Music

This zany, offbeat musical has gone through the rounds as one of the longest-running off-Broadway shows of all time; the original 1986 premiere scored by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken being adapted from a 1960s movie conceived and shot in a matter of days by Roger Corman.

The 13th annual Scots Fiddle Festival (13 to 15 November) sees Shetland/Edinburgh fiddler Aly Bain and Aonghas Grant topping a bill with some familiar faces and many new ones.

The skirl of bagpipes on the Royal Mile may be a familar sound, but for the first time in recent years a lone bagpiper is welcoming visitors to Edinburgh Castle as it opens each day.

The piper, in full Highland dress, will be playing daily throughout the Summer season as Edinburgh Castle's great wooden entrance gates draw open at 9.30am and visitors flow in across the drawbridge.

In recent years, criticisms could be levelled against the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival for being overly steeped in traditionalism. While the event remained a cornerstone of Edinburgh's summer festivals, and continued to gain good audience figures, there was little indication of the potentially revolutionary sounds on offer within the jazz spectrum.