What makes the experts' lists of the shows most to look forward to in 2017?

What makes the experts’ lists of the shows most to look forward to in 2017?

What are the hottest shows coming up this year? Based on the ones that are most likely to appear on top picks’ lists in my round-up of commentators’ round-ups, they are:

  • Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s Trump-tweeted hit Hamilton;
  • Ivo van Hove‘s production of Obsession, starring Jude Law at the Barbican;
  • the New York transfer of The Glass Menagerie, directed by Harry Potter‘s John Tiffany;
  • the West End revival of Broadway musical classics 42nd Street and An American in Paris;
  • the National’s revival of Tony Kushner epic Angels in America, starring Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane and Denise Gough;
  • the premiere of Jez Butterworth‘s latest play The Ferryman at the Royal Court;
  • star-studded West End play revivals of two Edward Albee classics,  Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Imelda Staunton and Conleth Hill and The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? with Damian Lewis, as well as Patrick Marber’s Don Juan in Soho with David Tennant, and the Menier transfer of Tom Stoppard’s Travesties starring Tom Hollander.
  • at the Old Vic, the 50th anniversary revival of another Stoppard play, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead with Daniel Radcliffe and Joshua McGuire, and Woyzeck with Star Wars‘ John Boyega;
  • on the Shakespeare front, Hamlet starring Andrew Scott at the Almeida, Emma Rice‘s swansong Twelfth Night at the Globe and the Roman Tragedies (Julius Caesar, Antony & Cleopatra, Titus Andronicus) at the Barbican, also care of Ivo van Hove.

What else made the critics’ lists? I’ve summarised the production picks below, as well as some other predictions for 2017. And what’s on your list?

GUARDIAN: 10 shows to see in 2017
GUARDIAN: 10 shows to see in 2017
Michael Billington‘s picks include: Hamlet, The Hypocrite, Antony & Cleopatra, The Goat, Obsession, Angels in America, The Ferryman, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, Desire Under the Elms and Hamilton.
TELEGRAPH: 6 shows to see in 2017
TELEGRAPH: 6 shows to see in 2017
Dominic Cavendish‘s picks include: The Glass Menagerie, Hamlet, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Travesties (transfer), The Miser and Hamilton.
EVENING STANDARD: 20 shows to see in 2017
EVENING STANDARD: 20 shows to see in 2017
Jessie Thompson‘s picks include: Hamilton, Angels in America, The Ferryman, Woyzeck, Committee, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, City of Glass, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Goat, Touch, My Brilliant Friend, Touch, Richard III, Obsession, The Pitchfork Disney, An American in Paris, 42nd Street, Low Level Panic, Diary of a Teenage Girl and Speech & Debate. Bonus picks from Fiona Mountford: Don Juan in Soho and The Glass Menagerie.
EXPRESS: 11 shows to see in 2017
EXPRESS: 11 shows to see in 2017
Neil Norman‘s picks: Hamilton, The Addams Family, Bat Out of Hell, Carousel, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Obsession, Hamlet, Don Juan in Soho and the Roman Tragedies (Julius Caesar, Antony & Cleopatra, Titus Andronicus).
TIME OUT: 17 shows to see in 2017
TIME OUT: 17 shows to see in 2017
Andrzej Lukowski‘s picks include: Hamilton, Angels in America, The Glass Menagerie, Hamlet, The Ferryman, the Roman Tragedies, The Kids Stay in the Picture, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Goat, Twelfth Night, Woyzeck, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Obsession, Road, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, City of Glass and 887.
LONDONIST: 10 shows to see in 2017
LONDONIST: 10 shows to see in 2017
Zoe Craig‘s picks include: Hamilton, 42nd Street, An American in Paris, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Bat Out of Hell, The Girls, Don Juan in Soho, Obsession, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and Hamilton.
BRITISH THEATRE: 6 shows to see in 2017
BRITISH THEATRE: 6 shows to see in 2017
Douglas Mayo‘s top picks include: An American in Paris, 42nd Street, Stepping Out, The Wind in the Willows, The Girls and The Glass Menagerie.
BBC NEWS: 43 shows to see in 2017, month by month
BBC NEWS: 43 shows to see in 2017, month by month
Tim Masters‘ calendar of picks include: January – Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Glass Menagerie, The Girls, Sex with Strangers; February – Hamlet, Travesties, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Junkyard, Funny Girl tour, Pygmalion, My Brilliant Friend, The Wedding Singer, Skylight, Fiddler on the Roof; March – Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, The Miser, Don Juan in Soho, 42nd Street, Stepping Out, One Love: The Bob Marley Musical, Anthony & Cleopatra, Lost Without Words, An American in Paris, Sinner’s Club, The Grapes of Wrath; April – Carousel, The Ferryman; May – Angels in America, Woyzeck, Room, On the Town, Nell Gwynn; June – Bat Out of Hell, The Wind in the Willows, Salome, Submarine Time Machine; July – Mosquitoes, Girl from North Country, Gangsta Granny; August – Young Frankenstein, Hairspray; October – Nativity!, Hamilton.
MUSICAL THEATRE REVIEW: 67 musicals to see in 2017, month by month
MUSICAL THEATRE REVIEW: 67 musicals to see in 2017, month by month

