March on the London Stage: Don't Wanna Be Clueless? Catch Up on the Latest Across the Pond

The days are getting longer, but London’s nightly attractions are as alluring as ever during March. The month ahead finds two productions from the leading English playwright of his generation, alongside the London debut of the latest musical adapted from a hit film and as starry a Chekhov revival as the capital has seen in many a year. To find out more about all these enticements, and an eagerly anticipated solo show as well, read on.

TAKING WING
Chekhov’s great play The Seagull tends to attract big names to the London stage: One thinks of the 2007 Ian Rickson-directed production with Kristin Scott Thomas, Carey Mulligan and Mackenzie Crook, which subsequently transferred to Broadway. And there are high hopes for the German director Thomas Ostermeier’s approach to the same play, which opens March 6 at the Barbican. The attention-grabbing ensemble is headed by Cate Blanchett, Tom Burke, Emma Corrin and Kodi Smit-McPhee (a 2022 Oscar nominee for The Power of the Dog).

“This is like a dream team,” company member Zachary Hart, who plays Medvedenko, said of his colleagues. “I don’t think there’s been a cast in 30 years, maybe ever, that has been this sort of shiny, and I don’t include myself in that.” The two-time Oscar-winning Blanchett “speaks for herself,” the engaging Hart said in an interview. “Cate walks into a room, and you can’t do anything but look at her; she has such a strong aura.” Whatever this revival’s future, Hart will be busy on the West End this summer in a separate title, as yet unannounced, that is itself no stranger to the trophy cabinet.

KNOCKOUT
James Graham is represented twice over this month with major sightings of his work. First up for the prolific author of stage, screen and TV is the London premiere of his play Punch, whose 2024 run at the Nottingham Playhouse in the English Midlands attracted New York interest. It’s now on view at the Young Vic, once again starring David Shields (Masters of the Air) as the real-life Jacob Dunne, on whose 2022 book Right from Wrong the play is based. “James’ output is amazing; I don’t know how he does it,” said an admiring Adam Penford, who runs Nottingham Playhouse and directed Punch there and in London. “James wouldn’t be able to do it if he didn’t have such an amazing brain. He’s so quick—he gets to the heart of something so quickly.” Opening night is March 6, and the limited run through April 26 looks unlikely to be this production’s last.

SOLO POWER
Francesca Moody has an unerring eye for the next big thing, as is clear from a producing resume that includes the stage iterations of Fleabag and Baby Reindeer, well before either title entered the celluloid zeitgeist. Attention is therefore sure to be paid to her latest venture, Weather Girl, opening March 11 at the Soho Theatre—and already sold out. Brian Watkins’ play was written for its Juilliard-trained solo performer, Julia McDermott, and tackles environmental concerns that have grown more urgent since the show’s acclaimed run last summer at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. “This feels like the most important play any of us are going to work on for a while,” the warmly responsive Moody said in an interview. Will the L.A.-born McDermott follow the career ascent forged by Moody’s Fleabag collaborator, and friend, Phoebe Waller-Bridge? “Julia’s an absolute star in the making, an unparalleled talent. She has that ability to switch between comedy and drama that is quite special to experience,” said Moody, before adding quickly, “I’m biased, obviously.”

THE CHER SHOW
Clueless The Musical was seen off-Broadway in 2018, with Dove Cameron inheriting the role of Cher Horowitz from Alicia Silverstone, who led the much-loved 1995 film. Here the stage version of Amy Heckerling’s Jane Austen-inspired movie is again—this time with the American performer Emma Flynn as Cher and an original score by the Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall; Heckerling has provided the book, and the lyrics are by three-time Tony nominee Glenn Slater. “The musical theater form lends itself brilliantly to a movie seen through one character’s lens,” the show’s director Rachel Kavanaugh said of the onstage viability of Cher’s narrative voice onscreen. Once again, the right leading lady helps. “Emma has the transparency of Alicia Silverstone,” added Kavanaugh, who segues immediately from this show to birthing another screen-to-stage musical, A Knight’s Tale, opening in Manchester in April. “There’s a direct openness to Emma which people have or they don’t. She thinks everyone is good and has good intentions.” We’ll sing to that come the March 13 opening at the Trafalgar Theatre.

TO SIR WITH LOVE
James Graham’s buoyant Dear England won the 2024 Olivier Award for best play and is back again, largely re-cast and also revised for its fresh National Theatre engagement, opening March 18 in the Olivier auditorium. Refracting the country in which it is set through the variable fortunes of its football team (that’s soccer for American readers), Rupert Goold’s production this time stars Gwilym Lee (TV’s SAS: Rogue Heroes) as Gareth Southgate, the hugely likeable former manager of the English football team—Joseph Fiennes’ part first time out. “You’re not there to fill shoes but to make shoes of your own,” Lee said in an interview of the task at hand, pleased to note that the real-life Southgate achieved one of Britain’s highest honors between the play's 2023 premiere and now. “This is the second time I’ve played someone who went on to be knighted,” said Lee, who played Queen guitarist Brian May—now Sir Brian May—on screen opposite Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody. “I’d like to think I have something of the Midas touch.”