Mark Adamo's 1998 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women will prove too sentimental for some tastes, but you can't fault the performances, writes Tim Ashley
Chris Hannan's brilliant version of the Alexandre Dumas stories The Three Musketeers and the Princess of Spain may be some way from child-friendly – it's rude, anarchic, witty, intelligent, irreligious and coarse, writes Mark Fisher
Tom Morris's production of Swallows and Amazons, at the Bristol Old Vic, allows the audience to enter the same imaginative conspiracy as the Walker children, writes Michael Billington
This attempt to create another Les Mis needs some sharpening, but the pleasant score, likable cast and a memorable female villain make for a fun evening, writes Lyn Gardner
Dave Brubeck's 90th birthday brought tributes aplenty, but the lives of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ernest John Moeran were altogether more mysterious, says Tim Adams
The tragicomic adventures of two British-educated Egyptian Christians in Nasser's postcolonial Cairo reflect the ups and downs of the author's own life, writes Rachel Aspden