Best Theater Airing This Month: A Jaffa Cake Musical is a thrilling courtroom comedy | platform

Musical Jaffa Cake

Is it a cake or is it a biscuit? That’s the provocative question at the heart of this brilliant courtroom musical. The Gigglemug comedy revisits the 1991 dispute between McVitie’s and HMRC, over whether VAT imposed on chocolate biscuits should be imposed on Jaffa Cakes. Her catchy songs will stay with you long into the new year. Available from Lounges.TV as well as Gigglemug’s Scouts! Musical.

beauty and the beast

A tale as old as time gets the rock and roll treatment in Ipswich. There are live broadcasts of several matinees and evening shows at New Wolsey this month, as well as a Christmas Eve matinee show. It’s certainly never too early to sing along with Meat Loaf and Dolly Parton.

sleeping beauty

Nottingham Playhouse is one of the precious few venues that has traditionally presented a show online. This year’s show is written and directed by head of theater Adam Benford and promises a fire-breathing dragon as well as the return of local legend John Elkington as Dame. Available from December 16th.

Giraffe, Billy and me

You couldn’t wish for a more lively storyteller than Hamed Animation, an inspired choice for this theatrical reading of Roald Dahl’s tale about a boy’s dreams of opening a sweet shop. The Unicorn Movie, directed by Daniel Bailey, features chatty puppets, lively songs and vibrant design.

What’s not to like?

This title says it all: John C. Reilly’s stage show, which ran briefly at the Soho Theater Walthamstow in November, is irresistible and finds it in the character of Mr. Romantic, who woos his audience with a popular song. The accompanying album contains numbers by Irving Berlin and Tom Waits.

The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical

Rick Riordan’s Half-Blood hero returned to tour in January, and the original recording by Joe Tracz and Rob Rokicki’s lively London rock band was recently posted online. Songs like DOA and Killer Quest! and Fetch the Monsters are perfect for reaching 11 years old.

Keifrin, out for the season

A young, pregnant Cornish woman in need of accommodation moves into a couple’s holiday home in this riveting story by Jack Brownridge-Kelly, which slowly reveals the connections between the three. It was filmed at the Burrell Theater in Truro, and is on YouTube.

Guys and dolls at Christmas

This will do well-terrific. For the BBC drama On 3 Strand, two of Damon Runyon’s stories – Dan’s Dancing Christmas and The Three Wise Men – were screened alongside Frank Loesser’s What’s to Do on New Year’s Eve? It was sung by Jimmy Parker, who played Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls in London and Chichester a decade earlier.