Ready steady book: the 30 hottest tickets of the summer

Henry V
Cry God for Harry, England and St George! Olivier award-winner Michelle Terry dons the king’s armour in this production that is directed by Robert Hastie, soon to begin his tenure as artistic director at Sheffield Theatres. Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London NW1 (0844 8264242), June 17 to July 9

Where is Peter Rabbit?
In the Lake District, it seems, for the whole summer, starring in a new family musical with lyrics by Alan Ayckbourn. Will Mrs Tiggy-Winkle be ready for her close-up? I do hope so. World of Beatrix Potter, Bowness-on-Windermere (0844 5040604), June 27 to Sept 4

Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Pixie Lott is the girl with the chic shades and pearl necklace as she plays the mercurial Holly Golightly in the legendary Truman Capote story, adapted for the stage by Richard Greenberg. Theatre Royal Haymarket, London SW1 (020 7930 8800), June 30 to Sept 17, and touring

Groundhog Day
It’s a brilliant idea. The film about a TV weatherman who keeps living the same day over again is being turned into a musical with lyrics and music by Tim Minchin. It’s a brilliant idea (or did I already say that?). Old Vic, London SE1 (0844 8717628), July 11 to Sept 17

Fracked! Or Please Don’t use the F-Word
Deerland Energy has chosen the pretty little village of Fenstock to drill for shale gas. It’s all going well until a ragged band of protesters, led by the “mad old biddy” Elizabeth get involved. A new play by Alistair Beaton, directed by Richard Wilson. Minerva Theatre, Chichester (01243 781 312), July 8 to Aug 6

Dance

The Bolshoi’s Don Quixote

Bolshoi Ballet
A packed three-week season opens with the Moscow company’s colourful, comedic masterpiece Don Quixote and ends with the spectacle of Le Corsaire. In between come Swan Lake, The Flames of Paris and a chic new version of The Taming of the Shrew. Royal Opera House, London WC2 (020 7304 4000), July 25 to Aug 13

Jane Eyre
The choreographer Cathy Marston delves into the dark heart of Charlotte Brontë’s gothic romance for her full-length dance adaptation for Northern Ballet. Philip Feeney contributes a new score; designer Patrick Kinmonth brings alive the spirit of the Yorkshire moors. Cast, Doncaster (01302 303959), May 19-21; touring to June 18

Natalia Osipova and Guests
The famous Russian lovebirds Osipova and Sergei Polunin share the stage in a programme that include two pieces created for them by Russell Maliphant and Arthur Pita. Sadler’s Wells, London EC1 (020 7863 8000), June 29 to July 3; Edinburgh Festival Theatre (0131 473 2000), Aug 12-14

Visual art

Georgia O’Keefe
More than 100 works by the late, great flower (and skull, and landscape) painter, whose Jimson Weed/White Flower No1 from 1932 remains the most expensive painting by a female artist sold at auction, for $44.4 million. Tate Modern, London SE1 (020 7887 8888), July 6 to Oct 30

Painter’s Paintings: From Freud to Van Dyck
We’d all love to hang a Matisse, a Laurence, a Reynolds, on our walls, but what artworks did they surround themselves with? This exhibition looks at the paintings owned by the painters we adore. National Gallery, London WC2 (0800 9126958), June 23 to Sept 4

Edinburgh Art Festival
From the glories of the Jupiter Artland sculpture park (shortlisted for the 2016 Museum of the Year) to the impressionists at the Scottish National Gallery, the art festival provides a haven from the carnage of Edinburgh in August. Various venues, Edinburgh and West Lothian (edinburghartfestival.com), July 28 to Aug 28

David Hockney
After his outstandingly successful 2012 landscapes exhibition, A Bigger Picture, Hockney returns to the Royal Academy with 82 portraits (and one still life) all executed in the last two years in his Los Angeles studio. Royal Academy, London W1 (020 7300 8090), July 2 to Oct 2

Stubbs and the Wild
Though now best known for his portraits of horses, in his lifetime George Stubbs’s fame was based on his depictions of wild animals. Lions and tigers and bears — oh my! Holburne Museum, Bath (01225 388569), June 25 to Oct 2

Pop

Somerset House Summer Series
The open-air gigs in the neoclassical courtyard of Somerset House have become a July fixture. Highlights this year include extraordinary Mercury Prize-winner Benjamin Clementine (July 9), sardonic indie troubadour Courtney Barnett (July 13) and French jazz-house outfit St Germain (July 16). Somerset House, London WC2 (020 7845 4600), July 7-17

