In Part 1 we looked at the stars who will be treading the boards this year, from Tom Hiddleston to Ewan McGregor and Cate Blanchett.
Now we move on to the new musicals to look out for across the year. It feels like a year of adaptation with musicals developed from films and books, and there’s plenty of transfers too, whether its from Broadway or off-Broadway. An old classic is revived in Oliver! and Hamlet Hail to the Thief may not even be a musical but I’ve included it anyway.
What’s impressive is the breadth of locations where new musicals are opening – new theatre not being confined to the West End (even if there’s plenty of that too). The list below includes openings in London, Leeds, Manchester, Edinburgh, Stratford-upon-Avon and Birmingham.
So, without further ado, here are twelve of the many musicals coming your way in 2025.
Theatre to see in 2025 – Part 2: (Future) Hit Musicals
The Great Gatsby at London Coliseum
You’ve read the book, you’ve watched the Baz Luhrmann film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, now you can complete the set with the West End transfer of the Tony Award-winning new musical The Great Gatsby.
Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, New York, the story remains the same as mysterious millionaire, Jay Gatsby entertains the rich and famous with riotous parties at his Long Island mansion yet never joins in. Gatsby longs instead to reunite with his former flame Daisy Buchanan.
The musical which features a jazz and pop-influenced original score by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen was described as “lush, bewitching and dazzling” by the New York Times when it made its Broadway debut.
The Great Gatsby is at the London Coliseum from 11 April to 7 September 2025
Titanique at the Criterion Theatre, London
This parody of Titanic also arrives from New York, transferring from Off-Broadway where it plays at the Daryl Roth Theatre. The jukebox musical featuring the songs of Celine Dion and retells the events of the 1997 film from Celine Dion’s perspective.
Lauren Drew, whose musical credits include Kinky Boots, Heathers, Ghost, Sweet Charity, Six, Les Misérables and Legally Blonde, for which she won the WhatsOnStage Award for Best Supporting Performer in a Musical, stars as Dion. It also features Jordan Luke Gage as Cal, Rob Houchen as Jack, Kat Ronney as Rose and Layton Williams as The Iceberg – yes, you read that correctly.
Titanique is at the Criterion Theatre, London until 30 March 2025
A Knight’s Tale: The Musical at the Opera House Manchester
Another adaptation, A Knight’s Tale is a brand-new comedy musical that makes its world premiere at Manchester Opera House ahead of a West End engagement. The 2001 film memorabily starred Heath Ledger as William Thatcher, a peasant who poses as a knight to enter jousting competitions and ends up mingling with high society. The soundtrack for the film included classic rock songs by Queen, AC/DC, Train, Eric Clapton, Thin Lizzy, Sly & The Family Stone and Heart.
Will you be rocking out to The Boys Are Back in Town? Will real horses feature? Who will fill Heath Ledger’s riding boots? With the cast and most of the creative team still to be announced, there’s a lot we don’t know. It’s probably a no on the horses, though.
Here We Are at the National Theatre, London
Stephen Sondheim’s final musical arrives in London complete with a cast that includes Jane Krakowski, Rory Kinnear, Denis O’Hare and Tracie Bennett. It’s directed by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe Mantello (WICKED, Assassins) and features a book by Tony Award-nominee David Ives (All in the Timing, Venus in Fur). Inspired by the films of Luis Buñuel,
Here We Are originally premiered Off-Broadway at The Shed in September 2023, two years after Sondheim’s death at the age of 91. The musical follows Leo and Marianne Brink as they take their friends out to a brunch that is interrupted by a series of strange events.
Here We Are plays the Lyttelton Theatre at the National Theatre from 23 April to 28 June 2025
Oliver! at the Gielgud Theatre, London
Lionel Bart’s classic musical, Oliver!, gets a revamp in a revised version by producer Cameron Mackintosh and director and choreographer Matthew Bourne who previously worked together on the 1994 and 2008 West End productions of the musical, the latter of which featured Rowan Atkinson as Fagin.
This time it’s Simon Lipkin who takes on the role alongside Shanay Holmes as Nancy, Aaron Sidwell as Bill Sikes and Billy Jenkins as the Artful Dodger.
And – fear not – all the classic songs remain in this new version which premiered in Chichester last year, including Food Glorious Food, Consider Yourself, You’ve Got to Pick-a-Pocket or Two, I’d Do Anything, Oom Pah Pah, As Long As He Needs Me and more.
Oliver! is at the Gielgud Theatre, London with booking currently open until 28 September 2025
Coraline – A Musical at Leeds Playhouse and touring
Adapted from the novel by Neil Gaiman, Coraline is a new musical produced by Leeds Playhouse, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Birmingham Rep and HOME with support of the National Theatre’s Generate programme – so it’s truly a national event.
It’s adapted by Zinnie Harris with compositions by Louis Barabbas and direction by departing Leeds Playhouse artistic director James Brining who directed Oliver! at the theatre in 2023.
