THEATRE

2024 looks set to be a strong and starry year for the stage if these lovely lot are anything to go by. Kicking things off, Sarah Jessica Parker and husband Matthew Broderick in Neil Simon’s razor-sharp comedy about the different couples who stay in the iconic hotel room, Plaza Suite, Savoy Theatre, (Wed 17 Jan – Sun 31 Mar).

Start sharpening your elbows for tickets to see Sheridan Smith in Opening Night, a shiny new show based on Cassavetes’ legendary film which features music and lyrics from Rufus Wainwright, Gielgud Theatre, from Wed 6 Mar. As well as Brian Cox in Eugene O’Neill’s magnum opus, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Wyndham’s Theatre, (Tue 19 Mar – Sat 8 Jun) and Imelda Staunton as meddlesome socialite, Dolly Levi, in the Jerry Herman classic, Hello, Dolly! Palladium, (Sat 6 Jul – Sat 14 Sept).

Then there’s Sir Ian McKellen rocking more Shakespeare at the Noel Coward Theatre in Robert Icke’s, Player Kings, Mon 1 Apr – Sat 22 Jun, and Trainspotting‘s Johnny Lee Miller joins forces with Sex Education‘s Tanya Reynolds in the exciting new play, A Mirror, Trafalgar Theatre from Mon 22 Jan.

What else, well, there’s Matt Smith and his impeccable jawline being An Enemy of the People in Thomas Ostermeier’s bold reimagining of the classic Henrik Ibsen play at the Duke of York’s Theatre from Tue 6 Feb, a new play by Jez Butterworth which Sam Mendes directs, The Hills of California, Harold Pinter from Sat 27 Jan and Succession’s Sarah Snook tackling all 26 characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray, turning Oscar Wilde’s dark parable into an ambitious one woman show – well, if anyone can Shiv Roy can! Catch her at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from Tue 6 Feb.

Musical lovers, the Broadway smash and cult movie Mean Girls is coming to town and, if you’re lucky enough to get tickets, you can sit with us at the Savoy Theatre, from 5 Jun, where you can expect to see all your favourite movie moments with an injection of Westend camp – so fetch!

Fans of Studio Ghibli prepare to be Spirited Away, as the Oscar winning film has been expertly transformed into a stage production and if My Neighbour Tortoro was anything to go by, this will be equally as magical, London Coliseum (Tue 30 Apr – Sat 24 Aug). And bringing all the feels to the Donmar Warehouse is Brian Yorkey’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, Next to Normal (Tue 18 June – Sat 21 Sep).

MUSIC

Stop grieving over your lack of Taylor Swift tickets (it still hurts, we know) there’s plenty of other top music playing across the capital this year. The O2 is, as usual, bringing in the big names with the greatest showman Brandon Flowers and The Killers rocking up a suitable storm (Thu 4 – Sun 7 July), Girls Aloud calling the shots (Sat 22 – Wed 26 June) and Olivia Rodrigo spilling her guts, (Tue 14 – Sat 18 May). Take That will be there (Thur 25 Apr – Wed 1 May) sans Robbie Williams sadly but you’ll get the chance to see him at Hyde Park’s string of summertime concerts (more on that later).

Unbelievably there are still tickets to see Brucie babe & The E Street Band dancing in the dark at Wembley Stadium (Thu 25 – Sat 27 July), while Sampha is playing a huge one off show at Alexandra Palace (Fri 26 Apr), after making us wait six years for new music since his Mercury-prize winning debut. While you’re over there it’s worth checking out the Summer Series of gigs and scooping up tickets for Bombay Bicycle Club (Fri 12 Jul), Tom Odell (Fri 19 Jul), Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds (Sat 20 Jul) and both Suede and the Manic Street Preachers (Thu 18 Jul), who are touring together – talk about making our Nineties dreams come true!

The Palladium is harking back to the Eighties with both Bananarama, (Wed 3 – Thu 4 Apr) and The Pretenders, (Wed 28 – Thu 29 Feb) each taking to the stage with a mix of cult classics and new material – seriously is there anyone cooler than Chrissie Hynde? We think not!.

While the Royal Albert Hall is channelling all things soul with Joss Stone (Mon 8 July), Beverley Knight (Mon 23 Sept), George Benson (Fri 28 – Sat 29 Jun) and Gladys Knight (Thu 27Jun) performing this year.

Other gigs worth your ear can be found at Hammersmith Apollo where Paloma Faith (Wed 17 Apr), Kim Petras (Mon 19 Feb), Olivia Dean (Sat 4 – Sun 5 May), Madison Beer (Tue 2 Apr) and Tom Walker (Tue 7 May), will all be performing this year.

