These shows are the finest on stage, both the best-rated productions we have already seen and those to which we are most looking forward

Gripping: Arthur Boan (Chief Bromden) and Aaron Pierre (Randle P McMurphy) in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at The Old Vic

Credit : Manuel Harlan

Dominic Cavendish

Chief Theatre Critic

Dominic Cavendish has been writing about theatre and comedy since the mid-1990s and became the Telegraph's lead theatre critic in 2014. He is the founding editor of the leading audio resource theatrevoice.com, now run by the V&A. In 2008, he adapted and produced the first UK stage adaptation of George Orwell’s Coming Up for Air.

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Published 17 April 2026 6:01pm BST

An all-singing, all-dancing Paddington Bear continues to dazzle the West End in an irresistible family-friendly musical of his own, while Hugh Bonneville casts a spell as CS Lewis in Shadowlands. Plus, the year promises some thrilling new theatrical prospects, including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?…