2021 might have started slowly when it comes to theatre, but it bounced back in a big way the moment doors first reopened back in May this year. The years not over yet though and we have plenty to get us through the cold and dark nights in December,
Here are ten brand new shows opening this month to check out:
December 4th 2021 - January 9th 2022
Panto at the Palladium has become a highlight in the theatre calendar in recent years. Last years Pantoland only managed a couple of performances before restrictions closed the show prematurely. The good news is it's back in a revised version with new cast members including Donny Osmond joining the palladium staples Julian Clary, Nigel Havers, Gary Wilmot and Paul Zerdin. Throw in some fantastic musical theatre performers in the shape of Jac Yarrow and Sophie Isaacs and you're bound to have a great time. Oh yes you are!
December 2nd 2021 - January 8th 2022
Southwark Playhouse hosts this brand new musical starring Noel Sullivan, Zweyla Mitchell Dos Santos, Ken Christiansen, Kirby Huighes, Rebecca Hayes, Andrew Patrick-Walker, Joshua Steel and Phil Snowden. The Rhythmics explores the crisis of masculinity via a collection of oddballs belting their way through a thrillingly catchy guitar-led score.
Tickets from http://www.therhythmics.co.uk/
December 3rd - 31st
The Curve in Leicester bring back an absolute classic this Christmas. Starring Carly Mercedes Dyer and Adam Cooper, watch and incredible cast sing and dance their way through classics such as 'One', 'What I Did For Love' and 'The Music and The Mirror' in what is bound to be another amazing production from Curve.
Tickets from www.curveonline.co.uk
December 8th 2021 - January 22nd 2022.
As part of its UK tour, Bring It On plays a season at the Southbank Centre in London ahead of dates around the country up until next July. Starring Amber Davies and Louis Smith, this looks like it will be an absolutely spectacular show to witness.
Tickets from www.bringitonthemusicaluk.com
December 4th 2021 - January 22nd 2022
This Christmas, National Theatre bring us a new musical based on Sleeping Beauty. Rosalie Craig plays the fairy in this vividly original retelling: a mythic, big-hearted musical that goes beyond the waking kiss. She is joined by a cast including Tamsin Carroll, Michael Elcock and Kat Ronney.
Tickets from nationaltheatre.org.uk
December 11th 2021 - January 9th 2022
The madcap ride through the biggest stories and best-loved characters from the
wonderful world of pantomime is back following a successful run last year. Over 70 hilarious minutes, our dastardly double act dash from rubbing Aladdin’s lamp to roaming the golden streets of Dick Whittington’s London and making sure that
Cinderella gets to the Ball. Catch it at the Garrick Theatre.
Tickets from www.PottedPanto.com
December 16th 2021 - January 2nd 2022
The hugely successful Circus 1903 returns for their third Christmas season at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall. Featuring the return of sensational life-sized elephants Queenie and Peanut alongside stunning new acts including ‘The Russian Bar’, performed byintrepid champions of balance and acrobatics.
Tickets from www.circus1903.com
December 7th 2021 - January 22nd 2022
Rupert Goold’s revival of the award-winning musical Spring Awakening opens at the Almeida Theatre this month. With a cast including Laurie Kynaston and Amara Okereke, it tells a story of adolescent anarchy, set to one of the most loved scores of the 21st century. A group of teenagers – silenced and controlled by a censorious society – discover a new world of feeling and freedom outside the classroom, with beautiful and devastating consequences.
Tickets from almeida.co.uk
Sundays from December 5th 2021 - January 9th 2022
Panto can be a drag sometimes - especially this production of Dick Whittington which plays at the Phoenix Theatre on Sundays this month. Written by Gareth Joyner and starring Drag Race Queens Cheryl Hole, Kitty Scott Claus, Choriza May and Karen from Finance, it is the second annual all drag West End panto from TuckShop.
December 13th & 20th
If you like your Christmasses extra stagey, you'll love this concert which has been rescheduled from last year. Live at the Lyric Theatre, it features all your favourite Christnas and show-stopping numbers performed by a cast including John Owen-Jones, Emma Hatton, Oliver Ormson, Jodie Steele, Obi Ugoala and Idriss Kargbo.
Of course these 10 shows are just scratching the surface with many more new and existing shows playing up and down the country, not just the West End all the way until Christmas and beyond - not to mention the West Side Story movie in cinemas!
Look out for my 2022 preview later this month!
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