Performer: Patrick Francis Chestnut

Bleak adaptations of ballet classics are somewhat of a ballet trend at present, with Matthew Bourne’s gothic Sleeping Beauty playing to sell out audiences over Christmas 

Baritone Kay Stiefermann steals hearts at the eponymous Count of Luxembourg, in an operetta so charming that neither musical missteps nor a mixed-up staging can sink it.

Animated characters are the real stars of an imaginative production of The Magic Flute.