1. Dame Imelda Staunton in Hello Dolly! at the Palladium

Staunton won our Best Theatre Actress monsta for Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? at the Harold Pinter Theatre in 2017 and here stars at the London Palladium in the titular role in this classic 1964 musical about a matchmaker who travels to New York. The starry cast includes Jenna Russell (STEVE, Seven Dials Playhouse), Tyrone Huntley (The View UpStairs, Soho Theatre) and Harry Hepple (Boy Meets Girl Q&A, BFI). Runs 6 July through 14 September 2024. Tickets

• Read on for reasons including Suede and Manic St Preachers at Ally Pally, Cherry Jones at the National & Madness on Blackheath

2. Suede and Manic Street Preachers at Ally Pally

We last saw Suede at Kingston nightclub in PRYZM in 2022 and here they play a sold-out gig at Alexandra Palace Park in London as 1 of 10 across the UK where they co-headline with Manic Street Preachers. A Humdrum Mum reviewed the Manics at Victorious Festival, Southsea in 2021. Tickets

3. Grapes Of Wrath starring Cherry Jones

We last saw Jones in The Glass Menagerie at the Harold Pinter Theatre in 2017 and here she stars in Carrie Cracknell’s (The Deep Blue Sea, National Theatre) take on John Steinbeck’s classic tale of the Joad family forced to flee West in the hope of finding work and a new life. Runs at the Lyttelton Theatre 17 July through 14 September 2024. Tickets

4. Lost Boys and Fairies and Baby Reindeer

Lost Boys and Fairies is available on BBC iPlayer to watch in its entirety after airing in May. Starring Sion Daniel Young (On Bear Ridge, Royal Court Theatre) and Fra Fee (Cabaret, Kit Kat Club) as a gay couple hoping to adopt, it has a brilliant soundtrack, a great turn as a sympathetic social worker by Elizabeth Berrington but is also extraordinarily well written by Daf James. Best thing on TV this year we think just beating Netflix’s inspired and controversial Baby Reindeer.

5. The Baker’s Wife starring Lucie Jones & Clive Rowe at the Menier

We can’t wait for this opportunity to see 2 of our favourite musical theatre stars – Jones (Wicked, Apollo Victoria Theatre) and Rowe (Blues In The Night, Kiln Theatre) – in this intimate venue for a story of a baker and his younger wife’s arrival in a provincial French village. Excellent support includes Joaquin Pedro Valdes (Pacific Overtures, Menier). Runs 6 July through 14 September 2024. Tickets

6. Madness on Blackheath

A Humdrum Mum reviewed Madness at Victorious Festival for us in 2021 and here they play their only London gig of the year almost literally on our doorstep at Blackheath with support from acts including Lightning Seeds (ONBlackheath) at a relatively new festival called Uptown on Sunday 28 July 2024. Tickets

7. The Hot Wing King at the National

Kadiff Kirwan (Queers, Old Vic and TV’s Slow Horses) and Olisa Odele (Channel 4’s Big Boys) star in Katori Hall’s story of the annual Hot Wing Festival in Memphis as Cordell, his partner Dwayne and friends Isom and Big Charles team up again as the New Wing Order, with a new attitude and a mouth-watering new wing recipe. Runs at the National’s Dorfman Theatre 11 July through 14 September 2024. Tickets

8. Rufus Wainwright in Barcelona

We’ve seen Wainwright live a few times across the years including in 2013 at Barcelona’s Cruilla Festival as well as at House of Rufus shows with his father and a Rufus Does Judy special at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 2011. This summer he plays a European and Japanese tour and we catch him outdoors once more in Barcelona. Tickets

9. Debut Griff album

Crowned Rising Star at the 2021 Brit Awards, Sarah Faith Griffiths gives us a long overdue debut album more than 2 years after we saw her support Dua Lipa at The 02. Album Vertigo is released 19 July and Griff tours Australia, New Zealand and the US before Europe including an Ally Pally gig in November. Tickets

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Hello Dolly! and London Palladium Tickets
• Have you seen an Imelda Staunton show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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