Musicals continue to be the hardest shows to get theatre tickets for. Here is news of two shows which have just announced that they are extending their runs.

‘Priscilla Queen of the Desert’ has just added five months to its booking period. It opened in the West End this year on the 23rd of March and is now booking until the 13th of February 2010. It is playing at the Palace Theatre and is adapted from the 1994 film.

The show features a feast of disco hits such as ‘Shake Your Groove Thing’, ‘I Love the Nightlife’, ‘I Will Survive’ and ‘Finally’.

Meanwhile, at the Dominion Theatre, ‘We Will Rock You’ has also extended its schedule by 5 months. It opened on the 14th of May 2002, and recently celebrated its 7th birthday, it is now booking until March 2010.

The show’s book was written by Ben Elton and features no less than 32 of Queen’s greatest hits. These include ‘Under Pressure’, ‘Radio Gaga’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘We Will Rock You’ and the epic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. The show is directed by Ben Elton with choreography by Arlene Phillips. The current cast includes Sabrina Aloueche, Mazz Murray, Rachel Tucker and Ricardo Afonso.

Dinner theatre is quite common in the United States of America, but it has never been big business here in the UK. Whilst there are no dinner theatre venues as such in London, some venues have depended on their restaurants to ensure the books balance. Perhaps the best known example is the Menier Chocolate Factory. The planned reopening of the Westminster Theatre will also feature a beautiful new restaurant.

However, if you do not need to see a show in London, you can enjoy dinner theatre just down the road near Reading. The Mill at Sonning has established itself as a great venue for theatre and dinner simultaneously. You might think that the quality of the theatre would be compromised, but you would be wrong.

Here are some examples of forthcoming attractions. Playing from the 4th of June until the 11th is the Ben Travers farce ‘The Bed Before Yesterday’ which stars Susan Penhaligon.

After that the Neil Simon comedy ‘The Odd Couple’ plays from the 15th of July until the 22nd of August. It is arguably Neil Simon’s funniest play and was immortalised in the 1968 film version starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. It is directed by veteran actor Anthony Valentine.

Stephen Daldry’s award winning production of ‘An Inspector Calls’ is to become a London show again. It returns to the West End later this year and will run at the Novello Theatre from the 22nd September 2009.

Daldry’s original production was first staged at the National Theatre and already has a track record in the West End. After the National, it played at the Aldwych Theatre and on Broadway. It ran at the Garrick Theatre from October 1995 until April 2001. It then opened on the 20th of September 2001 at the Playhouse Theatre where it closed on the 11th of May 2002.

The show has also toured extensively and finishes its current trip around the UK in Leicester in June. The casting for the new run has yet to be announced.

The play by J B Priestley, written in 1946, tells the story of the Birling family whose celebration of their daughter’s engagement is thrown into disarray when the strangely knowledgeable Inspector Goole arrives.

The revival has clocked up over 4000 performances and won 19 major awards including four Tonys and three Oliviers. The show is designed by Ian MacNeil. Music is by Stephen Warbeck and lighting by Rick Fisher.

The late Spike Milligan’s comic memoirs are about to hit the stage. ‘Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall,’ which tells the story of Spike’s experiences in the Second World War, has been adapted for the theatre and will have its world premiere at the Bristol Old Vic this summer. It will run there from the 9th to the 18th of July with previews from the 4th of July. It will be the theatre’s first in house production since it closed in August 2007.

If you’re thinking this would be a great London show, don’t despair as it will transfer to the Hampstead Theatre where it will run for four weeks from the 24th of July before going on a regional tour.

The show’s director Tim Carroll has adapted the 1971 book with Ben Power. It was previously made into a feature film. The cast includes William Findley, Matt Devereaux, Sholto Morgan, David Morley Hale and Dominic Gerrard. The show is designed by Laura Hopkins, with lighting by James Farncombe and sound by John Leonard.

The regional tour will take in Nottingham, Liverpool, Watford, Chichester, Eastbourne, Edinburgh, Lincoln, Malvern, Plymouth, and Oxford. Further dates will also be announced in due course.