The year is winding down and plans for the holidays are now pretty much intact; most people plan well in advance for this time of year and trips to London for West End shows are no exception. The week between Christmas and New Year is definitely the busiest time for theatre. Many shows are chock-a-block, but there is still some space to be found in the theatres for those last minute bookings.

I managed to make my Christmas plans very early this year. Yes, in May I booked a ticket to go back to my native Canada. My family is busy putting up the Christmas lights on our igloo and I’ll have to get my snowshoes and dog sled out to travel around town.

After all, I am from Vancouver.

I will be able to get the West Coast, but thanks to the impending British Airways strike, I may not be coming back anytime soon. Can you imagine? Blogging from the wilderness….how romantic eh?

So, as the year is quickly coming to an end, I started pondering what will be the big theatre highlight in 2010. Right now my bet is on Hair.

Critics raved about the Broadway production which is transferring to London in its entirety, including the American cast. One of the more risque musicals out there, Hair features a bunch of hippies who are in protest of the Vietnam war and introduced some of the most memorable songs of musical theatre including ‘Aquarius’, ‘Let The Sunshine In’, and ‘Hair’.

I first saw this musical when I was about 15 years old and I absolutely loved it. I then pretended to be a hippee for a while but eventually I got tired of wearing sandals in winter (besides I couldn’t wear my snowshoes with them).

Hair will move into the Gielgud Theatre when the equally risque Avenue Q vacates the premises in early March. Hair is booking from the 1st April to the 8th January 2010, just in case you want to get ready for next Christmas.

Buy your Hair tickets here.

A lot of shows in the West End seem to be making comebacks - that is, finishing their booking periods, only to re-open a few months later.

For instance, Avenue Q went on a summer holiday earlier this year after it closed at the Noel Coward Theatre, only to re-open a few months later at the Gielgud Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue. The show is now booking into its 4th year in London.

And there were some recent swapsies as An Inspector Calls moved from the Novello Theatre to the Wyndhams and summer hit Dreamboats and Petticoats, which played at the Savoy, is to re-open at The Playhouse Theatre in January.

My last post mentioned Waiting For Godot, which is coming back to the Theatre Royal Haymarket, the same theatre played at last summer.

All of this show resurrection got me thinking about my favourite shows that I would like to see make a return to the London stage. See if you remember any of these:

Bombay Dreams

Fantastic Bollywood musical that combined kitsch, crazy costumes, gangsters, water fountains and a love story. It also contained a song called Shakalaka Baby. Brilliant.

The Drowsy Chaperone

Even the great Elaine Page in the title role couldn’t keep this one going at the Novello theatre. One of the most clever and original productions stage in recent years, it won numerous Tony awards and was a huge Broadway success. The British just didn’t get it.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

I was a reluctant attendee, trying to avoid the sugary sweetness of Truly Scrumptious. In the end, the production won me over with its visual costumes and dance numbers. And the actually car flew!

Jesus Christ Superstar

Andrew Lloyd Webber offerings appear with great regularity in the West End, but it’s been a while since we last saw Superstar. If it’s done right, and I mean without the chaotic silliness that is the film version, I think it’s probably my favourite Lloyd Webber show.

Hmmm what will be the next show to make a welcome return? Stay tuned.

It’s a surprise comeback for Beckett’s most famous and confounding play, Waiting For Godot. Last year, legends Ian Mckellen and Patrick Stewart pottered about on stage as Estragon and Vladmir. Looks like Sir Ian can’t get enough of Beckett’s existentialist world; he is retuning with the production to the Theatre Royal Haymarket, this time starring with Roger Rees.

When the production ran last summer at the Haymarket, it was a scramble to get a ticket. While X-Men fans waited outside for returns, many had to make do with accosting the lead actors as they left via the stage door.

Even though Patrick Stewart is not returning, Godot redux will be one of the theatrical highlights of the new year, due to the strength and compelling allusiveness of Beckett’s masterpiece. Another of Beckett’s plays, Endgame, has just finished its run at the Duchess theatre, so it looks as though there is a huge demand right now for the staging of literary classics.

Buy your Waiting For Godot tickets here.