Aliya Al-Hassan

Marking the start of Drew McOnie’s inaugural season, the award-winning corny musical Shucked has now opened at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. In a small town where the cherished corn crop is fading, Shucked follows farmgirl Maizy as she seeks help by going to the big city, shaking up the town's routine and igniting a spark of change. 

Grange Park Opera has opened its new season with a crowd-pleaser. Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly remains problematic, with its story of a Japanese teenage geisha, impregnated and cruelly abandoned by an American lieutenant. However, it is still wildly popular, mainly due to its ravishing score.

Even ardent opera fans may struggle to recall the story or the score for Mazeppa. Based on a poem by Pushkin, Tchaikovsky's opera has been unjustly overshadowed by his Eugene Onegin. Last staged at the London Coliseum in 1984, Grange Park Opera have landed a coup by engaging the English National Opera orchestra to play for David Pountney’s excellent new production.

Now on its third revival, Rodula Gaitanou's heart-stopping version of Verdi's tragic La Traviata is as affecting as ever. Opening with courtesan Violetta gasping for air, it never lets up its hold on the senses.

Burlesque the Musical has finally arrived in London. Loosely based on the 2010 film starring Cher and Christina Aguilera, Burlesque moves from LA to New York, as small-town girl Ali comes to the big city to search for her birth mother. On the way she starts working in a burlesque club as a waitress, only to become (spoiler alert) the main act. So far, so predictable.

Rosamund Pike (Saltburn) makes her National Theatre debut as Jessica. Writer Suzie Miller and director Justin Martin reunite following their global phenomenon Prima Facie with this searing examination of modern masculinity and motherhood.

Last seen in London over 35 years ago, Drew McOnie's inaugural season as Artistic Director of Regent's Park Open Air Theatre ends with him directing and choreographing a new production of Lerner & Loewe’s Scottish fantasy musical Brigadoon.

It's 20 years since Anoushka Shankar made her Proms debut, along with her father Ravi Shakar. Since then she has eclipsed even his enduring reputation as a world-renowned sitarist. Now a multi-Grammy-nominated artist, a sitar virtuoso and prolific composer, Shankar makes a triumphant return to the Royal Albert Hall for her fifth Prom: the world-premiere performance of her deeply personal ‘Chapters’ trilogy of albums.

At The Proms over the weekend, conductor Nicholas Collon and his remarkable Aurora Orchestra collaborated with contemporary theatre company Frantic Assembly to explore the dual meanings and hypocrisies surrounding this seminal piece of music. The result is an inspired and genuinely innovative way of delving into the heart of the piece to educate the audience without ever dipping into condescension.

It’s over 40 years since English National Opera staged Rossini's Cinderella (La Cenerentola) and they open their 2025-26 season with a vibrant new production of the sparkling comedy. After the rocky time the company has had in recent times, it is great to see them having such fun on stage.