THE WEST END

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time. Similar film adaptations continue on London’s West End with a reworking of 1988’s Big, in which a 12-year-old boy is granted his wish of becoming an adult. It was one of the first screen-to-stage musicals in 1996, and this new production stars Gary Wilmot.

It’s been 30 years since Back To The Future made its mark and the new stage version is written by original screenwriter Bob Gale and director Robert Zemeckis. As well as the Huey Lewis hit, The Power Of Love new music will be written by Glen Ballard (Ghost).

Fasten your seatbelts as Cate Blanchett stars as Margo Channing in an adaptation of the 1950 Bette Davis film All About Eve, to be directed by Ivo van Hove (Lazarus). Tickets for this will be gold.

While Australia recently saw Dusty: The Musical, Son Of A Preacher Man is the story of three broken-hearted strangers in a 1960’s club in Soho. Featuring the hits of Dusty Springfield, it stars Diana Vickers, Debra Stephenson and Ian Reddington.

Also drawn from the ’60s comes Sammy: The Sammy Davis Jr Musical, telling the story of the American entertainer who rose to fame with hits such as The Candy Man, Mr Bojangles, That’s Entertainment and Singin’ In The Rain. Of course, you can’t tell Sammy’s story without including the great characters he knew, like friends Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnelli, who are all portrayed in the production. Leslie Bricusse, who provided many of the star’s hits, has penned the production.

And in a similar vein, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical will tell the rags-to-riches story of the girl from Nutbush who became rock royalty. Like Cher, Turner herself is behind the production. Adrienne Warren (Dreamgirls) will play Tina and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is the formidable Ike. Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia!) will direct, with choreography by Anthony van Laast.