Christmas is coming, and the nation's playhouses are filling up with festive productions, said Marianka Swain in The Daily Telegraph. If it's "A Christmas Carol" you're after, the Old Vic's winning staging is back (this time with Christopher Eccleston as Scrooge) while Mark Gatiss's adaptation is at Alexandra Palace in north London, with Keith Allen starring as the miser. Fans of "Peter Pan" can choose between a traditional staging at the Rose Theatre, Kingston; "Peter Pan Goes Wrong" in the West End; or lavish pantomimes at the London Palladium and the Bristol Hippodrome, the latter starring David Suchet as Captain Hook. Other hot tickets include Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" at the Crucible in Sheffield; "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" at the Birmingham Rep; "Oliver!" at the Leeds Playhouse; and "Hansel and Gretel" at Shakespeare's Globe.
Of the festive shows already opened, a standout "sweet treat" is "Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)", at the Kiln Theatre in London, said Swain. This charming musical two-hander, set in a wintry Manhattan, has such Richard Curtis vibes it might as well be called "Cake Actually". A clever and instantly loveable romcom, it is about a dorky Brit named Dougal and a savvy New Yorker, Robin. Her sister is about to marry the rich father he doesn't know, said Nick Curtis in the Evening Standard, and the unlikely pair are tasked with fetching their wedding cake from Brooklyn. "Do they fall in love? Whaddya think?"
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