British Summer Time
The pick of these Hyde Park one-dayers features a striking Anglo-American double bill: the baroque pop of Florence + the Machine plus the kaleidoscopic hip-hop of Kendrick Lamar (July 2). Broader tastes are catered for with Mumford & Sons (July 8) and Take That (July 9). Hyde Park, London SW1 (0844 8240300), July 1-10

Bristol Summer Series
The wharves of Bristol host four al fresco shows in June, showcasing guitar music of various shades: James Bay (June 22) Sigur Rós (June 23), The Last Shadow Puppets (June 24) and Catfish and the Bottlemen (June 25). Bristol Harbourside (bristolsummerseries.com)

Summer Nights
An August season of (hopefully) balmy open-air shows by a cast of proven veterans including Van Morrison (Aug 4), the Waterboys (Aug 8) and local heroes Primal Scream (Aug 11). Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow (0800 9884440), Aug 4-14

Jazz

Love Supreme
Three days of jazz, funk and soul disturb the sylvan calm of the South Downs. Serious jazz types — John Scofield, Brad Mehldau, Kamasi Washington — mingle with pop crowd-pleasers — Grace Jones, Burt Bacharach — and some artists, such as Melody Gardot and Esperanza Spalding, who are a bit of both. Glynde Place, Lewes (0844 8889991), July 1-3

Classical

BBC Proms
Booking opens today for this year’s Albert Hall jamboree, with concerts to suit nearly all tastes from Boulez to Bowie. Highlights include Martha Argerich conducted by Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink’s 50th anniversary Prom and the dancers from Strictly. Worth noting that the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s new chief conductor, Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, has a concert in Brum on August 26 (booking opens June 6) before it is repeated at the Proms the next day. Albert Hall, London SW7 (0845 4015040), July 15 to Sept 10

Satie in Cheltenham
The Cheltenham Music Festival is doing more for the 150th anniversary of the enigmatic Erik Satie than any other British event, including a performance of his notoriously vexing Vexations, a piano piece repeated 840 times, “extremely slowly”. Various venues, Cheltenham (0844 8808094), July 1-17

Stravinsky: Myths and Rituals
The Philharmonia delves into Stravinsky’s lesser-known works — with a few of the biggies to sweeten the pill — under the guidance of Esa-Pekka Salonen, a master of this repertoire. Highlights include a staged triple bill of the operas Mavra and Renard, and the ballet Les Noces. Various venues, London (0800 6526717), May 15 to Sept 29

Norma
The million-selling mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli upscales to one of the great diva roles, Bellini’s fierce Celtic druid betrayed by her Roman lover, in a production that began in Salzburg but now comes to the Edinburgh International Festival. Festival Theatre, Edinburgh (0131 473 2000), August 5-9

Idomeneo
Toby Spence is the eponymous hero of Mozart’s craggy opera, about the Cretan king who makes a terrible vow to sacrifice his son. Tim Albery directs this new production. Garsington at Wormsley, Bucks (01865 361636), June 19 to July 11

Comedy

Sara Pascoe
Few comedians combine the playful, the autobiographical and the intellectual with such exciting skill as Pascoe. Her new stand-up show, Animal, shares the title of her newly published book (subtitled: The Autobiography of a Female Body). Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone (01622 758 611), May 12; touring to July 2 (sarapascoe.com)

David Baddiel’s My Family: Not the Sitcom
After looking at celebrity in his terrific previous stand-up show, Fame: Not the Musical, Baddiel gets even more personal with this “massively disrespectful” tribute to his late parents. Menier Chocolate Factory, London SE1 (020 7378 1713), May 10 to June 25

Whose Line is it Anyway?. . . Live
Clive Anderson returns with the improv games that he helped make famous on Channel 4 in the late 1980s, performed by several of the show’s best British and American improvisers, including Josie Lawrence, Greg Proops and Colin Mochrie. London Palladium, London W1 (0844 4124655), June 9-19

Edinburgh Fringe
“Exam time for clowns,” the comedian Andrew Maxwell calls it. This year his hundreds of fellow examinees include Katy Brand, James Acaster, Sam Simmons, Angus Deayton (reviving his Radio 4 sketch show Radio Active), Al Murray, Sally Phillips, Susan Calman, Nina Conti and Alistair McGowan. Various venues, Edinburgh (0131 226 0026), Aug 5-29

Compiled by John Bungey, Debra Craine, Nancy Durrant, Neil Fisher, Dominic Maxwell, Ed Potton, Ann Treneman