Virtusoso Yevgeny has keys to the city tonight

Hailed as “potentially one of the greatest pianists of the 21st century,” Sudbin has carved a reputation for his breathtaking virtuosity and revelatory performances.

He appears just a few days before a prestigious Wigmore Hall recital in London, offering a programme chiefly comprising substantial miniatures and character pieces.

The recital includes Beethoven’s Op. 126 Bagatelles, and concludes with the second of Prokofiev’s so-called War Sonatas, first performed in Moscow shortly before the Soviet victory at Stalingrad.

In 2012, the Lancaster International Concert Series raised funds to purchase one of the finest concert grand Steinways in the region. As a result, audiences are NOW being treated to the highest calibre of pianists.

Box office: 01524 594151 or www.liveatlica.org

Shrek the Musical muscles into the Palace Theatre, Manchester this Christmas, from next Tuesday to January 11.

Direct from London, where it was seen by nearly a million people, the show stars Dean Chisnall as the swamp-dwelling ogre and Faye Brookes as damsel in distress Princess Fiona.

Idriss Kargbo plays Shrek’s wisecracking sidekick Donkey and Gerard Carey pint-sized villain Lord Farquaad.

Faye Brookes was most recently on stage in Manchester at the Opera House, where she played the leading role of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde the Musical, where she was nominated for Best Actress in a Visiting Production at the 2011 Manchester Theatre Awards. The tour is directed by Nigel Harman, who starred as Lord Farquaad in the West End production, winning a 2012 Laurence Olivier Award.

Box office: 0844 871 3019 or www.atgtickets.com/manchester

An extra two weeks of performances have already been added to Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre’s Christmas production of musical comedy Little Shop Of Horrors.

Demand now means the production will run from next Friday to the end of January.

It follows the recent record success of Hamlet – the company’s fastest selling show in a decade – which saw an extra week of shows added to its run and is now to be made into a film starring Maxine Peake.

Fuelled by Faust and fertiliser, Little Shop Of Horrors is a musical sci-fi spoof based on the film by Roger Corman with a screenplay by Charles Griffith. It is one of the longest running off-Broadway shows of all time and centres on down and out florist’s assistant Seymour who becomes an overnight sensation when he discovers an exotic plant with a macabre craving.

The cast includes Kelly Price, as Audrey, whose other recent theatre credits include One Man Two Guvnors, and Gunnar Cauthery, as Seymour, who makes his first Exchange appearance in this production.

Box Office: 0161 833 9833 or www.royalexchange.co.uk

Peter Pan flies up to Keswick in Lakeland to become Theatre by the Lake’s annual Christmas show.

Their stage production of J.M. Barrie’s story opens on Saturday and runs to the end of January.

Peter will fly courtesy of the computerised gadgetry of Stage Technologies, a specialist company that has also worked on West End musicals Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Shrek.

Othericonic characters Captain Hook, Nana the dog and the Darling children will be played by a cast of professional actors joined by 36 local young performers aged 11 to 14, who play the Lost Boys, Indians, Mermaids and other Neverland characters.

Barrie’s own stage version of his famous story was inspired by his special relationship with five boys from one family, who he adopted when their parents died.

Box Office: 017687 74411 or www.theatrebythelake.com