A whistle-stop tour of music theatre with a cast including former St Albans panto star Gareth Gates comes to the Alban Arena next Saturday, November 7.

Mad About the Musicals, which starts at 7.30pm, takes the audience on a tour from the heart of London’s theatre land to the glitz of Broadway, featuring all the best-known songs.

It will include a host of numbers from the pen of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Kander & Ebb, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Boublil & Schonberg.

The two-hour show is performed by a cast direct from the West End including Gareth Gates and Michael Courtney.

Tickets are £24 with concessions £2 off, available from the Arena box office on 01727 844488 or online at www.alban-arena.co.uk

Acclaimed character comedian Simon Brodkin, otherwise known as Lee Nelson, returns to the Arena with his new show, Suited and Booted, next Friday, November 6.

The creation of comedian Simon Brodkin - a fully qualified doctor - Lee Nelson rose to fame as a chav-tastic South London geezer on BBC 3’s Well Good Show. The new show will see him swapping his trademark baseball cap and upturned collar for a smoother, more sophisticated look.

The show begins at 7.30pm and tickets are £20.

Rumours Of Fleetwood Mac return to the Arena next Tuesday, November 3.

The tribute band, who have won Mick Fleetwood’s seal of approval, feature the Rumours album in its entirety including such tracks as Dreams, Go Your Own Way and The Chain.

They also perform other timeless classics such as Gypsy, Rhiannon and Little Lies.

Special guest will be Fleetwood Mac band member Rick Vito on guitar.

The evening gets underway at 7.30pm and tickets are £32.50 and £22.50.

Ocean Colour Scene’s Simon and Oscar bring their hits to the Arena this Sunday, November 1.

2015 is Ocean Colour Scene’s 25th Anniversary, and their recent sell-out acoustic tour of the UK was their most successful for 15 years.

Now they are continuing the theme with a tour of intimate seated venues to play acoustic renditions of some of their biggest hits, including The Riverboat Song, The Circle, Traveller’s Tune, Hundred Mile High City and The Day We Caught the Train.

The concert begins at 7.30pm and tickets are £20.

* Bill Bryson biopic A Walk In The Woods is being screened at The Alban Arena next Wednesday and Thursday, November 4 and 5.

Celebrated travel writer, Bryson (Robert Redford), should be retiring to spend time with his wife (Emma Thompson) and large and happy family. But instead, he challenges himself to hike the Appalachian Trail - 2,200 miles of America’s most unspoiled, spectacular and rugged countryside from Georgia to Maine.

The peace and tranquillity he hopes to find, though, is anything but, once he agrees to be accompanied by his long lost and former friend Katz (Nick Nolte).

Screenings are at 1.30pm next Wednesday and at 7.30pm on Thursday with tickets for the matinee £5 and for evenings £7 with concessions £5.