2024 Review: The Year In Theatre

Written by Daz Gale

It’s the end of 2024… finally. Whether it has been a good year or not so good for you personally (I shall remain silent on the matter myself but let’s just say I’m ready for 2025), there has been no shortage of drama in the world of theatre both on and off the stage.

So let’s take a look back at the last twelve months in the world of all things theatre for all the highs and lows that was 2024:

THE PLAY’S THE THING

I love all kinds of theatre, but musical theatre has always had the biggest place in my heart. It is my biggest passion and why I started this website nearly five years ago. So imagine my surprise when I quickly noticed this year that plays were having a higher success rate than musicals… for me personally, at least. The overall quality of them seemed to be consistently higher than musicals this year, with less misfires than we were seeing on the other side. (I’ll be talking about some of those musicals in a little bit)

In terms of five star reviews I dished out this year, plays seemed to be getting more of them from the early days of January and my end of year chart was far tougher to organise when it came to my top 20 plays of the year as opposed to my top 20 musicals. Inspired and creative new revivals of classics including The Picture Of Dorian Gray and The Importance Of Being Earnest brought something fresh and new to the material, while still retaining the essence and always exciting audiences. Meanwhile, new material immediately impressed including The Hills Of California and Till The Stars Come Down.

A shuffle of Artistic Directors may be responsible for the even more diverse and exciting programming with Royal Court’s new Artistic Director David Byrne enjoying a monster hit in his inaugural season with the sensational Giant, now transferring to the West End in 2025. Similarly, Tim Sheader’s debut season at the consistently impressive Donmar Warehouse kicked off with the phenomenal premiere of The Fear Of 13. Bush Theatre also continued to go from strength to strength, enjoying two West End transfers with Red Pitch and Shifters, winning another Olivier award for their trouble and continuing to premiere astonishing new plays in their theatre.

National Theatre continued to knock it out of the park this year with their productions in 2024, culminating in their three strongest shows (in my opinion, at least) of the year – each in their three spaces, the Oliver, Lyttlelton and Dorfman Theatres with Ballet Shoes, The Importance Of Being Earnest and my personal favourite A Tupperware Of Ashes. Their success wasn’t just contained to that building with West End transfers, returns and tours including the phenomenal People, Places & Things at the Trafalgar Theatre.

THE RISE AND FALL OF NEW MUSICALS

It was a messy and uneven year for new musicals. Some soared while others stumbled. Following in the footsteps of the unstoppable Operation Mincemeat (now on its 85th extension, I believe), The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and Kathy & Stella Solve A Murder both got much-deserved West End transfers, both at the Ambassadors Theatre. What all of these shows have in common is they didn’t run before they could walk and spent the time honing in their shows, forming the best possible version of these they could find at various smaller theatres such as Southwark Playhouse, while building up fanbases along the way. This gave them the best possible chance of success so that when the West End did come calling, not only were they ready, there was already an appetite there for them.

The same cannot be said for the ill-advised decisions to launch brand new musicals for one night only (usually two nights) concerts at the huge Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The equivalent of somebody who has released one single that got to the dizzying heights of number 182 in the charts playing two nights at the o2 arena, this large space accentuated the flaws of the material in shows that were not only nowhere near ready to play such large theatres (larger ones than they would likely get when they did get a run eventually) but were not ready to be seen by a paying audience, particularly for the prices they were charging. Workshops happen for a reason as do try-out runs so to boldly debut a brand new musical at a theatre that was still in desperate need of workshopping can actually do more damage to your show than anything else. The look of 2000 people leaving a theatre saying “That was a mess” and promptly telling others about will ensure they never give that show another chance if it does return, as not many audience members are willing to give second chances in that situation, and may well kill your project dead. Ambition is one thing but in several instances this year (the shows will remain nameless but if you were there, you know exactly what I’m referring to) delusion can be dangerous.

Finding the right theatre at the right time is of the utmost importance to the success of a show. The concert production of Your Lie In April at Theatre Royal Drury Lane escaped the problems several other new musicals faced this year and proved to be a personal standout for me. However, a rapid West End transfer to the Harold Pinter Theatre came almost immediately, perhaps before it was completely ready. Though it retained its charm and my love for it continued, it struggled to find a consistent audience and closed early – a real shame as this was a show that deserved to live out a full run.

