The Best Musicals in London | reviews, news & interviews
The Best Musicals in London
The Best Musicals in London
We recommend the top shows in musical theatre
Wednesday, 15 August 2018
Ken Watanabe in The King and I at the London PalladiumMatthew Murphy
Aladdin, Prince Edward Theatre ★★★ Disney's latest blockbuster film-turned-stage show remains airborne – just
Bat Out of Hell, Dominion Theatre ★★★★ Meat Loaf musical is right at home in We Will Rock You’s old digs. Until 27 Oct
Dreamgirls, Savoy Theatre ★★★★★ Sensational! It's been worth the long wait for the girl group musical to reach London
Everybody's Talking About Jamie, Apollo Theatre ★★★★ Triumphant West End transfer for this big-hearted, inclusive and utterly joyful British musical. Until 6 Oct
Fun Home, Young Vic ★★★★★ Alison Bechdel's graphic novel becomes achingly intimate theatre. Until 1 Sep
42nd Street, Theatre Royal Drury Lane ★★★★ Sheer synchronised splendour in lavish revival delivering dazzle aplenty if not much depth
Kinky Boots, Adelphi Theatre ★★★★ Broadway Tony-winner comes home in its West End debut (original London cast pictured by Bill Knight)
Les Misérables, Queen's Theatre ★★★★ The longest survivor of them all still offers much more bang than whimper
Little Shop of Horrors, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre ★★★★ Monstrously entertaining revival of a classic musical. Until 22 Sept
Matilda the Musical, Cambridge Theatre ★★★★ The RSC's production of Dahl's classic is a feast for eyes, ears - and heart
School of Rock, New London Theatre ★★★★ Andrew Lloyd Webber's transatlantic transfer is a blast
The Book of Mormon, Prince of Wales Theatre ★★★★★ The dirty-talking, big-hearted musical from the talents behind South Park is satirical heaven
The King and I, London Palladium ★★★★ Classic musical reborn with modern sensibilities in a golden production helmed by the incomparable Kelli O'Hara. Until 29 Sept
The Lion King, Lyceum Theatre ★★★★ Disney's anthropomorphic magic still holds its appeal for all the family
The Phantom of the Opera, Her Majesty's Theatre ★★★★ Does the most successful entertainment event of all time still have it?
Tina, Aldwych Theatre ★★★ Powerhouse Adrienne Warren is the saving grace of a new bio-musical that plays it safe
Wicked, Apollo Victoria Theatre ★★★★ Elphaba flies high for the ages in perennial audience favourite
Young Frankenstein, Garrick Theatre ★★★★ Mel Brooks musical is blissfully bonkers
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more Theatre
Macbeth, Shakespeare's Globe review - sexually-charged production draws power from the shadows
A daring counterintuitive reading proves richly rewarding
Hadestown, National Theatre review - new folk musical is hotter than hell
An alternative take on a classic myth produces sizzling results
Pinters Three and Four, Harold Pinter Theatre review - double-bill boasts double-acts to treasure
The Pinter season continues, this time in largely comic form
War Horse, National Theatre review - still touching after all these years
International sensation stirs the heart anew in its return home
The Simon & Garfunkel Story, Vaudeville Theatre review - more tribute act than theatre piece
Fakin' it: a production as spare on script as it is on visuals
Robert Hastie: 'a seam of love runs through the play' - interview
The director talks about Macbeth in the candle-lit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, cross-gender casting and the director's role
Dramatic Exchanges review - a brilliant slice of theatre history
A rich epistolary stage biography, ‘The Lives and Letters of the National Theatre'
The Hoes, Hampstead Theatre review - sex and drink and grime
Girls just wanna have fun in the sun - smart, funny but slender debut play
Don Quixote, Garrick Theatre review - riotous revival of Cervantes' much-loved chivalric tale
A crowd-pleasing mix of metatheatrical comedy and music, mingled with melancholy
Romeo and Juliet, Barbican review - plenty of action but not enough words
Erica Whyman's RSC production finds youthful energy but not clarity
Don Quixote rides again, and again
The RSC's stage version reaches the West End, while Terry Gilliam's film is stuck in a legal vortex
White Teeth, Kiln Theatre review - tuneless hymn to Kilburn High Road
Imaginative adaptation of Zadie Smith's 2000 classic let down by unnecessary music
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