Dolly Parton musical and My Fair Lady revival lead Leeds Playhouse new season

Leeds Playhouse has revealed its 2024 spring and summer season including new Dolly Parton musical Here You Come Again and a revival of My Fair Lady.

The programme also features the world premiere of Paranormal Activity: A New Haunting Live on Stage plus a new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with theatre company Imitating the Dog.

Tickets are on sale now at leedsplayhouse.org.uk.

In partnership with the Playhouse, the new multimedia stage adaptation of Frankenstein has been created by Imitating the Dog’s co-artistic directors Pete Brooks, Andrew Quick and Simon Wainwright. It premieres from 15 to 24 February ahead of a UK tour.

The Playhouse will restage director Amy Leach and designer Hayley Grindle’s critically acclaimed Macbeth after it premiered in 2022, with a timetable of performances to enable as many schools as possible to see Shakespeare’s play in its Quarry theatre from 5 to 23 March.

Here You Come Again is billed as a “rollicking and joyous” new musical bringing together Dolly Parton’s biggest hits, running from 11 May to 8 June.  It tells the story of a die-hard fan whose fantasy version of international icon DollyParton gets him through trying times.

The musical, which has been a hit in the US, was originally written by two-time Emmy award-winning comedy and songwriter Bruce Vilanch with Gabriel Barre, who also directs, and Tricia Paoluccio, who plays Dolly. It has been adapted for the UK by British playwright Jonathan Harvey and presented as a co-production with Simon Friend Entertainment.

The Playhouse is joining forces with Opera North to revive Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s classic musical, My Fair Lady, in the Playhouse’s Quarry theatre from 31 May to 29 June. Directed by the theatre’s artistic director James Brining, it features members of the chorus and orchestra of Opera North with additional guest artists yet to be announced.

In July, the Playhouse will present the world premiere of Paranormal Activity: A New Haunting Live on Stage, written by Levi Holloway and directed by Felix Barrett, artistic director of theatre company Punchdrunk. In a co-production with Simon Friend Entertainment, it will haunt the Courtyard Theatre from 4 July to 3 August.

Touring productions coming to Leeds Playhouse include Blackeyed Theatre’s revival of Oh! What a Lovely War, marking the 60th anniversary of Joan Littlewood’s epic anti-war musical, which runs in the Courtyard theatre on 26 and 27 March.

The Time Machine - A Comedy, Original Theatre’s hilarious, fast-paced, wise-cracking retelling of the epic and world-famous novel by HG Wells, is in the Courtyard from 2 to 6 April.

The critically acclaimed Black Is The Color Of My Voice, written and performed by Apphia Campbell, comes to the Courtyard theatre on 24 and 25 April. Inspired by the life of Nina Simone, it features many of her most iconic songs performed live.

New work from a diverse range of exciting artists and companies will come to the Playhouse’s Bramall Rock Void studio space. They include It's A Motherf**king Pleasure, a smart, scathing satire on the monetisation of identity politics from award-winning disability-led theatre company, from 7 to 9 March.

Jenny Sealey, the acclaimed artistic director of disabled-led theatre company Graeae, will perform her blisteringly honest, reflective and often laugh-out-loud one-woman show, Self-raising, on 22 and 23 March.

Fat Chance by writer/performer Rachel Stockdale is a powerful and celebratory one-woman play about a 20-something actress exploring her true-life experience of weight gain, running in Bramall Rock Void on 5 and 6 April.

Other highlights of the season include renowned actor David Suchet talking about his life and career in Poirot and More, in the Courtyard theatre on 7 and 8 March.

Shows for children include Zog and the Flying Doctors by Freckle Productions and Rose Theatre in the Quarry from 15 to 17 February, Spot’s Birthday Party – Live Tour in the Courtyard on 5 and 6 March, and Stefan Gates: Rude Science in the Courtyard on 30 March.

New musical There's a Monster in Your Show, based on the bestselling Who’s in Your Book? series created by McFly musician Tom Fletcher, runs in the Courtyard from 9 to 12 April.