There seemed to be an increasing trend in new musicals debuting in cities outside of London before their West End transfers, more so than I had seen before. As Broadway shows often do in places like Chicago, Manchester has been the go-to for new musicals in recent years with Bat Out Of Hell, &Juliet and Back To The Future all beginning their lives there ahead of lengthy West End runs. Though 42 Balloons opted for Manchester this year, we saw a lot more cities being used with The Devil Wears Prada choosing Plymouth, Steps musical Here & Now going for Birmingham and shows including Here You Come Again announcing UK tours with the words “prior to a West End run”. With so many beautiful theatres up and down the country (Birmingham Rep, Leicester Curve and the Hope Mill in Manchester to name but a few), it is a joy to see the future of theatre spread around as there are so many jewels. With Birmingham Hippodrome announcing a new musical theatre department, there is good reason to be excited about the future of theatre all over the UK.

I mentioned earlier that some musicals struggled to find their feet. Perhaps the most high profile of these was The Devil Wears Prada opening to lukewarm reviews though proving to be a crowd-pleaser regardless. Smaller shows struggled to find audiences too with Cake: The Marie Antoinette Playlist having to cut its run short. Though it had a good run in itself, the expectation for Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’ follow-up to Six made Why Am I So Single? at the Garrick Theatre a trickier sell. Proving to be a Marmite show, it found a solid audience but not quite enough to ensure a long-running hit and has announced it will sadly be closing its doors early in 2025. Of course, there was one mind-boggling new musical that many will remember 2024 for… as much as they try to forget, with Opening Night announcing its closing night shortly after.

There were, of course, some incredible new musicals this year too, with Babies finally getting a fully staged run at The Other Palace in a personal favourite I hope returns in 2025, while Live Aid musical Just For One Day already is returning, transferring to the West End just in time for the 40th anniversary. Leading the pack in a great year for jukebox musicals, Steps' soon to be touring Here & Now and Dolly Parton’s Here You Come Again alongside the transfer of Broadway smash MJ catered for audiences who love a familiar soundtrack to their shows.

SIZE DOESN’T MATTER

Get your mind out of the gutters – it’s not THAT kind of website. This year I counted more shows announcing limited runs than ever before.

Possibly inspired by Operation Mincemeat (who I believe have JUST announced their 86th extension), few shows were reluctant to announce open-ended runs, going on sale with end dates that I imagine were written in pencil. Overly cautious, an attempt to save face if something didn’t work or a marketing strategy, who can say? But it did seem that those shows that proudly announced they were here to stay were few and far between.

West End theatres especially proved to be a revolving door for shows announcing runs of 3 or 4 months at a time, sometimes even shorter. While these promised limited runs meant audiences had to act quick to see shows while they still could and led to quicker ticket sales, it did mean a West End that was constantly changing. Whether you see that as a good thing or a bad thing is a personal choice, but the days of shows sticking around for years at a time feels like something we are leaving in the past.

THE GREATEST STAR OF ALL?

Having big celebrities star in shows is hardly something new for 2024. It leads to the words “stunt casting” which itself is up for some debate as many of these performers have trained in theatre. Does this necessarily mean they are the best fit for the job, though?

Jamie Lloyd is no stranger to surprising casting choices after his runaway success with Nicole Scherzinger in Sunset Boulevard last year. He did this again with Marvel star Tom Holland returning to the West End after becoming a Hollywood megastar in Romeo & Juliet. It was one of the last productions to open this year that proved the most disappointing, however, with the announcement that the legendary Sigourney Weaver would be making her West End debut in Lloyd’s production of The Tempest. The production received a mixed response, though I personally loved many aspects of it. What the vast majority were in agreement on was how shocking Weaver was in the role. I still can’t put my finger on exactly why this was such a misfire in terms of casting, though it did allow for the other cast members to showcase their impressive abilities and prove that celebrity casting can sometimes detract from the show – though of course it is also a surefire way to sell tickets, so don’t expect to see that trend slowing down any time soon!

2024 was also the year when Doctor Who fans could play Doctor bingo as there were no less than five actors who have either formerly played the Doctor or currently play the role available to see in London. While current Doctor Ncuti Gatwa shone in The Importance Of Being Earnest and David Tennant continued to blow people away in Macbeth, Jodie Whittaker didn’t enjoy the same response for The Duchess (of Malfi).

