Erin Gell

If you aren't familiar with the story of Susan Boyle - the middle-aged Scot who, in 2009, stunned the Britain's Got Talent judges with her powerful singing voice - well, you may have been living under a rock for the past three years. Following her debut, Boyle became an overnight sensation, releasing two chart-topping albums and dominating the international media landscape. This month, she adds another feather to her cap - as the subject her very own musical.

Dublin's Board Gais Energy Theatre is awash in pink this month with the arrival of Legally Blonde - The Musical.

If the line: 'Nobody puts Baby in a corner' makes you want to cheer, cry, or just get up and dance, then 'Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage', now playing at Dublin's Grand Canal Theatre, is for you.

If you're looking for a delectable holiday treat - and the rare one that won't pile on the pounds - "Irving Berlin's White Christmas", now playing at Dublin's Grand Canal Theatre, may be just the thing.

In these heady days of austerity and bank bailouts, it's no surprise Dubliners are looking for a bit of escapist entertainment. And, no, I'm not talking about the Eurovision song contest. Only slightly less campy is the UK tour of Spamalot, playing through May 14th at Dublin's Grand Canal Theatre, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a more delightful antidote to the recession blues.

A bank manager is disgraced in a scandal, spends several years in jail, and then plots a return to glory. No, this isn't a review for the new Wall Street sequel, or indeed a news item from today's business section. It is the plot of Henrik Ibsen's play John Gabriel Borkman, now playing at Dublin's Abbey Theatre.

Think of your most pompous Ivy League frat-boy, then take away any intellectual smarts, add a paunch and an Irish accent and you've got Ross O'Carroll-Kelly, a laddish but lovable bloke whose exploits are currently on display in the new play 'Between Foxrock and a Hard Place'.

It was George Bernard Shaw who famously defined dancing as 'the vertical expression of a horizontal desire.' And indeed everything from classical ballet to hip-hop has presented humanity's most passionate (and most tragic) yearnings more artfully than real life ever could. This week that terpsichorean ardor was displayed in two very different productions on Dublin's south side; Tango Pasión at the Grand Canal Theatre and Ballet Ireland's Romeo and Juliet at the Gaiety Theatre.

For a displaced American drama geek, what could be better than dropping into Dublin's fair city at the very height of theatre season? On my very first day as a Dubliner, I found myself amidst upwards of 600 performances on offer throughout the city as part of the 16th annual Dublin Fringe Festival.