Did you hear the gossip? The multi-talented Peter Polycarpou – well-known for his stage, film and TV performances – has been cast in the role of Don Quixote’s squire, Sancho Panza, alongside Kelsey Grammer’s Don Quixote in the first West End production of Man of the Mancha for 50 years, running at the London Coliseum from 26 April to 8 June 2019. Could that be double trouble?

It’s shaping into quite a cast and we still have several months to wait before the opening! Joining Zizi Strallen’s Mary and Charlie Stemp’s Bert will be Joseph Millson, as Mr George Banks, and the music and stage legend that is Petula Clark, as the Bird Woman (and rumour is Petula’s role may be extended in this staging). Mary Poppins returns home to the West End’s Prince Edward Theatre from 23 October 2019 to 29 March 2020 so get ready.

Is there a pattern emerging? First Michael Ball returns to Les Misérables to play Javert, now Jason Donovan will return to the London Palladium in the new production of Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to star as the Pharaoh, 28 years after he triumphed in the title role at the same theatre. No loincloth this time though!

The dedicated fans of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie have nothing to worry about as the show’s producers have announced that the London run has been extended to Jan 2020. Not only that, but Layton Williams is enjoying playing Jamie New so much that he has pledged to lead the cast – & wear those heels! – right through that time and help celebrate the show’s second West End birthday in November 2019.

After much-anticipation actors Sheila Atim and Giles Terera announced the nominations for the Olivier Awards 2019 today and it wasn’t long before the celebrations began for two West End musicals in particular. The acclaimed gender-bending revival of Sondheim’s Company and powerful Canadian show Come From Away are recognised in nine categories each. The King and I and the Queens of Six The Musical are close behind with six and five nominations respectively. Who do you think will come out top on the night?

Sheridan Smith has busy winning acclaim for her television work, but the Olivier Award-winning actress’ performances onstage have always been popular too (not least in the musicals Legally Blonde and Funny Girl). This summer she returns to the West End to play The Narrator in the brand new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium. Now we just have to find out who her Joseph will be?

Who's who in the much-anticipated London debut of the Gershwins' and George S Kaufman's 1927 musical STRIKE UP THE BAND? Catch up on casting, sneak-peek rehearsal shots and our new competition for the show, running 6 to 31 March 2019 at Upstairs at the Gatehouse.

The matches have been made and the performers chosen to join Andy Nyman and Judy Kuhn in the West End transfer of Menier Chocolate Factory’s Fiddler on the Roof, directed by Trevor Nunn and playing at a reconfigured Playhouse Theatre from 21 March until 15 June 2019.

First it was exciting that London audiences were going to finally get a chance to see a full staging of Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza, starring Renée Fleming and Dove Cameron, no less. Now the anticipation has intensified with the news that Rob Houchen, Celinde Schoenmaker, Liam Tamne, Malcolm Sinclair and Olivier-nominated international soprano Marie McLaughlin have also been cast in the production which runs for just 20 performances from 14 June to 5 July 2019.

Perhaps best known to UK theatre-goers for her roles in The Grinning Man and La Strada, French-Canadian actress Audrey Brisson has been cast as the iconic Amélie Poulain in the musical stage adaptation of Amélie The Musical, beginning a UK tour in April 2019 at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury. Are you feeling romantic?

They are big shoes to fill but we have the feeling that Nkeki Obi-Melekwe is going to make her mark in her West End debut as Tina in the record-breaking run of Tina – The Tina Turner Musical at the Aldwych Theatre. She joins the company on 15 April 2019, as does the new Ike Turner, Ashley Zhangazha. And as for original West End Tina Adrienne Warren, she is preparing to head off to NYC to lead the Broadway production in autumn 2019.

There’s something old and something new when it comes to the musicals lined up for Chichester Festival Theatre’s Festival 2019 and just look at the casting. There’s the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic Oklahoma! starring Josie Lawrence as Aunt Eller alongside Hyoie O’Grady and Amara Okereke (Les Misérables) as Curly and Laurey. Plus Tim Firth’s first original solo musical This Is My Family features the talents of James Nesbitt, Sheila Hancock and Clare Burt. Bring on the summer…

It’s going to be a Shakespeare-style tale with a twist featuring Max Martin tunes and there are now a stream of West End stars lining up alongside Miriam-Teak Lee (in the title role) for new musical & Juliet, including Cassidy Janson, Oliver Tompsett, Arun Blair-Mangat Melanie La Barrie, Jordan Luke Gage and Tim Mahendran. But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks…?

In the same week that queues of hopefuls lined up for the Dear Evan Hansen open auditions, dates have been confirmed for the Tony Award-winning Broadway show’s West End transfer, with previews at the Noël Coward Theatre set to begin on 29 October 2019 followed by an opening night on 19 November. Now it’s all about what the casting will be!

We knew the West End production of Les Misérables was moving to the Gielgud Theatre while the Queen’s was being refurbished but we couldn’t have predicted that the venue would be hosting the concert version of the ever-popualr musical and that the cast would feature Michael Ball (Javert), Alfie Boe (Jean Valjean), Carrie Hope Fletcher (Fantine) and Matt Lucas (Thénardier). Could it be one of the biggest musical theatre events of 2019? It just might be…

While some commentators might have guessed that Six the Musical would be a big winner at the Offies 2019 Awards presented by Off West End, it was The Rink at Southwark Playhouse that ended the evening with a count of five gongs, including a double whammy win for actresses Gemma Sutton and Caroline O’Connor. How did your favourite do?

Hey big spender, have you seen that Josie Rourke is going to sign off as the Donmar Warehouse’s artistic director with a revival of Sweet Charity and Anne-Marie Duff is going to play the lead opposite Ratty Burvil as Oscar? Well, it’s really happening from 6 April to 8 June 2019. Are you ready for the rhythm of life?

It’s a family affair for Laura Pitt-Pulford as she takes on the role of Sheryl, the matriarch of the eccentric Hoover family, in Little Miss Sunshine, running at the Arcola Theatre from 21 March to 11 May 2019 before heading off on a UK tour. Among the other Hoovers she will be attempting to keep in check will be Gary Wilmot, Gabriel Vick, Paul Keating and Sev Keoshgerian. Happy travels…

There will be high expectations for the RSC’s world premiere musical production of The Boy in the Dress, adapted from David Walliams’ first children’s novel. But if anyone can pull it off, Mark Ravenhill, Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers surely have a pretty good chance. Will it be the next Matilda? Time will tell…

What would have happened if Shakespeare’s Juliet had chosen her own fate? Audiences might be able to find out when new musical & Juliet – featuring the hits of songwriter Max Martin and starring acclaimed actress Miriam-Teak Lee – plays briefly at Manchester Opera House from 10 September to 12 October 2019 before transferring to the West End’s Shaftesbury Theatre on 2 November.