Jörgen Elofsson has written songs for pop titans including Celine Dion, Agnetha Fältskog, Britney Spears and Geri Halliwell and this year his sole Melodifestivalen credit is for Faith Kakembo (pictured above).
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2
WHERE? Harold Pinter Theatre RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 14/1, press night 23/1 runs to 2/5/20
Six years after a brooding Olivier-nominated performance as John Proctor in the Old Vic’s production of The Crucible and Richard Armitage (pictured above in rehearsal) is back on the London stage in Conor McPherson’s re-imagining of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya
UPDATE: This post has been updated to reflect the 10/1/20 running order reveal
Will it be seventh time lucky for schlager legend Linda Bengtzing at the Scandinavium arena in Gothenburg on 8 February 2020?
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE? Other Palace RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 27/12, runs to 1/2/20
We’re a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace and had forgotten that the Paris-set 2001 film on which this musical is based references the death of Princess Diana in that city quite so much.
UPDATE: This post has been updated to reflect the 10/1/20 running order reveal
The last three winners of Melodifestivalen – Robin Bengtsson, Benjamin Ingrosso and John Lundvik – have been male soloists making their second attempt to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE? London Palladium RUNTIME: 180 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 28/12, runs to 12/1/20
We’ve seen the Palladium pantomime in each of the last four years since it returned to this iconic venue after a break of more than three decades.
2019’s Madame X collection made our Album of 2019 shortlist and was Madonna’s best since 2005’s Confessions. We were at her last London gig at The 02 in 2015 and are looking forward to the shift from arenas to theatres for this 15-gig run. Tickets The tour opened in the US in the autumn and, despite the late starts, promises much. We’re just glad we don’t have to be up early after what is shaping up to be a late night albeit in thrall to the Queen of Pop.
monstagigz readers have been voting throughout December for their favourite pop, theatre, TV and film of 2019 from our shortlists. Read on for details of our monstas winners …
2019’s Best Performance Of A Song
Thank you to our tens of thousands of readers who drove up our traffic by more than 12 per cent in 2019 and welcome to a top six of the most popular content of the year.
Sheridan Smith won our Best Theatre Actress monsta in 2015 and here stole the show in Lloyd Webber’s Palladium revival of one of his biggest hits. We said in our review: ‘We know we’re in safe hands when the always reliable Sheridan Smith channels Eric Morecambe from behind a fake moustache, confiding to the audience: ‘It’s still me.’ It was such a success that it returns to the Palladium for a second run next summer. Tickets
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
OUT? now
TRACKLIST: Every Christmas Day; Christmas Without You; Let It Go; Starry Skies; Can I Keep The Pictures?; Fairytale Of New York
Aalto won our Best Album monsta last year for her Wild, Wild Wonderland LP and, although its follow up is only half a dozen tracks long, it signposts an interesting future for her singing original songs.
