From arena-sized musicals to intimate choral masterworks, Limelight readers flocked to a wide spectrum of reviews in 2025 – a year that will be remembered for its attention-grabbing spectacles, powerful demonstrations of craft and some bold programming.

Our 10 most-read reviews for the year reveal what captured our readers’ cultural imagination, from the familiar to the freshly imagined.

Michael Ball as Javert in Les Misérables The Arena Spectacular. Photo © Danny Kaan

1. Les Misérables: The Arena Spectacular – Cameron Mackintosh / Live Nation

Topping the list by a considerable margin was the arena-sized revival of Les Misérables, a production that promised – and delivered – big feels at  scale. Audiences were eager to see how the classic musical translated to a vast performance space, with its barricades, ballads and bravura re-engineered for mass spectacle.

“Alfie Boe is stunning as Valjean,” wrote Jo Litson. “[He gives] a profoundly humane, touching performance, which conveys the character’s dignity, honesty, social conscience and fatherly love for Cosette. His spine-tingling singing reaches deep into the emotion of the...