I love looking forward to the shows which will be gracing our stages (and screens!). There’s nothing more exciting for me than having booked a ticket a few months in advance and having a show to look forward to. So here are a few things I am excited for in 2017 – and I am sure I have missed HUNDREDS so let me know of anything you think is a must-see!

MUSICALS

There are so many new musical openings coming in 2017. In March, we’ll see An American in Paris taking over from The Bodyguard at the Dominion Theatre. You can read my press release and watch my interviews of members of the cast for a taster. Over in Drury Lane, classic musical 42nd Street will also be tapping away from March. At the end of this month, the Gary Barlow and Tim Firths musical The Girls, based on the story of the ‘Calendar Girls’, will be opening, and another Barlow musical. Finding Neverland is rumoured to be sailing from Broadway to the West End this year, too. However, no venue, date, or cast has been announced thus far, so this is not definite. Opening in April at the London Coliseum is Rodgers and Hammerstein’s much-loved classic Carousel, starring Alfie Boe and Katherine Jenkins.

In November, the much-anticipated Hamilton will be opening at the refurbished Victoria Palace theatre, with tickets on sale in January, and you can read my post on how I think it will do here. Young Frankenstein  is set to open in the West End at the end of  2017, too, though the venue has not been confirmed.

There are also many UK tours of musicals happening this year, including The Addams Family (starring Samantha Womack and Carrie Hope Fletcher), Grease (with Danielle Hope as Sandy), the return of Hairspray, and the continuing travels of the 20th anniversary UK tour of RENT, which I’ll be seeing at the St. James’ Theatre this month!
The St. James’ Theatre will be rebranding to the shiny new ‘Other Palace’ after RENT, and its opening performance in the main house is a UK premiere of The Wild Party which stars Frances Ruffelle (Les Mis original cast) Victoria Hamilton-Barritt (Murder Ballad, Grease), John Owen-Jones (Les Mis), and Donna McKechnie (A Chorus Line).

PLAYS

There are plenty of plays to be excited for so I’ll only name a few to whet your appetite! Smash-hit Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is still running at the Palace Theatre, but with talks of it also being produced on Broadway, I can’t help but wonder whether cast will transfer with it or who will be announced to star! Speaking of Potter alumni, Daniel Radcliffe stars in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at the Old Vic Theatre in February (I have tickets for March!), and Imelda Staunton will be playing in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf at the Harold Pinter theatre from February, too.
The National Theatre’s revival of An Inspector Calls has extended booking until April, and the NT have two shows in their new season I am super excited about: Angels in America  and Twelfth Night which I’ll be trying very hard to get tickets when they’re released in January.

Moving forwards, an all-female production of Laura Wade’s POSH will be performed at the Pleasance Theatre in April, and The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia will be playing at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in March.
OF COURSE, how could I not mention the Globe Theatre’s 2017 season – Summer of Love, which will (unfortunately, in my opinion) be Emma Rice’s second and final season as artistic director, which begs the question as to who can step into her shoes. Plays being performed this season include Much Ado About Nothing, King Lear, and Romeo and Juliet, amongst others. You can read my post about the ‘Emma Rice situation’ here and my review of her inaugural production, Dream  here.

OTHER

In the world of film, I am very excited for ‘LaLa Land’ to hit cinemas mid-January, and of course who can forget the live action ‘Beauty and the Beast’ starring a host of theatre favourites including Josh Gad and Ian McKellen. You can read my article all about Disney’s live-action remakes for CUB Magazine here.
Hopefully we’ll get some more information about the constantly-hinted-at Wicked film adaptation, too!
I’m also rather excited for Sh!t Theatre’s ‘Letters to Windsor House’ to play at the Soho Theatre in January, and their new piece ‘Dollywould’ at the Camden People’s Theatre later in the year! I named ‘Letters’ one of my top shows of 2016.

Of course, we’ve also got the Tonys, Oliviers, and West End Live to look forward too as well as some live television musicals on the cards, too!

So here’s to a stagey 2017!