Talk about a date to mark in your new year diary! KINKY BOOTS is strutting back into our hearts in just over a month, with its original West End stars, Olivier Awards winner Matt Henry and Olivier Awards nominee Killian Donnelly, reprising their roles on the big screen as More2Screen broadcasts the multi-award-winning musical to 650+ cinemas on 4 and 9 February 2020.

What a Christmas present for Olivier Award winners Giles Terera (well known to musical theatre fans for playing Aaron Burr in the original West End production of Hamilton) and director and choreographer Stephen Mear (Mary Poppins, White Christmas, Hello, Dolly!, Gypsy) who have received a MBE and CBE respectively in the New Year Honours List. Not to forget The Lion King and Billy Elliot composer (and general superstar) Elton John who becomes a Companion of Honour.

What a trouper Matt Lucas is. Having heard that Gerard Carey, originally playing Thénardier in Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre, had been taken ill, he rescheduled his Christmas plans and stepped into the breach. Lucas will be Master of the House for six weeks from 23 December 2019 with Carey expected to return on 3 February 2020.

Here’s a must-see for musical theatre fans: the London premiere of a new version of Stephen Schwartz’s RAGS The Musical, originally premiered on Broadway in 1986, with an all-star cast led by Dave Willetts, Sam Attwater and Carolyn Maitland. Join Faves founder Terri Paddock on Thursday 16 January 2020 to talk to the company.

There will be a new Queen in town when Sophie Isaacs is crowned the next Katherine Howard in the West End production of Six The Musical at the Arts Theatre from 21 January 2020.

Fresh from its success at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre, Joseph Stein, Stephen Schwartz and Charles Strouse’s heart-warming and powerful show RAGS The Musical will transfer to London’s Park Theatre from 9 January to 8 February 2020, with Carolyn Maitland, Dave Willetts and Sam Attwater leading the cast as Rebecca, Avram and Bronfman respectively.

We want the fairy tale when Pretty Woman: The Musical opens for a 46-week season on 13 February 2020 and we now know that it will be Aimie Atkinson as Vivian and Danny Mac as Edward who will be bringing it to London’s Piccadilly Theatre.

The players are in place for the cult show Be More Chill, fresh from Broadway and now in transit to London’s The Other Palace for the UK premiere from 12 February to 3 May 2020. Scott Folan and Blake Patrick Anderson take the lead roles of Jeremy Heere and Michael Mell, while Renee Lamb and Millie O’Connell (formerly known as Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn in Six The Musical) also join the line-up.

The popularity of Disney’s Frozen goes from strength to strength, with the recent movie release of Frozen 2, and now a few more on sale details about the arrival of Frozen the Musical to the newly refurbished Theatre Royal Drury Lane in October 2020. The cold never bothered us anyway…

So nice to see Imelda Staunton back where she belongs, on the London stage, and this time she’s playing one of the most iconic musical theatre roles ever written, Dolly Levi, in a new West End production of Hello, Dolly! opening at the Adelphi Theatre in August 2020. The staging, also starring Jenna Russell as Irene Molloy, will see Imelda reunited with Dominic Cooke who directed the recent critically-acclaimed revival of Follies at the National Theatre.

How many pies can you fit in before next summer? Following a final extension, WAITRESS has posted closing notices at the West End's Adelphi Theatre for 4 July 2020. Sweeter news? An extensive tour and London return is planned.