15 must-see plays and musicals to book tickets for this Spring

The Telegraph’​s Theatre Critic, Dominic Cavendish, chooses 15 plays and musicals to book tickets for this Spring, from Shakespeare to Andrew Lloyd Webber​.

Toast

This delightful stage adaptation of Nigel Slater’s 2004 memoir, first seen at the Edinburgh Festival last summer, details the cookbook king’s early youth and home-life coping with the death of his beloved mother and the fraught arrival on the scene of his stepmother, which engendered a compensating fascination with food and the art of cooking. Jonnie Riordan’s production has a kindergarten playfulness that brings home the child’s perspective. It’s like Adrian Mole meets Bake Off.

The Other Palace, London SW1 (020 7087 7900), April 4 – Aug 3. Book now with Telegraph Tickets.

A German Life

Dame Maggie Smith returns to the stage for the first time in 12 years, and at the age of 84, in a new monologue by Christopher Hampton drawn from the life and testimony of Brunhilde Pomsel (1911-2017), who was secretary to Joseph Goebbels and spoke about her experience shortly before she died to a group of Austrian documentary film-makers. Jonathan Kent directs.

Bridge Theatre, London SE1 (0333 320 0051), Apr 6 – May 11

Three Sisters

Following her huge success with Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke, director Rebecca Frecknall turns her attention to another classic, this time Chekhov’s evergreen tale of provincial ennui and wistful female yearning, with a cast led by the rapidly ascendant Patsy Ferran, recent recipient of the Critics Circle award for Best Actress. A new adaptation by Cordelia Lynn.

Almeida, London N1 (020 7359 4404), April 8 – June 1

Sweet Charity

Josie Rourke bows out of her consistently impressive tenure as the Donmar’s artistic director, with a revival of the 1966 Neil Simon/Cy Coleman favourite about a brassy dance-hall hostess who suffers knock-backs in her bid to find the right man and get a new life. The cast is led by Anne-Marie Duff.

Donmar Warehouse, London WC2H (020 3282 3808), 6 April – 8 June

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

The world premiere stage-adaptation of Louis de Bernières best-selling novel of 1994, set on the Greek island of Cephallonia, against the backdrop of German and Italian occupation during World War II. Casting has yet to be announced but the main creative team looks first-rate: the script is by the accomplished Scottish playwright Rona Munro; direction by Melly Still – who had a hit at the Rose in 2017 with another literary block-buster, Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend.

Rose Theatre, Kingston (020 8174 0090), April 23 – May 3

Small Island

A company of 40, directed by Rufus Norris, bring to the stage for the first time the late Andrea Levy’s award-winning, landmark 2004 novel centring on the experience of Jamaican immigrants to England in the wake of the Second World War, but detailing the years before ‘Windrush’ too. Helen Edmundson, who has enjoyed sustained success with literary adaptations on stage, and scored a hit with her recent original drama for the RSC Queen Anne, shapes the story afresh.

National’s Olivier Theatre, London SE1 (020 7452 3000), from April 17 – Aug 10

Rosmersholm

Ibsen’s 1886 drama about a former clergyman called Rosmer and his lover (Rebecca) who become guiltily tormented by the suicide of Rosmer’s wife was staged in London at the Almeida just over a decade ago in a production starring Paul Hilton and Helen McCrory. This time round, the direction is by the fastidious Ian Rickson and the central roles fall to Tom Burke – recently seen as Cormoran Strike in the BBC series based on the JK Rowling books, and Hayley Attwell (who led the gender-swapping Measure for Measure at the Donmar). Duncan Macmillan adapts.

Duke of York’s Theatre, London WC2 (0844 871 7622), April 24 – July 2. Book now with Telegraph Tickets.

