Crazy for You

The gorgeous finale adds a touch of night-time magic to Timothy Sheader’s classy revival of the Gershwin brothers’ 1930 escapist musical froth about NY banker and aspiring hoofer Bobby who falls for a gal (Clare Foster) in a Nevada backwater.

American Sean Palmer exudes easy charm as he sets out to save her theatre by impersonating David Burke’s badger-coiffed impresario, and, with a host of hits – including Someone to Watch Over Me and an irresistibly choreographed I Got Rhythm - this big-hearted show is guaranteed to please.

Open Air Theatre, Inner Circle, Regents Park, NW1 4NR (0844 826 4242) Tube: Baker Street openairtheatre.org Until September 10 (£22.50 - £49.50)

Top Girls

Nearly 3 decades since he directed its premiere, Max Stafford-Clark successfully revisits Caryl Churchill’s seminal and unconventionally structured play in which Suranne Jones’ career orientated Marlene hosts a surreal dinner party for half a dozen historical women (including a Victorian traveller, a 13th century Japanese concubine turned nun, and a female Pope) all of whom paid a price in a man’s world.

More realistically, we then see her at the employment agency where her tough Thatcherite creed and shoulder pads have propelled her to the top.

And finally, in a confrontation with the sister (Stella Gonet’s disgruntled Joyce) left behind in rural Suffolk to pick up the domestic pieces and raise a backward child, Churchill makes it clear that for many, the power-obsessed 80’s still held little prospect of fulfilment.

Trafalgar Studios 1, Whitehall, SW1A 2DY(0844 871 7632) Tube: Charing Cross ambassadortickets.com/trafalgarstudios Until October 29 (£35- £45)

Don Giovanni

Last year, OperaUpClose scooped the Olivier award for Best New Opera from under the noses of the Royal Opera House and English National Opera with Robin Norton-Hale’s small scale, vigorously updated version of Puccini’s La Bohème which briefly moved action and audience into the downstairs bar area for an added touch of realism, affording those who hadn’t managed to get a ticket a tantalising glimpse through the street level window.

Now she’s turned her attention to Mozart’s popular tale of a serial philanderer, changing the immoral 18th century lothario into a ruthless city trader, Johnny, in the cash-rich noughties.

His address book (assiduously updated by his increasingly worried intern) boasts 1003 conquests in London alone, he’s got more money than he knows what to do with and he’s not afraid to kill to get himself out of a tight spot.

Sung in colloquial English and given a lively contemporary slant, in some ways it’s the perfect way to get a handle on a not always accessible (and often pricey) medium.

That said, there are limitations to the strength of the comparatively young voices, and a single piano – even with the addition of a live electronic score incorporating R & B and dubstep – can’t match the emotional power of an orchestra.

But it’s definitely entertaining and decently sung by rotating casts, with (on the night I went) Martin Nelson particularly imposing as a murdered barrister come back from the dead and Paul Carey Jones giving Johnny an arrogant insouciance as he parties from Sloane Square to Soho, seducing as he goes.

Soho Theatre, Dean Street, W1D 3NE (020 7478 0100) Tube: Tottenham Court Road sohotheatre.com Until September 17 (£10.00 - £29.50)

The Beauty Queen of Leenane

Darkly comic, deeply poignant and acted to perfection, Joe Hill-Gibbins’ knockout revival of Martin McDonagh’s 1996 portrayal of rural Irish stagnation returns (predominantly recast) for another well-deserved season.

Rosaleen Linehan reprises her role as the malevolent mother from hell – emptying her chamber pot down the kitchen sink and doing her utmost to scupper the last chance of her 40 year old daughter Maureen (Derbhle Crotty) to find happiness with Frank Laverty’s gentle Pato, whilst his bored younger brother Ray (Johnny Ward) stomps around in frustration at the limitations of Connemara life.

Cruel, black, bitterly funny – and not to be missed.

Young Vic, The Cut, SE1 8LZ (0207 922 2922) Tube: Southwark/Waterloo youngvic.org Untill September 3
(£10 - £29.50)

Ghost the Musical

Though unlikely to tug at the heartstrings, Bruce Joel Rubin’s musical stage version of his 1990 cinematic tearjerker is well worth seeing - not because of the fairly forgettable songs from Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, but for the juddering choreography and video projections which conjure up the anonymous bustle of New York, for the ingenious body-evaporating illusions and for an outsize performance by Sharon D Clarke as the phoney psychic who turns out to have real powers.

Reluctantly cajoled by the ghost of murdered Wall Street trader Sam into protecting his sculptor girlfriend Molly (and yes, she does throw a pot on stage) Clarke’s a larger than life force and impossible to resist.

