Charlie Bowyer

Last night featured my first pantomime of this year's festive season, the unconventional Beauty and the Beast at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. There is the usual rotation of pantomimes that many theatres alternate; most commonly Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty and Dick Whittington with a few other options for good measure. Beauty and the Beast is one that I personally haven't seen in a pantomime format before and did it work? I think so!

Finding a festive night out that doesn't suck can be a real pain in the neck. Fortunately, there's a festive show to suit all tastes at the Belgrade this Christmas with a bumper season of yuletide entertainment including the return of the ever-popular Belgrade panto and the premiere of Nick Walker's fang-tastic B2 Xmas comedy, VAMPOMIME. Plus, young theatre goers can look forward to an early visit from Father Christmas in a brand new festive show for ages 6 and under, SANTA'S RUSTY ROBOT, written and directed by Tweenies' creator Iain Lauchlan.

Finding a festive night out that doesn't suck can be a real pain in the neck. Fortunately, there's a festive show to suit all tastes at the Belgrade this Christmas with a bumper season of yuletide entertainment including the return of the ever-popular Belgrade panto and the premiere of Nick Walker's fang-tastic B2 Xmas comedy, VAMPOMIME. Plus, young theatre goers can look forward to an early visit from Father Christmas in a brand new festive show for ages 6 and under, SANTA'S RUSTY ROBOT, written and directed by Tweenies' creator Iain Lauchlan.

BookExpo America (BEA), the biggest publishing event in North America, is underway now until May 31 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. Among authors and other celebrities in attendance is comedian Stevie Dupin (Stevie D.), who will sign copies of his new memoir “The Trans Am Diaries: A Hillbilly's Road Trip from Stand Up Comedy to Cancer…and Back Again” (Headline Books) on Thursday, May 29. The book is a humorous, occasionally serious, look at Dupin's life growing up in Kentucky, struggling in Hollywood and then coping with prostate cancer at a young age. Dupin held a launch party recently at Hemingway's Lounge in Hollywood.

A standing-room crowd packed the famed Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, California on Saturday, November 10, to reminisce with the legendary Little River Band. Opening for LRB was the Ben Babylon Band, fronted by singer/songwriter Ben Babylon. Check out photos from the concert below!

There was standing room only when the Rock Nation School Tribute to Elton John, featuring three members of the Elton John Band and student musicians, drew hundreds of fans to the famed Canyon Club near Los Angeles on Sunday, September 26.