Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas - The Musical

How the Grinch Stole Christmas sends a green recluse down from his mountain to steal a whole town's holiday: the tree, the presents, the roast beast, every last crumb. He does it in a stolen red suit, with a dog wearing a single antler, and he is entirely certain it will work.

The Whos below turn out to be impossible to discourage, which is the Grinch's real problem. The story is told in hindsight by Old Max, the dog, now grey and fond, and that framing gives a children's tale an unexpected warmth. Rhyme drives the dialogue, the score mixes new songs with two that everyone in the room already knows, and the whole thing runs on the pleasure of a bad mood colliding with an immovable good one.

The book and lyrics are by Timothy Mason with a score by Mel Marvin, adapted from the 1957 picture book by Dr. Seuss and taking in songs from the 1966 animated version, among them You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch and Welcome Christmas. First staged in 1994, it has since become an annual fixture and has toured widely.

Visually it commits: sets and costumes built to look drawn rather than real, a company of Whos of every size, and a Grinch allowed to be genuinely nasty before he isn't. It is pitched at young children without talking down to them, and the adults in the room get the jokes running underneath.

This is a first theatre trip for a great many children and a reliable seasonal habit for a great many families. It ends exactly where everyone knows it will, and the ending still works.