Piccadilly Theatre, Denman Street, W1D 7DY (0844 871 7618) Tube: Piccadilly Circus ambassadortickets.com/ghost (£25-£67.50) Until October 13

Parade

If you like your musicals with a bit of bite, head straight for the Southwark Playhouse to catch Thom Southerland’s revival of this engrossing 1998 award winner by Americans Jason Robert Brown (music and lyrics) and Alfred Uhry (book). Set in Atlanta almost a century ago, it’s based on the real-life case of a 13-year-old factory worker, Mary Phagan, who was found raped and murdered on the premises.

Suspicion fell initially on the black night-watchman, Newt Lee, and then on Leo Frank, the well-educated superintendent. Despite having married a well-connected Southern girl, Jewish New Yorker Frank still remained something of an outsider and the ensuing public reaction to the killing exposed deep seams of anti-Semitism and racism still rife in the Deep South five decades after the end of the Civil War.

The prejudice, the politics and, centrally, the personal relationship between Frank and his loyal wife are all exposed as the case goes to court and beyond.

The production sometimes veers towards the over-busy and the sound balance needs drastic attention (does the traverse staging really necessitate mics?) but the dramatic story and lead performances more than compensate. Alastair Brookshaw’s Frank is all quivering nervousness as he insists on his innocence, whilst Laura Pitt-Pulford raises the emotional stakes as his loyal wife Lucille.

There’s smooth politicking from Mark Inscoe’s prosecutor (who isn’t above a bit of witness coaching to get the result he wants) and David Haydn’s Governor turns out to have a strong moral streak as well as an easy charm.

But once again it’s Terry Doe (just a year out of drama school) who takes the production to another level. Grizzled as the original suspect Newt, show-stopping as the ex-con janitor Jim Conley – he steals an already compelling show every time he appears.

Southwark Playhouse, Shipwright Yard, SE1 2TF (020 7407 0234) Tube: London Bridge southwarkplayhouse.co.uk Until September 17 (£10-£22.50)

A Woman Killed With Kindness

Updating Thomas Heywood’s 1603 domestic tragedy to 1919, director Katie Mitchell’s visually mesmerising production (the text substantially cut) plays out main and sub plot side by side on a vertically split stage.

Scurrying servants signify the contrasting changes in fortune of adulterous Anne (banished for her infidelity) and virtuous Susan (pimped by her debt-ridden brother) in a stylised interpretation which, with the exception of Gawn Grainger’s tale-telling retainer, places more emphasis on movement than dialogue.

The result is intriguing but sacrifices emotional involvement for artistic concept.

Lyttelton at the National, South Bank, SE1 9PX (020 7452 3000) Tube: Waterloo nationaltheatre.org.uk Until September 11 (£12 - £30.00)

Journey's End

The atmosphere builds slowly, but the ultimate message of R.C.Sherriff’s 1928 World War 1 drama (which drew on his own experience in the trenches) retains all its power to shock in its depiction of soldiers at the front line served up as cannon fodder by the bigwigs in control.

Too enthusiastically raw to realise what they are about to face, nerves either shot to pieces or (as in the case of James Norton’s Captain Hardy) controlled by numbing whisky, these men – both young and, like Dominic Mafham’s married teacher “Uncle”, not so young – prepare to meet their fate in the service of king and country. David Grindley’s production does them proud.

Duke of York’s, St Martin’s Lane, WC2N 4BG (0844 871 7623) Tube: Charing Cross /Leicester Square dukeofyorkstheatre.co.uk Until September 3 (£15.00 - £49.50)

Blue Surge

Hooker meets cop and something clicks in the UK premiere of American playwright Rebecca Gilman’s layered, sympathetic 2001 play.

It’s a touching – and often very funny – observation of damaged lives in a small Midwest town, its characters coping the best way they can, but not always living up to the expectations of others who think they could – and should – do better in a supposedly upwardly mobile society.

Teenage masseuse Sandy, with her troubled background, has done the maths and reckons turning tricks beats stacking shelves or working in retail. Policeman Curt has, despite his working class background, snagged a classy artist girlfriend, Beth (whose parents have money, even if she hasn’t). At 38, he still hasn’t made lieutenant - partly because he’s too decent a guy to land his mess-up of a partner Doug (Alexander Guiney) in the shit in order to advance his own career.

Beth wants more from Curt, and he, in turn, wants to help Sandy get off the game. In contrast, Doug’s desires are far more basic when he gets together with her more brazen colleague (Kelly Burke).

Director Ché Walker quietly draws you into the complex relationship which develops between James Hillier’s Curt and Clare Latham’s Sandy. Honourable intentions don’t necessarily lead to happiness and, by continually subverting expectations, Gilman holds one’s attention throughout in yet another fine production at the Finborough.

Finborough, Finborough Road, SW10 9ED (0844 847 1652) Tube: Earl’s Court ticketweb.co.uk Until August 27 (£15 - £18)

Dames at Sea

Niftily choreographed, confidently sung and altogether rather charming, Kirk Jameson’s sparky revival of Haimsohn, Miller & Wise’s 1966 spoof on lavish 30’s Hollywood musicals works a treat in this tiny space, filling it with hoofing chorines, tap-dancing sailors and a trio of romances.

Add Rosemary Ashe’s temperamental ageing star with a performance as outré as her wig, Gemma Sutton’s small town Ruby with big Broadway ambitions and Catriana Sandison’s worldly Joan – not to mention a bulldozed theatre - and you’re in for a small scale summer treat.

Union Theatre, 204 Union Street, City of London, SE1 0LX (020 7261 9876) Tube: Southwark uniontheatre.biz Until August 20 (£15)

£15

Road Show

You may never have heard of Palm Beach architect Addison Mizner and his smooth-talking entrepreneur brother Wilson, but Stephen Sondheim has turned their early 20th century rollercoaster rags to riches story into a clever vaudevillian musical which satirises the American Dream.

Michael Jibson (hardworking, gay) and David Bedella (shifty, womanising) shine as the contrasting siblings and, although this isn’t vintage Sondheim, John Doyle’s wittily staged European premiere definitely delivers as the traverse stage is showered with $100 bills as suspect as Wilson’s promises.

Menier Chocolate Factory, 53 Southwark Street, SE1 1RU (020 7907 7060) Tube: London Bridge menierchocolatefactory.com Until September 17 (£33.50 / Meal Deals £40.00)

Betwixt!

Billed as “a funny musical” Ian McFarlane’s daft bit of escapism takes place in present day New York and an enchanted kingdom which exists in a parallel dimension.

Don’t expect to find anything deep or philosophical, though, in a ludicrous plot which sees blocked writer Bailey embark on a totally ridiculous adventure with camp resting actor Cooper who turns up uninvited and wants to be his new roomie.

With just three days to go before the deadline to deliver his second novel – a fairy tale fantasy for adults – Bailey hasn’t written a word. But there’s more than enough inspiration to be found the other side of a locked door which, Narnia-like, takes him and Cooper into another world.

Steven Webb delivers Cooper’s throwaway lines with aplomb and perfect comic timing, whilst Ashleigh Gray has fun as Miranda – a disembodied head with a heavy Teutonic accent. The rest of the cast throw themselves into various roles - from Mexican musicians to reporters – with gusto.

But despite valiant efforts from Peter Duncan (as a swaggering star in one world and a travelling player and a prince in another) it all wears rather thin and wearisome, its efforts to please as obvious as the writhings of American Ellen Greene’s nymphomaniac Nymph Queen as she tries to seduce both Bailey and the completely disinterested Copper who, in a nice touch, is far more interested in her costume than its contents.

Trafalgar Studios, Whitehall, SW1A 2DY Tube: Charing Cross (0844 871 7632) ambassadortickets.com/trafalgarstudios Until September 10 (£25.00)

Lay Me Down Softly

TNT

Once you’ve adjusted to the accents in Billy Roche’s well-acted, bittersweet, but low-key piece, the interactions between the members of a struggling travelling roadshow in 60’s rural Ireland reveal the dissatisfaction of wrong choices made and past opportunities missed.

Roche, who also directs, creates an insular, dying world in which sparring doesn’t just take place in the boxing ring and from which the young would be well advised to escape.

Tricycle, Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR (020 7328 1000) Tube: Kilburn tricycle.co.uk Until August 6 (£12 - £22)

Richard III

With humped back and leg callipered from ankle to groin, Kevin Spacey’s disgruntled Richard holds the audience in the palm of his withered hand in Shakespeare’s depiction of murderous ambition run riot.

His confiding determination is mesmerising as he persuades Haydn Gwynne’s widowed Queen Elizabeth to let him marry her daughter and is cursed by Gemma Jones ragged Queen Margaret in Sam Mendes’ climactic production for the transatlantic Bridge Project.

Old Vic, The Cut, SE1 8NB (0844 871 7628) Tube: Waterloo Oldvictheatre.com Until September 11 (£10 - £52.50)

Park Avenue Cat

Billed as “a slinky, sexy new comedy to make you purr”, this short attempt at a rom-com from Los Angeles based Frank Strausser is more likely to make you stretch, yawn and long to slink away in search of tastier morsels.

Set in the offices of $200 an hour psychotherapist Nancy (a brisk Tessa Peake-Jones), it begins conventionally enough with 41 year old former model-turned-art-dealer Lily arriving for a couples therapy session – without her other half, Philip.

