What to See on the West End This Winter

London theater retains busy all yr spherical, even through the supposed canine days of January, when different theater capitals are within the doldrums. Try telling that to the creatives who’re holding theaters busy within the coming weeks and months, with new openings, anticipated returns of favourite productions and much to find Off West End.

Bringing again the Bard

The Merchant of Venice 1936

This rewrite of Shakespeare’s play, displaced to London’s East End within the Thirties, returns for its third London engagement, with Tracy-Ann Oberman reprising the function of Shylock. In this iteration, Antonio, the service provider of the title, is an Oswald Mosley-style fascist who coerces Shylock to transform to Christianity. Joseph Millson, recent from starring in “The Forsyte Saga” throughout city, performs Antonio this time round. Runs by means of Jan. 25 on the Trafalgar Theater, then touring.

Richard II

Jonathan Bailey might have hit the massive time because the smooth-talking Fiyero within the film adaptation of “Wicked,” however the Olivier Award winner for “Company” hasn’t forgotten his theatrical roots. From February, he can be seen within the title function of “Richard II” on the Bridge Theater, directed by Nicholas Hytner, who additionally oversaw Bailey (enjoying Cassio) in a 2013 manufacturing of “Othello” on the National Theater. The supporting forged on the Bridge contains such stage veterans as Michael Simkins and Amanda Root. Runs Feb. 10 by means of May 10 on the Bridge Theater.

Cymbeline

Compared with Shakespeare’s best-known works, this late play is never staged, which ought to ramp up curiosity in Jennifer Tang’s manufacturing for the candlelit, indoor theater at Shakespeare’s Globe. Gabrielle Brooks, just lately seen outside on the similar handle in “The Comedy of Errors,” stars because the openhearted Innogen, whereas Martina Laird performs her father, the British monarch of the title. Be ready for severed heads and characters who appear to be dead however, the truth is, usually are not. In repertory Jan. 10 by means of April 20 on the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

Much Ado About Nothing

It’s been almost six years for the reason that director Jamie Lloyd directed Tom Hiddleston in a bravura manufacturing of Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal,” which transferred to Broadway and earned each males Tony nominations. In February, Hiddleston can be again onstage for the primary time since then, reuniting with Lloyd in Shakespeare’s most deeply felt comedy. Hiddleston performs the marriage-averse Benedick, reverse Hayley Atwell’s Beatrice. Running at a capacious theater normally that normally hosts musicals, the manufacturing follows Lloyd’s reappraisal of “The Tempest,” starring Sigourney Weaver. Runs Feb. 10 by means of April 5 at Theater Royal, Drury Lane.

Macbeth

Richard Twyman’s English Touring Theater, which might be relied upon for provocative productions of the classics, is reprising its 2023 tackle Shakespeare’s shortest, most compressed tragedy, this time with Alex Austin within the title function and Lois Chimimba as his scheming spouse. This manufacturing emphasizes the supernatural, foregrounding the witches. And it’s bizarre in different methods, too. You might have seen “Macbeth” numerous occasions, however most likely by no means with a personality singing the Nineteen Seventies disco hit, “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie.” Runs Feb. 28 by means of March 29 on the Lyric Hammersmith.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Tennessee Williams’s celebrated play about alcoholism and lying will get a recent airing from the director Rebecca Frecknall, after her earlier much-laureled productions, additionally for the Almeida, of Williams’s “Summer and Smoke” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.” (That latter present returns to London for a quick run in February earlier than a New York switch.) Daisy Edgar-Jones, from the TV adaptation of “Normal People,” stars because the sexually rapacious Maggie, reverse Kingsley Ben-Adir as her crutch-wielding husband, Brick, and the sensible Lennie James in fierce type because the booming-voiced Big Daddy. Runs by means of Feb. 1 on the Almeida Theater.

Oedipus

Robert Icke’s blistering replace of Sophocles’ tragedy closes at Wyndham’s Theater on Jan. 4, and is rapidly adopted by one other “Oedipus”: a manufacturing tailored by Ella Hickson and co-directed by Matthew Warchus and the choreographer Hofesh Shechter. The Oscar winner Rami Malek makes his London debut within the title function, alongside the Olivier winner Indira Varma as Jocasta and Cecilia Noble because the blind, but all-knowing, Tiresias. Shechter is readily available as composer in addition to choreographer, and the forged contains quite a few members of his dance troupe. Runs Jan. 21 by means of March 29 on the Old Vic.

Elektra

Think of it as a Sophoclean standoff. Fast on the heels of an Oscar winner taking over a Greek basic comes one other trophy-bearer in a special play from the identical author. Brie Larson has been tapped to play the vengeful Elektra in Daniel Fish’s revival of a much less often-seen Sophocles textual content, and the mighty supporting forged contains the Broadway legend Stockard Channing as Clytemnestra and, enjoying Orestes, the expatriate American actor Patrick Vaill who made his identify in Fish’s London and Broadway revival of “Oklahoma!” Runs Jan. 24 by means of April 12 on the Duke of York’s Theater.

