Denise Van Outen will visit Wolverhampton Grand with her new one-woman play Some Girl I Used to Know.
The production, from 20 until 22 February, is one of 30 confirmed for the Grand in 2014 as part of a year-long programme marking the theatre’s 120th birthday celebrations.
Drama highlights include Robert Powell taking on the role of Hercule Poirot in a new staging of Agatha Christie’s Black Coffee from 3 until 8 February.
Middle Ground Theatre Company returns to the Grand for a fifth consecutive year with a double bill of vintage mystery in Classic Ghosts from 12 until 15 February which features Jack Shepherd, best known for his portrayal of Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe in the ITV series Wycliffe.
The theatrical send-up Fifty One Shades of Maggie, “one woman’s (slightly bruising) search for Mr Right”, tours to the Grand from 17 until 19 February.
Grand favourite Lesley Joseph returns to turn up the heat in the musical comedy Hot Flush on 22 March.
Wolverhampton Grand will play host to award-winning drama The Two Worlds of Charlie F—an “uncompromising and powerfully authentic account of service, injury and rehabilitation as seen through the eyes of British servicemen and women”—from 26 until 29 March.
Brookside regular John McArdle joins the cast of Damian Cruden’s new adaptation of the comedy Brassed Off from 8 until 12 April which marks the 30th anniversary of the 1984 miners’ strike.
Emmerdale’s Ben Freeman plays The Fonz in the musical Happy Days from 9 until 14 June.
Musical highlights include The Rat Pack is Back on 23 February, Fame from 3 until 8 March, Beyond the Barricade on 13 April and Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story which returns from 19 until 24 May.
English Touring Opera is back at the Grand with two new operas for 2014: Britten’s Paul Bunyan on 17 March; and Mozart’s final fantasy The Magic Flute on 18 March.
ETO in collaboration with the Grand and Wolverhampton Music Education Hub will also present the world première of Zeppelin Dreams—the true story of how a Zeppelin airship bound for Liverpool dropped its bombs on Wolverhampton after becoming lost in the fog—on 20 and 21 March. ETO professionals will work alongside up to 150 people from nine separate community groups to help write, stage and perform the opera.
The Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company will make its Grand debut with a triple bill of The Pirates of Penzance on 24 and 25 June, Iolanthe on 25 and 26 June and The Mikado on 28 June. A special evening performance of The Mikado will mark the 120th anniversary of the laying of the Grand’s foundation stone in 1894.