She says she wants to rescue her relationship, but when her idle, super-rich old flame Dorian turns up instead, she can’t resist the temptation of his luxurious lifestyle.

A well-cast Josefina Gabrielle does a decent job of conveying Lily’s insecurities and uncertainties, but Daniel Weyman and Gray O’Brien overact in an unsuccessful attempt to bring one-dimensional, unsympathetic characters to life.

Awkwardly staged, neither particularly funny nor sufficiently insightful, this has all the hallmarks of a potentially promising but fatally underdeveloped idea.

A programme note says that Strausser is developing it as a feature film – he’s got a helluva of a lot of work to do.

Arts Theatre, Great Newport Street, WC2H 7JB (020 7907 7092) Tube: Leicester Square lovetheatre.com Until August 20 (£15-£37)

Loyalty

TNT

As you’d expect from an established journalist, Sarah Helm’s debut play is well written and precisely crafted. What it isn’t, however, is dramatically dynamic - which is a shame as she also just happens to be the wife of Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s Chief of Staff in the run up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

So although her “fictionalised memoir” is obviously significantly informed by the knowledge she gleaned during that controversial period, the main thrust of her drama is the relationship between her fictional self, Laura (Maxine Peake, excellent) and partner Nick who (whilst kept busy supporting and advising Patrick Baladi’s preening P.M. Tony) refuses to confirm whether or not he, like her, personally disapproves of the leader’s chosen course of action.

Helm catches well the conflict between the demands of the domestic and the political (red ministerial boxes cover the bed, their unseen children are a constant presence). And it’s rather worrying that Nick (Lloyd Owen) not only allows Laura to listen in and make notes on supposedly secure conversations but is also prone to leaving sensitive documents lying around for the au pair to read. But Helm doesn’t really go far enough and her mix of fact and unspecified fiction frustrates and entertains in equal measure.

Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, NW3 3EU (020 7722 9301) Tube:Swiss Cottage hampsteadtheatre.com Until August 13 (£22-£29)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

This play, which made Tom Stoppard’s name in the 60’s, could just as easily be entitled “two characters in search of a plot” – and of the meaning of life - as the courtiers, minor players from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, take centre stage.

Whilst the real action unfolds mainly unseen, they wait, Godot-like, for their entrances and exits, passing the time with existential musings and witty word games.

Reuniting two original “History Boys” (Samuel Barnett, an anxious, unworldly Rosencrantz and Jamie Parker’s more solid Guildenstern) Trevor Nunn’s respectful production still impresses, though at times Stoppard’s clever conceit now seems over-contrived and under-edited.

Theatre Royal Haymarket, Haymarket, SW1Y 4HT (0845 481 1870) Tube: Piccadilly Circus trh.co.uk Until August 20 (£17.00-£50.00)

Mirror Teeth

Nick Gill’s abrasive, absurdist satire sets out to show that you can take bigots out of their own country but the bigotry goes with them wherever they go.

Played without an interval, it follows the Caucasian Jones family – dad James (a smug David Verrey) is an arms dealer, mum Jane a housewife - as they literally move their house from “one of the largest cities of Our Country” to “one of the largest cities of A Middle Eastern Country” where riots prove to be just around the corner.

Life, they agree, is good – though Jane feels threatened every time she sees a non-white face. Then their “eighteen year old sexually active schoolgirl” daughter, Jenny, brings the perceived threat right into their home – Kwesi, her new boyfriend, is black.

At least undergraduate John (Jamie Baughan) tries to show some moral fibre when his sister (Louise Collins’ provocative Jenny) attempts to seduce him, but it’s Kwesi (polite in the face of parental prejudice, rejecting premarital sex on religious grounds) who is actually the most civilized.

The deliberately cartoonish behaviour and mannered speech of the Jones family wears thin, though, and, having made his point, Gill rather loses his way in a production in which style comes to override content.

Finborough Theatre, Finborough Road, SW10 9ED (0844 847 1652) Tube: Earl’s Court finboroughtheatre.co.uk Until July 30 (£11-£15)

The Flying Karamazov Brothers

As they freely admit, the 4 kilted performers in this likeable but over-stretched show don’t fly, aren’t related and not one is really a Karamazov.

These Americans do, however, have a nifty line in synchronised juggling, a relaxed manner with their audience and a childish enthusiasm for what founder member Paul Magid has been doing since 1973 as they dance in tutus, play musical instruments and, sometimes, drop their Indian clubs.

Vaudeville, Strand WC2R 0NH (0844 412 4663) Tube: Charing Cross fkb.com Until September 10 (£22.50 -£39.50)