As if the eclectic mix of shows being discussed here wasn't enough, we can also offer travel and weather advice, confessions of childhood-lion-crushes, some judgement of our fellow audience members and, as usual, enthusiastic warbling.

In this special episode, we award our favourite shows of the year through complex democratic methods including rock, paper, scissors and glaring at each other. You might think from listening to this that we only saw about 4 things this year, but don't be fooled; we're just very obsessed with very specific things we saw in 2024.

If you're wondering why it's taken us 89 episodes to get to one of the biggest musicals of all time, it's a combination of technical problems and apathy, but the long-awaited movie adaptation blew one of those problems out of the water. So here we are: being weird about Jonathan Bailey, speculating on uniform codes and, crucially, being spoiler-y. If you haven't seen the show and don't want spoilers for Part 2 of the movie, heed our warnings and turn off before we ruin it for you!

We saw Dear Evan Hansen on its current UK tour and now you can hear what we thought about it, via a diversion into super pets and Juno's apparent beef with vibrato. Also, is this actually a show about vampires? Possibly. We also talk about Red Ladder's latest production, Sanctuary, which is definitely not about vampires.

A true tale of two shows in this installment, with a Stage Appropriate favourite and one that grabbed us slightly less. This episode also functions as a weird promotion for Leicester as well as an unexpected opportunity for Juno to discuss the relative merits of chairs in school. We are, as is often the case, judged by our fellow audience members, but don't worry; we're judging them right back.

Tales of musical theatre celebrity spotting, audience impalings and the apparently popular new sport of merchandise-throwing all feature in our discussion of one of the West End's newest (and saddest) shows. Stay tuned till the end for bonus content in the form of Katy having a complete sense of humour failure and probably missing the whole point of The Play That Goes Wrong. Additional note to our American listeners who we LOVE and definitely do not judge as a population based on the behaviour of three people.

Top tips, exhaustive shopping rundowns and an inexplicable (and possibly unlistenable) Celine Dion sing along: it's our Musical Con 2024 episode! It was our third year at Musical Con and we love it, even if Juno will forever be salty about being spurned at the Backstage Theatre. Also expect, for no obvious reason, a diversion into how eclectic the music taste of an 8 year old can be,.

You might think a musical based around the concept of a previously popular series of compilation CDs wouldn't work, but you'd be (mainly) wrong; this was fun, as you'll guess when we use that word roughly 75 times here. Also, Jay Osmond: many questions.

We don't know why there are so many musicals about labour rights and industrial action, but at Stage Appropriate we are here for it. We're also here for outstanding new musical theatre performed by super-talented young casts in intimate theatres, so spoiler alert: we loved this one.

If you've ever wondered how long a child can hiccup for, this episode will finally answer your burning question. Also featuring extensive discussion of what "Cornelius" means, as well as much-deserved shout-out for 'The Four Chord Song.'