A meet-cute between Humanity and Earth, a mod ballet and Nick Mohammed’s career-best standup set – our critics pick the best stage shows of the year

10. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Staging a bestselling book that has already been adapted into a film starring bona fide national treasures (Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton) might have been daunting. But, in Chichester, Katy Rudd’s musical of a man’s Bunyanesque journey to visit a dying woman met that challenge with lo-fi eccentricity and folksy songs with a foot-stomping spirit (composed by Michael Rosenberg, AKA Passenger). In the West End from 29 January. Read the review

Who’s that daring young farmyard animal on the flying trapeze? The creatures of Mossy Bottom have been put on stage by ‘edgy’ circus stars Circa – but the burlesque shearing had to go

‘It’s a family drama,” says Yaron Lifschitz. “It’s kind of a minor key, gently comic version of the Oresteian trilogy. Without the dismemberment and murder and purple carpets.” Lifschitz is talking about his latest production for Circa, the acclaimed Australian contemporary circus group. Is it a Greek epic? A state-of-the-nation drama? A searing emotional journey? Nope, none of those. It’s a fun, family circus show based on that cheeky cartoon character Shaun the Sheep.

You might not think the antics of an anthropomorphic flock of farm animals can be compared to Aeschylus, but Lifschitz sees characters bound together as family with different personalities, friends and enemies, having to work out how to live together. Shaun the Sheep has been a huge success since the character originated in Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave in 1995. The stop-motion series launched in 2007 has been broadcast in more than 50 countries, and had multiple spin-offs including two feature films and another one in the pipeline.

DanceEast, Ipswich
This colourful quest story is stylishly simplified for a young audience and an energetic cast of just four, choreographed by Luca Silvestrini to a melodious Frank Moon score

One of the things that’s so successful about this all-ages version of The Magic Flute is the way it effortlessly synthesises all of its ingredients – dance, text, operatic arias and a dreamy-folky reinterpretation of Mozart’s score – in service to the story. And that famously fantastically convoluted narrative is presented clearly enough for everyone to understand (recommended age is five-plus, and it’s delightful for grownups too).

Papageno the bird catcher is played with bags of personality by the brilliant Nathan Bartman, he’s cheeky and big-hearted with more than enough warm energy to fill the stage. Prince Tamino (Jacob Lang) is his more earnest foil, and the choreography sends them both in easy arcs, lilting and circling across the stage as they set off to find Princess Pamina (Faith Prendergast). Multitalented soprano Donna Lennard, meanwhile, swaps between roles, as comfortable landing the leaping notes of the Queen of the Night’s famous Der Hölle Rache aria, as she is dancing or making winking asides to the audience.