A round-up of some MUST SEE shows in 2024
NEW SHOWS FOR 2024 (in chronological order)
ALAN CUMMING IS NOT ACTING HIS AGE
London, Manchester & Glasgow
January 2024
What exactly is acting your age? And who decides? These are the questions Alan Cumming has been grappling with for a very long time. In his one-man show, Alan Cumming covers all the bases: sex, death and bacchanalia, with a set list as eclectic as the man himself. Songs from Cabaret authors Kander and Ebb blend with contemporary favourites and even a self-penned paean against plastic surgery. He also discusses the effects of gravity, the time the mum from the Brady Bunch asked him to punch her, and what his dog taught him about the quality of life.
THE GAP
Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
9 February – 9 March 2024
Starring Matthew Kelly (Funny Peculiar Mermaid Theatre, Waiting for Godot Haymarket Theatreand TV’s Starts in their Eyes) and Denise Welch (Calendar Girls the Musical UK tour, Waterloo Road BBC, Loose Women ITV) , the world premiere of Jim Cartwright’s new play THE GAP delves into the audacious adventures of Walter and Corral. He’s back up north, she’s still down south. They haven’t seen each other for fifty years, not since their Soho days, back in the swinging ’60s.
A chance phone call reunites them for one magical night and in next to no time, they’re back to their old tricks. Directed by Anthony Banks.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY LIVE IN CONCERT
The Palladium, London
12 – 13 February 2024
Following two hugely successful UK and Ireland tours, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, A Musical Comedy will perform live in concert in the West End for the first time. The show will star Michelle Visage as Morticia Addams, Ramin Karimloo as Gomez Addams and Lesley Joseph will play the role of Grandma. Further casting to be announced.
Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and has a shocking secret that only Gomez knows; she’s fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family! Now, Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before — keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend and his parents. All the usual clan are present – Uncle Fester, Lurch, Pugsley et al.
AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN THE MUSICAL
UK Tour
From 23 February
Based on the award-winning 80s movie, which starred Richard Gere, this timeless story of love, courage, and redemption will make your heart soar and leave you breathless, longing for more. Be part of the emotional journey of Zack Mayo, a fearless young officer candidate, and the captivating Paula Pokrifki, whose fiery spirit matches his own. Their encounters ignite a spark that transcends boundaries, awakening a passionate love that defies all odds. With every note, every step, and every heartfelt ballad, immerse yourself in this romantic masterpiece. Set to a smash-hit soundtrack featuring the songs of Madonna, Bon Jovi, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie, and many more, the power of music will carry you through the highs and lows of their extraordinary love story, including the award-winning (Love Lift Us) Up Where We Belong. Starring Luke Baker (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, West End), Georgia Lennon (Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Shaftesbury Theatre) , Jamal Crawford (Fame the Musical UK tour), Paul French (Grease, West End) and Sinead Long (Sylvia, The Old Vic) as Zack Mayo, Paula Pokrifki, Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley, Sid Worley and Lynette Pomeroy respectively.
officerandagentlemanthemusical.com
POLICE COPS: THE MUSICAL
The Elephant Southwark Playhouse
1 March – 20 April 2024
Following a riotous hit run at Southwark Playhouse Borough in 2023, the critically acclaimed POLICE COPS: THE MUSICAL will return to London bigger and better than ever. After five sell-out years at the Edinburgh Fringe, globally acclaimed comedy company POLICE COPS are back with a new version of their first ever musical. Featuring a brand-new score written by Brit Award winning Ben Adams (Eugenius! The Musical), the Police Cops are bringing their fast paced, action packed physical comedy back to the stage in their biggest show yet. Starring Zachary Hunt, Nathan Parkinson, Tom Roe, Melinda Orengo and Natassia Bustamante.
JOHANNES RADEBE: HOUSE OF JOJO
UK & Ireland tour
29 March – 2 June 2024
TV dance sensation and international champion Johannes Radebe is thrilled to be presenting a brand-new production Johannes Radebe: HOUSE OF JOJO, following the phenomenal success of his first two sell-out UK and Ireland tours. This brand-new theatrical celebration jam-packed with roof-raising music, dazzling costumes and of course, world class dance. Johannes will also make his debut at the London Palladium for 2 special performances on 4 May 2024.
GREASE
UK & Ireland tour
From 12 April 2024
After incredibly successful summer seasons in 2022 and 2023; Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey’s iconic musical GREASE will tour the UK and Ireland in 2024. GREASE has been seen by over 500,000 people in the West End, making it the Dominion Theatre’s most successful summer run since We Will Rock You. GREASE received 4 WhatsOnStage Award nominations for Best Musical Revival, Best Choreography for Arlene Phillips and Best Supporting Performer in a Musical for original cast members Jocasta Almgill and Paul French. The 1978 film adaptation starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John is the fourth highest-grossing live action musical of all time. The musical features beloved songs, including Summer Nights, Greased Lightnin’, Hopelessly Devoted To You and You’re The One That I Want.
