Welcome to Musical Theatre Network’s listings page! This is a space where we can keep you up to date on all the new British musicals being produced or premiered in the UK. You can submit the details of your new British musical for our listings here. Listings of musicals produced/hosted by MTN members can additionally include an image, bookings link and short description.

WHAT’S ON 

From Here – By Ben Barrow and Lucy Ireland

Chiswick Playhouse, 1 – 7 August 2021

Operation Mincemeat by Splitlip

Southwark Playhouse, 23 July 17 August – work in Progress run, 18 August to 18 September 2021 – main run

6-7 August 2021

babies
By Jack Godfrey and Martha Geelan

Ipswitch, New Wolsey Theatre, with BYMT

A new comedy, pop-rock musical guaranteed to have you rocking in your seats!

Summer is over. But for Year Ten at St Mary’s School, the fun is just beginning. Every student has been given a brand new simulator baby to keep alive for three weeks. Their excitement to show off their new toys is palpable. Quickly though, the school descends into chaos.

As rivalries emerge and friendships are tested, the teenagers must decide: What kind of parents are they? What kind of people do they want to be?

Winner of the BYMT New Music Theatre Award 2021, babies takes a witty look at what happens when you’re forced to be a child and an adult all at once.

Black Love by Chinonyerem Odimba, with music by Ben and Max Ringham

Produced by Paines Plough, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, in Association with tiata fahodzi. Part of the Coventry City of Culture, with national tour including Newcastle, Salford, Brixton and more across July –

The Ruff Tuff Cream Puff Estate Agency  – Belgrade Theatre, Coventry with Cardboard Citizens

Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, 9 – 16 October 2021

6 – 30 November 2021

Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World
By Miranda Cooper, Jennifer Decilveo and Chris Bush 

MAST Mayflower Studios, Southhampton.

The world premiere of a brand new kickass-pirational pop musical will burst to life at the Mayflower Mast Studio this Autumn as the Fantastically Great Women take to the stage to tell their stories. 

Join inquisitive heroine Jade as she breaks away from her class to take a peek behind the scenes at the not yet open Gallery of Greatness in the local museum. Along her journey she is surprised to meet the original and incredible Wonder Women: Frida Kahlo, Rosa Parks, Amelia Earhart, Marie Curie, Emmeline Pankhurst to name just a few. 

Also touring to the Norwich Playhouse (where it play from 23 November to 5 December) and Liverpool Playhouse (8 December to 2 January 2022).

From December 2021

Hex
By Tanya Ronder, Jim Fortune and Rufus Norris

Olivier Theatre, National Theatre

The National Theatre will premiere a new musical based on the Sleeping Beauty folk tale.

Titled Hex, the piece is directed by the venue’s artistic director Rufus Norris. Penned by Tanya Ronder with music by Jim Fortune and lyrics by Rufus Norris, the piece tells the classic tale from the perspective of the fairy trying to make everything better.

It has set and costume design by Katrina Lindsay (Small Island) as well as orchestrations by Simon Hale, music supervision by Marc Tritschler, music direction by Tarek Merchant, lighting design by Paul Anderson, choreography by Jade Hackett with consultant choreography by Bill Deamer and sound design by Simon Baker.

Spring 2022

Orphans
By Douglas Maxwell, Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly, based on the film by Peter Mullan

Touring to Greenock, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness

A musical version of Peter Mullan’s cult classic Orphans will premiere next spring as part of National Theatre of Scotland’s season.

Directed by Cora Bissett, the piece has book by Douglas Maxwell with lyrics and score by Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly.

Set in 1998, the piece follows a group of siblings together after the death of their mother. The cast includes Amy Conachan, Robert Florence, Chloe Hodgson, Reuben Joseph, Harry Ward and Dylan Wood, with the creative team featuring set and costume designer Emily James, sound designer Pippa Murphy, lighting designer Lizzie Powell, cultural consultant Kerry Michael, assistant director Niloo-Far Khan.

The show will open at the SEC Armadillo in Glasgow before visiting King’s Theatre, Edinburgh and Eden Court, Inverness, with previews at Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock.

LONG RUNNING SHOWS  

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Music by Dan Gillespie Sells, Book & Lyrics by Tom McRae

First opened November 2017  

Expected reopening – 20 May 2021 at the Apollo Theatre

The musical is inspired by the 2011 television documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16 directed by Jenny Popplewell. The musical follows a 16-year-old teenager as he overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies and steps out of the darkness to become a drag queen. 

Everyone’s Talking About Jamie – National Tour – Being rescheduled due to Covid

Six – By Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss

First opened at The Arts Theatre – July 2018

Expected reopening – May 21 2021 at the Lyric Theatre and from 24 August 2021 at The Arts Theatre

From Tudor Queens to Pop Princesses, the six wives of Henry VIII take to the mic to tell their tales, remixing five hundred years of historical heartbreak into a 75-minute celebration of 21st century girl power. These Queens may have green sleeves but their lipstick is rebellious red. 

Six – National Tour – Being rescheduled due to Covid

Matilda – Book by Dennis Kelly, Music & Lyrics by Tim Minchin, Authored by Roald Dahl

First opened – November 2011 

Expected reopening – September 2021  

Matilda The Musical is the multi-award winning musical from the Royal Shakespeare Company, inspired by the beloved book by the incomparable Roald Dahl. With book by Dennis Kelly and original songs by Tim Minchin, Matilda The Musical tells the tale of an extraordinary girl who is determined to change her own story, even if it means being a little bit naughty… 

Winner of over 85 international awards, including 16 for Best Musical, Matilda The Musical continues to delight audiences in London. Matilda began its first UK & Ireland Tour in March 2018.  

School of Rock – by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Tour due to start mid 2021

Based on the hit film, this hilarious new musical follows Dewey Finn, a failed, wannabe rock star who decides to earn a few extra bucks by posing as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school. There he turns a class of straight-A students into a guitar-shredding, bass-slapping, mind-blowing rock band.

Cinderella – by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Emerald Fennell, David Zippel

Previews begin 25 June 2021, with opening scheduled for 14 July 2021 at the Gillian Lynne Theatre

Welcome to Belleville! The most aggressively picturesque town in the history of the world, populated exclusively with gorgeous townsfolk who stop at nothing to achieve perfection. Maintaining this façade is a full time job, and one that is taken very seriously indeed.

The only person steadfastly refusing to live in the fairy tale is Cinderella, loud-mouthed, dripping with disdain, and more likely to roast Hansel and Gretel for dinner than play the demure and downtrodden maid, Cinderella is desperate to escape. But underneath it all, the loneliness that comes with being the town pariah is wearing on her.