Sally Jack

It’s a brave person who confronts psychopathic serial killer and former psychiatrist Dr Hannibal Lecter, both in our world and the fictional world he inhabits in Thomas Harris’s acclaimed series of novels. Thanks mainly to Anthony Hopkins’s portrayal of him in the multi-Oscar-winning 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs, the character is now deeply embedded in our psyches, indelibly associated with a hockey mask, fava beans and a nice Chianti.

The pie pun-ometer is set at a mouth-wateringly high level in Waitress, a musical not exclusively but very much tied into the life-affirming qualities of baking, specifically pies. Featuring some of the West End’s big hitters, this touring production is now almost halfway through its 10th anniversary UK tour. Waitress is based on the 2007 film (written and directed by Adrienne Shelly), and with an all-female creative team—this was a notable first for Broadway on its 2016 opening.

All aboard the SS American for a cruise back in time to art deco glamour, sublime Cole Porter songs and a steady supply of cocktails. Anything Goes has undergone several iterations since its first performance in 1934 on Broadway, the West End in 1935, a 1936 film version and several successful revivals from the 1980s onwards.