Odds and Ends: The Greatest Showman Sets West End Dates, Bernadette Peters Honored and More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you might have missed.

Oh, What a Circus
Ladies and gents, this is the moment you waited for. Disney’s stage adaptation of The Greatest Showman, with songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, book by Tim Federle and direction and choreography by Casey Nicholaw, has set dates for its West End premiere. The show will begin previews on April 14, 2027 with opening night on May 5 at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Showman stars the previously announced Oliver Tompsett as P.T. Barnum, Samantha Barks as Charity Barnum, Ben Joyce as Phillip Carlyle, Vajèn van den Bosch as Jenny Lind and Malinda Parris as Lettie Lutz. Further casting will be announced later.

The Queen Gets a Prince
Bernadette Peters will receive the Harold Prince Award for lifetime achievement at the 71st annual Drama Desk Awards, taking place May 23, 2027 at The Shed. The ceremony will feature a tribute to her career and lasting impact on the theater industry. The most nominated performer in Drama Desk history, Peters has won three times for Dames at Sea, Song and Dance and Annie Get Your Gun, earning Tony Awards for the latter two. A legend of stage and screen, Peters most recently starred in Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends on Broadway, with other iconic performances including Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Follies, Gypsy and many more.

Real Rumors
Tony winner Zhailon Levingston is getting catty again. The director will helm a new revival of Neil Simon’s Rumors off-Broadway at MCC Theater starring eight Real Housewives in their off-Broadway debuts. The production will feature two separate casts of Housewives, beginning with Lisa Rinna following her Broadway debut in It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Phaedra Parks, Stacey Rusch and Dolores Catania from January 9, 2027 through February 28. The second cast will feature Cynthia Bailey, Eileen Davidson, Carole Radziwill and Candiace Dillard-Bassett from March 2 through April 21. Additional casting will be announced at a later date. Rumors follows one dinner party from hell, which seems fitting.

The Royal Treatment
London's Royal Court Theatre has announced the first part of its 2027 season. Opening the winter season will be Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony-winning play, Purpose, directed by Phylicia Rashad. Then Hamnet Oscar winner Jessie Buckley will star in Afterbirth, written by Nina Segal and directed by Maria Aberg. The rest of the season will feature V’s (formerly Eve Ensler) The Apology presented by the Tectonic Theater Project, Ciara Elizabeth Smyth’s The Briar Patch, Alex Medland’s We’re Gonna Kill Billy, Georgie Dettmer’s War Face (a collaborative piece with the Royal Court) and Working Men by Benjamin Kuffuor. 

Have a Heart
Broadway's Eva Noblezada and Juyeon Song will star in the New York premiere of The Heart Sellers by Pulitzer Prize finalist Lloyd Suh and directed by May Adrales. A story of a chance encounter and quintessentially American connection, The Heart Sellers follows two immigrant strangers, Jane and Luna, who meet on Thanksgiving in 1973. They decide to spend this strange, new holiday together over an evening full of shared laughs, dreams and a frozen turkey that refuses to thaw. The play will begin previews on January 8, 2027, with opening night set for January 21. It will play a limited run through February 14, 2027 at the MCC Theater Space.