Get tickets to these popular West End shows back in London

Some West End shows are gone before you even have time to book tickets. Check out this guide to the phenomenal productions that are back after popular demand.

Some shows have such short runs that by the time you know they’re worth seeing, it’s already too late. Thank goodness, then, for encore runs and West End transfers, giving you a chance to catch that super-hot production – before it gets snapped up by Hollywood, now that the movie musical is booming once again, and plays like the Young Vic’s The Collaboration are heading to film. After all, it’s much more fun to be able to say you saw it on stage first.

It’s also interesting to see how shows are transformed by casting updates for their next run, or whether production elements will change how they’re presented to a new audience. In some cases, changes in the world around us alter our response to shows as well; that’s definitely the case for incendiary plays like The Doctor.

So, make sure you lock in your bragging rights by booking up for these exciting London productions, all back by popular demand or extending their runs with intriguing new casts. Here’s our guide to the shows you simply can’t afford to miss.

2:22 A Ghost Story

We don’t often see supernatural thrillers making it in the West End, other than established long-runners like The Woman in Black. But Danny Robins’s 2:22 A Ghost Story was an instant hit with audiences, thanks to its tantalising premise. Jenny and Sam have moved into a new house, but at 2:22am every night Jenny hears someone there and believes the house is haunted. While hosting a dinner party, the couple decide to stay up and confront that spooky hour.

The show opened in 2021 at the Noel Coward Theatre with Lily Allen, Hadley Fraser, Julia Chan and Jake Woods. It’s since moved to the Gielgud Theatre and then the Criterion, with cast changes like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Encanto star Stephanie Beatriz making her London theatre debut. The upcoming cast features Sophia Bush, Jaime Winstone, Ricky Champ, and Clifford Samuel. Don’t be scared: check out the West End’s thrilling hit.

Book 2:22 - A Ghost Story tickets on London Theatre.

Guys and Dolls

Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows’s indelible musical version of Damon Runyon’s short stories, featuring New York gamblers, gangsters and showgirls, has always been a favourite with London audiences, although we haven’t seen it in town since 2016. It’s high time for a theatre to roll the dice and hope that luck will be a lady once again – and, happily, the Bridge Theatre is doing just that.

However, this isn’t just any Guys and Dolls. Artistic director Nicholas Hytner has announced a special immersive production, where the audience can enter this colourful world with its bustling Times Square, floating crap games, salvation meetings, Havana parties, and risqué performances at the Hot Box Club. If you’ve never seen the iconic musical before, this is your chance to catch an amazing version of it. And even if you have…well, you won’t have seen a version quite like this, where you’re a part of the show. “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat” will take on a whole new meaning!

Book Guys and Dolls tickets on London Theatre.

The King and I

It's fair to say that The King and I is precisely our cup of tea. After a 2018 revival, starring Kelli O'Hara and Ken Watanabe, The King and I will now play a six-week season at the Dominion Theatre. Helen George plays Anna Leonowens, a British schoolteacher recruited by the King of Siam to educate and modernise the country. Rodgers and Hammerstein's glorious musical boasts well-known songs like "Shall We Dance?", and by the end of the show, you'll be whistling a happy tune.

Book The King and I tickets on London Theatre.

Photo credit: Guys & Dolls (Photo courtesy of production)