Scrooge gets a hip-hop spin and the RSC presents The BFG: 20 of the UK’s best theater shows this Christmas | Christmas offers

Ebony curmudgeon

Sadler’s Wells East, London, From November 26th to January 4th
Choreographer Dannielle Rhimes Lecointe brings a hip-hop-style twist to A Christmas Carol with a family-friendly story about a fashion designer who cancels Christmas to focus on her career. Presenting a united festive front, Sadler’s Wells is also bringing back The Snowman, The Red Shoes and The Little Match Girl.

beauty and the beast

citizens, glasgow, From 2 to 31 December
The Gorbals Theater looks even more beautiful after its seven-year renovation, and who better to show off Louis Hetherington’s new telling of the transformative fairy tale. With the stunning dual directorial work of Dominic Hill and Joanna Bowman, and the score by Nicola Kudjabashia, the film will be fantastic in terms of atmosphere, music and adventure.

PFG

Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, From November 25th to February 7th
Playwright Tom Wells scales the dizzying heights of Roald Dahl’s favorite play, in which a young girl is whisked away to the Giant Country. The puppets are created by Toby Ouellet, following his work on Animal Farm and Spirited Away, and the show is created by RSC Associate Artistic Director Daniel Evans. It moves to the Chichester Festival Theater in March.

Cinderella and the matzo ball

JW3, London, from 7 December to 4 January
Playwright Nick Kasenbaum puts a Jewish twist on the rags-to-riches fairy tale with a pantomime that begins when the clock strikes Saturday and continues with enough bread-related puns to get you through Yeast Finchley. Talia Beck takes on the lead role and klezmer specialist Josh Middleton serves as musical director.

Pinocchio

Shakespeare’s Globe, London, From November 29th to January 4th
Charlie Josephine (book) and Jim Fortune (music and lyrics) collaborate on a musical version of the story of the doll boy whose path to human status takes many moral diversions. Surrounded by the oak beams of a symmetrical Elizabethan theatre, Lee Braithwaite plays the wooden lead in a Sean Holmes production.

My child

merry, aire, From November 29th to January 4th
Last year “Mother Goose” at the Gaiety Theater. It won the inaugural Outstanding Pantomime Award at the Critics’ Awards for Theater in Scotland. Now, writer and Dame Fraser Boyle returns – this time bringing in director Tom Cooper – with a family show that promises to be strong in Ayrshire references, political criticism and good gags.

Singing in the rain

Royal Exchange, Manchester, From November 29th to January 18thy
This upbeat musical about the advent of talk shows gets a thorough treatment by director Raz Shaw, who staged The Producers here in 2018. In addition to the title song, the hits keep coming: Make ’em Laugh, Good Morning, You Were Meant for Me, Moses…

There’s a monster in your Christmas display

Clwyd Theatre, MoldFrom 9 to 21 December
For audiences too young to see rock ‘n’ roll Cinderella, here’s a new musical version of Tom Fletcher’s “Who’s in Your Book?” A series of interactive adventures. Adapted by Zoe Bourne, the show tours with varying degrees of Christmas atmosphere, until the end of May.

In the forest

bridge theater london, From December 2nd to April 18th
The fairytale combination of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine has been given a major revival by director Jordan Finn, who wowed London audiences with his Oklahoma! And Fiddler on the Roof. Tom Scott’s designs for the famous flexible stage.

Dance shoes

Traverse, Edinburgh, From 4 to 20 December
A welcome revival of this wish-fulfillment comedy from Stephen Christopher and Graeme Smith that began life in the lunchtime series A Play, a Pie and a Pint. The film is about a recovering addict in his 60s who reinvents himself as an online dance enthusiast. Guardian comedy critic Brian Logan directs the film.

Little mermaid

New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme, From November 14th to January 4th
New Vic Theater Artistic Director Teresa Heskins continues her fruitful partnership with aviation specialist Vicky Della Amedome in a joint presentation of Hans Christian Andersen’s cult favorite, which sets the underwater circus story of a sea king’s daughter who falls in love with a human prince.

Bananas for Christmas

Eden Court, InvernessFrom 11 to 24 December
Murray-based children’s premium company Frozen Charlotte presents a comedy about a pair of banana-loving beach dwellers. Heather Fulton’s production is aimed at younger audiences as an alternative to the main stage Snow White, and will have future gala performances in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

Christmas fair

Oldham Amphitheater at Chadderton Town HallFrom December 17 to January 2
Taking advantage of the Coliseum’s delayed reopening, director Jamie Fairhurst of Not Too Tame Theater immerses the audience into the heart of the action with a site-specific staging of Jim Cartwright’s comedy The Village Celebration.

The sound of music

The Curve, Leicester, 22 November to January 17
Nikolai Foster directs Molly Lynch and David Seddon-Young, stars of last year’s My Fair Lady, as Maria and Captain von Trapp, during a break for the hills. For younger audiences, Aliens Love Panta Claus is a space-age musical option in the same theater.

Sock inserts

Royal Court, Liverpool, From December 28 to January 3
As an antidote to the crassness of The Scouse Christmas Carol, graduates of the theater’s Stage Write program stage a series of mini-plays on a festive theme in the studio. They vary from funny to heartbreaking.

Christmas carol

Lyric, Belfast, From November 28th to January 10th
Following a well-received tour last year, Mary Jones’s adaptation of Dickens’s classic novel was presented as a play within a play. Set now in Belfast, the film is presented by the fictional Pottinger Players, a group of working-class actors who know all about poverty and exploitation. Dan Gordon returns as Scrooge in Matthew McElhenney’s production.

Sherlock Holmes and the 12 Days of Christmas

birmingham delegate, From November 14th to January 18th
Humphrey Kerr and David Reed star as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in a festive murder mystery with new original songs by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. This satirical comedy is set in London’s Victorian West End, where the actors die mid-scene.

Treasure Island: A New Musical Adventure

Bristol Old Vicfrom December 4 to January 10
Jake Pronger and Pippa Cleary, the team behind The Great British Bake Off: The Musical, take to the high seas to create Robert Louis Stevenson’s irreverent story. The cast and musicians include comedian Jade Adams in various roles and newcomer Adriene Caulder James as Jim Hawkins. Paul Foster directs.

Freaky Friday

manchester, From November 27th to January 10th
Mary Rodgers’ mother-daughter body-swapping comedy, made famous by the Disney films, is getting the musical treatment by Bridget Carpenter (book), Tom Kitt (music), and Brian Yorkey (lyrics). Andy Fickman directs the UK premiere.

Weaned in wood

McRobert, Stirling, From November 26th to January 3rd
After his Edinburgh-set “She’s Behind You” became a hit, writer-director and Dame Johnny McKnight puts theory into practice in bringing his wayward style to life in a fairy tale where no one can remember the story. McKnight fans will also want to head to Tron in Glasgow for Sally Reid’s show of Gallus at Weegieland.