Monteverdi’s Ulysses comes home to the Roundhouse in a new ROH production

Listen: it’s Baroque music reinvented at a new three-day festival in partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra

Sebastian Taylor’s music news: Haydn’s The Creation; I Musicanti at Conway Hall; Sir Simon Rattle and opera star Magdalena Kožená

Drawn to the written word

Chastain in ace form keeps a poker face

Western takes aim at modern America

Review: Snow White & the Seven Poofs, at Karma Sanctum Soho Hotel

Review: White Fang, at Park Theatre

Pick of the end-of-year parties

The universal appeal of Verdi’s Rigoletto is celebrated in a Royal Opera House revival of David McVicar’s classic staging

Unwrap music: Xmas gifts and gigs guide

On the box of delights

Dickens, and how the spectre of poverty still haunts us

Review: Wilde Creatures, at Vaudeville Theatre

Review: Top Hat, at Upstairs At The Gatehouse

Julie Tomlin’s theatre news: On Monday Last Week; Woman Before A Glass; Stand Up And Slam

Review: The Twilight Zone, at Almeida Theatre

Review: Cell Mates, at Hampstead Theatre