London theatre: the best musicals and plays to book now

Looking for inspiration? Check out our picks of the best London shows in the West End and beyond

London has a world-leading theatre scene, offering everything from plays, musicals and comedy to immersive and family-friendly entertainment. In the West End, and beyond, you’ll find both beloved long-running shows and cutting-edge new work, featuring A-list actors alongside rising stars. 
If you’re trying to decide which are the best theatre shows in London to start with in 2024, our expert Telegraph critics can help you choose with their incisive reviews. All the latest articles are at Telegraph Theatre. Plus we’ve rounded up the best family shows and the best shows for half term.
You can also find discounted tickets on Telegraph Tickets for all of the capital’s best plays and musicals, such as Hamilton, Les Miserables, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and The Book of Mormon.
Check out our top picks of London theatre shows below and get booking.
In a nutshell: It’s a hugely welcome return to the West End for this utterly ingenious stage comedy take on Alfred Hitchcock’s classic spy movie, which features four tireless actors playing 139 roles in 100 minutes.
Booking until: Sept 28
In a nutshell: “A masterclass in balancing innovation with tradition, beautifully attuned to the park’s natural magic. The shiver-inducing coup de théâtre is the sun actually setting during the bittersweet song Sunrise, Sunset.” Read the full review
Booking until: Sept 28
In a nutshell: “An unsung British astronomer gets a mind-expanding bio-drama… Glinting-eyed, Maureen Beattie is in her element, her character Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin always two steps ahead.” Read the full review
Booking until: Oct 12
In a nutshell: “Though there are quotably succinct, comedically sharp lines, the piece aspires to unfold the ordinary mess of intimate relations, the way love can seem fixed and absolute, yet has to be continually renegotiated.” Read the full review
Booking until: Oct 26
In a nutshell: “A convincing tribute to the first black woman to enter a British beauty pageant… Starring in her own play, Anne Odeke is a charismatic presence with superb comic timing.” Read the full review
Booking until: Oct 26
In a nutshell: “This powerful vaccines drama raises valuable questions about the science we’re fed as gospel, and how assuming the truth of it, whatever profit motives may be in play, is a blind habit we all share.” Read the full review
Booking until: Oct 26
In a nutshell: Tinuke Craig revives Lorraine Hansberry’s groundbreaking work (the first play by a black woman on Broadway) about an African-American family battling inequality, and sometimes each other, in South Chicago.
Booking: Oct 8-Nov 2
In a nutshell: “Mark Rosenblatt’s debut play confronts us with the full shocking force of Roald Dahl’s anti-Semitism… John Lithgow plays Dahl initially as a charming old rogue, but his unrepentant, raptor-like glee grows exponentially.” Read the full review
Booking until: Nov 16
In a nutshell: Mark Rylance is back, starring opposite J. Smith-Cameron (aka Gerri Kellman from Succession) in Matthew Warchus’s revival of Seán O’Casey’s powerful play set during the Irish Civil War.
Booking until: Nov 23
In a nutshell: John Galsworthy’s epic comes to the stage in this new two-part adaptation by Shaun McKenna and Lin Coghlan. Going from the Victorian era to the Roaring Twenties, it’s a towering drama of love, sex, power and family secrets. 
Booking until: Dec 7
In a nutshell: Doctor Who and Broadchurch star Jodie Whittaker is back on stage, leading Zinnie Harris’s contemporary version of Webster’s dark family tragedy The Duchess of Malfi. Harris also directs.
Booking: Oct 5-Dec 20
In a nutshell: Steve Coogan leads this new theatrical adaptation of Stanley Kubrick’s jet-black comic masterpiece about a rogue general triggering a nuclear crisis, brought to the stage by Armando Iannucci and Sean Foley.
Booking: Oct 8-Dec 21
In a nutshell: “Ben Whishaw’s tremendous Vladimir is part man-child, part strident philosopher, part Pollyanna, his long pianist hands forever madly gesticulating in hope.” Read the full review
Booking until: Dec 21
In a nutshell: “The show is imbued with a passionate sense that here is a tale worth hearing and that something happens in the act of shared story-telling that’s akin to Orpheus’ fabled way with a lyre: everyone in earshot gets spellbound.” Read the full review
Booking until: Dec 22
In a nutshell: Robert Icke, who previously gave us a remarkable Oresteia, brings his explosive contemporary take on Sophocles’s great tragedy to the West End. Mark Strong stars as Oedipus and Lesley Manville plays Jocasta.
