Natalie Crofts

After an almost 30-year absence, a star-studded pantomime, mounted by Qdos, returned to the London Palladium last night with well-known names including Julian Clary as Dandini, Paul O'Grady as Baroness Hardup, and Amanda Holden as The Fairy Godmother on the bill. A big set with even bigger production numbers had the audience primed and ready for mass cheers, boos and lots of laughs from start to finish in what can only be described as a spectacular return.

Celebrating over 20 years of successful Disney shows on Broadway, the West End and around the World, including smash hits such as Mary Poppins, The Lion King and Aladdin, as well as shorter-running productions, King David, Tarzan and Aida, an all-star cast brought the magic of the movies to the stage at the Royal Albert Hall last night, in the European premiere of Disney's Broadway Hits.

Adapted from Jack Heifner's 1970s stage play, Vanities the Musical makes its London debut at the intimate Trafalgar Studios. Joanne, Kathy and Mary, the musical play's only characters, tell an all-American story audiences world-over will be familiar with, though in a bold new way, as three high school friends face the painful realities of adulthood.

There's something rather nostalgic about watching a magic show in the heart of London, where the prestigious Magic Circle was first established in 1905. Playing at the Noel Coward Theatre until 27 August, Impossible, presented by Jamie Hendry and Gavin Kalin Productions, celebrates an old-fashioned, over-exaggerated sense of wizardry through a series of special stunts, illusions and tricks that successfully evoke feelings of child-like wonder.

Set primarily in Los Angeles, where Judy Garland is filming a new CBS television series, The Judy Garland Show - one of many comebacks the ill-fated star made in her later life, Ray Rackham's play Through the Mill reveals a snapshot of Garland's tumultuous story, honing in on three key periods in her life.