The story follows Coraline as she and her parents move into a new house that doesn’t seem quite right, where she discovers a mysterious door into a parallel world.
Coraline – A Musical is at Leeds Playhouse from 11 April to 11 May 2025, then touring to Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester
Sing Street at Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, London
John Carney’s coming-of-age film also gets a musical adaptation in a production that makes its UK premiere at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre following development and performances at the New York Theatre Workshop and a run at the Huntington Theatre in Boston in 2022.
It reunites Carney with writer Enda Walsh, who won a Tony Award for writing the book for his other Dublin-based musical, Once. Music & Lyrics for Sing Street are provided by Gary Clark and Carney with direction by Rebecca Taichman.
Set in 1982, it follows sixteen-year-old Conor as he attempts to impress the older Raphina by casting her to star in his music video, except he hasn’t got a band yet.
Sing Street is at the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, London from 8 July to 23 August 2025
Disney’s Hercules at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London
It’s taken a while for Disney’s Hercules to land on the West End with more than a few changes along the way.
The adaptation of the 1997 film started out in 2019 in New York’s Central Park as part of Shakespeare in the Park festival with a book by Kristoffer Diaz, before a revised version of the musical opened in New Jersey in 2023 with a new book by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Robert Horn.
Both productions featured songs by Tony Award-winners Alan Menken and David Zippel, who wrote the score for the original Disney film, and direction from Lear deBessonet.
Then in 2024, a new production opened in Germany using Kwei-Armah and Horn’s book and Menken and Zippel’s songs but with Casey Nicholaw stepping into the director seat as well as choreographing the show.
It’s the German version that transfers to the West End – in English, of course. Does that all make sense? Does it matter? Expect the songs from the film and more.
Hercules at Theatre Royal Drury Lane is currently booking from 6 June 2025 to 28 March 2026
Hamlet Hail to the Thief at Aviva Studios, Manchester and Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
Is it really a musical? Well, I don’t know. At the very least it’s a play with songs, if you care about distinctions, but we don’t know to what extent Radiohead and The Smile frontman Thom Yorke and directors Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones have embedded the songs from Radiohead’s 2003 album Hail to the Thief about the election of George W. Bush and the War on Terror into Shakespeare’s play.
They’ve certainly shifted the focus with the play promising a ‘frenetic distillation of Shakespeare’s masterpiece [where] Elsinore has become a surveillance state’ with a focus on ‘Hamlet and Ophelia’s awakening to the lies and corruption revealed by ghosts and music.’
Despite being one of their least-celebrated albums, I think Hail to the Thief will suit the mood of Hamlet – but I’m a bit of a Radiohead fan having seen them live more than a few times, so I may be biased.
Hamlet Hail to the Thief is at Aviva Studios, Manchester from 27 April to 18 May 2025, then at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon from 4 to 28 June 2025
Clueless the Musical at Trafalgar Theatre, London
Another film adaptation, Clueless The Musical is based on the cult 1995 teen comedy film Clueless, itself a modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma.
Singer-songwriter KT Tunstall has written the music for the show alongside Grammy winner and three-time Tony nominee Glenn Slater who provides lyrics, with the original film writer-director Amy Heckerling contributing the book.
Alicia Silverstone starred as Cher Horowitz in the film, played by Emma Flynn Bespolka in the musical, the most popular student at Beverley Hills High School who gives her socially awkward friend Tai a makeover and pairing her with the school’s most handsome guy.
Clueless the Musical is at is at Trafalgar Theatre, London from 15 February to 14 June 2025
White Rose at Marylebone Theatre, London
Now for something a little different. Opening at Marylebone Theatre, White Rose: The Musical, which premiered Off-Broadway in 2024, is based upon the inspiring true story of a small group of university students in Munich, Germany, who secretly met to write, print, and distribute leaflets exposing Hitler’s lies and Nazi deception.
It features a book and lyrics Brian Belding, music from Natalie Brice and direction by Will Nunziata. Casting and further creative team information is still to be announced but when the opening was announced Belding said that he created the musical so that the “amazing story might inspire those struggling to find their own way to take action where they see injustice.”
White Rose is at Marylebone Theatre from 27 February to 13 April 2025
Wild Rose at The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
Another Rose, another film adaptation? Oh yes, it could as the 2018 film Wild Rose, which starred Jessie Buckley and Julie Walters, makes its way to the Edinburgh stage.
The musical is centred on Rose-Lynn, a Glasgow cleaner and ex-prisoner who wants to be a country music star in Nashville, and features songs from country music legends including Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, Wynonna Judd, Chris Stapleton, Caitlyn Smith, The Chicks, and Patty Griffin, alongside the film’s award-winning original song Glasgow (No Place Like Home).
Dawn Sievewright is set to take on the central role which was played by Jessie Buckley in the film.
Wild Rose is at The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh from 6 March to 5 April
