Explore West End show reviews and critics' ratings from London's top productions.
Performances are underway for the new stage adaptation of James M. Cain's Double Indemnity, starring Mischa Barton in her UK stage debut. Inspired by Billy Wilder’s legendary film noir masterpiece. Check out what the critics are saying...
On Avenue Q, puppets and people intermingle in this show about the trials and tribulations of life as a grown-up: love, sex, money, race, and how to tell your roommate he’s gay. After two decades, the three-time Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q has returned to the West End in all its glory. With original Broadway director Jason Moore and original puppet designer Rick Lyon, a brand new cast takes on the puppet show with a difference.
Jessica Parks is a maverick London Crown Court Judge; sharp, compassionate, and determined to change a system she knows isn’t always just. But her career exists inter alia (‘among other things’) as she balances motherhood, friendship and the elusive notion of ‘having it all’. So, when an unthinkable event rocks her finely tuned life, can she hold her family together – or will everything fall apart? Rosamund Pike returns to Suzie Miller's explosive second play-what did the critics think?
Inspired by a true story and based on the Miramax motion picture written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth, Kinky Boots features a warm and witty book by four-time Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein and a richly diverse musical score from Grammy Award-winning rock icon Cyndi Lauper, in her stunning theatrical debut. The production is directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell , with music supervision, arrangements and orchestrations by Stephen Oremus. Starring Strictly Come Dancing's Johannes Radebe as Lola and X-Factor star Matt Cardle as Charlie, this revival is directed by Leicester Curve's artistic director Nicolai Foster, What did the critics think?
See what the critics are saying about the West End transfer of Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain, making its European premiere at The Royal Court Theatre in London. Read BroadwayWorld's Review Roundup here!
It’s a hot, beautiful summer in 1905, and Russia’s elite retreat to the countryside to swim, sip champagne and start affairs. When they’re having this much fun, why care about anything else? But Varvara just can’t shake the feeling that their holiday idyll is built on borrowed time. As the party continues, how long can they ignore the storm on the horizon?
What did our critic think of ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND at Opera Holland Park?
With its whitewashed walls and actors swanning around in linen suits, inevitably the Globe’s summer staging of Much Ado About Nothing will recall Kenneth Branagh’s Tuscany-set film version from 1993. That is, until they whip out the oversized animal masks.
Turning 30 has always been portrayed by the media as a dead end, especially for women. Say goodbye to the ingénue, you need to have your life together now. Meg Travers and Laura Kirman think about it differently. They put on a romp of a show, a relatable two-hander that celebrates womanhood and all the nightmares that come with becoming a fully fledged adult. It’s genuine, no-filter, all-female, thought-provoking fun. Directed by Nancy Zamit, Kirman and Travers introduce two characters you want to be friends with.
Salesmen fight for survival in a competition where first prize is a Cadillac and the rest get fired. Bravado is as economics and machismo is the method.
What did our critic think of RON, RIVERSIDE STUDIOS at Riverside Studios?
Development Aid is nearly 80 years old, but who really benefits?
Death, it turns out, is an excellent alibi for a party, even one being held in your honour. Legendary magician, beloved family man and complete fiction Dieter Roterburg has sadly died and his wake is being held nightly in the tunnels beneath Waterloo train station.
Vivaldi's Four Seasons is one of the most recognised tunes going, thanks to its ubiquity in advertisements, as lift music and hold music (which this piece wittily refers to), so it's difficult to hear it afresh. That's what makes this reinterpretation of it, through an electronic remix by DJ Walde and vibrant new dance production directed by Tinuke Craig and choreographed by Alexzandra Sarmiento, such a distinct pleasure.
Puccini's tear-jerker La bohème is always a crowd-pleaser for any opera festival. This production at The Grange Festival is the first opera from French actor-turned-director David Geselson who created it for Opéra National de Nancy Lorraine in 2025. Featuring some strong singing and exquisite playing from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the production loses clarity by Geselson's focus on art and politics.
What did our critic think of SO ARE WE: LEÓN AND LIGHTFOOT at Royal Ballet And Opera?
Whether you grew up with the 1968 film or are learning about it for the first time, this Chitty Chitty Bang Bang proves that with some imagination, theatrical magic can come from the simplest things.
Heartbreaking, thought-provoking and beautifully staged, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is one of those productions that stays with you. More than anything, it reminds us that behind every headline about refugees is a human story. For that reason alone, it feels like a play that everyone should see.
“It’s like vultures circling a carcass,” one character in Driftwood says of the uneasy situation in Trinidad a few years shy of independence. This is the febrile setting for Casualty actress Martina Laird’s debut play, a portrait of a nation told entirely within the walls of one Port of Spain gentleman’s club, named ALMA.
On her deathbed, US playwright Joshua Harmon’s grandmother granted him permission to write a play about their family, on the condition that it be as “brutal and vitriolic” as possible. The result is We Had A World, a Pandora’s Box of generational trauma – indeed, the actor playing Harmon begins by opening up a literal box.
A new version of Handel's 1724 opera Giulio Cesare is always an exciting prospect. The love story between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, with the backdrop of war with Egypt, political ambition and domestic unrest is ripe for reinterpretation. Indeed, Handel and his librettist the librettist Nicola Francesco Haym, wrote the opera as a tragi-comedy, but David Alden's new production at The Grange Festival piles on the slapstick to such a extent that it undermines some of the excellent vocals in display.
The Lilian Baylis Theatre and associated spaces next door to Sadler's Wells is full of chatter and excitement on day 2 of the Dance Digital film festival. With short films, documentaries, social media pieces, and VR experiences, alongside networking and mentoring opportunities for professionals, this offers a creative space to enjoy, explore, and engage with dance.
Kurt Vonnegut’s anti-war sci-fi is probably one of the most censored novels of the 20th century. Published in 1969, it’s a methodical indictment of war and a sharp critique of traditional American values. The book has been reproached for its obscene and graphic writing, the exact same reasons why it remains such a relevant and uncompromising piece of literature. Eric Simonson’s acclaimed adaptation barges into Southwark Playhouse with its unyielding message. Director Douglas Baker reinforces the story’s nature as a parable of resistance and a cautionary tale against the dehumanising practices of warfare.
Mae West famously asked, 'Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you happy to see me?' Well, at the beginning of the relationship, he will no doubt be very happy to see you. But, at the end of the relationship… And that, my friends, is as good a summary of Mozart’s The Marriage Of Figaro as any.
Clad in pastel pyjamas and lounging on bunkbeds, two preteen girls discuss the repeated drugging and rape of Gisèle Pelicot. Their tone is not the sobering one of a news reporter, or even the hushed horror of one learning about the case for the first time, but light and jovial, teasing each other about whether they “got off” watching violent porn.
Latest in the line of blockbuster Cole Porter musicals dominating the Barbican’s summer programming is High Society, following in the footsteps of Anything Goes and Kiss Me, Kate. Like its predecessors, High Society is, to a certain extent, an excuse for a series of absurd situations contrived to fit in as many Cole Porter songs as possible.