LENA HALL LIVE
Cadogan Hall, London
27 May 2024
TONY award winner and Grammy nominee Lena Hall is set to bring her latest one woman show “Little Career of Horrors” to London’s Cadogan Hall in 2024. Following her recent U.K. Theatre award-winning run of the world premiere of the new musical In Dreams at the Leeds Playhouse, Hall is ecstatic to finally get to share one of her up close and intimate concert shows with her London fans. The new show co-written and directed by long-time collaborator and ex-boyfriend Stephen Amato chronicles Hall’s fascinating career highlights through the harrowing, hilarious, and often deadly mishaps that accompanied her experience on productions like Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Kinky Boots and television’s Snowpiercer. The show promises to deliver all of Hall’s trademark songs, lots of laughter, and the heartfelt unabashed storytelling Ms Hall has become known for.
www.fw-live.com / www.cadoganhall.com
& JULIET
UK Tour
From 8 July 2024
After thrilling audiences at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London’s West End from 2019-2023, and on Broadway where it is currently playing at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, the Olivier and WhatsOnStage Award winning and Tony Award nominated musical & JULIET is embarking on a UK tour from 8 July 2024, visiting Manchester, Southampton, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cardiff, Nottingham, Leeds and more. Get whisked away on a fabulous journey as Juliet ditches her famous ending for a fresh beginning and a second chance at life and love—her way. Created by the Emmy-winning writer David West Read, from “Schitt’s Creek,” this hilarious new musical flips the script on the greatest love story ever told and asks, what would happen next if Juliet didn’t end it all over Romeo? Juliet’s new story bursts to life through a playlist of pop anthems as iconic as her name all from Max Martin, the genius songwriter/producer behind more #1 hits than any other artist this century, and his collaborators.
JAMIE MUSCATO LIVE
Cadogan Hall, London
21 July 2024
One of the most exciting musical theatre voices in the UK, Jamie Muscato is performing a brand new solo concert at Cadogan Hall in 2024. Due to popular demand, a matinee performance has been added, with performances now at 2:30pm and 6:30pm. Jamie was recently seen as Christian in Moulin Rouge in the West End, and is widely known for originating the role, in the UK, of JD in Heathers at The Other Palace and the Haymarket Theatre.
www.fw-live.com / www.cadoganhall.com
NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL A MUSICAL
UK & Ireland Tour
From 6 September 2024
Get ready to relive the playlist of your life by celebrating 40 years of the iconic and chart-topping compilations brand NOW That’s What I Call Music, which has sold an estimated 200 million copies worldwide. This fun-filled evening is bursting with hits from Whitney Houston, Wham! Blondie, Tears For Fears, Spandau Ballet and so many more. It’s Birmingham, 1989. Two school friends, Gemma and April, are busy with very important business – planning their lives based on Number One Magazine quizzes and dreaming of snogging Rick Astley. Cut to Birmingham 2009 and it’s the most dreaded event of their lives– the school reunion. Drama, old flames and receding hairlines come together as friends reunite and everything from the past starts to slot into place. The biggest question is: what was with all that hairspray?
NOW That’s What I Call A Musical, is a brand-new British musical written by award-winning comedian Pippa Evans and directed and choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood.
ON-GOING SHOWS (in alphabetical order)
BACK TO THE FUTURE – THE MUSICAL
Adelphi Theatre
Currently booking until 21 July 2024
Marty McFly is a rock ‘n’ roll teenager who is accidentally transported back to 1955 in a time-travelling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr Emmett Brown. But before he can return to 1985, Marty must make sure his high school-aged parents fall in love in order to save his own existence. BACK TO THE FUTURE The Musical, produced by Colin Ingram, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, the creators of the three Back to the Future films, is directed by Tony Award®-winning director John Rando, with book by Bob Gale and music and lyrics by Emmy and Grammy Award-winning Alan Silvestri and six-time Grammy Award-winning Glen Ballard, with additional songs from the film including The Power of Love and Johnny B. Goode. The cast is led by Ben Joyce as Marty McFly and Cory English as Doc Brown.
Duration: 2 hours 40 minutes
Age Guidance: 6+
ELF
Dominion Theatre, London
Booking until 6 January 2024
Due to popular demand,ELF the smash hit musical returns to London’s Dominion Theatre for a second consecutive year to play a strictly limited season. Based on the beloved 2003 New Line Cinema hit starring Will Ferrell, ELF is the funny and charming tale of Buddy, who mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag of gifts as a baby and is transported back to the North Pole and raised as an elf! Unaware that he is actually human, Buddy’s enormous size and poor toy-making abilities finally cause him to face the truth and realise he’ll never belong in the North Pole. With Santa’s permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York to find his birth father, discover his true identity and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas. Starring Matthew Wolfenden as Buddy, Georgina Castle as Jovie, Tom Chambers as Walter Hobbs and Rebecca Lock as Emily Hobbs.
