Dracapella review – power ballads and beatboxing as ghoulish comedy gets down for the count

Gleefully leaning into all the cliches and groansome laughs, Dan Patterson and Jez Bond’s musical vampire romp is supremely silly

The Guardian view on reboots of A Christmas Carol and Paddington: refugee tales for today

Editorial: An Asian Scrooge, a break-dancing Bob Cratchit and a musical bear – new versions of classics keep stories alive

From the Gruffalo to Dog Man: how to put children’s classics on the stage

With Dog Man making his London theatre debut next summer, theatre makers explain how to make a successful jump from page to stage

Alice: Return to Wonderland review – a wonderfully eccentric new rabbit hole to go down

Alice is a boring grownup at the start of this intelligent and catchy Christmas musical – then she’s whisked off to Wonderland again

Ms Holmes and Ms Watson – Apt 2B review: mysterious case of the joke-cracking Sherlock

This riff on Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective stories has flashes of promise but its comedy and purpose never land

Dog Man: The Musical, based on Dav Pilkey’s bestsellers, to be staged in London

Inspired by the series of irreverent comic books by the Captain Underpants creator, the show will run at the Southbank Centre in 2026

How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney? review – have yourself a merry little rumpus

This exuberant adaptation of Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen’s picture book moves with the rhythm of a child’s racing imagination

Paddington musical in the West End is practically paw-fect, say theatre critics

Michael Bond’s beloved bear is the star of an eagerly anticipated new show at the Savoy theatre in London. Here is what the critics thought

Paddington: The Musical review – they’ve looked after this bear quite splendiferously

State-of-the-art animatronics, imaginative staging, fabulous performances and some marvellous songs about marmalade make for an evening that will fill you with joy and melt your heart

Where to start with Tom Stoppard: from Brazil to Leopoldstadt

The great playwright had a 60-year career in the theatre and also wrote scripts for radio and the screen – here are some of his very best

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy review – flimsy extravaganza needs deeper thought

The madcap sci-fi tale is retold on a lavish scale, complete with in-show merch, but it never really blasts off

The Little Mermaid review – underwater wonders cast a spell in mid-air

A fresh telling of Hans Christian Andersen’s story deploys circus skills and inventive design to create a memorable merworld

The Scouse Christmas Carol review – knockabout comedy with a potty mouth

Paul Duckworth’s sweary Scrooge has romantic history with Marley’s widow in a pun-heavy festive show

The play that changed my life: ‘It was frightening at first but The Inheritance let me discover myself’

Roles as EM Forster and a young, gay American dying of Aids in the 2018 play allowed an opportunity for deep personal and social reflection

Gasp-worthy, clunky, a moral problem? Critics react to The Hunger Games: On Stage

The reviews are in for the long-awaited adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ dystopian novel, presented in a purpose-built theatre in Canary Wharf