Booking: Oct 4-Jan 4 2025
In a nutshell: “This wild, thrilling, go-for-broke, genuinely hilarious musical comedy remains one of the funniest shows in the West End… I’m a believer!” Read the full review
Booking until: Jan 4 2025
In a nutshell: “John Cleese has welded together three vintage episodes (Hotel Inspectors, Communication Problems, The Germans) to form one indisputably funny evening… Wall-to-wall nostalgia and copper-bottomed mirth.” Read the full review
Booking until: Jan 4 2025
In a nutshell: “Nicholas Hytner’s box of tricks, the Bridge, unleashes the show all around you if you’re one of the 380 punters standing in the thick of it… It’s an extravaganza that explodes every which way.” Read the full review
Booking until: Jan 4 2025
In a nutshell: “I urge you to see this extraordinary theatrical experience – at once epic and intimate – which works simultaneously as a primer on the history of capitalism, a reflection on the American dream and a deeply moving portrait of a family.” Read the full review
Booking until: Jan 5 2025
In a nutshell: “‘I wanted to create a space where men really listened to women,’ says creator Channing Tatum. What emerges is undoubtedly entertaining and one of the best fun nights London has to offer.” Read the full article
Booking until: Jan 5 2025
In a nutshell: Lily Collins (of Emily in Paris fame) stars in this new seductive thriller about an American tourist who gets caught up in a dangerous political game when she goes home with a handsome Spaniard.
Booking: Oct 21-Jan 11 2025
In a nutshell: “Can the creators of Six replicate their success? The question mark in the title indicates its defiant, interrogative spirit, and there’s an abundance of youthful energy.” Read the full review
Booking until: Feb 13 2025
In a nutshell: “F Scott Fitzgerald’s mind-blowing conceit gets a marvellous makeover… The ensemble of five ply a variety of instruments, dart between characters, synchronise movements and wield puppets fashioned from washed-up flotsam.” Read the full review
Booking until: Feb 15 2025
In a nutshell: “The tireless company romps through Sonya Tayeh’s adrenaline and libido-fuelled choreography… This is beguilingly transporting, all-enveloping theatre.” Read the full review
Booking until: Feb 15 2025
In a nutshell: The longest-running play in the world, Agatha Christie’s fiendish murder mystery has been bamboozling audiences since 1952. Can you match wits with the Queen of Crime and figure out whodunit?
Booking until: Mar 1 2025
In a nutshell: “British theatre hasn’t known anything like it for decades and I haven’t seen anything directly comparable in all my reviewing days… It raises the benchmark for family entertainment.” Read the full review
Booking until: Mar 2 2025
In a nutshell: “A plucky British success story… This Olivier Award-winning musical about the wartime operation is the perfect mix of ingenious, silly and moving.” Read the full review
Booking until: Mar 8 2025
In a nutshell: “Goodness can Myles Frost dance, capturing precisely Michael Jackson’s sublime, peculiarly agitated grace, his limbs seemingly made from tensile liquid as he thrusts and coils, shimmers and spins.” Read the full review
Booking until: Mar 29 2025
In a nutshell: “It’s the slew of coups de théâtre, the no-nonsense pacing and the gorgeous spectacles that make this tale of a disfigured man of musical genius lurking beneath the Paris Opera House so effective.” Read the full review
Booking until: Mar 29 2025
In a nutshell: “Watching the show alongside my rapt children, I was struck by how much it succeeds in speaking to the heart rather than the head… A deeply felt celebration of life.” Read the full review
Booking until: Mar 30 2025
In a nutshell: “Netflix gives the West End its event of the year… The jaw-dropping coups range from the infernal, supernatural engulfing of a hulking US battle-ship to acts of levitation.” Read the full review
Booking until: Apr 6 2025
In a nutshell: “ Just as there was a winning comic zest to the film (scripted by Tina Fey), so this musical spin-off has a rare combination of warmth, goofiness, snarky wit and perceptiveness… A welcome splash of summer fizz.” Read the full review
Booking until: Apr 6 2025
In a nutshell: “Fear not, dearies – this exuberant show is still one of the biggest treats in the West End… Gabriel Vick is on fire in his utterly astonishing tour-de-force performance.” Read the full review
