When are London’s big musicals and theatre shows returning in 2021?

It’s been a frustrating year-and-a-bit for West End theatre-lovers. After every single West End show abruptly closed on Mar 16, 2020, a smattering of them eventually relaunched in the autumn with socially distanced productions. However, the third lockdown put paid to this.

Fortunately with the success of the vaccine rollout things now seem to be on the up. Theatres are allowed to open again with social distancing on May 17, and many will be doing this, especially those that had socially-distanced incarnations up and running already.

The better news is that as of June 21, theatres are projected to be able to open without social distancing, which effectively means every show can afford to open. Here’s the reopening schedule as it currently stands.

MAY

‘The Mousetrap’ – reopens May 17

‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’ – reopens May 20.

‘Les Misérables’ – reopens May 20-Sep 5 in concert form, then from Sep 25 in its original form.

‘Magic Mike Live’ – reopens May 21.

‘Six’ – reopens May 21.

JUNE

‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ – reopens Jun 18.

‘Hairspray’ – now runs Jun 21-Sep 29

JULY

‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ – now runs Jul 1-Sep 5.

‘The Prince of Egypt’ – reopens Jul 1.

‘Pretty Woman: The Musical’ – reopens Jul 8.

‘Come from Away’ – reopens Jul 22.

‘The Phantom of the Opera’ – reopens Jul 27.

‘Tina – The Tina Turner Musical’ – reopens Jul 28.

‘The Lion King’ – reopens Jul 29.

‘Singin’ in the Rain’ – now runs Fri 30 Jul-Sep 5

AUGUST

‘Witness for the Prosecution’ – reopens Aug 3.

‘Leopoldstadt’ – reopens for a limited season, Aug 7-Oct 30.

‘Mary Poppins’ – reopens Aug 7.

‘Hamilton’ – reopens Aug 19.

‘Mamma Mia!’ – reopens Aug 25.

SEPTEMBER

‘The Woman in Black’ – reopens Sep 7.

‘Matilda the Musical’ – reopens Sep 16

‘& Juliet’ – reopens Sep 24.

‘Wicked’ – reopens Sep15.

OCTOBER

‘Mamma Mia! The Party’ – reopens Oct 1.

‘Only Fools and Horses the Musical’ – reopens Oct 1

‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ – tickets available from Oct 14 (but not confirmed as official reopening date).

‘Dear Evan Hansen’ – reopens Oct 26.

NOVEMBER

‘The Book of Mormon’ – reopens Nov 15.

‘The Comedy About a Bank Robbery’, ‘Thriller Live’ and ‘Waitress’ were due to end their runs in 2020 anyway, and have now closed permanently.

Note that these are all returning shows – for our list of new 2021 shows, go here.