Issue 565

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

In with a bang

13 Dec 2006

It will come as no surprise to learn that for director, Adrian Noble the starting point for this stage musical was the film. The original Chitty got so much right, it’s hard to imagine anyone changing it for the better. The film had it all - love…

Review of the year

13 Dec 2006

For a good three years before its first shows opened in February of this year, the possible merits and demerits of the NTS, were hotly debated.

Hitlist

The best theatre

13 Dec 2006

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Delight at the adventures of the marvel car, its winsome passengers and their tuneful voices while you hiss the Childcatcher. Spectacle combines with comedy and music, and the addition of some well-kent Scottish faces makes for a…

Dick McWhittington

Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, until Sat 30 Dec

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch All Alice (Katrina Bryan) has ever longed for is Dick. He (Robert Jack) feels some affection for her, too, but he’s got his hands full with his mum (Graham Cramond) who, unusually, has a Pinkie Winkie - Jack’s little brother (Aaron Usher). And…

Cinderella - Perth Theatre

Cinderella

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch Pity poor Baron Hardup, as feeble as a bowl of watery broth with a dicky ticker to boot, blitz-fully wedded to arch shrew Dodda Mutton, stepfather to a pair of hideous harpies who could give Lucrezia Borgia a run for her money in the…

Cinderella - King's Theatre, Edinburgh

Cinderella

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch Poor old Cinders (Carolyn Gibb), she’s a decent sort of lass, but much put upon by her sisters Trinny and Susannah (Jo Freer, Julie Coombe), who suffer from a chronic inability to confront their own mauketness. Along comes a Prince who talks…

Green Whale

Green Whale

13 Dec 2006

The pitch Three Edinburgh children stow away on the ‘Big Betty’ whaling ship, hoping to raise money for their poor family. Onboard they meet Nin the merciless hunter, Crill the eccentric captain, Isabella the former Queen of Spain and a mysterious girl…

Pinocchio

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 30 Dec

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch Total ASBO case Pinocchio (James-Anthony Pearson) is a pathological bullshitter, who’s perfectly willing to see Gepetto (Simon Scott), the coffin dodger who fashioned him from wood, do chokey for his ills. He’ll never turn from wood to flesh…

Peter Pan

Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow, until Wed 24 Jan

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch Thirty-five-year-old man Pan (Cameron-Big Brother-Stout), who definitely won’t be doing more growing, flies into the Darling sibling’s (Stephen Purdon and Laura McMonagle) window and whisks them, Nanny Clyde (Dean Parks) and Nana the dug off…

Hansel and Gretel - Dundee Rep

Hansel and Gretel

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch A kindly but impoverished woodcutter, with aspirations of becoming the next Gordon Ramsay, dwells on the edge of a forest with his hideously deformed, flatulent wife and two children, inch-thick Hansel and plucky Gretel. Keen to get hubby's…

Aladdin

King’s Theatre, Glasgow

13 Dec 2006

The pitch Rather more the story of Wishee Washee, a redundant shepherd trying to break into his mother’s laundry business, than of his brother Aladdin who falls foul of the wicked Abanazar after failing to get a magical lamp out of a cave. Amid flying…

Hansel and Gretel - The Arches

Hansel and Gretel

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch Hansel (Helen Mallon) and Gretel (Isobel Joss) are abandoned in the forest by their evil stepmother (Julie Brown), so that herself and the father (Stewart Ennis) have two less mouths to feed. However, the children prove astute when caught by…

Wullie Whittington

Tron Theatre, Glasgow

13 Dec 2006

The pitch Young Wullie Whittington is ready to take the leap from being last year’s understudy to this year’s romantic lead in the self-referential world of the Pantosphere. His chief obstacle is that his singing’s as flat as a pancake and it looks as…

Festive listings

13 Dec 2006

Go to the what's on listings, click 'gay', choose your city and date and marvel at your festive options.

Pick of 2006 - Hot 100

Top 50

12 Dec 2006

The List’s Hot 100 celebrates the people who have made the biggest impact on cultural life in Scotland over the past 12 months.

Pick of 2006 - Hot 100

100 to 51

12 Dec 2006

I can admit it now: I was a fool to set up the Hot 100. When you think of the broad spectrum of cultural activities that we cover in The List, from film and music through to eating out, shopping and occasionally sport, it’s clear that the number of…

Hogmanay

Another year over

12 Dec 2006

Glasgow, 31 December The Fratellis Homegrown indie anthemics You know you’ve finally arrived when your songs become chants for the intoxicated. Just as the ‘ner-ner ne-ne ner-ner-ner!’ of ‘Take Me Out’ became ubiquitous two years ago now the…

Tattoos

Written on the body

11 Dec 2006

A glorious butterfly is gazing up at me. It has a cutesy, cartoon face and curled lashes. Its larger than life wings are a dazzling explosion of pop-art colour and bubble dimensions. Flowerheads, blasted with vibrant, glowing blocks of green and red ink…

Where to eat at Christmas

Festive feasting

11 Dec 2006

GLASGOW L’Ariosto 92-94 Mitchell Street, City Centre 0141 221 0971 www.lariosto.com From the tall doorway to the knowingly efficient and dapper waiters, there is a sense of grandeur at L’Ariosto. The menu focuses on strong combinations of…

The cultural revolution

As The List’s editor puts the finishing touches on

11 Dec 2006

As The List’s editor puts the finishing touches on his last issues before taking up his new post as director of The Lighthouse, he argues that since he started editing the magazine, Scottish entertainment has undergone bigger changes than we might…

Remote Control - TV round-up

Remote Control

11 Dec 2006

It may well be set in the Big Smoke and had a working title of ‘London’, but Dominic Savage’s Born Equal (BBC1, Sun 17 Dec, 9pm) explores such universal and painful truths that it would be wrong for it to have been fully metropolised. With Robert…

A year in the life of Canongate

Turning over a new leaf

11 Dec 2006

2006 has proven to be a tumultuous year for Scotland’s leading independent publisher Canongate. On the plus side, the company became the first Scottish publisher ever to have two novels on the Booker shortlist, Kate Grenville’s The Secret River and…

Remote Control - documentaries round-up

Brian Donaldson uncovers some fine documentaries a

11 Dec 2006

One of the stories of the year had to be the big whale that swam to London. So, the cryptically titled The Whale that Swam to London (Channel 4, Thu 21 Dec, 8pm) launches upon us dividing opinion between those who thought that it was a natural…

Bugsy Malone

Razamataz and splurge

11 Dec 2006

You’ve cracked it this time Captain Schmowlski! 4 stars

DVD round-up of 2006

Film Editor Paul Dale picks his DVD releases of th

11 Dec 2006

As internet rental services continue to dent the once all-consuming (not to say exorbitant) high street video shop, interesting patterns seem to be emerging.