By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
TRACKLIST: Loneliness; Feel; Why Am I Dancing?; New London Boy; Dancing Star; A New Bohemia; The Schlager Hit Parade; The Secret Of Happiness; Bullet For Narcissus; Love Is The Law
Written in lockdown, this 15th Pet Shop Boys studio album bursts with reflection, introspection and liberation in equal measure.
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2
WHEN?: Saturday 20 April (matinee) and runs through 20 April 2024
What would you do if you found a painting apparently by Hitler in the attic of your dead father-in-law’s home while clearing it?
By Neil Durham
WHEN?: 8pm (UK time) 11 May 2024
WHERE?: Malmo Arena, Sweden
HOW DO I WATCH?: BBC1 in the UK SVT Also eurovision.tv
The UK hosted Eurovision memorably last year in Liverpool and in 2024 former Years and Years frontman Olly Alexander competes to win the 68th edition in Sweden with his pop banger Dizzy.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2
WHEN?: Saturday 20 April, opens 29 April and runs through 18 May 2024 RUNTIME: 90 minutes without interval
A Philip K Dick short story, a Spielberg film starring Tom Cruise and now a play re-imagined by a well-known British actor but does it already know it’s transferring to the West End after this run?
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN?: Wednesday 17 April and runs through 27 April 2024 RUNTIME: 120 minutes (with a 20-minute interval)
Struggling writer Tony is in a relationship with the more successful author Greg and would rather devote time to his career than keep their Kentish Town flat spick and span so employs a cleaner.
Transferring from Bath’s Theatre Royal, this Lindsay Posner production stars Dominic West (TV’s The Crown), Kate Fleetwood (Ugly Lies The Bone, National Theatre) and Callum Scott Howells (Cabaret, Kit Kat Club) in this Arthur Miller play about 1 man’s place in the close-knit American-Italian community of 1950s New York. Runs 23 May through 3 August 2024 at Theatre Royal Haymarket. Tickets
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHEN?: Wednesday 10 April 2024, opens 17 April and runs through 22 June 2024 RUNTIME: 205 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
PJ Harvey has written 13 new tracks which are sung by the cast here in this ‘play with songs’ which adapts Dickens’ last novel Our Mutual Friend.
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHEN?: Sunday 7 April, opens 23 April and runs through 14 July 2024 RUNTIME: 135 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) Update: run extended through 31 August 2024
If you’re here because leading man Sam Tutty won a Best Actor In A Musical Olivier Award for Dear Evan Hansen, sit down, sip on a coffee and stay a while because he’s a good reason but not the best 1 to see this new musical.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHEN?: Saturday 6 April 2024, opens 11 April and runs through 22 June 2024 RUNTIME: 220 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
McKellen (Mother Goose, Duke Of York’s Theatre) dons a fatsuit and gives the performance of a lifetime as Falstaff in writer/director Robert Icke’s (Oresteia and Hamlet, Almeida) combination of Shakespeare’s  Henry IV parts 1 and 2.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2
Archive footage of ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev features in the video for this song about a rule breaker seeking freedom from oppression and it reminds us why Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant is pop’s finest lyricist.
monstagigz 