London Datebook: Kinky Boots Kicks Up Its Heels, Nicole Kidman's Stage Return & More

It’s back to school for families and back to the theater for devotees of the London stage in what is shaping up to be the busiest September in years. Highlights include new plays featuring a raft of major stars and a Tony-winning musical kicking up its heels on the West End.

SEPTEMBER 7-13
Breaking the Code: Nicole Kidman set pulses racing when she appeared onstage in London 17 years ago in The Blue Room. The Oscar winner is back this season to play the vaunted English scientist Rosalind Franklin in Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51, which has a final week of previews prior to opening September 14 at the Noel Coward Theatre. Tony winner Michael Grandage is at the helm.

Also: Finishing previews this week as well is another September 14 opening: the stage premiere at Wilton’s Music Hall of director Peter Joucla’s adaptation of the 1973 film The Sting, a project that has no relation to the planned Broadway musical. September 7 sees the opening of the West End transfer to the Trafalgar Studios of Robert Icke’s scorching production of Aeschylus’s murderous Oresteia, with Lia Williams, Angus Wright and Luke Thompson all in top form.

SEPTEMBER 14-20
Whatever Lola Wants: Jerry Mitchell has become something of a London mainstay with credits that include a Legally Blonde that improved upon its Broadway predecessor. Now, the director/choreographer’s Tony-winning Kinky Boots is saying “yeah” to London audiences. It opens on September 15 with The Voice star Matt Henry and 2015 Olivier nominee Killian Donnelly (Memphis) in the leading roles.

Also: In a big British week for Harvey Fierstein, the Broadway regular gets a second London opening September 16 with the Southwark Playhouse premiere of Casa Valentina, starring Gareth Snook (Company, Assassins) and Tamsin Carroll (Miss Saigon). Final performance Sept. 19 at the Almeida of James Macdonald’s superb production of Bakkhai, the Euripides tragedy featuring Ben Whishaw and Bertie Carvel as the most biting double-act in town.

SEPTEMBER 21-27
Foote-Loose: The great Simon Russell Beale teams up at the Hampstead Theatre with the protean director Richard Eyre on Mr. Foote’s Other Leg, Ian Kelly’s play about the one-legged actor-satirist Samuel Foote who was himself a major name in 1770s London. The names involved in this production have led to the show selling out before it opens September 21, but you can always try for returns.

Also: Last performance September 26 at the Donmar of Splendour, Abi Morgan’s play about the wife of an unnamed dictator who prefers to swill vodka even as her country crashes in around her: Sinead Cusack is scintillating in the part. Michael Feinstein takes to the Adelphi Theatre for a single night of crooning on September 27 while the Kinky Boys cast puts up their heels.

SEPTEMBER 28-OCTOBER 3
A Regal Transfer: Among this year’s unlikelier hits was the February debut of Farinelli and the King, about the relationship between Philippe V of Spain and the celebrated castrato, Farinelli. Such was the power of three-time Tony-winner Mark Rylance’s performance as the bipolar monarch that his wife Claire van Kampen’s comedy-drama is getting a West End upgrade, opening September 29 at the Duke of York’s with whispers of Broadway to follow.

Also: Yet more Greeks? Yes, this time an Almeida production of the mother of all psychodramas, Medea, with 2008 Tony nominee Kate Fleetwood (Macbeth) in the title role and directed by her husband, Rupert Goold: opening night is October 1. The night before finds film star Nick Moran (Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels) at north London’s cozy Park Theatre playing a bond trader in Roaring Trade, a new play by TV writer Steve Thompson.