CLASSICAL

For some classical class London welcomes not one but two GRAMMY approved musicians this year – the composer, singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Laufey will be bringing her breezy blend of bossa nova and romantic pop ballads to the Royal Albert Hall, Thu 16 May, and Chicago-based percussion ensemble, Third Coast Percussion, will be drumming-up a storm at the Barbican, Thu 22 Feb.

Chineke! Orchestra are always worth a watch and this programme of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Saint-Saëns featuring the world remiere by 19-year-old composer Tristen JT Watts is no exception, Southbank Centre, Fri 2 Feb.

For something like you’ve never seen before check out The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra fusing theatre, lighting and visual elements to challenge the traditional concert form with their Shostakovich showcase (Sat 29 – Sun 30 Jun), and violin virtuoso Patricia Kopatchinskaja‘s response to climate change featuring video projections and light displays to music culminating in seven double basses booming in Ustvolskaya’s merciless Dies Irae, Wed 21 Feb, both Southbank Centre.

And the National Symphony Orchestra are celebrating all things Beethoven with an impressive performance of his Ninth Symphony, Cadogan Hall (Tue 7 May) – marking the exact 200th anniversary of the first ever public performance of the symphony.

FESTIVALS

Let’s kick things off with a fan favourite, BST Hyde Park series of day long summer fests has just announced its first two headliners, put your hands together for Andrea Bocelli (Fri 5 July) and Robbie Williams! (Sat 6 July), watch this space for more updates and headline announcements.

Other biggies on the London festival scene include All Points East which will see LCD Sound System, Loyle Carner, Death Cab for Cutie and recent Mercury Music Prize winners, Ezra Collective, perform in Vicky Park throughout August. Then there’s South Facing Festival, Crystal Palace Park (Aug), Wide Awake Festival (Sat 25 May) and the Mighty Hoopla (Sat 1 – Sun 2 Jun) where there’s a mighty mix of music going on – from B*Witched to Kim Petras, talk about eclectic – both at Brixton’s Brockwell Park.

Eager beavers can get their mitts on tickets for Wireless Festival, Finsbury Park, (Fri 12-Sun 14 July), Ally Pally’s Kaleidoscope (Sat 13 July), Battersea Park in Concert, (Sat 24 – Mon 26 Aug, and Tom Kerridge’s Pub in (Chiswick) Park (Fri 28 – Sun 30 June), even though each are yet to reveal their star-studded line-ups.

DANCE

On the ballet front, more traditional offerings include English National Ballet’s Giselle, Coliseum (Thur 11-Sun 21 Jan) and Carmen, Sadler’s Wells (Wed 27 Mar – Sat 6 Apr), Manon at the Royal Opera House, (Wed 17 Jan – Fri 8 Mar) as well as the many gorgeous performances of Swan Lake swimming across the capital to the London Coliseum, the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Opera House this year.

2024 marks a first for the Sydney Dance Company who’ll be making their debut at ROH (Mon 25 – Thu 28 Mar), with a thought-provoking, contemporary performance led by Rafael Bonachela whose choreography creds include Kylie and Tina Turner. And a first (in eight years) for the New York City Ballet who are performing a Mixed Bill from lauded choreographers like Kyle Abraham, featuring stunning costumes from Brit designer Giles Deacon and music from James Blake – in other words, a rare treat, Sadler’s Wells (Thu 7 – Sun 10 Mar).

Prefer the bard in a tutu and en pointe? Enter the Northern Ballet with their critically acclaimed production of Romeo and Juliet, Sadlers Wells (Tue 28 May – Sat 1 Jun) and The Winter’s Tale which has been artfully adapted into a contemporary three-act ballet by the Tony award-winning choreographer, Christopher Wheeldon, ROH (Fri 3 May – Sat 1 June).

For something a bit different – film buffs will love this exquisite dance based on Federico Fellini’s Oscar-winning film, La Strada, presented by world famous ballerina and former Royal Ballet Principal, Alina Cojocaru, Sadler’s Wells (Thu 25 – Sun 28 Jan). Equally daring is the experimental Mark Bruce Company and their unmissable reimagining of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein, The Place Theatre (Tue 26 – Thu 28 Mar).

OPERA

Kicking things off with a big’un, in fact the biggest opera production London has seen this century! 578 stunning costumes, 250 performers, a 60-piece orchestra, digital projections, large scale puppetry and you’ve got AIDA like you’ve never seen her before – even if you’re not an opera aficionado, you’d be a fool to pass this up, OVO Arena Wembley (Sat 23 – Sun 24 Mar).

