London Theatre Weekly Round-up: Watch Hairspray Live! for free, get ready for BBC Proms 2020 and book your tickets for London’s new Drive In movie theatre!

The Drive In will open 4 July 2020. A new drive in movie theatre is set to open in North London this summer. Offering socially distanced entertainment, the theatre will screen movies including La La Land, The Terminator, Dirty Dancing and more. Stand up comedy and live concerts are also in the works. Get all the details here.

Hairspray Live! will air for free via The Shows Must Go On. The YouTube channel will present the Hairspray Live! production from 2016 starring Maddie Baillio, Kristin Chenoweth, Harvey Fierstein, Ariana Grande, Derek Hough, Jennifer Hudson and Martin Short. Directed by Kenny Leon, Hairspray is available to watch for free for 48 hours from 7 pm today (Friday). Watch it here.

The 2020 season of BBC Proms will feature eight weeks of television, radio and online broadcasts. For the first night, a virtual orchestra will mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. Special live performances will occur later in the season, with a grand finale on 12 September. The 2020 season opens 17 July on BBC Radio 3 and 19 July on BBC Four. Tapping into BBC archive footage as well as live performances from the Royal Albert Hall, the 2020 Proms will celebrate the past, reflect on the present and build for the future. You can find more info here.

The Jamie Lloyd Company postpones The Seagull and A Doll’s House. The Seagull starring Emilia Clarke, and A Doll’s House starring Jessica Chastain will both open as soon as possible after the theatre shutdown ends, with full casts and dates to be announced.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will return in 2021. The production has been rescheduled to begin 1 July 2021. Joseph will still run at the London Palladium, with stars Jason Donovan and Jac Yarrow returning from last year. Current ticket holders will be contacted.

Hello, Dolly! starring Imelda Staunton has been postponed to 2022. The show was originally set to open at the Adelphi Theatre this summer. The longer delay comes because Imelda Staunton is committed to shoot the fifth season of The Crown in 2021. Ticket holders will be contacted and offered a refund.

The Old Vic will stream Lungs starring Claire Foy and Matt Smith. Following a run of socially distanced performances of Duncan MacMillan’s Lungs, the Old Vic will produce a series of rehearsed play-readings, all streamed live from the Old Vic stage. Find more info here.

Claire Foy and Matt Smith in Lungs

James Graham’s This House is available for streaming on National Theatre at Home. The National Theatre production is available from now until 7 pm BST 4 June. Watch it here.

The Royal Shakespeare Company will broadcast Romeo and Juliet on BBC Four. As part of the Culture in Quarantine project, the production from 2019 will stream at 9 pm BST on 7 June.

David Tennant and Michael Sheen star in new BBC comedy series Staged. The show will be a six-part series filmed remotely, about the cast of a West End play suddenly furloughed. The cast will also star Georgia Tennant, Lucy Eaton and Anna Lundberg, with guest stars to include Nina Sosanya and others. Staged premieres next month on BBC One, with exact dates to be announced.

The London Cast Recording of Amélie releases 5 June. The album features Audrey Brisson and the original London cast.

Danny Becker and Lauren Samuels will lead a virtual production of The Last Five Years. The pair will perform Jason Robert Brown’s musical from lockdown using only what is available to them. The production will stream for three nights from June 25 to 27 at 7:30 pm BST, with a limited number of tickets, each costing £8, available per show.

Toby Jones and Owen Teale star in A Case of Mistaken Identity. Written by Gus Crotty and directed by max Elton, the production is now available via all podcasting platforms. You can also listen here.