Booking until: Apr 26 2025
In a nutshell: “This infectiously fun production is packed with witty touches… A heart-warming, air-punching finale has everyone up on their feet. I expect these queens to rule the West End for years to come.” Read the full review
Booking until: May 4 2025
In a nutshell: “A wide-ranging audience of all ages is unified in giving a heartfelt thank you for the music. Surrender to this pop-tastic retrofuturism and you’ll have the time of your life.” Read the full review
Booking until: May 11 2025
In a nutshell: “Matthew Warchus’s thrilling, warm-hearted production, exuberantly designed by Rob Howell and with pin-sharp choreography by Peter Darling, constantly combines comedy with a sense of wonder.” Read the full review
Age recommendation: 6+
Booking until: May 25 2025
In a nutshell: “An absolute knockout… With its combination of all-encompassing decadent beauty and thunderous moral force, there’s simply nothing else in town quite like it.” Read the full review
Booking until: May 31 2025
In a nutshell: The fabulously fashionable fable, a thinly veiled takedown of Vogue editor Anna Wintour, has become a stage musical with songs by Elton John. Vanessa Williams stars.
Booking: Oct 24-May 31 2025
In a nutshell: “Joe Mantello’s production has satisfyingly old-school bombast: instead of screens, its impact comes from the detailed, fabulously over-the-top steampunk design. The orchestra is the biggest in the West End – and it shows.” Read the full review
Booking until: June 1 2025
In a nutshell: “Andrew Lloyd Webber’s blockbuster musical makes a spellbinding return… Skating around a state-of-the-art theatrical environment, the energy and bravura of it all are frankly out of this world.” Read the full review
Booking until: Jun 8 2025
In a nutshell: Amy Heckerling’s ultra-quotable, genuinely brilliant Jane Austen update was a big-screen hit in the 90s, and now comes to the stage with an original score by singer-songwriter KT Tunstall, directed by Rachel Kavanagh.
Booking until: Feb 15-Jun 14 2025
In a nutshell: “An Anglo-American triumph. It combines the aesthetic finesse of British director Phyllida Lloyd with the political instincts of Memphis-born, Olivier-nominated playwright Katori Hall.” Read the full review
Booking until: Jul 27 2025
In a nutshell: “Thanks to video and illusionist wizardry, the steam-spouting DeLorean skids into view from nowhere and takes off over the stalls, achieving a kind of 3D Hollywood magic… A feelgood triumph.” Read the full review
Booking until: Jul 27 2025
In a nutshell: “In its density and epic ambition, its mixture of high-powered ideas and gut-wrenching emotions, it’s a show that feels lastingly revolutionary.” Read the full review
Booking until: Sept 6 2025
In a nutshell: “Phyllida Lloyd’s slick production is still a tremendous crowd-pleaser… Buoyed by Abba’s enduring brilliance, it’s a welcome shot of pure sunshine.” Read the full review
Booking until: Sept 27 2025
In a nutshell: “Lin-Manuel Miranda’s construction is just a marvel – one of the artistic wonders of the world… History is made to feel risky, uncertain and fresh: young people fumbling their way towards freedom.” Read the full review
Booking until: Sept 27 2025
In a nutshell: “Not just a whodunit, but a wheredunit… Agatha Christie’s bravura twisty plotting is still second to none. Combined with the inspired use of an historic location, it’s criminally entertaining.” Read the full review
Booking until: Sept 28 2025
In a nutshell: “This hit-filled Live Aid musical will fill you with nostalgia… Be prepared for a smile on your lips, a tear in your eyes and a lingering itch to do good.” Read the full review
Booking: May 15 2025-Jan 10 2026
In a nutshell: “Seldom has disaster delivered so many belly laughs… This spoof am-dram staging of an Agatha Christie whodunit is the perfect recipe for absurd slapstick.” Read the full review
Booking until: Feb 1 2026
London has a fantastic mix of long-running shows, like Wicked, Matilda and The Play That Goes Wrong, and new productions. We will be constantly updating this page with top picks for the best London musicals and plays from our critics, so keep checking back to see all of the latest reviews and recommendations of upcoming theatre shows. 