For something a little different, Margaret Atwood’s haunting novel The Handmaid’s Tale has been turned into an opera by the esteemed composer Poul Ruders’ – if you thought the Republic of Gilead wasn’t brutal enough, throw in some medieval chants, gospel music, a chilling soprano and prepare to be terrified, Coliseum (Thu 1 – Thu 15 Feb).

Prefer your opera on the darker side? Then Duke Bluebeard’s Castle is a good shout, Coliseum (Thu 21 – Sat 23 Mar), as is exciting new opera Giant which tells the story of an 18th Century surgeon, his obsession with a patient and the ultimate act of betrayal (yikes), tickets available soon ROH (Fri 8 – Thu 14 Mar).

And for opera with a welcome side of comedy, Mozart’s The Magic Flute is a fail safe especially with ENO at the helm, Coliseum (Wed 28 Feb – Sat 30 Mar).

EXHIBITS

For an arty party, make sure these dates are in your diary. First up The National Gallery turns 200 this year (many happy returns old girl) and to celebrate it’s dusting off some rarely seen Van Gogh‘s (acquired 100 years ago) and putting on a once in a century kinda exhibit, from Sat 14 Sep.

For something more contemporary, the Dulwich Picture Gallery are hoping to redefine the landscape genre with major exhibit, Soulscapes (Wed 14 Feb – Sun 2 Jun), which will showcase 30 mixed media pieces reflecting on themes of belonging, memory, joy and transformation.

Another biggie is Tate Modern‘s showcase of Yoko Ono, (Thur 15 Feb – Sun 1 Sep). The aptly named Music Of The Mind will span a whopping seven decades and highlight some of her most remarkable pieces including *that* banned Film No.4 (Bottoms) (1966-67) among others.

Photography more your jam? Have a peep at snaps from Sir Elton John and David Furnish’s Collection, which includes many iconic images across fashion, celebrity and so much more, from Sat 18 May, V&A Museum, similarly exciting is the largest ever mounted showcase of world-renowned photographic artist, Edward Burtynsky – catch Extraction/Abstraction, Saatchi Gallery (Wed 14 Feb – Mon 6 May).

And, if you know your Ercol from your Ikea you’ll want to check out this tribute to revered Italian designer Enzo Mari, Design Museum (Sat 9 Mar – Sun 8 Sep).

Stepping away from traditional art, and into the wardrobe of Naomi Campbell! That’s right, the supermodel has opened her iconic closet and shared it with the V&A for the museum’s first retrospective dedicated to a model. NAOMI will celebrate her creative collaborations, activism, far-reaching cultural impact and, of course, some of her most recognisable runway ‘fits, from Sat 22 Jun.

Barbiecore is still going strong into 2024 and the The Design Museum is certainly keeping the dream alive with this significant exhibition on the history of Barbie™, coinciding with the doll’s 65th anniversary, (we know, she doesn’t look a day over 25), from Fri 5 July. And, if watching a Tim Burton movie wasn’t weird and wonderful enough, this exhibition is like stepping into his mind, enter The World of Tim Burton, if you dare, also at the Design Museum, from Fri 25 Oct.

Still room in your diary? Embrace some serious avant-garde energy in Dreams Have No Titles, an immersive installation by Zineb Sedira (uh hum, originally configured for the French Pavilion) which pushes the boundaries of reality through a series of carefully constructed and recognisable film sets, Whitechapel Gallery, (Thu 15 Feb – Sun 12 May).

COMEDY

Soooo much comedy is hitting the capital this year, here’s a few good ‘uns that haven’t sold out yet, roll call please; Romesh Ranganathan taking a deep dive on the human condition in new show Hustle, (Fri 24 – Sat 25 May), Michael McIntyre being Magnificent, (Fri 5 – Sun 14 Apr), and Bill Bailey, with his weird and wonderful blend of musical comedy, (Mon 4 Mar) are all hitting the stage at the O2.

You can catch Jimmy Carr and his funny laugh at Alexandra Palace (Thu 13 June) and Frank Skinner, dishing 30 years of dirt at the Gielgud Theatre (Mon 5 – Sat 17 Feb).

And for some fresh faces on the comedy scene worth the ticket fee are social media sensation, Grace Campbell, bringing her unwaveringly frank sense of humour to Hammersmith Apollo (Sun 24 Nov), Tatty MacLeod bringing Fugue to the Clapham Grand (Wed 17 Apr), Lindsey Santoro fresh from supporting Joe Lycett on tour (Thu 25 – Sat 27 Jan) and Julia Masli whose blend of agony-aunt therapy and clown comedy was a runaway hit at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe (Tue 30 Jan – Sat 17 Feb), both at Soho Theatre.