Death of a Salesman

Wendell Pierce (The Wire, Suits, Selma) makes his UK stage debut as Willy Loman, with Olivier Award-winning Sharon D Clarke as Linda Loman and Arinzé Kene (Misty, Been So Long) as Biff Loman in Arthur Miller’s masterpiece about the death of the American dream and a middle-aged man hitting breaking point. Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell, fresh from success with Company, co-direct.

Young Vic (020 7922 2922), May 1 – Jun 29

Shakespeare’s Globe Summer Season

A bumper-pack of Bardic delights awaits visitors to Bankside this summer. Michelle Terry’s second main-house season kicks off by foregrounding the best-loved histories, Henry IV Parts I and II, and Henry V in which, continuing her gender-fluid approach, Terry will star as Hotspur and Helen Schlesinger as Falstaff.

Shakespeare’s Globe, London SE1 (020 7401 9919), April 23 onwards

The Lehman Trilogy

Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Ben Miles play the Lehman Brothers (their sons and grandsons too) in an epic telling of the inside story of the institution at the epicentre of the 2008 crash, the largest bankruptcy filing in US history. Ben Power adapts Italian playwright Stefano Massini, Sam Mendes directs. As seen at the National last year.

Piccadilly Theatre, London W1 (020 7452 3000), from May 11 – Aug 3. Book now with Telegraph Tickets.

Plenty

It’s 40 years since David Hare announced himself as a keen-eyed and deft cartographer of the political landscape with a play that traced the disillusion experienced by women who worked in special operations during the Second World War on returning home. The central role of Susan Traherne is taken by Rachael Stirling in this new production by Kate Hewitt (who has just enjoyed a big success with Jesus Hopped The ‘A’ Train at the Young Vic).

Chichester Festival Theatre (01243 781312), June 7 – 29

A Midsummer Night's Dream

The biggest critical success so far in Nicholas Hytner’s new venture by the Thames has been with Shakespeare; after last year’s triumph with Julius Caesar he opens up the immersive potential of the Bridge again with a promenade production of the Bard’s immortal comedy of amorous confusion, with Gwendoline Christie, Oliver Chris, David Moorst and Hammed Animashaun leading the cast as Titania, Oberon, Puck and Bottom.

Bridge Theatre, London SE1 (0333 320 0051), June 3 – August 31

Bitter Wheat

John Malkovich returns to the West End for the first time since 1992’s A Slip of the Tongue to star in the latest from American kingpin David Mamet: he plays Hollywood producer Barney Fein, described in the pre-publicity as “a depraved mogul… a bloated monster, a studio head who devours the young he has lured to his cave”. Mamet himself directs, and it looks set to be as controversial as his 1992 drama on alleged sexual harassment, Oleanna. Malkovich has said Mamet's response to the Harvey Weinstein scandal may “upset some people”.

Garrick Theatre, London WC2 (0330 333 4811), 7 June – 14 Sept. Book now with Telegraph Tickets.

Present Laughter

Noel Coward’s wryly and slyly autobiographical 1942 comedy about a self-obsessed star actor – Garry Essendine – approaching middle-age and contending with adoring women, his estranged wife and a crazed angry young playwright – is often revived. It’s not always a guaranteed pleasure – the lightweight script can seem over-laboured; and yet with the right leading player, and nuanced staging, it can delight in spades. With Sherlock’s Andrew Scott cast as Essendine and Matthew Warchus directing, the omens are good. The cast also includes Sophie Thompson and Indira Varma.

Old Vic, London SE1 (0844 871 7628), June 17 – Aug 10. Book now with Telegraph Tickets.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

A major new production of the first major musical collaboration between Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, which collides the biblical travails of Joseph and his 11 brothers with the secular thrills of rock ‘n’ roll, Jac Yarrow stars, with Sheridan Smith and Jason Donovan as the Narrator and Pharoah. The Palladium has seen a number of high-profile revivals down the years, making this a kind of homecoming.

London Palladium, London W1 (020 7087 7755); June 26 – Sept 8. Book now with Telegraph Tickets.