NEWS ROUNDUP: 24 - 30 November
- James Tradgett
- Dec 1
- 6 min read
With the festive season now in full flow, and that unique entity named pantomime having descended upon us once again, we're nearing the end of this quite remarkable year of theatre, so here's your final news roundup for November.
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BACK TO THE FUTURE
Musical to close in the west end ahead of UK tour
After over 5 years in the west end, Bob Gale, Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard musical “Back To The Future”, based on the classic 1985 film of the same name by Gale and Robert Zemeckis, has set its final performance in the west end. The musical had its world premiere at the Manchester Opera House in February 2020, later opening at the Adelphi Theatre in London the following year, succeeding Sara Bareilles’ Olivier nominated musical “Waitress”, which closed in March 2020.
“Back to the Future” will play its last performance on the 12th of April 2026, ending a run of around 4 and a half years and 1,913 performances in the west end. A UK tour will follow later in the year, opening in Bristol during the autumn; additionally, it is currently performing in Australia, Japan, Germany and touring the USA. You can find more about all current and upcoming productions, as well as book tickets, via the Back To The Future website.
SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
New stage adaptation to premiere in Leicester
Indigo Productions and Crossroads Live, in association with Leicester Curve, have announced that they will stage a new play adaptation of the 1988 Thomas Harris crime thriller “Silence of the Lambs”, as adapted by Gina Gionfriddo and directed by the Curve’s own Nikolai Foster. Best known for its 1991 movie adaptation starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, the book tells of Clarice Starling, who adopts the assistance of notorious serial killer Hannibal Lecter, in order to apprehend at-large murderer Buffalo Bill in an intricate game of cat and mouse.
The play will have its world premiere at Leicester Curve Theatre in August 2026, followed by a UK tour that will play in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Salford, Bradford, Oxford, Peterborough, Hull, Belfast, Dublin, Birmingham, Blackpool, Eastbourne, Malvern, Swansea, Chester, Brighton, Tunbridge-Wells, York, Coventry, Richmond, Cheltenham, Bournemouth, Wolverhampton, Cardiff, Buxton, Woking, Liverpool and Sunderland. Further details, including casting, will be revealed at a later date, and you can find out more via the production website.
END OF THE RAINBOW
Jinkx Monsoon to star in new London revival
On the heels of playing Mary Todd Lincoln in Cole Escola's "Oh, Mary!", Jinkx Monsoon is set to return to the London stage, this time taking on the role of Judy Garland in a revival of Peter Quilter's "End of the Rainbow" at the Soho Theatre in Walthamstow. It will be the second time Monsoon is to perform at the theatre, after making her UK theatrical debut in 2016, in "The Vaudevillians". Since winning the 5th season of "RuPaul's Drag Race", Monsoon has built a prominent TV and stage career, making her broadway debut in Kander and Ebb's "Chicago" as Matron Mama Morton in 2023, later returning to the role the following year. She has also appeared in the off-broadway production of "Little Shop of Horrors", and the recent revival of "Pirates! The Penzance Musical".
"End of the Rainbow" will run at the Soho Theatre from the 15th of May until the 21st of June 2026, with tickets going on sale from the 4th of December. You can find out more, including how to book tickets, via the Soho Theatre website.
ANNIE
La Voix to star in new UK tour
It has been revealed that La Voix, recent star of Strictly Come Dancing, is to play Miss Hannigan in the upcoming UK and Ireland tour of the Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan musical "Annie", to open at the New Wimbledon Theatre in May 2026. She will go on to play the role in Birmingham, Manchester, Plymouth and Canterbury, with casting for Cardiff onwards, as well as the remainder of the cast, to be revealed at a later date. The musical will soon celebrate 50 years since it first premiered, first performing in Connecticut, later on broadway where it won 7 Tony Awards including best musical.
From July 2026 the show will go on to perform in Milton Keynes, Blackpool, Newcastle, Dublin, Bristol, Nottingham, Hull, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Truro, Cheltenham, Stoke, Crawley, Belfast, Aberdeen, Woking, Bradford, Oxford, Sunderland, Southampton, Norwich, Wolverhampton, Sheffield, Glasgow, and finish in Leicester in March 2027. You can find out more, including how to book tickets, via the production's website.
BABYFACE
New wrestling musical to play work-in-progress performance
A new wrestling themed musical written by Seiriol Davies, entitled "Babyface: The Fierce Wrestling Musical", is set to have a work in progress staging in February 2026, with the cast to feature a mix of musical theatre performers and professional wrestlers. The musical was first presented as part of BEAM2025 in Birmingham, having been in development for three years, and this performance will be presented by Jafar Iqbal and PW Productions, as part of Chester Storyhouse Queer festival on the 11th of February.
Tickets are now on sale, making this the first time the show has been opened to the public for viewing, and further details about the performance will be revealed at a later date.
KIMBERLY AKIMBO
Lindsay-Abaire/Tesori musical to get London premiere
As part of Hampstead Theatre’s new season, it has been revealed that David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori’s Tony winning best musical “Kimberly Akimbo”, based on the 2001 play of the same name (also by Lindsay-Abaire), is set to make its European premiere next summer. It will be directed by Michael Longhurst, the award winning director who fronted the Donmar Warehouse production of “Next To Normal”, which later transferred to the west end. "Kimberly Akimbo" originally ran at broadway’s Booth Theatre from 2022 to 2024, following a world premiere at the Linda Gross Theatre off-broadway.
The musical tells of New Jersey teenager Kimberly Levaco, who has a rare medical condition that causes her to age much faster than usual, so has the appearance of someone four times her age. She experiences familial turmoil, trouble fitting in with her peers, and discovering love for the first time. The show will run from the 28th of August until the 7th of November, tickets go on sale from the 2nd of December for members, and 5th of December for general booking; head to the Hampstead Theatre website to find out more.
TOM STOPPARD
Legendary playwright and screenwriter dies at 88
It is with great sadness that we can report of the passing of the great Sir Tom Stoppard, who has died at the age of 88. Born in Czechoslovakia as Tomáš Sträussler, he moved to England at the age of 8, along with mother Martha and stepfather Kenneth, the latter whose surname he adopted as his own as a child. He spent his earliest career days writing radio dramas, and his first stage work ("A Walk on the Water"), written in 1960, was performed on TV, and later in Hamburg, Germany, later being readapted as the 1986 play "Enter a Free Man".
The first piece of work that launched him into the spotlight was his play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead”, which premiered at the 1966 Edinburgh fringe, before running on the west end and then broadway, the latter run earning him a Tony award for best play. More recently, his biggest work has been the enormously critically acclaimed 2020 play “Leopoldstadt”, his final staged work, which sold out completely in the west end, and earned him the fifth of his five Tony awards on broadway, a record for the most “best play” Tony awards. Coined in the Oxford English Dictionary is the term “Stoppardian”, due to his output and influence on modern theatre, and is used to refer to work that engages with philosophical notions using wit and irony.
Stoppard was also a prolific and respected screenwriter, with his script for “Shakespeare in Love” winning an academy award, as well as being a well-known script doctor, having contributed to all sorts of films, such as Hook, Schindler’s List, Sleepy Hollow and Star Wars Episode III. He is survived by wife Sabrina, and four children (including son Ed, himself a well respected actor), and will go down in history as one of the greatest playwrights to have graced the theatres of the world with his work.
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