The best theatre to see in November 2022
From the From Here to Eternity revival to queer monologue Declan, Simon Button rounds up this month’s must-sees.
By Simon Button
From Here to Eternity
Originally playing the West End in 2013, with Darius Campbell in the lead, the musical about the run-up to the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941 gets its first UK revival in a scaled-down production at the cosy Charing Cross Theatre. Leading the mostly youthful cast this time is Jonny Ames (Hairspray) with music by Stuart Brayson, lyrics by Tim Rice, and a book by Bill Oakes.
Playing at the Charing Cross Theatre until 17 December. Get tickets here.
¡SHOWMANISM!
Actor, performer, and drag fabulist Dickie Beau puts on a ‘transubstantial pageant’ as he channels the likes of Ian McKellen and Fiona Shaw alongside lecturers, journalists, and many more people from the performance world.
The man hailed by The Guardian as “theatre’s master of lip-sync” will be taking audiences on a journey through the history of showing off from politics to puppetry and Greek Theatre to drag.
Playing at the Theatre Royal Bath from 11 November to 10 December. Get tickets here.
Elf
Simon Lipkin plays the part made famous on screen by Will Ferrell as Buddy, a child raised as an elf at the North Pole who when he grows up (sort of) journeys to New York in search of his real father Walter (Tom Chambers). Expect songs, special effects, a bit of risqué humour, and lots of snow in this festive frolic.
Playing at the Dominion Theatre from 14 November to 7 January. Tickets here.
Top Hat
The multi-talented Jonny Labey, who was Paul Coker in EastEnders and headlined Strictly Ballroom in the West End, dons his top hat and tails for the stage version of the classic Fred Astaire musical. This most uplifting of all-singing, all-dancing extravaganzas features such hummable Irving Berlin tunes as ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’, ‘Cheek to Cheek’, and ‘Isn’t This a Lovely Day’.
Playing at The Mill at Sonning, Reading, from 16 November to 30 December. Tickets here.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The eye-poppingly colourful stage adaptation of the Roald Dahl book, which also inspired films starring Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp, sets up shop at Leeds Playhouse for the festive season ahead of a 2023 tour.
With songs by the dream team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman as well as numbers from the Wilder film, it’s a feast to gorge yourself on.
Playing at Leeds Playhouse 18 November 18 to 28 January then touring from 9 February. Get Leeds tickets here and tour tickets here.
Saving Grace
KT Tunstall has written the tunes for a musicalisation of the 2000 Brenda Blethyn-starring comedy about a Cornish housewife who ends up growing cannabis to stave off bankruptcy after the sudden death of her husband.
Catch it while you can, though: It’s only playing 12 performances before disappearing in a puff of smoke (though rumours are already circling about a West End transfer).
Playing at Riverside Studios from 22 November to 4 December. Get tickets here.
Declan
Enjoying a digital run during lockdown and highly rated by The Guardian on its ‘Best Online Theatre’ list, Alistair Hall’s one-man play has been reimagined for the live stage for a short run at Camden People’s Theatre.
An imagined queer monologue, it is inspired by Hall’s own coming-of-age in a small town in 90s Wiltshire and marks his post-RADA debut as both a writer and performer.
Playing at Camden People’s Theatre from 29 November to 3 December. Tickets here.