The Snowman, London
Raymond Briggs’s tale of a snowman who comes to life and befriends a small boy was adapted for the stage by Bill Alexander in 1993. It is now a Christmas staple, with music by Howard Blake (including Walking In The Air) and choreography by Robert North. As the snowman and the boy fly away to the North Pole, they encounter dancing fruit, comic fat-bottomed penguins, a wickedly spiky Jack Frost and the rosiest-cheeked of Father Christmases. A family friendly show, brilliantly adapted for children of all ages.
Peacock Theatre, WC2, to 3 Jan
Saint Petersburg Classic Ballet, Croydon & Guildford
Christmas is a popular time of year for the smaller Russian companies, which often tour the UK with scaled-down versions of the 19th-century classics. This is the first time, however, that SPCB has done so. Formed in 1996 by Marina Medvetskaya, for this debut tour the company takes on the two perennially popular Tchaikovsky ballets in the Nutcracker and Swan Lake. In Croydon, these will be paired with Giselle, a perfectly formed early Romantic ballet that takes a flesh-and-blood love story to an exquisite, supernatural finale.
