Ten things to see in Sussex, December 29 to January 4

Wondering what do over the next seven days? Here are ten of the best events.
The Snow QueenThe Snow Queen
The Snow Queen

1. The Snow Queen.

Friday and Saturday, December 29-30, 2.30pm and 7.30pm, £10-£19.50, Brighton Dome, 01273 709709. Returning to Brighton Dome with their sell-out Christmas show from 2015, Ballet Theatre UK offer an enchanting retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s festive fairy-tale ballet. Join Gerda on an adventure across the frozen north in search of her friend Kay. Along the way, she encounters a band of gypsies, an enchanted reindeer and a mysterious Lapland woman before reaching the Snow Queen’s Palace of Ice. But can Gerda’s love for Kay break the Snow Queen’s curse of eternal winter?

2. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Until Sunday, January 7, The Hawth Theatre, Crawley, 01293 553636, www.hawth.co.uk. TV personality Stephen Mulhern is back at The Hawth, Crawley, for this year’s pantomime. Joining the Catchphrase star will be a top quality cast, which includes Michael J. Batchelor as the Dame, Lauren Cocoracchio as Snow White and Kain Francis as Loopy.

3. Jack and the Beanstalk.

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Until December 31, The Capitol, Horsham, 01403 750220, www.thecapitolhorsham.com. Jack and The Beanstalk is a pantomime about an ordinary boy on an extraordinary adventure. The show stars CBBC’s Olly Pike as Jack, Hollyoaks star James Fletcher as his brother Simon, CiTV presenter Chris Edgerley as Fleshcreep, Richard Alan as King Crumble, Jill Greenacre as Fairy Potter, Hywel Dowsell as Dame Trott and Lauren Osborn as Princess Apricot.

4. New Year’s Eve Viennese Gala concert.

Sunday, December 31, 2.45pm, £12-38, Brighton Dome, 01273 709709. Soprano Rebecca Bottone is one of the most versatile performers on the operatic stage today. Her character roles have been highly acclaimed in performances at the Royal Opera House and with the Welsh National Opera. On New Year’s Eve she appears as herself when she joins the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra at Brighton Dome for the second year running. Her contributions will include ‘By Strauss’ from An American in Paris, ‘The Waltz Song’ from Tom Jones and the bewitching ‘Vilja’ from The Merry Widow. The orchestra will welcome in 2018 with a feast of popular orchestral favourites from that golden age of Viennese light music just before the First World War – a programme of lively and nostalgic music from the repertoire of the Strauss family and its contemporaries.

5. Beauty and the Beast.

Until December 31, tickets from £10, Chichester Festival Youth Theatre, www.cft.org.uk, 01243 781312. Chichester Festival Youth Theatre follow up their excellent summer production of Grimm Tales for Young and Old with a twist on Beauty and the Beast. A foolish prince is cursed to live a life alone in a castle. A kind and beautiful young girl asks her father for a rose. One must learn to love and be loved, while the other needs to understand that there’s more to people than meets the eye. This is a tale of magic and romance, packed with enchanting musical numbers and a few scary moments.

6. Berliner Philharmoniker – New Year’s Eve Gala Concert.

Sunday, December 31, 4pm, £12-15, The Hawth Theatre, Crawley, 01293 553636, www.hawth.co.uk. Broadcast live from Berlin. Antonín Dvořák – Carnival Overture, op.92. Igor Stravinsky – Pas de deux from Apollon musagète. Richard Strauss – Orchestral Songs. Leonard Bernstein – Three Dance Episodes from On the Town. Leonard Bernstein – Take Care of the House. Dimitri Shostakovitch – Suite from The Golden Age, op. 22a. With the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. The top circular picture by Peter Adamik shows conductor Simon Rattle. Find out more at www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en.

7. Oskar’s Amazing Adventure.

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Until Sunday, December 31, Komedia, 44-47 Gardner Street, Brighton, 0845 293 8480. After widespread success with Pitschi, the Kitten with Dreams, Theatre Fideri Fidera is back at Brighton’s Komedia. Fun-loving Oskar is bored in Grandma’s snow bound little house on top of the mountain and goes out to find a friendly animal to play with. But the animals he meets are more interested in dinner than a game, and Oskar only avoids a hungry fox by falling down a deep hole and landing on top of a young, hibernating marmot. Marmot forgives Oskar for waking her and aims to reunite the little dog with his family.

8. Circus show.

Until December 31, Squire’s Garden Centre, Washington. This family event (bottom circular picture) features jaw-dropping acts including uni-cycling, plate spinning, aerial acrobatics, sword and dagger balancing, rola rola balancing, and rolling globes. Hosted by a ringmaster who is ‘helped’ by a very funny clown, the circus also stars ‘Boris the dancing polar bear’. There are daily shows at 11.30am and 3pm. Tickets are £10 per person and the show lasts approximately one hour. Visit www.squires gardencentres.co.uk.

9. Moscow City Ballet presents Swan Lake.

Wednesday and Thursday, January 3-4, tickets from £15, Chichester Festival Youth Theatre, www.cft.org.uk, 01243 781312. Moscow City Ballet returns with a ballet presented in classic Russian style with a full orchestra. Swan Lake is arguably the world’s most romantic ballet, a tale of love and betrayal set to Tchaikovsky’s haunting score. A signature piece of the company’s entire repertoire, it’s the poignant story of Siegfried and his love for Odette, the Queen of the Swans.

10. Beyond the Barricade.

Friday, January 5, 7.30pm, £22, Clair Hall, Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, 01444 455440. Recreating original West End and Broadway musical hits with amazing authenticity, this cast of past principal performers from Les Miserables, present an incredible two-hour show. The concert stars: Andy Reiss, David Fawcett, Katie Leeming and Rebecca Vere, together with their own ensemble of musicians.

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