COME FOR THE EXPERIENCE, STAY FOR THE JELLY BEAN

This year saw a growth in the number of experiences that opened up. Though not all were directly linked to theatre, a large number were theatre-adjacent, and I for one enjoyed spreading my wings and attending a number of them.

The most obvious of these is Come Alive – The Greatest Showman Circus Spectacular which opened at the Empress Museum in Earls Court. With a show at the heart of it, this proved to be much more than that in a great example of utilising the space to create an overall experience that extends beyond the show itself. Taskmaster The Experience did a similar launch in one of my personal favourite trips of the year, while 2025 will see the launch of The Traitors – I am 100% faithful I will be visiting that at some point!

Of course, there’s one experience we all remember from 2024 even though only a handful of people ever went to it. I’m of course talking about the AI generated Willy’s Chocolate Experience, taking place over one day in Glasgow in February and immediately going viral. You couldn’t move on social media without seeing the sight of the sad Oompa Loompa and horrific stories about receiving a single jelly bean. Obviously pop culture did its thing and it led to a musical debuting at Edinburgh Fringe and a one-night-only ridiculous event from Diana and Gwyneth Paltrow harbingers of chaos Awkward Productions. Who knows what 2025 will bring? My hope is a fully staged origin story of The Unknown at National Theatre.

THEATRE EXPLODED ON TO THE SCREEN

Not everyone can go to the theatre which is why it has always been so important for shows to be available to watch on screens around the world. While streaming theatre provided a lifeline for many of us during the dark days of lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, many of these platforms decreased their output or stopped entirely once theatres opened, but not all of them.

National Theatre have gone from strength to strength with their online streaming platform NT at Home, allowing many of their productions to be filmed and broadcast for anyone who wasn’t able to attend, wants to relive it or lives in another country altogether. Their output is always increasing with new exciting titles announced for next year. Similarly, new streaming platform The Theatre Channel launched with the aim to create content for theatre lovers worldwide with new and unique content always being uploaded there – look out for more from me on there next year too.

There is one other way theatre can exist outside of those four walls too and it involves a giant screen. There was one musical movie adaptation everybody was talking about this year, and I think you know what I’m referring to. But enough about Mean Girls – let’s talk about a good movie. Well, not so much good but… Wicked.

It had been teased for years and at times felt like the only way we would ever see it is if our ghosts haunted our great-grandchildren when it was finally released, but 2024 was the year Wicked finally burst through any limitations of theatre and flew into cinemas. Well… half of it did anyway. It’s fair to say it defied all expectations, not just blowing audiences away but reducing anyone who has ever loved the musical to tears. I came out of there an emotional wreck myself as it was everything I had ever wanted it to be and more. With collaborations with every merchandise brand conceivable, you couldn’t move to escape Wicked and deservedly so. Those who might be sick of it will have another year to try to avoid it with the release of Part 2 in 2025 as well as a possibility of dominating awards season.

PERFORMANCES ARE IMMORTAL, PERFORMERS ARE NOT

I wanted to end this by paying tribute to those incredible performers we lost in 2024. Among them are legendary actors Chita Rivera and Maggie Smith who blessed us with so many great roles on stage and screen over many a decade. One that affected many of us was the tragic passing of Gavin Creel, aged just 48. Having wowed audiences both in the West End and on Broadway over the years, his death rocked the community and is a tragedy that affected many greatly. While these performers are no longer here, their accomplishments and performances will go on for years to come, making their memory immortal.

So that’s 2024 in a nutshell. There is so much more I could talk about but by the time you finish reading it, it would be time for the 2025 year in review. There have been some great moments in theatre throughout the year but also some heavy losses. One thing is for sure - theatre is never boring. My hope for 2025 is that theatre can remember to remain accessible for all, and while it is important to ensure shows are profitable and people can get paid, pricing audience members out or making it for the select few is not where we should ever be. Theatre should be for everyone and I hope everybody continues to have the opportunity to attend next year.

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful 2024 and that 2025 is even better for you all. Let me know what your favourite theatre moments and memories from 2024 are on all my socials. You can find me on X, Instagram, TikTok, Threads and Facebook at @ATDazzles and BlueSky at @AllThatDazzles. Happy New Year everybody – see you in the theatre!