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10 West End musicals and plays we’re desperate to see make a London comeback
From musical theatre classics to modern cult sensations, here's our West End revival wish list.
Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
- Joanna Magill
Published: Friday, 28 August 2026 at 1:32 pm
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The last few years have seen London theatre audiences truly spoilt with hotly anticipated West End revivals.
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Jamie Lloyd has been keeping Andrew Lloyd Webber fans satisfied with his revivals of Sunset Boulevard and Evita, while fans of classic musicals were delighted to see Hello, Dolly!, Oklahoma! and My Fair Lady back on the West End stage.
Fans of comedy musicals have also been spoilt, with revivals including Hairspray starring Michael Ball and Les Dennis taking over the Coliseum in 2021, and The Producers and Avenue Q still showing in the Garrick Theatre and Shaftesbury Theatre respectively.
But despite some of our biggest West End dreams coming true, there are still plenty more beloved productions we'd like to see return to the stage.
We've listed our top 10 shows we'd like to return to the West End in the near future. We're sure you'll agree. After all, theatre fans aren't an argumentative bunch, right?
Can't get enough of theatre? Check out our guide to the best West End shows.
West End shows we want to see return at a glance
10. Pippin
9. Merrily We Roll Along
8. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
7. Gypsy
6. Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
5. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
4. Little Shop of Horrors
3. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
2. Spring Awakening
1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Musicals and plays we want to see back on the West End
10. Pippin
Pippin. Walter McBride/Corbis via Getty Images
While a lesser-known musical, this isn't just one for the musical theatre nerds. Pippin is a beautiful coming-of-age story based loosely on the eldest son of King Charlemagne as he searches for happiness in the avenues often suggested by society – wealth, fame, sex, political power – finding them to be ultimately hollow.
In a society obsessed with the false promises of fame and instant gratification, Pippin's arduous search for inner peace is something that's sure to ring true with West End audiences. Plus, the music and lyrics are written by Wicked's Stephen Schwartz, giving this already emotive and inspiring story the ultimate soundtrack.
While Pippin received a much-lauded West End anniversary concert in 2024, it's time for the production as a whole to make a comeback in our Corner of the Sky.
9. Merrily We Roll Along
Merrily We Roll Along. Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
Infamously, when Merrily We Roll Along first hit the Broadway stage in 1981, it was a massive flop. Fast-forward 45 years and it's a firm favourite among Sondheim fans and wider musical theatre lovers.
Its popularity has been made extra apparent in recent years, with the 2024 Broadway production starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez winning four Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical. You can now watch a professionally filmed version of the production on Amazon Prime.
Merrily follows a group of three Old Friends as their relationship changes over time due to fluctuating life circumstances: rising fame, marriage breakdowns, alcohol dependency. The twist? The entire story is told backwards (and is packed full of Sondheim's best work).
8. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Don Arnold/WireImage/Getty Images
We last saw Curious Incident on the West End, in a run of under two months that was heavily disrupted by Covid. This production ran from 20 November 2021 until 9 January 2022 but saw the cancellation of all performances between 14 and 28 December due to the resurgence of the Omicron Covid variant.
A stellar play like this one, which won seven Olivier Awards and five Tony Awards, deserves a complete and uninterrupted revival. The story was originally geared towards older children and teenagers, however its intriguing plot and darker themes make it a gripping watch for people of all ages, meaning that there's sure to be a large and varied audience turnout.
While we're eagerly waiting for the West End revival, we'll be sure to give the original The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time book a re-read and dive back into the story of Christopher as he investigates the mysterious death of a neighbour's dog.
7. Gypsy
Gypsy. Bruce Glikas/WireImage/Getty Images
Audra McDonald's Tony Award-winning stint in the 2024 Broadway production has brought Gypsy back to the forefront of musical theatre conversation, where it rightfully belongs.
Gypsy was written by Jule Styne, Arthur Laurents and a young Stephen Sondheim, first hitting Broadway in 1959, with the inimitable Ethel Merman in the lead role.
The musical follows the story of real-life burlesque and striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, but the true focus of the show is her mother Rose. We watch Rose as she pushes her children into the path of stardom that she didn't achieve herself and gradually unravels in the process, ending with Rose's Turn, one of the most demanding songs in musical theatre.
The last performer to tackle this role on the West End was Imelda Staunton at the Savoy Theatre in 2015, leaving big shoes to fill. Which British performer is up to the task next?
6. Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
A sung-through musical adaptation of a 70-page extract from Tolstoy's War and Peace may not sound like the stuff of musical dreams, but Great Comet captured the hearts of theatre fans across the globe thanks to its high-energy genre-fusing score, self-aware humour and immersive staging.
While not technically performed on the West End, this cult classic musical made its UK premiere at the Donmar Warehouse in 2024. While that may not seem like too long ago, it's felt like an age for the legion of Great Comet fans, who give the Hadestown fandom a run for their money in terms of devotion.
As the Donmar Warehouse is a more intimate venue, many Great Comet fans missed out on tickets for the sold-out production. It's time for a larger production so everyone can get their hands on tickets – certainly for multiple shows.
5. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Walter McBride/Getty Images
Hedwig and the Angry Inch has only been staged on London's West End once, all the way back in 2000, playing for just 7 weeks. This is, in our humble opinion, a musical theatre injustice that needs to be righted immediately.
For anyone unfamiliar with the show, we join rock band Hedwig and the Angry Inch for one of their concerts and throughout the show, we learn more about Hedwig's journey from communist East Berlin to a scorned songstress in the United States. The show offers a beautiful meditation on gender and trans identity, with a supremely catchy rock score to boot.
The role of Hedwig is certainly a demanding one. Personally, we'd love to see Strictly icon and Kinky Boots star Johannes Radebe try his hand at it.
4. Little Shop of Horrors
Little Shop of Horrors. Murray Close/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images
The last time this beloved musical appeared on London's West End was back in 2007, with a production starring Sheridan Smith – and we think it's high time for a return.
Since we're in somewhat of a puppet revival (see: the return of Avenue Q, the reboot of The Muppets Show, Elmo's staggering amount of followers on X), now is the ideal time for Little Shop of Horrors to make a reappearance and set and costume designers to truly go wild.
Also, since a lot of the musicals on this list deal with emotional and heavy themes, we'd love to see some more light-hearted productions make a comeback too.
Hopefully you'll be happily humming Skid Row and Suddenly Seymour before you know it. The only thing we aren't excited about is the inevitable heated debate over which ending to choose.
You can currently watch the film adaptation of Little Shop of Horrors on Amazon Prime.
3. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
As a classic tale from London folklore, we're surprised that Sweeney Todd isn't a permanent fixture on the West End. The last time the production came to the West End was from 2011 to 2012, starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton, so it's high time for a return.
Stephen Sondheim's dark, discordant score takes us through the disturbing tale of Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street, and his encounters with Mrs Lovett (and her pies), Judge Turpin and the good people of London town.
Maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves here, but we've already started thinking about our dream cast; specifically, Jinkx Monsoon as Mrs Lovett.
In the meantime, you can rent or buy Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street on Amazon Prime.
2. Spring Awakening
Spring Awakening. Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
Spring Awakening, based on a 1891 play of the same name, garnered a huge fan base among younger people after its Broadway premiere in 2006 – and it's easy to see why. The story focuses on the rebellion and sexual discovery inherent to teenagerhood, all set against an alternative rock score.
The West End production took to the stage in 2009 and received great critical acclaim, winning four Olivier awards. However, cultural acclaim didn't follow suit, with the production closing after just 10 weeks on stage. Since then, Spring Awakening has only become more beloved, and we'd love to see it receive the love it deserves in the West End.
In all honesty, what we'd really like to see is a West End transfer of the Deaf West Theatre production of Spring Awakening. This LA-based theatre company bridges both deaf and hearing communities by integrating sign language and spoken word productions, and their production of Spring Awakening was nominated for three Tony Awards, using sign language, subtitles and additional actors to add additional layers to the already complex characters.
1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
We're being a bit cheeky with this first one, as it's only ever been on the West End in concert form. In fact, as well as not making it to the West End in its full musical form, Hunchback also didn't make it to Broadway, but that just makes us all the more anxious to see it on the big stage.
While the demands and cost of a production of this scale proved too much for Broadway executives, the absence of Hunchback on the elite stage has certainly left a big gap, as well as plenty of disappointed members of Hunchback's ultra-devoted fanbase.
Written by Stephen Schwartz of Wicked fame, along with Alan Menken and James Lapine, The Hunchback of Notre Dame musical sits somewhere between the Disney film and Victor Hugo's original work in terms of story, and features plenty of songs from Disney.
We're longing to see the rich plot and sweeping musical score of The Hunchback of Notre Dame brought to life on the all-encompassing gigantic scale it deserves.
You can currently watch the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame on Disney Plus.
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On the opposite end of the spectrum, check out some of the biggest musical adaptation flops.
Authors
Joanna Magill
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