The Seagull

The season’s starriest present is Chekhov’s rending play about artwork, love and loss in a brand new model from Duncan Macmillan and Thomas Ostermeier, with Ostermeier directing. Cate Blanchett performs the preening Arkadina, with the Oscar nominee Kodi Smit-McPhee making his skilled stage debut as her anguished son, Konstantin, and the fast-rising Emma Corrin because the no much less anguished Nina. Runs Feb. 26 by means of April 5 on the Barbican.

The Little Foxes

The busy Anne-Marie Duff could also be famend for such giant and small display screen ventures as “The Salisbury Poisonings,” “Suffragette” and “Shameless,” however she is never away from the theater for lengthy. Her present task as Regina Giddens within the director Lyndsey Turner’s revival of “The Little Foxes” places a 1939 American basic again within the public eye. Duff is joined on this ever-gripping story of greed and avarice by Anna Madeley because the woebegone Birdie and Mark Bonnar and Steffan Rhodri, each in bruising type as Regina’s beastly brothers. Runs by means of Feb. 8 on the Young Vic.

Musicals

Oliver!

“Please sir, I need some extra.” The younger Oliver Twist’s request will get answered afresh within the standard English musical, seen final summer season on the Chichester Festival Theater, south of London, earlier than its West End switch. The present’s star attraction has all the time been that professional pickpocket Fagin, a task handed this time to Simon Lipkin, who was beforehand an indispensable presence in “Avenue Q” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Assassins.” Belting out “As Long as He Needs Me” is Shanay Holmes because the long-suffering Nancy. Runs on the Gielgud Theater.

Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812

A tiny sliver of “War and Peace” offers the premise for Dave Malloy’s ceaselessly ingenious musical, which obtained 12 Tony nominations in 2017 and has now crossed the Atlantic in a rousing new staging by the director Tim Sheader. The intimacy of the 251-seat Donmar Warehouse ought to ship this bustling, busy present straight into playgoer’s laps. Declan Bennett inherits Josh Groban’s Broadway function as Pierre, alongside a name-heavy supporting forged, amongst whom Jamie Muscato and Maimuna Memon are standouts. Runs by means of Feb. 8 on the Donmar Warehouse.

The Producers

Mel Brooks’s stage musical model of his personal film stormed Broadway in 2001 after which introduced its main man, Nathan Lane, to London in 2004. So the bar has been set excessive for the director Patrick Marber’s joyful revival, with Andy Nyman — seen onscreen as Elphaba’s incredulous father in “Wicked” — inheriting Lane’s function as Max Bialystock. One factor that bodes effectively for this manufacturing: It is opening on the similar theater that birthed revivals of “Merrily We Roll Along” and “The Color Purple,” each of which transferred to Broadway. Will lightning strike once more? Runs by means of March 1 on the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Cabaret

There have been quite a few forged modifications since Rebecca Frecknall’s manufacturing of “Cabaret” first opened late in 2021 with Eddie Redmayne heading the forged. But all eyes can be on the brand new American leads who be part of the Kit Kat Club — the present’s Weimar-era Berlin setting — towards the tip of January. Playing the shape-shifting, sinuously creepy Emcee would be the Tony winner Billy Porter (“Kinky Boots,” “Pose”), reverse Marisha Wallace as Sally Bowles. Runs on the Kit Kat Club; Porter and Wallace seem Jan. 28 by means of May 24.

Titanique

This musical parody of James Cameron’s movie discovered a laugh-hungry following Off Broadway and has now set sail on the West End, with a powerful forged headed by Jordan Luke Gage, late of the long-running “& Juliet,” and Lauren Drew, who spent a latest summer season enjoying Brooke in an alfresco London staging of “Legally Blonde.” Layton Williams will get maybe one of the best credit score of all: the Iceberg. Runs on the Criterion Theater.

Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake: The Next Generation

It’s 30 years since Matthew Bourne’s retelling of “Swan Lake” — by turns feral, transferring and horny — shook up the dance world, transferring to Broadway in 1998. Here it’s once more, this time with a “Star Trek”-worthy addition to the title — “The Next Generation” — however its imaginative and prescient of a bare-chested, all-male corps de ballet of swans stays. This additionally marks the twenty second yr {that a} Bourne manufacturing has taken the vacation season slot at London’s main dance venue. Runs by means of Jan. 26 at Sadler’s Wells Theater.

