Elling sets out to convince us of the cuddily inate genius of the mad. No chance, but there is a certain sweetness to its pitch

Betrayal could be the feeling when audiences know how a show ends when it starts. But, it's merely a revival of Harold Pinter's wonderful backwards play

A murder mystery involving papal succession and Vatican finances? Unlikely. But, The Last Confession really works. Amen to David Suchet

Somerset Maugham's 80-year old play The Letter has been meticulously revived; and so has the career of Brideshead Revisited stalwart, Anthony Andrews

Costing around 25 million bucks , The Lord of the Rings is a take-your-breath away visual experience. Too bad, all that money couldn't buy a better score or an audience-involving libretto

Kismet, back in revival and done by the ENO-who could ask for anything more? Well, not quite. The score still wows and the cast is top-shelf, but the production is a soggy mess

Patrick Hamilton's a popular bloke. His play Gaslight has now been revived on both sides of the Atlantic. This production has the right atmosphere, but lacks the nail-biting excesses of true melodrama

Crossing the pond, The Drowsy Chaperone has retained its mirth and mayhem, its love of the musical-comedy form and the people who inhabit it

Bening to play Broadway in 2008 in new Murray-Smith play The Female of The Species

Ah, for those musicals of yesterday. Like the Rodgers and Hart Babes in Arms, now on view at the Chichester Festival Theater