Cafe Koko shines as part of historic gig venue’s tasteful restoration

Review: Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol, at Queen Elizabeth Hall

Review: Summer in the City, at Upstairs at the Gatehouse

Christmas box (and speaker)

Scrooge fix

Shelf obsession

France: Bruno Dumont’s satire on 24-hour TV news and the cult of the celebrity reporter

Review: Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty at Sadler’s Wells

Lucy Popescu’s theatre news: The Wife of Willesden; Hampstead Theatre’s Sons of the Prophet and The Art of Illusion; Hope; Donmar

For the record

Grooves in festive mood – take your pick of the party spirit!

Michael White’s classical news: Choral concerts including at St John’s Smith Square, St Michael’s Highgate and Barbican, and Mozart at ROH

Rimini: anti-hero crooner tries to change his tune

Review: The Smartest Giant in Town, at St Martin’s Theatre

Review: Wickies: The Vanishing Men of Eilean Mor, at Park200

With more of us short of dough, Berberè is buzzing

Michael White’s classical news: St John’s Smith Square; Anna Lapwood; Matthias Goerne; Yuja Wang; Dame Sarah Connolly

Sick notes

Recovery of stolen paintings

Three Day Millionaire: trawlermen plot to keep their heads above water