Twelfth Night, Young Vic review - Kwame Kwei-Armah makes a big-hearted return home

★★★ TWELFTH NIGHT, YOUNG VIC Kwame Kwei-Armah makes a big-hearted return home

Shakespeare sings in buoyant if sometimes strenuous UK premiere

What better way to celebrate a homecoming than with a party? That is the capacious-hearted thinking behind this new musical version of Twelfth Night, which additionally marks Kwame Kwei-Armah's debut production at the helm of that undeniable dynamo otherwise known as the Young Vic.

Poet in da Corner, Royal Court review - mind-blowing energy plus plus plus

★★★★ POET IN DA CORNER, ROYAL COURT Mind-blowing energy plus plus plus

Semi-autobiographical coming of age story jumps to the sounds of grime

There was once a time when grime music was very angry, and very threatening, but that seems a long time ago now. Today, Dizzee Rascal is less a herald of riot and revolt, and more of a national treasure, exuding charm from every pore, even if his music has become increasing predictable and safe. But, as wordsmith and dancer Debris Stevenson proves in her debut play, Poet in da Corner, Dizzee Rascal still can change minds and influence people.

CD: Cher - Dancing Queen

★★★ CHER - DANCING QUEEN A shameless celebration of all that glitters

A shameless celebration of all that glitters

Cher. Abba. The Mamma Mia films. If you're not excited by all of the above, I'm afraid we can't be friends. I will not apologise for being thoroughly giddy at the prospect of a Cher album of Abba covers. The Queen of Camp taking on some of the greatest pop songs of all time: it's unashamedly exhilarating.

Heathers The Musical, Theatre Royal Haymarket review - a sardonic take on teen angst

★★★★ HEATHERS THE MUSICAL, THEATRE ROYAL HAYMARKET A sardonic take on teen angst

Death and all his frenemies descend on a vicious American high school

This London premiere of Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe’s 2010 musical (based on Daniel Waters’ oh-so-Eighties cult classic movie, starring Christian Slater and Winona Ryder) had a development period at The Other Palace – no critics allowed – before cruising into the West End with a cult following already in place.

DVD/Blu-ray: The Producers

Mel Brooks' breakthrough hits the half-century, still blissfully funny

Few things divide opinion as much as comedy, and we’ve all had the experience of sitting through a film stony-faced while all around collapse with mirth. What tickles you? Erudite Wildean wordplay, or the simple joys of watching a fat bloke fall over? The genius of Mel Brooks’ 1967 incarnation of The Producers is that it ticks so many boxes. There’s something to please (and offend) everyone.

Edinburgh Festival 2018 review: Benedetti, Baltimore SO, Alsop - puzzlingly tame

★★★ EDINBURGH FESTIVAL 2018: BENEDETTI, BALTIMORE SO, ALSOP Puzzlingly tame

The International Festival's big Bernstein bash was a strangely polite affair

The Edinburgh International Festival scored quite a coup in securing the services of Bernstein protégée Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on the very day of the great composer/conductor’s centenary – and for the festival’s penultimate concert of 2018.

Prom 57, On the Town, LSO, Wilson review - symphonic dances and sassy vocals

★★★★ PROM 57, ON THE TOWN, LSO, WILSON Symphonic dances and sassy vocals

Bernstein's most flawless stage work zips past in expert hands

1944 was one hell of a year for Bernstein the composer, with a perfect ballet and a near-perfect musical sharing a general theme of three sailors loose in New York, but nothing else, in their boisterous originality. Perhaps their only equal among Bernstein's works - more contestably – is MASS of 1971, surely his biggest and most resonant score, but hardly a candidate for comparable classicism.

Prom 39, West Side Story, Wilson review - best heard on the radio

★★★★ PROM 39, WEST SIDE STORY John Wilson masterminds big Bernstein homage

This concert version must be experienced on its own terms

In West Side Story, those great, familiar songs just keep on coming. Already by the end of the first half an hour, there have been “The Jet Song”, “Something’s Coming”, “Maria”, “Tonight” and “America”, and there is no shortage of them still to come.

Little Shop of Horrors, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre review - monstrously entertaining

★★★★ LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, REGENT'S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE Monstrously entertaining

A blooming marvellous revival of a classic musical

The resplendent partnership of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman – which produced Disney hits Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid – first took root with this 1982 Off-Broadway musical, based on a low-budget Sixties film, about a man seeking love and fortune via a bloodthirsty plant.