RACHEL BULLER A host of top names will be appearing at the Norwich Theatre Royal in the coming months with a lively mix of dancing, music, drama and comedy. The line-up for the new season features Kate O'Mara, Angela Rippon, David Essex and Elkie Brooks, along with two of comedy's hottest stars, Irishmen Dara O'Briain and Dylan Moran.

RACHEL BULLER

A host of top names will be appearing at the Norwich Theatre Royal in the coming months with a lively mix of dancing, music, drama and comedy.

The line-up for the new season is announced today and features Kate O'Mara, Angela Rippon, David Essex and Elkie Brooks, along with two of comedy's hottest stars, Irishmen Dara O'Briain and Dylan Moran.

World-renowned musicals including Starlight Express, Joseph and Buddy are also on the bill alongside two classic 'whodunit' murder mystery plays.

There is also something special in store for fans of the BBC's hit programme Strictly Come Dancing, when Lionel Blair hosts 'Simply Ballroom', with a cast of international championship dancers performing the best in ballroom over six nights.

And Cinderella is revealed as this year's pantomime production.

Following on from the record- breaking success of his production of Peter Pan last year, Richard Gauntlett will once again star in, write and direct the family show which boasts ugly sisters, pumpkins and princes.

Spanish company La Cuadra de Seville brings its adaptation of Carl Orff's choral masterpiece Andalucian Images of Carmina Burana to Norwich for the first time in July, featuring more than 30 dancers, singers and actors.

The famous Glyndebourne on Tour will return in November to perform Die Fledermaus, Cosi Fan Tutte and The Turn of the Screw. Opera North will also be performing three classic pieces - The Marriage of Figaro, La Rondine and Arms and The Cow, during a four-night run in May.

Following its huge success at the Theatre Royal in 2003, the uplifting show The Mysteries makes a return. The production transforms the ancient Chester mystery plays with singing and dancing conjuring up the thundering sounds of Africa.

There is also something for the children, with television favourites the Fimbles and Fireman Sam and film hit Stuart Little all providing entertainment for the young.

The latest programme, which runs from April to December, has been announced weeks after the theatre chiefs launched an appeal to safeguard the future of the venue and ensure it can continue attracting similar world-class performers to Norwich for decades to come.

The theatre wants help from the public and local businesses and organisations to raise £3m, on top of the £7m already set aside from local councils and its own coffers, to pay for improvements, including replacing the ventilation system, improving acoustics, redesigning the façade and increasing leg room in the circle.

For more information and full details of all the performances, see: www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk or call 01603 630000.