The Hottest Tickets to Book at Newcastle Theatre Royal
Acting royalty, show-stopping West End musicals, astonishing dance and breath-taking opera, there are treats for all the family in Newcastle Theatre Royal's jaw-dropping new season…
Sir Ian McKellen is set to make a triumphant return to Grey Street – once heralded as his favourite theatre – this summer in Player Kings with a run of four stunning performances (Wednesday 24th–Saturday 27th July 2024) to round off its limited UK tour. Bringing together Shakespeare’s two great history plays (Henry IV, parts one and two) into the theatrical event of the season, Sir Ian McKellen stars as the infamous John Falstaff alongside Toheeb Jimoh and Richard Coyle.
The greatest love story ever told is back in Northern Ballet’s electrifying production of Romeo and Juliet (Wednesday 23rd–Saturday 26th October 2024), with glorious dancers, eye-catching sets and Prokofiev’s timeless music, this is ballet at its most dramatic, romantic and intense.
Classic musical set amidst the razzle-dazzle decadence of the 1920s, with iconic choreography by Bob Fosse, Chicago (Monday 28th October–Saturday 2nd November 2024) returns to Newcastle Theatre Royal to entice audiences with the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her. By hiring Chicago’s slickest criminal lawyer to transform her malicious crime into a barrage of sensational headlines, she dupes the public, the media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly.
Opera North will visit Newcastle with their magnificent 2024/25 season, featuring A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Wednesday 6th November 2024), alongside Ruddigore (Thursday 7th November 2024), one of the great Gilbert & Sullivan stagings, and in spring, a new production of Wagner's astounding opera The Flying Dutchman (Saturday 8th March 2025).
Audiences can also experience Mozart's miraculous music in Opera North’s production of The Magic Flute (Friday 8th–Saturday 9th November 2024 and Thursday 6th–Friday 7th March 2025), as well as the shorter The Magic Flute Lite (Thursday 6th March 2025) – a whole opera in just 90 minutes!
Following a sell-out tour of the best-selling crime novel of all time, And Then There Were None, which visited in 2023, Murder on the Orient Express is another adaptation of an Agatha Christie classic which promises to keep Newcastle audiences guessing (Tuesday 14th–Saturday 18th January 2025).
Richard O’Brien’s legendary rock ‘n’ roll musical, The Rocky Horror Show (Monday 27th January–Saturday 1st February 2025), is ready to thrill audiences with fun and naughty moments. Filled with frolics, frocks, and frivolity, The Rocky Horror Show features timeless classics, including Sweet Transvestite, Damn it Janet, and of course, the pelvic thrusting, show stopping Time Warp.
Bringing light and joy to winter, Scottish Ballet will be returning with their production of The Nutcracker (Thursday 6th–Saturday 8th February 2025), featuring costumes plucked from the most gorgeous chocolate box; Tchaikovsky’s score to transport audiences to a land of dreams; and a story lifted straight from the pages of a classic fairy tale.
Guaranteed to delight audiences of all ages, West End smash-hit production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe comes to Newcastle Theatre Royal (Tuesday 25th February–Saturday 1st March 2025) and from the multi-award winning writer Malorie Blackman OBE (author of Noughts and Crosses), Pig Heart Boy (Tuesday 29th April–Saturday 3rd May 2025), tells the story of 13-year-old Cameron who desperately needs a heart transplant.
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, an audacious, rule-breaking reinvention of Tchaikovsky's masterpiece best known for replacing the female corps-de-ballet with a menacing male ensemble, takes flight once more in a major new revival landing in Newcastle for two weeks (Tuesday 25th March–Saturday 5th April 2025). Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake is the most successful dance theatre production of all time, and in its 30th anniversary year, continues to be a genre-defining event, creating new audiences and inspiring generations of young dancers.
Perfect for Strictly Come Dancing fans, Johannes Radebe stars as Lola, a drag queen whose sparkle and unsteady heels might just hold the answer to saving a struggling business, when Kinky Boots The Musical struts back into Newcastle (Tuesday 6th–Saturday 10th May 2025). After inheriting his family’s failing shoe factory and with a relationship on the rocks, life is proving to be very challenging for Charlie Price. That is until he meets Lola…
In summer 2025, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Tuesday 10th–Sunday 15th June 2025) featuring much loved pop and musical theatre classics, including Any Dream Will Do, Close Every Door and Go, Go, Go Joseph, promises to be a treat for all the family.
And finally, set to the pulse-pounding soundtrack of her iconic hits, including The Best, What's Love Got To Do With It?, Private Dancer and River Deep, Mountain High, discover the heart and soul behind the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll when West End mega-hit TINA – The Tina Turner Musical (Tuesday 3rd–Saturday 14th March), comes to Newcastle Theatre Royal in 2026, as part of its first ever UK tour. From humble beginnings in Nutbush, Tennessee, to her triumphant transformation into a multi-award winning global superstar, Tina Turner didn’t just break the rules, she rewrote them.