Age Guidance: 5+
MAGIC MIKE LIVE
The Theatre at the Hippodrome Casino
Currently booking until 5 January 2025
Channing Tatum’s MAGIC MIKE LIVE is a large-scale, live production show based on the hit films Magic Mike and Magic Mike XXL. A complete evening of unparalleled entertainment for guests as they enter Magic Mike’s club and marvel as a group of extraordinary artists perform a 360-degree dance and acrobatic spectacular in front of, behind and above them. Sexy dance routines are intertwined with one-of-a-kind acts, presented by a diverse cast of performers from around the world. MAGIC MIKE LIVE is co-directed by Channing Tatum and Alison Faulk, with Luke Broadlick as associate director, and choreographed by Alison Faulk, and Luke Broadlick.
Duration: 90 minutes (no interval)
Age Guidance: 18+ – appropriate photo ID will be requested on arrival at the venue.
TINA: The Tina Turner Musical
Aldwych Theatre, London
Currently booking until 14 September 2024
Discover the heart and soul behind the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll at TINA – THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL, the undeniable mega hit in London’s West End. Set to the pulse-pounding soundtrack of her most beloved hits, experience Tina Turner’s triumphant story live on stage as this exhilarating celebration reveals the woman that dared to dream fiercely, shatter barriers, and conquer the world—against all odds. Starring: Karis Anderson & Elesha Paul Moses who share the role of Tina, with Okezie Morro as Ike Turner, Mark Anderson as Phil Spector/Terry Britten, Jonathan Carlton as Erwin Bach, Vanessa Dumatey as Alline Bullock, Irene Myrtle Forrester as Tina’s Grandmother, Earl Gregory as Richard Bullock, Harry Harrington as Roger Davies, Emma Hatton as Rhonda Graam, Jarius McClanahan as Raymond Hill and Carole Stennett as Tina’s mother Zelma.
TINA – THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL is dedicated to the memory of Tina Turner, who sadly passed away in May 2023.
Duration: 2 hours 45 minutes
Age Guidance: 14+
THE TIME TRAVELLER’S WIFE: THE MUSICAL
Apollo Theatre, London
Currently booking until 30 March 2024
Following a sold-out season at Storyhouse in Chester, in 2022, the world premiere production of THE TIME TRAVELLER’S WIFE: THE MUSICAL, based on the best-selling novel by Audrey Niffenegger and the New Line Cinema film screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin, will open at the Apollo Theatre in London’s West End. With a book by Lauren Gunderson, original music and lyrics by Joss Stone and Dave Stewart and additional music by Nick Finlow and additional lyrics by Kait Kerrigan, the production will be directed by Bill Buckhurst. Starring David Hunter as Henry, Joanna Woodward as Clare, Tim Mahendran as Gomez, Hiba Elchikhe as Charisse and Ross Dawes as Henry’s Dad, all reprising the roles they played in Chester. THE TIME TRAVELLER’S WIFE: THE MUSICAL is a joyous, uplifting celebration of the strange wonder of love, however and whenever we experience it. All couples ask how to truly know one another, to trust, to commit, to build a family, to work at something bigger than ourselves. Not all of us are time travellers. How do you love across time?
Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes
Age Guidance: 11+
TO WONG FOO THE MUSICAL
Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
Booking until 12 December
Based on the 1995 cult-classic film, To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar, the world premiere of new musical TO WONG FOO has a book and direction by original film screenplay writer Douglas Carter Beane, with music and lyrics by Lewis Flinn. Set in 90s New York TO WONG FOO THE MUSICAL tells the story of 3 Drag Queens, Vida, Noxeema and Chichi, who embark on a trip across America to attend the Drag Queen of the Year Finals in Hollywood. When their car breaks down in Middle America, their lives, as well as those in the town, are turned upside down, in this joyous, heartfelt and high camp musical extravaganza! 3 drags have come to save America, one show tune at a time! Starring Peter Caulfield as Vida, Gregory Haney as Noxeema and Pablo Gómez Jones as ChiChi.
Duration: 2 hours
Age Guidance: 13+
IN ADDITION…
PERMISSION – A bespoke bar created by the team behind Magic Mike Live
Hippodrome Casino
Currently open for bookings
Guests can also enjoy cocktails and cuisine at Permission, a bespoke bar designed by Magic Mike Live designer Rachel O’Toole, which offers a range of food and beverage options as well as live music curated by the Magic Mike team. Permission is available to book before or after any performance of Magic Mike Live and is also open to the public if you fancy an intimate and luxurious space to unwind in the heart of London’s West End.
Age Guidance: 18+ – appropriate photo ID will be requested on arrival at the venue.