Heading to London This Fall? Here Are Five Hot New Shows to See!

Summer is slipping away, but that’s never a bad thing theatrically, especially in London where the fall brings with it an abundance of theater to make one drool. What follows are five shows scheduled between now and Christmas that look sure to set the pulse racing, listed in the order in which they are scheduled to open.

NO MAN’S LAND
Wyndham’s Theatre
Previewing now, opens September 20
In a year that will have seen several legendary British actresses return to the stage (Vanessa Redgrave in a now-finished Richard III, Glenda Jackson en route to King Lear), along come actor-knights Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen to reprise the 1975 Harold Pinter play that they performed to acclaim on Broadway in 2013. Their co-stars—new to the director Sean Mathias’s staging for London—are Tony winner Owen Teale and the fast-rising Irish actor, Damien Molony. To quote Pinter’s own play: “As it is?” “As it is, yes please.”

THE RED BARN
National Theatre
Previews begin October 6, opens October 17
A psychological thriller set in 1969 Connecticut adapted by a leading English writer David Hare from a novel (La Main) by a legendary Frenchman Georges Simenon sounds like enticement alone. Add in an uber-hot director in 2016 Olivier Award winner Robert Icke and two striking leads in 2016 Tony nominee Mark Strong and visiting American star Hope Davis, and it sounds as if Broadway is surely beckoning—even though lucky London has got there first.

AMADEUS
National Theatre
Previews begin October 16, opens October 26
History of a sort is made when the wonderful Lucian Msamati, seen earlier this year in the National’s overwhelming revival of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, becomes the first black actor to play the court composer Antonio Salieri in a major production of Peter Shaffer’s Tony-winning play. Adam Gillen takes the title role of Mozart in a Michael Longhurst-directed production that will undoubtedly pay tribute to Shaffer, who died in June at the age of 90.

DREAMGIRLS
Savoy Theatre
Previews begin November 20, opens December 14
Amber Riley, best known as Mercedes Jones on Glee, crosses the pond to take on the powerhouse role of Effie White when the iconic 1981 Broadway musical has its long-overdue West End debut in November—not long after the first Effie, Jennifer Holliday, returns to Broadway in The Color Purple. Stepping into the formidable shoes of Dreamgirls’ pioneering director-choreographer Michael Bennett is none other than Casey Nicholaw, who has Aladdin and The Book of Mormon already running both sides of the Atlantic: looks, as Effie might put it, as if nothing’s gonna stop him now.

SHE LOVES ME
Menier Chocolate Factory
Previews begin November 25, opens December 7That perpetual musical charmer from 1963—a hit yet again on Broadway this past season—returns to London, this time to the small but mighty Menier Chocolate Factory in a new production directed by Matthew White and starring the clarion-voiced Scarlett Strallen as the ice cream-loving Amalia. Are cartwheels in order? We shall soon find out.