Festival Theatre
Beauty and the Beast
★★★★☆ Haunting:
Birmingham Royal Ballet put on a truly magical and haunting performance of David Bintley’s Beauty and the Beast, playing the Festival Theatre until Saturday.
Ghost The Musical
★★★★☆ Believable:
A refreshingly strong turn from Rebekah Lowings ensures that the latest touring production of Ghost The Musical is alive and vibrant at the Festival Theatre, despite the show’s cloying sentimentality.
Cinderella
★★★★☆ Sparkling:
Scottish Ballet’s Cinderella, back at the Festival Theatre this Christmas, is still a festive treat with huge reserves of charm and elegance.
Nativity! The Musical
★★★★☆ Unstoppable:
Nativity! The Musical, at the Festival Theatre until Sunday, is an unashamedly cheesy romp that bears little serious examination, but whose energy and sugary optimism will brook no argument.
Rambert: Life is a Dream
★★★☆☆ Woozy poetry:
Rambert’s Life is a Dream, at the Festival Theatre to Saturday, is a peculiar, poetic piece that suffers from pulling in too many directions at once.
Macbeth
★★★☆☆ Fractured:
There is a peculiar absence of majesty at the heart of the UK National Theatre’s touring production of Macbeth, at the Festival Theatre until Saturday.
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake
★★★★★ Magnificent:
It’s 23 years since Mathew Bourne changed the gender of the swans in Swan Lake for his choreography of the ballet, which is at the Festival Theatre all week to Saturday.
Calendar Girls – The Musical
★★★★★ Heartfelt:
Big, powerful emotions are harnessed to most glorious effect by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth in this musical version of the Calendar Girls story, which is touring to the Festival Theatre for a fortnight.
Kiss Me, Kate
★★★★☆ Sparkling:
Visually and musically, Opera North’s Kiss Me, Kate is something of a feast at the Festival Theatre until Saturday.
The Last Ship
★★★☆☆ Heartfelt:
There are plenty of memorable tunes to match the high production values of Northern Stage’s The Last Ship, at the Festival Theatre until Saturday then touring to Glasgow.
