Author: Martin Gray
Sheila’s Island
★★★★☆ Captivating
A Nineties hit is back with a twist as the King’s Theatre is transformed into Sheila’s Island, the Tim Firth comedy on tour in an Yvonne Arnoud Theatre production.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
★★★★☆ Spellbinding
Bedknobs and Broomsticks, the musical based on the 1971 Walt Disney film, flies into the Festival Theatre for a short but spellbinding stay, until this Sunday.
Hansel and Gretel
★★★★☆ Sweet treat
It’s back! Oh yes it is. After Covid sent the 2020 Brunton panto online, the regulars are once more live on stage before a very appreciative audience. Hansel and Gretel brings festive fun back to Musselburgh, bigger and better than ever.
Heathers The Musical
★★★★☆ Magnificent mean girls
When a beloved film turns stage musical, you can bet that the original’s best-remembered line will become a song. Not Heathers, whose most-quoted piece of dialogue involves, shall we say, the recreational use of a chainsaw.
Rapunzel: The Pantomime
★★★★★ Towering achievement
The Brunton’s panto is a little different this year – Oh yes it is! Covid means the Brunton’s 2020 offering was filmed, with smaller audiences able to watch Rapunzel in the venue’s cinema. As it turned out, tier changes meant that plan was abandoned, but a web link ensures kids of all ages don’t have to miss out.
Anything Goes
★★★★★ It’s the Tops!
Everything goes extremely well in Southern Light’s take on the timeless Cole Porter musical, playing at the King’s this week until Saturday.
Dial M for Murder
★★★★☆ Engaging:
Classic British play Dial M For Murder is at the King’s all this week before going to Glasgow’s Theatre Royal next, and no one is phoning it in.
Sister Act
★★★★☆ Nun better:
Sisters are doing it for themselves – and packed houses – at the Brunton this week as Our Lady of Loretto Youth Players aim for the heights in an ambitious production of Sister Act.
Six The Musical
★★★★☆ Royally good:
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.
It’s a Wonderful Life
★★★☆☆ Half-life:
They say your life flashes before you before you die and that’s certainly the impression left by Floating Brick Theatre’s version of It’s a Wonderful Life at the Storytelling Centre this week.
