What's on in the Midlands

Published: 10 December 2022
Reporter: Steve Orme

Tales from Acorn Wood at Christmas in the Patrick Studio at Birmingham Hippodrome Credit: Mark Senior
David Robbins (Nelly Nightnurse), Faye Tozer (Queen Lucretia) and Joe Pasquale (Muddles) in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham Credit: Whitefoot Photography
Charlotte Jaconelli (The Wicked Witch of the West) and Georgina Onuorah (Dorothy) in The Wizard of Oz at Curve, Leicester Credit: Marc Brenner

An “ideal treat for under sixes”, Santa’s Christmas Rescue, an “interactive show full of songs, laughter and festive fun”, is at The Core at Corby Cube, Northamptonshire from Monday until Saturday 24 December.

John O’Connor recreates Charles Dickens’s performance of A Christmas Carol at the Courtyard, Hereford on Thursday and Friday while Nick Lane continues to rework Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs during the day until Saturday 31 December and Hereford’s “biggest family pantomime” Beauty and the Beast continues until Saturday 7 January 2023.

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s Tales from Acorn Wood at Christmas will be brought to life on stage for the first time in the Patrick Studio at Birmingham Hippodrome from Saturday until Saturday 31 December while on the main stage Marti Pellow, Matt Slack, Dr Ranj and Suzanne Shaw are among the cast of Dick Whittington from Saturday until Sunday 29 January 2023.

Rudolph and Ellie the Elf go on a mission to save Santa who has got himself stuck in the snow in Santa’s Christmas Rescue which continues in the B2 auditorium at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry until Saturday 24 December while on the main stage, Iain Lauchlan has written and appears in Jack and the Beanstalk which continues until Saturday 7 January 2023.

There are two shows in the Studio at Lichfield Garrick, Joseph O’Malley’s adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling and Other Stories which continues until Saturday 24 December and a new comedy play by Carolyn Scott-Jeffs, The Bah Humbug Club, which continues until Tuesday 27 December, while on the main stage Sam Rabone plays Nurse Nellie in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs until Sunday 8 January 2023.

Festive funsters the Babbling Vagabonds find out what happens when a ballerina stops dancing, a robot stops computing and a jack-in-the-box loses his bounce in The Christmas Toy Shop Mystery which continues on Derby Market Place until Friday 30 December.

John Thomson is Abanazar and Morgan Brind plays Widow Twankey in Aladdin which continues at Derby Arena until Saturday 31 December.

Watershed Productions continues to present the Little Angel Theatre and Northampton Royal and Derngate production of Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks’s The Singing Mermaid in the Djanogly Theatre at Lakeside Arts, Nottingham until Saturday 31 December.

Toby Hulse’s adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows continues at Derby Theatre until Saturday 31 December while in the Studio, Emma Reeves’s adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s Ugly Duckling also continues until Saturday 31 December.

Freckle Productions performs Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's Stick Man which continues at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry until Saturday 31 December.

A new version of a classic, The Further Adventures of Peter Pan—The Return of Captain Hook, continues at Mansfield Palace Theatre until Saturday 31 December.

Three talented young singers in the 1960s embark on a journey through a world of fame, fortune and the ruthless realities of show business in Dreamgirls at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham which continues until Saturday 31 December.

In the Underground studio at Northampton’s Royal and Derngate, the 200-year-old festive poem The Night Before Christmas which is for under-sevens and their families continues until Saturday 31 December while Keala Settle, who played Lettie Lutz in the film The Greatest Showman, heads the cast of Jack and the Beanstalk, which continues until Monday 2 January 2023.

Birmingham Rep’s new production for three- to six-year-olds, Jack and the Magic Beanstalk, continues in The Door until Saturday 31 December while on the main stage Nativity! The Musical, which had its world première at the Rep in 2017, continues until Saturday 7 January 2023.

Julia Bird and Reece Carter are the cast of Anna Wheatley’s Goldilocks and the Three Bears which has a “pop-tastic dance-party of an adventure” during the day at Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 31 December, while the theatre’s artistic director Adam Penford has written and directs Dick Whittington which continues until Saturday 14 January 2023.

David Edgar’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol which features Adrian Edmondson as Scrooge continues in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford until Sunday 1 January 2023.

James Holmes returns to Buxton Opera House for the seventh time to play the dame in Sleeping Beauty which continues until Sunday 1 January 2023.

Victoria Lucie plays Princess Rose, Harry Polden is Mervin the Magician, Jake Reynolds takes the role of Prince Vince and Sean McKenzie is Nurse Nancy Nightly in Little Wolf Entertainment’s Sleeping Beauty which continues at Loughborough Town Hall until Monday 2 January 2023.

Dancing duo A J and Curtis Pritchard, Evie Pickerill, Jarred Christmas and Richard J Fletcher go to the ball in Cinderella at De Montfort Hall, Leicester which continues until Monday 2 January 2023.

Michelle Collins plays the bad fairy Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty at the Winding Wheel, Chesterfield which continues until Tuesday 3 January 2023.

Joe Pasquale is Muddles and Steps singer Faye Tozer is the Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which continues at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham until Sunday 8 January 2023.

The regional première of The Wizard of Oz which features additional songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice as well as Harold Arlen and E Y Harburg’s songs from the original film follows the yellow brick road to Curve, Leicester until Sunday 8 January 2023.

Theresa Heskins’s adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland continues at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme until Saturday 28 January 2023.

    Related listings

  • The Wizard of Oz - Music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E Y Harburg, additional music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, additional lyrics by Tim Rice, adaption by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jeremy Sams
  • NATIVITY! The Musical - Debbie Isitt
  • Stick Man - Live On Stage - Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (Freckle Productions)
  • The Singing Mermaid - Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks, adapted by Barb Jungr and Samantha Lane (Watershed Productions present the Little Angel Theatre and Royal & Derngate, Northampton)

*Some links, including Amazon, Stageplays.com, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, ATG Tickets, LOVEtheatre, BTG Tickets, Ticketmaster, LW Theatres and QuayTickets, are affiliate links for which BTG may earn a small fee at no extra cost to the purchaser.

Are you sure?