While a live audience is oxygen to panto performers, recorded Rapunzel at the Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh is a triumph, and placing the trials of 2020 the heart of this retelling of this well-loved tale makes perfect sense.
‘Enough energy to light Hampton Court for 500 years’: SIX THE MUSICAL – Touring ★★★★
You’ll lose your head over Six The Musical, which is bringing a new audience to the Festival Theatre just a week ahead of the show’s Broadway debut.
‘Deserves to be remembered for years to come’: THE KING & I – Touring ★★★★★
The collective charisma of the cast in a stunning production of The King and I earns a well-deserved standing ovation.
‘How can you resist it?’: MAMMA MIA! – Touring ★★★★
It’s not just one of us who was pleased to have Mamma Mia! back on the Edinburgh Playhouse stage – an air of expectation and excitement filled the entire auditorium for the show.
‘Makes us think while making us laugh’: AVENUE Q – Touring ★★★★
Hilariously insightful, touchingly funny, tunefully sharp and filthily charming, Avenue Q is the street where you laugh.
‘Even non-sports fans will love it’: THE RED LION – Touring ★★★★★
Rapture Theatre shoots, and scores, in Red Lion, a soccer drama by Patrick Marber that even non-sports fans will love.
‘It’s no trial watching this’: THE VERDICT – Touring ★★★★
It’s no trial watching this stage version of the classic film The Verdict at the King’s. In fact, it’s a real pleasure seeing washed-up Boston lawyer Frank Galvin get his mojo back as he takes on a case of alleged medical malpractice.
‘Enough shining moments to justify another outing’: ALLAN STEWART’S BIG BIG VARIETY SHOW – Edinburgh ★★★
Fake folkies and Armenia’s greatest boogie-woogie pianist stand out in the sixth instalment of Allan Stewart’s Big Big Variety Show.
‘There is never a bad moment’: JERSEY BOYS – Touring ★★★★
Never mind your eyes, your ears will adore the tour of Jersey Boys which has arrived at the Edinburgh Playhouse for a fortnight turn.
‘Isn’t so much old fashioned as timeless’: THE LADY VANISHES – Touring ★★★★
The Lady Vanishes, but audiences won’t as a stage version of Alfred Hitchcock’s beloved thriller comes to the King’s as part of its UK tour.
‘This year’s panto won’t disappoint’: BEAUTY & THE BEAST – Edinburgh ★★★★
Beauty & the Beast comes to the King’s for the first time since 1946 in a pantomime that continues a classic run of hits and is sticking around well into January next year.
‘Delivers the goods & then some’: JACK & THE BEANSTALK – Musselburgh ★★★★
There’s a happy ending, beginning and indeed, middle, as Jack and the Beanstalk gets a Musselburgh makeover at the Brunton Theatre this festive season.
‘Witty, tuneful & life affirming’: Doris, Dolly & The Dressing Room Divas… At Christmas – Edinburgh ★★★★★
The Gilded Balloon Basement in the Rose Street Theatre hosts top-tier talent this Christmas as five fabulous female stars tell their stories… via three spookily talented backstage assistants in Doris, Dolly & The Dressing Room Divas… At Christmas.
‘The wedding day you deserve’: HANDFAST – Edinburgh Fringe ★★★★
Sweet and true, Handfast by Edinburgh-based company Nutshell at Summerhall, is the wedding day you deserve.
‘In Ross & Woolf this production has a truly magical partnership’: WICKED – Touring ★★★★★
It’s been to Edinburgh a few times, but this latest touring version of Wicked drops in on the Playhouse with the power of a flying farmhouse.
‘A captivating world where ordinary lives touch the extraordinary’: THE WEIR – Touring ★★★
An evening of tall tales puts a spotlight on the human heart as the King’s presents Conor McPherson’s modern Irish classic, The Weir.
‘Its own creature & a magnificent one at that’: MISS SAIGON – Touring ★★★★★
It’s safe to say that if you like Les Misérables, also presented by Cameron Mackintosh, you’ll like this too – some of the more familiar songs could probably be slipped into Les Mis, changing only names and dates.
BEAUTY & THE BEAST – Musselburgh ★★★★
A splendid script and pitch-perfect performances make a tale as old as time feel as fresh as a daisy at Musselburgh’s Brunton Theatre.
BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL – Touring ★★★★★
Before she was Carole King, singer-songwriter, she was Carol Klein from Brooklyn, a 16-year-old sharp enough to have skipped two grades whose divorcee mother dreamed she’d become a teacher (“Girls don’t write music, they teach it”).
TANGO MODERNO – Touring ★★★★
There’s a hitch at Tango Moderno but there are no missteps. Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace are the passionate pair who burned the Strictly floor for years before quitting to take to the road with their own shows. Their trademark tangos – sometimes tempestuous, at others, cool as ice – made them a brand as they toured the UK with a series of unforgettable shows.