Betty Blue Eyes among Playhouse new shows

Amidst all the excitement of yesterday's big reveal about the re-opening of the Everyman, the season announcement got a bit lost in the ether - MADEUP (and most everybody else) got about as far as saying a little about Twelfth Night before getting a bit distracted. However, as usual, the new year at the Playhouse is an embarrassment of riches - including a couple of musicals, which is seldom the theatre's style. But we like it. There is not as many in house productions or co-productions as we have become accustomed to in the last few years, but with all eyes back on the Everyman there'll certainly be enough going on to keep everyone at both venues as busy as ever. At the Playhouse, this includes their touring co-production of the acclaimed but doomed 2011 West End musical Betty Blue Eyes in the summer. But before that, other highlights to look forward to in 2014 include a production of Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder in March; Scamp Theatre's Private Peaceful, from the book by Michael Morpurgo of War Horse fame; and perennial Playhouse favourite Arthur Miller will be performed again with A View from the Bridge in March through April, with the theatre's new associate director Charlotte Gwinner at the helm. Headlong theatre - who just brought a thrilling version of 1984 to the Playhouse - return in May with their production of the controversial teenage contemporary musical Spring Awakening; Theatre Clywd will celebrate the centenary of Dylan Thomas's birth with Under Milk Wood; and the first stage production of Joseph Heller's Catch 22 is on the way too. And that's aside from the usual range of children's theatre and one-off dance and comedy shows, and all sorts of other bits and bobs. Tickets for the new season go on sale next week (November 28). Here's a little taste of Betty Blue Eyes: