

The Guilty

In this solo piece, Russell Tovey plays police officer, Joe, who takes a 999 call from, Emily, a woman in danger. As he attempts to piece together fragmented clues to establish her whereabouts and circumstances, the call develops into a thriller in which Joe begins to question what is happening.

Runs at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 16 January to 3 April

August: Osage County

Lesley Manville and Anna Maxwell Martin are teaming up to bring Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award play to the West End. Jeremy Herrin directs the piece, which centres on the Weston family who reunite at their home in Oklahoma following a family crisis, leading to long-standing tensions and secrets surfacing.

Runs at the Noël Coward Theatre from 18 January

Dirty Dancing

Have the time of your life as Dirty Dancing returns to the West End early 2027. Based on the classic film, Michael O’Reilly plays dance teacher Johnny Castle, alongside Pippa Jackson as Baby Houseman and Emily Layden-Fritz as Penny Johnson.

Runs at the Prince Edward Theatre from 19 January to 24 April

John Proctor is the Villain

Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain has been given the “Green Light” for a West End transfer! The play, set in a modern-day high school where students dissect The Crucible, received its UK premiere at the Royal Court. There, it earned a five-star rave from WhatsOnStage’s Sarah Crompton, being described as “art that helps us to understand life, a tribute to literature as a map for comprehension, and to dance for expressing all the things that words cannot.”

Plays at Wyndham’s Theatre from 2 February to 24 April

Nerdy Prudes Must Die

StarKid are set to make a triumphant return to the West End with Nerdy Prudes Must Die. The musical is set at Hatchetfield High, and follows a group of students who accidentally unleash an ancient evil in the form of a murderous spirit with a vendetta against nerds.

Runs at the Apollo Theatre from 6 February to 7 March

Rowan Live

Expect Mr Bean, Blackadder and more in Rowan Atkinson’s first new live comedy show in 40 years! The show will feature some of his most famous comedy sketches and characters alongside new material created with the likes of Richard Curtis, Ben Elton and Howard Goodall.

Runs at the Gillian Lynne Theatre from 8 February to 13 March

Billy Elliot

As part of its big tour, Billy Elliot will be dancing back into the West End! The worldwide smash-hit is based on the film, and follows a young boy during the 1984–85 miners’ strike as he transitions from boxing to ballet, changing his life and community.

Runs at the Adelphi Theatre from 12 February to 31 July

Little Dancer

Susan Stroman directs and choreographs the story of the young ballerina who posed for Edgar Degas’ sculpture, which was first seen in a West End concert premiere. Returning cast members include Emmy Award winner and Olivier Award nominee Tiler Peck (Tiny Pretty Things) as Young Marie van Goethem, Julian Ovenden as Edgar Degas, Laura Pitt-Pulford as Adult Marie, and Josefina Gabrielle as Martine.

Runs at Theatre Royal Haymarket from 15 February until 27 March

The Popinjay Cavalier

Quentin Tarantino’s stage-writing debut finally arrives in London, with Sacha Baron Cohen tackling the lead role. Set in 1830s Europe, The Popinjay Cavalier is a comedy of deception and disguise inspired by swashbuckling epics of stage and screen. The production draws on the classic Hollywood swashbuckler genre, including the writings of George Bruce, Ernst Vajda and Jesse Lasky Jr.

Runs at the Phoenix Theatre from 23 February to 13 June 

The Notebook

I’ve been counting “My Days,” and it has finally arrived! Based on Nicholas Sparks’ heartbreaking 1996 novel, it will be the first production to open at the newly christened Judi Dench Theatre, currently known as the Shaftesbury Theatre. The show has music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson and a book by Bekah Brunstetter, the production is directed by Michael Greif and Schele Williams, with choreography by Katie Spelman.

Runs at the Judi Dench Theatre from 10 March

Legally Blonde

It’s time to get serious! WhatsOnStage Award winner Amber Davies is bringing her Elle Woods to the West End after turning the touring circuit pink. This new revival of Legally Blonde is directed by Nikolai Foster with choreography from Leah Hill.

Runs at the London Coliseum from 22 March to 22 May

The History Boys

The National Theatre production of The History Boys will return to the West End for the first time in 20 years! Nicholas Hytner is back directing Alan Bennett’s play, reuniting with designer Bob Crowley for the production.

Runs at Theatre Royal Haymarket from 10 April to 24 July

Amadeus

Michael Sheen will return to the West End for the first time in over 20 years, opposite Callum Scott Howells in a new revival of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus. Playing Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, respectively, the play follows the pair’s relationship. Interestingly, Sheen has played both roles in the past! Previews start in Cardiff.

Runs at the Noël Coward Theatre from 17 April to 7 August

The Traitors – Acts of Betrayal

Even The Traitors could not be shielded from a stage adaptation! The hit BBC show will come to the stage as a series of five plays, each telling the story of an entire treacherous game of trust. In every version, players have different roles and are banished and murdered, with a winner crowned at the end. You can find out more about the concept in our dedicated podcast.

Runs at the Gillian Lynne Theatre from 11 May 

Miss Saigon

The heat is on as Miss Saigon returns to the West End – a decade after it was last in London, and back at the same theatre where it previously played. It follows a sold-out tour, which showed off the production, now described as “reborn”.

Runs at the Prince Edward Theatre from 13 May

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Enter a world of pure imagination as the gates to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory open next summer. Michael Ball will play the chocolateir in this new production, which will first open at Curve, Leicester this Christmas.

Runs at the London Coliseum from 4 June to 18 September

The Truth

After an initial sold-out run, The Truth returns with the original cast: Stephen Mangan, Ardal O’Hanlon, Sarah Hadland and Janie Dee. Florian Zeller’s play follows Michel, who is having an affair with his best friend’s wife while attempting to convince himself and those around him that honesty is overrated.

Runs at Theatre Royal Haymarket from 29 July to 16 October

Nanny McPhee

Best behaviour, everybody! Emma Thompson and Gary Clark have joined forces to bring the Nanny McPhee films to the stage. When the unusual nanny arrives at the home of the Brown family, she encounters unruly children, a desperate father, a donkey and a baby – and has to employ her usual methods and magic to manage the mischief!

Runs at the Aldwych Theatre from 6 November

Hamlet

WhatsOnStage Award winner James Norton will return to the stage to play the title role in a new London revival of Hamlet. All we know so far is that the production is conceived and directed by acclaimed German theatre-maker Thomas Ostermeier, and will opening in the West End in autumn 2027.

Dates to be confirmed