Dreamgirls finally arrived in Birmingham this week at The Alexandra, after a delay caused by Covid 19, and it is so worth the wait. The story of a fictional 1960’s girl group very closely based on Diana Ross and the Supremes is everything you want in a musical – great songs and brilliantly powerful performances, all delivered with the gloss and the glitz of showbusiness. To quote one of the most famous songs from the show, I’m telling you that you must go and see Dreamgirls this Christmas, it is simply sensational. The Dreamettes, sassy Lorell Robinson, slinky Deena Jones and the powerhouse Effie White dream of musical stardom, and…

Panto is back in Wolverhampton, and the Grand has got another enormous hit on its hand with the sparkly, sassy Aladdin. The classic story has been given a modern, Wolverhampton twist, and with a top notch cast, great songs, and some hilarious one liners, Aladdin is everything you want a panto to be, brilliant fun for all ages. In the land of Shangri Far Aladdin lives with his mother, the washerwoman Widow Twanky, and his brother Wishy Washy. His heart is taken by the spirited, feisty Jasmine, but her father The Notary forbids the match, after all, Aladdin is a petty thief, and the Notary wants a far richer match…

This year’s seasonal offering at Birmingham’s Old Rep Theatre is a new twist on an old classic. Beauty and the Beast is a much loved story that has been ‘Disneyfied’ in recent years, but now the BOA Academy have twisted it once again, combining the classic fairy tale with modern day issues that centre on belonging, peer pressure and the perils of social media. This has created a fantastic show that appeals to all ages, and is wonderfully performed by its young, talented cast. In our modern times a group of ‘mean girls’ rule the school society with a nasty fist. Their main victims are those that don’t fit in…

Malorie Blackman’s original novel Noughts and Crosses is one of the icons of 21st Century literature. It offers an alternative present where the Noughts (white population) are the downtrodden lesser people, ruled by the Crosses (dark skinned) who colonised them when they overtook Europe, and now conspire to keep their status quo intact through a rule of oppression, fear and discrimination based on skin colour. In this present we have two young people, a nought man Callum, who has grown up alongside a cross girl called Sephy. First they are best friends, but as they grow old this then turns to love, a dangerous thing in a divided, unjust society.…