The best new London theatre for 2021 – shows not to miss
Our pick of the best new plays, shows and musicals coming to London’s theatres in 2021
If 2020 was a disaster for theatre, 2021 should be the year the battered industry gets back on its feet, albeit not immediately. Despite theatres being open on and off for much of the second half of last year, the third lockdown means none will open until at least mid February.
However, with vaccination predicted to get things back to something like normal by Easter, the industry is generally allowing itself the hope that non-socially distanced theatre will be possible after that point, with a slew of major shows due to open in April and May (although don’t be shocked if some of the earlier shows get pushed back). So with those caveats in place – let’s get excited for London theatre in 2021.
Please note: these are ‘new’ productions (some are revivals and transfers) that you wouldn’t have been able to see in London when the theatres closed in March 2020. For a list of the return dates of long-running shows and musicals, see when will London’s big, long-running shows and musicals return?
Unmissable theatre shows coming to London in 2021
Frozen
It didn't happen in 2020 for obvious reasons, but it could still be the biggest show of 2021, all being well: it’s Michael Grandage’s lavish musical adaptation of Disney’s ‘Frozen’, aka the most successful animated film of all time. April 2 feels optimistic for a non-socially distanced opening in a 2,200-seat theatre, but it’ll surely be with us at some point this year.
Doctor Who: Time Fracture
This official immersive ‘Doctor Who’ adventure starts in London at the heart of the Blitz, when a weapon of unknown origin creates a rift in space-time – and it would appear that it’s your job to step in and investigate. Details beyond that are scarce, but it seems like a safe bet to assume that a mild peril-filled journey to alien worlds and distant timezones awaits. It has been designed to run socially distanced, so it feels like a fairly safe bet.
Good
David Tennant’s near-obsessive latter-day penchant for playing antiheroes continues with Dominic Cooke’s revival of Scots playwright CP Taylor’s great 1982 play ‘Good’. It charts the moral downfall of John Halder, a decent German professor with a Jewish best friend, Maurice, as he slowly internalises and accepts the ideology of the Third Reich.
Cinderella
Carrie Hope Fletcher is set to star in the latest musical from Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. ‘Cinderella’ will presumably be a bit grittier than yer average bedtime tale, thanks to a book by ‘Killing Eve’ writer Emerald Fennell (and judging by the amount of eyeliner in the grungy-looking publicity snaps).
Anything Goes
The Barbican’s usually lively programme of international touring appears unlikely to resume anytime soon following the well-documented events of 2020, but the venue is hopefully getting back on its feet enough to pull off this lengthy 15-week run for classic Cole Porter musical ‘Anything Goes’. Robert Lindsay and Megan Mullally – aka Karen from ‘Will & Grace’ – head up the cast as Moonface Martin and Reno Sweeney.
Back to the Future: The Musical
Long-delayed by you-know-what, this is hopefully the first big musical of the post social-distancing era. Of course, you know what ‘Back to the Future’ is: ’80s highschooler Marty McFly goes back to the 1950s in Doc Brown’s time-travelling DeLorean and gets up to sundry delightful time-travelling antics, including almost having it off with his mum.
101 Dalmations
Rescheduled from last year for obvious reasons, here comes this all-singing adaptation of Dodie Smith’s iconic kids’ novel which is, astonishingly, the theatre’s first-ever original musical commission.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Aaron Sorkin’s stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s civil rights classic ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ took Broadway by storm – and caused a fair amount of controversy after the producers aggressively tried to shut down productions of other adaptations of Lee’s 1960 masterpiece. And now Bartlett Sher’s production is coming here, under the auspices of Sonia Friedman Productions.
Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Story
Actor Arinzé Kene has been hovering in the neighbourhood of West End leading man status for a while. He technically accomplished that with his own, gloriously leftfield ‘Misty’, but where that felt like a cult show, ‘Get Up, Stand Up!’ sees him really hit the big time as he plays Bob Marley in a handsome new musical based upon the reggae legend’s life and songs.
Sister Act
Oh happy day! Assuming we’re pandemic-free, Whoopi Goldberg will finally be jetting into London to reprise her second-to-nun performance in ‘Sister Act’. She’ll get back into the habit in ‘Sister Act – The Musical’, which will be her first ever live performance as Deloris. Jennifer Saunders will play Mother Superior.
Life of Pi
This spectacular puppet-driven stage adaptation of Yann Martel’s bestselling novel was a massive success when it premiered in Sheffield in 2019. Festooned with five-star-reviews, a West End transfer looked inevitable, and Cameron Mackintosh is doing the honours, with the promise that Wyndham’s Theatre will be ‘transformed’ to accommodate Max Webster’s production, which is adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti and has puppets by Finn Caldwell.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
The National Theatre’s dazzling Neil Gaiman adaptation had its original transfer scuppered by the pandemic – these are the new dates.
Jerusalem
There are no official dates or venue for the return of Jez Butterworth’s epochal masterpiece with original star Mark Rylance. And a lot has changed since it was announced in spring 2020. But with the general view being that theatres can reopen from spring onwards, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it goes ahead.