WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE: Southampton Mayflower
WHEN: 31/12, runs to 7/1/18
Our review of Strictly Come Dancing‘s Craig Revel Horwood’s fabulous turn in Annie last year was the fourth most read content on this site in 2017.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE: Victoria Palace
WHEN: 26/12, booking to 28/7/18
The good news is that the touts appear to have been beaten – and the bad is that it’s the most uncomfortable wait to enter a theatre we can ever remember.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: London Palladium
WHEN: 10/12 (matinee), press night 13/12, runs to 14/1/18
‘I woke up this morning and there was eight inches outside my back door,’ reflects Julian Clary as Spirit Of The Bells in the Palladium’s annual pantomime extravaganza after an especially snowy morning.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Old Vic
WHEN: 28/11, press night 29/11, runs to 20/1/18
Providing family entertainment with a message has been the aim of Old Vic artistic director Matthew Warchus since succeeding Kevin Spacey in 2015.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE: Menier Chocolate Factory
WHEN: 25/11, press night 5/12, runs to 3/3/18
We’re leafing through the programme, the morning after the first preview of this revival, and brightly-coloured ticker tape thrown by the cast keeps falling out.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Greenwich Theatre
WHEN: 18/11, press night 24/11, runs to 7/1/18
Our heart sank when we discovered that Andrew Pollard (writer of this, his 12th pantomime at this venue) wasn’t going to be its dame as usual.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE: Arts Theatre
WHEN: 12/11 (matinee), runs to 3/12
The first thing that strikes us about this rock musical is how lavish its set appears: the band are situated on a walkway, level with the tops of gigantic vats of industrial waste and there’s even a sci-fi set of double doors which could be straight out of Flash Gordon.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Apollo Theatre
WHEN: 6/11, press night 22/11, booking to 21/4/18
It must have been tempting for the creative team behind this musical about a teenage drag queen-wannabe desperate to wear a dress to his prom to rest on its laurels.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Other Palace
WHEN: 1/11, press night 7/11, runs to 31/12
Kelsey Grammer is best known for playing Dr Frasier Crane in TV’s Cheers and Frasier and has a Tony, five Emmys and three Golden Globes to his name.
WORTH A LOOK?: (not enough seen to rate)
WHERE: Playhouse Theatre
WHEN: 28/10, press night 9/11, runs to 3/2/18
We’re at the fourth preview of this David Mamet classic when, 10 minutes in, actor Robert Glenister (pictured above) collapses clutching his chest saying: ‘Oh God!’ and the curtain comes down early.
