CHRISTMAS may be almost upon us and we’re now well into the pantomime season at many of Worcestershire’s and neighbouring counties’ theatres but there is plenty to look forward to in the new year and beyond.

If you get a 2018 diary as a stocking filler, or have already bought yourself one, then it might be advisable to set a little time aside in order to mark down what might appeal - be it a drama, comedy, a good whodunnit or a straightforward music concert.

So what’s likely to whet your appetite? Early in January Malvern’s Festival Theatre will have the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on hand to welcome the new year performing their Viennese New Year classical concert on Friday, January 5.

The orchestra will also be at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall the following day.

You haven’t really seen in the New Year until you’ve raised a glass of champagne to Vienna, where the songs are sweeter than Sachertorte and every waltz awakens a thousand tender memories.

The CBSO’s annual Viennese evening, and Saturday afternoon event, has all the tunes you love.

The UK’s finest and longest-running Buddy Holly act, Buddy Holly and The Cricketers, is celebrating 25 years of entertaining audiences around the globe with Buddy Holly’s most memorable songs and as part of their 2018 tour they’ll be at Malvern on Sunday, March 4 (7.30pm).

Formed in 1992, the show is still produced by Simon Fielder Productions, 25 years after its first night at the Lincoln Theatre Royal.

Simon, a former member of the West End production, Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story, loved the music so much that he and his colleagues decided to tour the UK with their own act. Combining Simon’s love of musicals and cricket, Buddy Holly and The Cricketers was formed.

  Since then, just like the original, the group which includes Gordon Taggart - English Touring Theatre, Doctors (BBC) Heartbeat (ITV), Spooks (BBC), The Bill (ITV) and Connor Arnold Blondel (Union Theatre, London), and Silent Witness (BBC), have delighted audiences across the world.

   They use authentic arrangements, driving rhythms, energetic performances and skilled musicianship, all delivered with charm and humour. This entertaining evening of classic rock ’n’ roll is sure to have the audience dancing in the aisles.

They will also be performing at Birmingham Town Hall on the evening of Saturday, March 10.

Other one-night shows feature An Evening with Aggers and Bumble - usually a fun and entertaining time with former cricket stars and now popular cricket broadcasters, Jonathan Agnew and David Lloyd (Wednesday, February 7) and for music fans there’s GA GA, the ultimate Queen tribute (Friday, January 26), as well as the Johnny Cash Roadshow (Saturday, January 13), which features Malvern-based Clive John as the ‘man in black’.

Once the new year dawns the opening plays at the Festival Theatre will be Ruth Rendell’s dark drama Gallowglass, which is on a world stage premiere tour (January 24), and as the year unfolds early productions will include Tom Chambers and Claire Sweeney in Crazy for You, while Nichola McAuliffe will be Miss Havisham in Dickens’ Great Expectations and sees Malvern Theatres co-producing this major new touring production with Tilted Wig Productions.

Birmingham’s Hippodrome Theatre stages Beautiful - The Carole King Musical at the end of January, Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella from the Birmingham Royal Ballet in February and at the end of that month there’s Dead Funny, Birmingham’s big Comedy Gala, and two major musicals on next year’s schedule are Evita and Wicked in March and April respectively.

And later is An Officer and a Gentleman - the musical.