Few things appear to be recession proof. Australia maybe, perhaps Premier League football. Another very resilient part of the economy has been London's West End. In 2011, despite three years of recession and a range of austerity measures and price-hikes hitting the pockets of punters, revenues were in fact up - to a record-breaking £528m. Boom.

The shows were getting bigger than ever, with huge stage spectaculars including Shrek, The Wizard of Oz and Matilda staking more and more on theatre's fickle mistress. But, it would seem, our love of the theatre and audiences' appreciation of its stars has never been stronger. Thanks, in part, perhaps, to programmes such as Glee and talent search TV shows, the musical genre has survived and flourished come what may. One of musical theatre's brightest stars is Idina Menzel. Born in Queens, Menzel made her breakthrough just across the river on Broadway, in the musical Rent in the mid-nineties. She also went on to start in the 2005 film.

Many, many high profile successes have followed. Menzel is a multi-talented actress, singer and songwriter and she's been celebrated with a number of awards including a 2004 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress for her turn as Elphaba in Wicked. Other hits have included The Vagina Monologues and, most recently, on television with a recurring role in Glee.

Idina Menzel kicks off her short tour with six shows at the Apollo Theatre in the West End between 8th and 14th October, before a single date in each of Edinburgh and, finally, Manchester (at the Palace Theatre) on 17th October 2012. We have tickets for all dates available now, priced from £35 to £85 for London and £25 to £60 for Edinburgh and Manchester shows.

If last year's sold out show at the Royal Albert Hall is anything to go by, tickets will not be around for long.