The Years

Last summer season, extra squeamish viewers members have been fainting left, proper and middle at this adaptation of the French author Annie Ernaux’s quasi-memoir. And although the Norwegian director Eline Arbo’s all-female manufacturing was harrowing, it was additionally playful, witty and superbly acted by the identical tightly knit forged that can take the present to the West End. Be suggested that the superlative Romola Garai leaves the corporate March 8, however her stalwart colleagues Deborah Findlay and Gina McKee stay for the complete run. Runs Jan. 24 by means of April 19 on the Harold Pinter Theater.

Dear England

Fear not, sports-phobic readers. You don’t must know a factor about soccer to get pleasure from James Graham’s play, which gained finest play on the 2024 Olivier Awards and is returning for a 10-week run. Chronicling the travails of an English staff that has skilled greater than its share of loss, the play and Rupert Goold’s energetic manufacturing, have one thing of the larky spirit of the TV present “Ted Lasso.” Gwilym Lee, seen onscreen in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” inherits Joseph Fiennes’s function because the staff manager Gareth Southgate. Runs March 10 by means of May 24 on the National Theater.

New writing (for timeless performs)

Alterations

The Guyana-born British author Michael Abbensetts died in 2016, and his work has acquired little consideration since. So all credit score to the National Theater for mounting a revival of this 1978 play, set throughout 24 hours in a London tailor’s store and with the dynamic Arinzé Kene within the starring function. The director is Lynette Linton, whose 2022 debut on the National restored Pearl Cleage’s “Blues for an Alabama Sky” to its rightful place within the canon. Let’s see if this model, that includes extra materials from the modern writer and actress Trish Cooke, can do the identical for “Alterations.” Runs Feb. 20 by means of April 5 on the National Theater.

Three Sisters

Chekhov is a playwright’s playwright, so it’s no shock to search out Rory Mullarkey — a longtime dramatist in his personal proper — providing up a brand new translation of the Russian grasp’s “Three Sisters,” operating in repertory with “Cymbeline” on the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. And whereas “The Seagull” can be fielding buzzy names throughout city on the similar time, this Chekhov exhibiting stars a real-life husband and spouse in theater veterans Paul Ready and Michelle Terry. In repertory Jan. 31 by means of April 19 on the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

Kyoto

The Royal Shakespeare Company has a brand new inventive director staff in Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey, who’ve already premiered a number of notable productions. Among their transfers to London from Stratford-upon-Avon is Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson’s cautionary play in regards to the 1997 local weather summit in Kyoto, Japan, offered in affiliation with Good Chance, the corporate behind the latest, vastly transferring “The Jungle.” Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin co-directed that play, and have reunited for this one. Runs Jan. 9 by means of May 3 at @sohoplace.

The Lonely Londoners

I liked Roy Williams’s adaptation of the Trinidadian author Sam Selvon’s 1956 novel after I caught it on the 70-seat Jermyn Street Theater final March, so it’s heartening to search out this story of the Windrush era of immigrants to Britain receiving an improve to a far bigger venue. I doubt this iteration — an affecting manufacturing from Ebenezer Bamgboye — would be the play’s final. Runs Jan. 10 by means of Feb. 22 on the Kiln Theater.

Churchill in Moscow

The small however mighty Orange Tree Theater in West London has been punching above its weight. That seems set to proceed with a brand new play from the veteran dramatist Howard Brenton set in 1942 and telling of a clandestine assembly on the Kremlin between Churchill and Stalin. Roger Allam performs the British prime minister, alongside Peter Forbes because the Soviet dictator. Runs Feb. 3 by means of March 8 on the Orange Tree Theater.

Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew

Garden fanatics look set for a deal with at Coral Wylie’s alluringly titled play, which tells of a 19-year-old’s self-discovery by means of, sure, the world and vegetation. Debbie Hannan directs the 2022 Olivier nominee Omari Douglas on this newest providing from the identical west London theater that introduced us “Shifters,” “Elephant” and “Baby Reindeer.” Runs Feb. 8 by means of March 22 on the Bush Theater.

Backstroke

The director Anna Mackmin turns playwright with this intergenerational, female-focused drama about ladies at completely different life levels. Celia Imrie performs a feisty mom debilitated by the consequences of a stroke, with the ever-welcome Tamsin Greig as her daughter, who’s dealing with difficulties with a baby of her personal. Runs Feb. 14 by means of April 12 on the Donmar Warehouse.

Punch

This play by James Graham acquired rave opinions final May in its premiere at Nottingham Playhouse, in central England, and can now face a London viewers. Adam Penford directs Graham’s adaptation of the 2022 memoir “Right from Wrong,” through which Jacob Dunne displays on the only punch that led to his imprisonment for manslaughter at age 19. David Shields, whose TV credit embrace “Masters of the Air” and “Black Mirror,” performs Dunne in a manufacturing promising some influence of its personal. Runs March 1 by means of April 26 on the Young Vic.