You can also find a range of reviews, interviews and preview features at Telegraph Theatre.
West End ticket prices vary depending on the seating and the venue. You can usually find some cheap ticket for London shows from around £20, up to £60 for seats closer to the stage, and then some premium pricing of £100 or more for the very best seats in the house. However, there are also great West End discounts to be found – check out Telegraph Tickets for all the current London ticket deals.
Some of the latest additions to London’s West End include the acclaimed stage adaptation of A Little Life, starring James Norton; British wartime musical Operation Mincemeat; and the glorious toe-tapping musical Crazy For You. Book tickets for all the best new shows now. 
Many theatres have a policy whereby once you’ve booked a ticket, you cannot cancel it or change it to another date. However, it does vary: some venues are able to be more flexible about this, especially if it’s a sold-out show. Check the terms and conditions on the website where you booked, or call the box office.
If you’re seeing a show in the West End, the easiest way to get to the theatre is usually by public transport. Traffic tends to get very busy in the centre of London, especially around rush hour. There are numerous Tube stations close to West End theatres, such as Charing Cross, Leicester Square, Piccadilly and Tottenham Court Road, servicing Tube lines like the Central, Piccadilly, Northern and Jubilee. Visit the TfL website to plan your route. You can also try buses (although they’re slower moving at rush hour), or if the weather is pleasant, walking or cycling.
Many shows have specific age recommendations and won’t admit younger children – you can find that information in our family theatre guide or on booking websites for productions, like Telegraph Tickets. Those recommendations are made based on the content and any potentially scary, disturbing or mature elements. However, each child is different, so it’s also up to parents to decide whether their child can cope with a particular show. Think about the story, the production elements (like loud noises), and the length – even adults may struggle with longer shows!
Yes, they do. Just like films, theatre shows have recommended age ratings – normally suggesting a minimal age for audience members, like 6+, and asking that any children by accompanied by adults. We’ve got age recommendations for all family-friendly shows in our family theatre guide and on the Telegraph Tickets booking site, and you can also find that information on individual theatre websites or by calling the box office.
Lots of theatre websites will offer help and advice for group bookings – some even have dedicated box office phone lines. In fact, it can be a great way to get a good deal on tickets or to book cheap tickets for big shows. Plus it’s fun to do a group outing with lots of friends or family members. Check out all the latest shows that would suit group bookings on Telegraph Tickets.
Nearly all theatres, particularly in the West End, operate bag checks on entry. Security officials will be checking for any dangerous items – so potential weapons or other sharp objects, fireworks or pyrotechnics, or hazardous substances. Most also prohibit you from bringing in drugs or alcohol, and some prefer you not to bring in outside food or drink (other than sealed bottles of water), since they provide both in the theatre. Some venues also ask you not to bring large bags. You can find the latest information on theatre websites.
Generally yes – ushers will tend to wait until an appropriate time in the production, like a scene change, to show you to your seats. If you’re really late, some theatres might ask you to watch the remainder of that first half on a screen just outside the auditorium, and then you can enter after the interval. If you are on time but your companion is running late, you should be able to leave their ticket with the box office.
Stalls tickets mean you are seated on the ground level of the theatre, with seats beginning right next to the stage and extending to the back. These tend to be the more expensive tickets, since you’re closest to the action. The dress circle is one level up. Seats here are usually a bit cheaper, but you can still get a great view from the dress circle: it tends to extend over the back half of the stalls, and it’s particularly good for something like a musical with big song-and-dance numbers since you have an aerial view of the whole stage. 
The grand circle is another level up, so this is usually where you find the cheap tickets. However, grand circle seats can be a great deal – you might not have the best sightlines, but you still feel like part of the show, and for less. So, if you want the best guaranteed seats, central stalls or near the front of the dress circle is best. But if you’re looking for cheap tickets, grand circle is a good pick.
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