You can’t get more comprehensive than this, here’s a preview of all the 2017 musical theatre openings we know about so far in the West End, on the London Fringe and across the UK:

January – The Girls, Promises, Promises, Death Takes a Holiday, Cautionary Tales for Daughters, January, Murder for Two, Thoroughly Modern Millie, La Cage aux Folles, Evita, Wonderland, Joseph & the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat; February – The Wild Party, The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, Lizzie, My Land’s Shore, Summer Nights in Space, The Sorrows of Satan, Bat Out of Hell, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, The Quite Remarkable Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat, Funny Girl, The Wedding Singer, La Strada; March – An American in Paris, The Life, The Frogs, I Capture the Castle, One Love: The Bob Marley Musical, Yank!, Junkyard, Grease, At Last – The Etta James Story, All Or Nothing, Tommy; April – 42nd Street, Carousel, Whisper House, Sleepless, The Addams Family, Footloose; May – On the Town, Room, tick tick BOOM!, Kiss Me, Kate; June – The Wind in the Willows, Working, Blues in the Night; July – The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee Takes Oral Evidence on Whitehall’s Relationship with Kids Company, Girls from North Country, Miss Saigon, Flashdance; August – Jesus Christ Superstar, From Page to Stage, Young Frankenstein, Top Hat, Our House, Hairspray, Crazy for You; September – Beautiful; October – The Stationmaster, Nativity!; November – Hamilton, Little Women.
THE STAGE: Reasons to be cheerful in 2017
THE STAGE: Reasons to be cheerful in 2017
Alistair Smith: This time last year, our front page read ” Local cuts are ‘main threat to theatre in 2016 ‘.” And so it has proved. This has been a grim year in many ways.
THE STAGE: 10 best theatre podcasts to listen to in 2017
THE STAGE: 10 best theatre podcasts to listen to in 2017
Thomas Hescott: The audience for podcasts is huge, and growing all the time (up 23% in 2016), with some of the most successful series reaching a bigger audience than many traditional radio broadcasts.
THE STAGE: Industry leaders' forecasts in 2017
THE STAGE: Industry leaders’ forecasts in 2017
From Stephanie Street, Tom Watson, Tanika Gupta, Matt Hancock, Alistair Spalding, Matthew Byam-Shaw, Nikolai Foster, John Kampfner, Jonathan Suffolk, Michael Grandage, Richard Lee, Edward Kemp, Paule Constable, Gerry Morrissey, Fiona Allan, Preeya Kalidas, Malcolm Sinclair, Darren Henley, Kully Thiarai and Mark Featherstone-Witty.
GUARDIAN: Rising stars of 2017
GUARDIAN: Rising stars of 2017
Holly Williams‘ picks for the up-and-coming artists to watch: actors Morfydd Clark and Tamara Lawrance, Sh!t Theatre’s Louise Mothersole and Rebecca Biscuit abd playwright Alexander Zeldin.
NATIONAL STUDENT: Top theatre tours in 2017
NATIONAL STUDENT: Top theatre tours in 2017
Amy Worthington‘s picks for the year’s best UK touring productions are: Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Funny Girl, The Play That Goes Wrong and Hairspray.
GUARDIAN: What to see on Broadway in 2017
GUARDIAN: What to see on Broadway in 2017
Alexis Soloski‘s picks for the best New York musicals are: Groundhog Day, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Anastasia, Come From Away, Bandstand, Miss Saigon, Hello Dolly!. Top plays are: Six Degrees of Separation, The Little Foxes, Present Laughter, The Glass Menagerie, The Present, Jitney, Indecent, Significant Other, Oslo. Top celebrities cast: Bette Midler, Allison Janney, Laura Linney, Cynthia Nixon, Kevin Kline, Cobie Smulders, Sally Field, John Turturro, Danny DeVito, Cate Blanchett.
PASTE: 5 reasons we need theatre more than ever in 2017
PASTE: 5 reasons we need theatre more than ever in 2017
Katie Kelaidis: If we are going to fight back after 2016, or at least not slip into existential despair, we need theatre because: Theatre is democratic; theatre is immediate; Flexibility is imperative; Public gatherings are necessary; Stories are powerful.
THE STAGE: 5 things I'd like to see in theatre in 2017
THE STAGE: 5 things I’d like to see in theatre in 2017
Natasha Tripney‘s resolutions: Stop the sexism; Diverse casting is not a fad; theatre’s class problem needs addressing; Stream it to me; Remember why it all matters:
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