The distortions and falsification of biblical history not only led to the persecution of countless numbers of Jews but contributed to the great divide between Judaism and Christianity, which only now is on a path of reconciliation.

Rupert Everett has just won an award for playing Oscar Wilde in David Hare's melancholy play, The Judas Kiss, at the Duke of York's, and it's not difficult to reckon why.

For the past 27 years Michael Elkins has directed and starred in "The Gift" at Notre Dame University in Belmont, Calif. It plays for just nine shows, eight of which are free to the public. In lieu of purchasing tickets, audience members bring food and toys to be donated locally.

While this exuberant, interactive, choose-your-own ending musical may be a bit vulgar, it is also skilfully directed, joyously performed and a darn good time in a season of unimpressive musicals on Broadway.

Charles Dickens died in 1870, midway through his last novel, and its unfinished ending has been a creative lure to stage and screen ever since.

Whether singing, dancing or acting, not a man or woman among the ensemble submits less than an effervescent performance. Rivera, who knows every trick in her personal book, gleefully pages through it. Chase is amusingly dastardly.