The best of theatre 2024

With 2024 drawing to a close, we look back on some of the year's theatrical highlights – from spectacular musicals to thrilling plays.

It’s been another fantastic, and fantastically varied, year of London theatre. Multiple inventive revivals put a fresh spin on classic work, from Wilde and Shakespeare to Sophocles, while heartfelt new plays and musicals illuminated our complex world (and our obsession with true crime).

Here are some of my top picks – and, happily, you still have time to catch a few of these gems.

The Importance of Being Earnest, National Theatre

Director Max Webster and his brilliantly game cast reclaim the bold subversion of Oscar Wilde’s queer-coded comedy in this absolute blast of a show (which gets an NT Live cinema screening on 20 February 2025). Ncuti Gatwa commanding the stage in a hot-pink ballgown is unforgettable, as is Sharon D Clarke’s Lady Bracknell reducing her daughter’s suitor to a quivering jelly with one imperious look. Wildly entertaining.

Hello, Dolly!, London Palladium

It’s so nice to have her back where she belongs. Imelda Staunton made a triumphant return to musical theatre in Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart’s Broadway romp, given the full Palladium spectacular treatment by Dominic Cooke. But this thoughtful revival also emphasised the grief that pervades the story, and an excellent Jenna Russell, as Irene, beautifully paralleled Dolly’s life-affirming journey.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Theatre Royal Haymarket

What a year for Wilde. Australian actress Sarah Snook (aka Shiv Roy from Succession) played a whopping 26 characters in this tour-de-force solo show – although praise is also due to the production team, wielding cameras and accomplishing lightning-fast costume and set changes with impeccable grace. This was a witty punk-operatic fable for the Instagram era: narcissism writ large, and in close-up.

The Cabinet Minister, Menier Chocolate Factory

I confess I had never heard of this 19th-century political comedy by Arthur Wing Pinero, but Nancy Carroll, who both starred and made a memorable playwriting debut, joyfully resurrected it in her genius adaptation. I’m not sure who was having more fun: the audience, reduced to total hysterics, or a note-perfect cast, with Dillie Keane’s indomitable Scottish matriarch the ultimate scene-stealer.

Fiddler on the Roof, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

When a director taps into the unique magic of this al-fresco venue, this effect is like nothing else. Jordan Fein did just that with his elemental Fiddler, which perfectly timed the bittersweet song “Sunrise, Sunset” for the actual sun setting, and then plunged us into darkness – both narrative and literal – for the musical’s achingly resonant second half. The ideal creative marriage of tradition and innovation.

Till the Stars Come Down, National Theatre

I predicted, when I reviewed Beth Steel’s multi-generational family drama back in February, that it would be one of the plays of the year and I absolutely stand by that. Both heartfelt and hilarious, intimate and wide-ranging in its pertinent state-of-the-nation themes, it was simply magnificent theatre. A never-better Lorraine Ashbourne nicked it from a strong ensemble – as she did the second season of Sherwood. Watch it on NT Home.

A Chorus Line, Sadler’s Wells

Michael Bennett’s love letter to those absolute warriors who pursue a dance career with body-and-soul commitment was treated to a sensational revival by Nikolai Foster (Sadler’s Wells hosted its transfer from Leicester Curve). Ellen Kane cleverly refreshed that iconic choreography, and a new generation proudly carried the show’s message about the vital importance of the arts.

Player Kings, Noël Coward Theatre

The 84-year-old Sir Ian McKellen tackled one of the few significant Shakespeare roles that he hadn’t yet conquered, the drunken knight Falstaff, in Robert Icke’s slick reimagining (and welcome filleting) of the Henry IV plays. McKellen was the undoubted standout, but excellent too were Richard Coyle and Ted Lasso’s Toheeb Jimoh in a production that turned history into an accessible, and gripping, thriller.

Mean Girls, Savoy Theatre

This witty stage musical adaptation of the peerless Tina Fey movie totally makes fetch happen. Fey adapts her own script, adding some new zingers, while Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin smartly give each character their own musical genre: angry rock for Janis, bubblegum pop for innocent Cady, Broadway for Damian, and, best of all, purring Bond girl seduction numbers for Queen Bee Regina. Get in, loser!

Book Mean Girls tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Hadestown, Lyric Theatre

What a pleasure to see Anaïs Mitchell’s singular folk musical finally make its West End debut, following a brief spell at the National and many incarnations. Her poetic riff on Ancient Greek myth, sensitively directed by Rachel Chavkin, seems particularly well served by this British company using their natural accents, including a superb Melanie La Barrie, and the strong takeover cast features Rachel Tucker and Trevor Dion Nicholas.

Book Hadestown tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Oedipus, Wyndham’s Theatre

The Greeks are having a moment. We’ve got another Oedipus to come (starring Rami Malek and Indira Varma), but Sophocles, via Robert Icke, has already provided the most electrifying theatre moment of 2024 as a countdown clock ticks down to the terrible revelation that will destroy the lives of a fatally transparent politician and his wife – the almighty double act of Mark Strong and Lesley Manville.

Book Oedipus tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Starlight Express, Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre

Adding to this year’s tally of innovative revivals, Luke Sheppard went full steam ahead with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s kooky 1984 musical. His immersive staging places ramps for the racing trains (athletic actors on roller skates) amongst the audience, and the tech-wizard design is a mind-blowing state-of-the-art experience. Howard Hudson’s lightning must be the most elaborate we’ve ever seen in a theatre show: truly phenomenal.

Book Starlight Express tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Kathy and Stella Solve A Murder!, Ambassadors Theatre

The West End showcased a number of new British musicals in 2024, including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Why Am I So Single?, and the welcome transfer of Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). Leading that pack was the criminally entertaining Kathy and Stella, which simultaneously spoofed obsessive true crime podcasts and celebrated female friendship – all with amazingly catchy songs.

English, Kiln Theatre

As the months have gone on, I keep casting my mind back to Sanaz Toosi’s absolute gem of a play, beautifully staged at a gem of a theatre (my local, in fact). Via a disparate group of Iranian students learning English as a foreign language, Toosi teases out potent questions about heritage, identity, expression, cultural colonisation, and belonging. I still think about where all her vividly drawn characters might be now.

Red Pitch, @sohoplace

Another community is powerfully evoked in Tyrell Williams’s play, which centres on three football-mad south London teenagers. Having missed it at the Bush Theatre, I’m so glad I got a second chance thanks to @sohoplace, and actually the most magical moment came before the show even started: a little boy from the audience was invited to join the actors for a kickabout. What a way to welcome a new generation to theatre.

MJ The Musical, Prince Edward Theatre

Some of the best dancing in the West End is to be found at this smash-hit bio-musical: truly, you can’t beat it. Christopher Wheeldon’s turbo-charged production, led by Tony-winning Myles Frost, delivers not just the iconic Michael Jackson moves, but also gives us a fresh take on those indelible songs, and pays tribute to MJ’s dance heroes: Fred Astaire, Bob Fosse, and the Nicholas Brothers.

Book MJ The Musical tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Fawlty Towers – The Play, Apollo Theatre

Not every sitcom is suited to stage, but it turns out that the ruthlessly well-observed and well-honed farce of Fawlty Towers is a natural. John Cleese adapted his own scripts (with Connie Booth), creating the ultimate nostalgia trip as we once again checked into that disastrous Torquay hotel. Beware rats and hotel inspectors, don’t mention the war, and remember: I know nothing. Simply delightful comic time travel.

Book Fawlty Towers – The Play tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk