Opening: 25th Les Mis, Games, Number, Design

Amongst the major London openings, in the West End and further afield, this week are:
OPENING TONIGHT, Monday 13 September 2010, John Fulljames kicks off the Young Vic’s 40th anniversary season with an 80-strong community production of Hair composer Galt MacDermot’s 1970s musical The Human Comedy, running until 18 September.

OPENING TUESDAY, 14 September 2010 (previews from 10 September), Complicite’s multi-award winning production of A Disappearing Number returns for a limited season to the Novello Theatre, ending 25 September.

ALSO ON TUESDAY (previews from 7 September), Howard Davies directs Blood and Gifts, the new play by The Overwhelming author JT Rogers, in the National’s Lyttelton. Set in Afghanistan in the early 1980s, it continues in rep until 2 November 2010.

ALSO ON TUESDAY, the 25th anniversary tour of Les Misérables comes home to the Barbican Theatre for a run to 2 October as part of the record-breaking musical’s birthday celebrations.

ALSO ON TUESDAY, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater visits Sadler’s Wells with two new programmes, continuing until 25 September.

OPENING WEDNESDAY, 15 September 2010 (previews from 3 September), Lisa Dillon, Andrew Scott and Tom Burke star in Anthony Page’s production of Noël Coward’s love-triangle comedy Design for Living at the Old Vic.

ALSO ON WEDNESDAY, Closer Than Ever, a musical revue in two acts by Richard Maltby Jr and David Shire, plays at the Landor Theatre until 9 October.

ALSO ON WEDNESDAY (previews from 9 September), playwright Nick Payne makes his Royal Court debut with Wanderlust, which explores sex and intimacy – and whether the two have any relation to each other. Directed by Simon Godwin, it continues in the Theatre Upstairs to at Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs to 9 October.

OPENING THURSDAY, 16 September 2010 (previews from 9 September), David Mamet’s House of Games, the 1987 film that marked his directorial debut, is adapted for the stage by Richard Bean, directed by Lindsay Posner at the Almeida Theatre.

ALSO ON THURSDAY, current and former Donmar Warehouse artistic directors Michael Grandage and Sam Mendes are in conversation about staging Stephen Sondheim, who celebrated his 80th birthday earlier this year, at the 250-seat Covent Garden venue.

ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 14 September), Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, the award-winning all-male comedy dance troupe, return to the Peacock Theatre, running until 25 September.

ALSO ON THURSDAY, presented by Frantic Assembly and the National Theatre of Scotland, Edinburgh Fringe First winner Beautiful Burnout runs at the York Hall Leisure Centre until 2 October.

OPENING FRIDAY, Wonder Woman Lynda Carter brings her concert show At Last to the Garrick Theatre for two nights only, marking the first time she’s sung solo in the West End for 30 years.