London Datebook: Aaron Tveit's Killer West End Debut, Christmas Comes Early & a Beautiful New Piece

The October explosion of musicals continues into November with a heady mixture of new shows and revivals that mix beloved British names like Gemma Arterton and Catherine Tate with Broadway golden boy Aaron Tveit, an American first-timer to the London stage. At the same time, a good month for British writing, past and present, makes room for Emlyn Williams and David Hare. For more information, read on!

NOVEMBER 3-9
Home “Made”: After a swath of Broadway shows making their way to the West End (think The Scottsboro Boys and Memphis), along comes Made in Dagenham, an entirely homegrown British musical adapted from the low-budget 2010 British film of the same name. Onetime Bond girl Gemma Arterton makes her musical theater debut inheriting the part of the feisty factory worker played on screen by Sally Hawkins, with a score by Bond composer David Arnold and lyricist Richard Thomas (Jerry Springer the Opera). The new musical opens November 5.

ALSO: Lloyd Newson, the dance-theater provocateur behind the DV8 company, brings his latest devised piece John to the National Theatre’s Lyttelton auditorium, opening November 4. Last chance November 8 at the Chichester Festival Theatre south of London to see Imelda Staunton’s scorching performance as Momma Rose in Gypsy, alongside Lara Pulver (Sherlock) as a scintillating Louise: a West End transfer is all but certain during the first half of 2015.

NOVEMBER 10-16
Yuletide Greetings: Haven’t done your holiday shopping? Maybe tickets to the eight-week West End run of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, opening at the Dominion Theatre November 12, are the way to go. Tom Chambers, fresh from the Olivier Award-winning Top Hat, heads the cast alongside Welsh singing star Aled Jones. The production is choreographed by Randy Skinner, who has worked on the piece several times Stateside.

ALSO: Lauren Fox and Peter Tate head the cast of Go See, the world premiere of play by the late Norris Church Mailer, onetime wife of legendary author Norman Mailer. Opening night is November 14 at the King’s Head Theatre in Islington. Last chance November 15 to see English actor and funnyman Kevin Bishop’s virtuosic turn across a slew of roles in the Menier Chocolate Factory’s revival of the solo play Fully Committed.

NOVEMBER 17-23
Hare’s Breadth: The prolific David Hare, whose Skylight returns to Broadway later this season, opens the fall’s most eagerly awaited play, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, November 18 on the National’s Olivier stage. Adapted from the prize-winning Katherine Boo book of the same name, the staging promises an epic depiction of Indian life; incoming National artistic director Rufus Norris is at the helm.

ALSO: Gifted young director Blanche McIntyre revisits her acclaimed 2011 revival of Emlyn Williams’ 1950 drama Accolade, this time for the larger St. James Theatre and with Alexander Hanson (Stephen Ward) heading the cast. The West End transfer of Forbidden Broadway says a frolicsome farewell November 22 at the Vaudeville, so this is your last chance to see Christina Bianco and her co-stars make hay at the expense of many a long-running hit.

NOVEMBER 24-30
Live in Living Color: It's the first full week of previews for Assassins, headlined by Broadway favorite Aaron Tveit and English comedy star Catherine Tate. Director Jamie Lloyd helms the new revival of the Stephen Sondheim/John Weidman musical at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Can the intimate south London venue contain Tveit’s talent—and his fanbase? We shall soon find out.

ALSO: Mordant Shairp’s once-scandalous 1933 play The Green Bay Tree opens November 28 at the Jermyn Street Theatre, about a young man’s conflicted sexuality. Final performances November 29 of director-star David Cromer’s triumphant Almeida Theatre reappraisal of Our Town, featuring a large British cast speaking in their natural accents. The same day bids farewell to Lindsay Lohan’s professional stage debut in David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow at the Playhouse Theatre, in which LiLo was eclipsed in terms of performance if not publicity by co-star Nigel Lindsay (Shrek).