A meet-cute between Humanity and Earth, a mod ballet and Nick Mohammed’s career-best standup set – our critics pick the best stage shows of the year
10. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Staging a bestselling book that has already been adapted into a film starring bona fide national treasures (Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton) might have been daunting. But, in Chichester, Katy Rudd’s musical of a man’s Bunyanesque journey to visit a dying woman met that challenge with lo-fi eccentricity and folksy songs with a foot-stomping spirit (composed by Michael Rosenberg, AKA Passenger). In the West End from 29 January. Read the review
9. The Railway Children
As site-specific shows go, this adaptation of E Nesbit’s classic was hard to top. It began with a ride on a vintage stream train in West Yorkshire, depositing the audience in a disused engine shed at Oxenhope. The story was given an Anglo-Indian twist and Joanna Scotcher’s stupendous set design incorporated track lines. There was one monumental set piece after another, including a train chugging in. Read the review
