Opening: Country Girl, Onassis, Flashdance, Blues

OPENING TUESDAY, 12 October 2010 (previews from 30 September), Robert Lindsay plays Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis in Martin Sherman’s new play Onassis at the Novello Theatre, where it continues for a limited season to 5 February 2011.

ALSO ON TUESDAY When No One Is Watching, a new play written and directed by Mark Grey examining the true meaning of charity, opens at Greenwich Playhouse for a run to 31 October.

ALSO ON TUESDAY, Ivan and the Dogs, Hattie Naylor’s play based on a true story set in recession-ravaged Moscow, runs at Soho Theatre until 6 November.

OPENING WEDNESDAY, 13 October 2010, kids’ show Lost and Found, adapted from Oliver Jeffers’ picture book about a boy who finds a penguin and sets out to return it to the South Pole, opens at the Polka Theatre for a run to 12 February.

OPENING THURSDAY, 14 October 2010 (previews from 24 September), screen-to-stage musical Flashdance has its gala opening at the Shaftesbury Theatre. With a cast let by Matt Willis and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt (who starred in the original 2008 tour), it’s directed by Nikolai Foster and choreographed by musical theatre veteran and former Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips.

ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 6 October), the King’s Head relaunches itself as “London’s Little Opera House” under new artistic director Adam Spreadbury-Maher, with a new version of The Barber of Seville (or Salisbury) relocated to Jane Austen’s England, adapted and directed by Robin Norton-Hale and continuing to 13 November.

ALSO ON THURSDAY Southwark Playhouse’s annual Terror Season frightfest commences, just in time for Halloween and running until 31 October. This year under the title of Death and Resurrection, it comprises premieres of three short pieces by playwrights Mark Ravenhill, Neil LaBute and April De Angelis as well as a revival of Reanimator by William Ewart, adapted from the short stories of HP Lovecraft.

ALSO ON THURSDAY Songs from a Hotel Bedroom, a new work of choreographic music theatre featuring the songs of Kurt Weill and starring Frances Ruffelle, runs for three nights only at Watford Palace Theatre.

ALSO ON THURSDAY, top fashion designers feature in alternative, early panto Snow White and the Seven Designers at the West End’s Garrick Theatre until 16 October to raise money for Dementia UK.

OPENING FRIDAY, 15 October 2010 (previews from 12 October), tribute show The Music of the Blues Brothers – A Tribute, which played at the Edinburgh Fringe in August, transfers to the Arts Theatre for a limited run to 6 November.