We're sorry to be the ones to say it but: Christmas is just around the corner...
Sure, it feels vaguely ridiculous to be planning your cosy winter theatre trips or big festive family musical tickets, with summery weather still defiantly hanging in there at time of writing.
But these shows would be hot tickets at any time of year; throw holiday season into the mix and they're going to book up fast... plus we find the best way to prep for the incoming cold days and long nights is to give yourself some good reasons not to just hibernate till spring.
The Forsyte Saga Parts I and II, Park Theatre
Before Bridgerton came along and mainstreamed the idea that wealthy 19th century Londoners had heard of sex and occasionally even partook, there was the Forsyte Saga: a five-book series about lust, adultery, betrayal, controlling partners, emotional abuse, messy hook-ups and a sprawling family that can't say no to drama. Written in the early 1900s, and set in a period spanning the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, it's back in the spotlight — with filming underway for a big-budget US TV adaptation, and, more immediately, a two-part play coming to the Park Theatre in October.
The Forsyte Saga Part 1: Irene and The Forsyte Saga Part 2: Fleur play across alternate nights — or you could go for the Forsyte marathon and catch them consecutively on matinee days.
The Forsyte Saga Part I: Irene and The Forsyte Saga Part II: Fleur, Park Theatre. Runs from 11 October-7 December. Tickets from £19
The Devil Wears Prada, Dominion Theatre
The bestselling book and film — which offer an insight into the cutthroat world of a New York fashion magazine — are going to get the West End treatment. Even if, like us, you've never been that into the film, this would be worth grabbing tickets for; the inherent campiness of the archdiva-driven plot probably maps well into musicals — and the original score by Elton John's going to be a big draw.
The Devil Wears Prada, Dominion Theatre. Opens October 2024. Tickets from £31
Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Phoenix Theatre
It's Hawkins, Indiana... but not as you know it.
In 1959, decades before we meet the town and its inhabitants — human and otherwise — in the Stranger Things TV series, Hawkins seems like just your average small town in the American Midwest. But things aren't going to be average for long. That might be down to new kid in town, Henry Creel, who arrives trailing a shadowy past and hoping for a fresh start.
Recommended for ages 12+, with under-5s not allowed, this isn't a show for the fainthearted — but it's the perfect way to get your Stranger Things fix while you're waiting for the fifth and final season to land on Netflix.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Phoenix Theatre. Runs till 6 April 2025. Tickets from £25
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, Sadler's Wells
Any Matthew Bourne ballet's likely to book up fast, and this one more than most: the return of his production of Swan Lake for its 30th anniversary tour. This is the show that kicked a lot of Swan Lake — and classical ballet — tropes to the curb in favour of an all-male corps de ballet, and lacing both a dialled-up level of menace and a tender, homoerotic charge through the choreography and storytelling.
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, Sadler's Wells. Runs from 3 December 2024-26 January 2025. Tickets from £15
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Barbican
Just in time for *checks notes* Christmas, the RSC's sell-out staging of Shakespeare's most summery comedy is transferring to the Barbican. But set aside the sundrenched setting and it's actually the perfect show for this time of year — vivid, high-energy, hilarious: replace whatever panto plans you were vaguely considering with this instead.
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Barbican.
Booking now for further ahead
The forest is calling
The award-winning stage adaptation of My Neighbour Totoro is coming back to London after two sell-out runs at the Barbican — this time to the West End. It opens at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in March 2025, tickets from £31.
Clueless but make it a musical
Opening in February 2025, Clueless: A New Musical is the all-singing, all-dancing adaptation of Amy Heckerling's classic 90s film, with Heckerling herself penning the story. Throw on your best Alaïa and get down to Trafalgar Theatre: tickets have just gone on sale.
Sam Selvon's iconic urban novel, adapted for stage
The Lonely Londoners has already had a sell-out run in the West End. Now the story — about the hopes, dreams and realities of the Windrush generation, through the perspective of Henry 'Sir Galahad' Oliver, just arrived in London from Trinidad — is opening in January 2025 at Kiln Theatre, tickets from £19.
