Matthew Bourne’s Second World War staging was first aired in 1997, before a revival in 2010 leading to this 2017 slightly re-worked reprise and it makes for an uncompromising interpretation of the famous yarn.
‘Witty, gothic & enchanting’: Matthew Bourne’s CINDERELLA – Sadler’s Wells & touring ★★★★★
Matthew Bourne’s Second World War staging was first aired in 1997, before a revival in 2010 leading to this 2017 slightly re-worked reprise and it makes for an uncompromising interpretation of the famous yarn.
THE CHRISTMASAURUS LIVE ONSTAGE – Eventim Apollo ★★★★★
“This is not a musical. This is not a concert. This is not a panto, or a play, or anything I can compare it to,” so proclaims Tom Fletcher in the show notes. And he is quite right. While The Christmasaurus Live On Stage has components of all of these, it is – much like the titular only dinosaur in the world – truly unique.
‘It’s all so damn miserable’: SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW – Royal Festival Hall ★★
When a family-friendly Christmas clown show seems more akin to Waiting For Godot rather than an act from a big top, three-ring circus, something’s gone wrong.
‘Gloriously gruesome’: TITUS ANDRONICUS – Barbican Theatre (RSC) ★★★★
Headed up with an engaging performance from RSC stalwart David Troughton as the frail but somehow still intimidating Titus Andronicus, the play is quite the ride with humour kept firmly at the forefront even as Titus finds himself losing a limb, very slowly.
‘Biggest, boldest, glitziest panto in London’: DICK WHITTINGTON – West End ★★★★
Following critical and commercial success with last year’s Cinderella, QDOS Entertainment has again invested millions to make Dick Whittington the biggest, boldest and glitziest pantomime on the London circuit with what looks like a degree of overkill, taking a sledgehammer to crush a rat perhaps.
‘Sumptuous’: A CHRISTMAS CAROL – London Musical Theatre Orchestra ★★★★★
Reprising his 2016 creation, Robert Lindsay is a gnarled and grizzled Ebenezer Scrooge, blossoming as he journeys to discover compassion and kindness.
MIRACLE ON 34th STREET – Bridge House Theatre ★★★
Miracle on 34th Street is a sparkling, joyful and heartwarming spectacle. For a very merry Christmas, this is just the ticket.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL – Stratford-upon-Avon (RSC) ★★★★
This year’s seasonal offering in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre is a grand affair as David Edgar (it was he who famously adapted Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby for the company back in 1980) tackles A Christmas Carol.
Spotlight On… West End Producer & his new guide on Going to the Theatre
Many years ago Winston Churchill famously described the Russians as “a riddle wrapped in an enigma”. Well, London’s theatre scene has a similar riddle.
ALBUM REVIEW: A Christmas Carol (narrated by Simon Callow) ★★★★
Much like a luxuriously fruited and brandy drenched Christmas pudding, Simon Callow’s voice (surely a national treasure in itself) serves up the festive fable in a recording that lasts a touch longer than the hour.
SCROOGE THE MUSICAL – Leicester ★★★★
It all makes for classic festive fayre with Leslie Bricusse’s original work, last seen some 15 years ago, being subtly re-engineered for this revival. Jasper Britton heads the cast in the title role, convincing us throughout of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge.