Month: September 2018

THEATRE REVIEW: Company starring Rosalie Craig & Patti LuPone at the Gielgud Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHERE?: Gielgud Theatre RUNTIME: 2 hours and 35 minutes (with a 20-minute interval)

WHEN?: 28/9, press night 17/10, runs to 22/12/18 (note: now extended to 30/3/19)

Company turns 50 in 2020 and the biggest compliment we can pay this inventive reimagining with a female Bobbi is that it works so well that it’s hard to imagine with a male lead.

  • Read on for reasons including how Sandi Toksvig was in the audience with us for this 4th preview

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THEATRE REVIEW: Measure For Measure starring Jack Lowden & Hayley Atwell at the Donmar

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHERE?: Donmar RUNTIME: 3 hours and 10 minutes (including 20-minute interval)

WHEN?: 28/9, press night 3/10, runs to 24/11/18

Does this production in which lead actor and actress alternate their roles offer a gender fluid theatrical 1st?

  • Read on for reasons including all the gossip from this 1st preview and how we wanted more Jackie Clune

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GIG REVIEW: The League Of Gentlemen Live again! at the Eventim Apollo

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHERE?: Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith

WHEN?: 27/9, tour runs to 29/9/18

Tonight is the 45th gig of this 47-date tour and the BBC is filming which means the chance of seeing it on a small screen near you sometime soon seems assured.

  • Read on for reasons including whether beloved Restart officer Pauline is really dead – or not

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ALBUM REVIEW: Chris by Christine And The Queens

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

OUT: 21/9/18

TRACKLIST: Comme Si; Girlfriend; The Walker; Doesn’t Matter; 5 Dollars; Goya Soda; Damn; What’s-her-face; Feel So Good; Make Some Sense; The Stranger

We 1st saw Christine And The Queens live at Glastonbury two years ago just hours after the result of the UK’s Brexit referendum had become clear.

  • Read on for reasons including where you can see the band on tour this Autumn

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PREVIEW: 9 reasons why we can’t wait for October

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

  1. Dame Eileen Atkins in The Height Of The Storm

There’s Nothing Like A Dame and we loved the film of that name which starred Dame Eileen (pictured above) who appears here in this Florian Zeller drama with Jonathan Pryce (Game Of Thrones) at the Wyndhams 2/10 through 1/12. Tickets

  • Read on for reasons including Lady Gaga, Jim Broadbent, Dr Who goes Macbeth and Game Of Thrones in Hampstead

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THEATRE REVIEW: An Adventure at the Bush Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE?: Bush Theatre

WHEN?: 17/9, (press ticket) runs to 20/10/18

Author Vinay Patel is 1 of the first 2 writers of colour to contribute to Doctor Who in its 55-year history during the latest series which begins on Sunday nights on BBC1 next month.

  • Read on for reasons including how we were swept away by the scale of the ambition of the story and genuine warmth of the cast

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THEATRE REVIEW: Misty starring Arinzé Kene at the Trafalgar Studios

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHERE?: Trafalgar Studios

WHEN?: 13/9 (press ticket), runs to 20/10 RUNTIME: 2 hours (including interval)

NOTE: now extended until 17/11/18

We shortlisted half a dozen Best New Plays of the year in June and 2, including this 1, make their West End bows this month.

  • Read on for reasons including why Misty works in its new West End home

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GIG REVIEW: Janelle Monae at Camden Roundhouse

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHERE?: Camden Roundhouse

WHEN?: 12/9/18

SETLIST: Dirty Computer; Crazy, Classic, Life; Take A Byte; Screwed; Django Jane; Q.U.E.E.N.; Electric Lady; Prime Time; Pynk; Yoga; I Like That; Don’t Judge Me; Make Me Feel; I Got the Juice; Cold War; Tightrope; So Afraid; Americans

When Monae encourages BAFTA-winning British actress and screenwriter Michaela Coel to join three audience members, including 1 in a wheelchair, on stage for a dance-off during an extended version of I Got The Juice (see 1h 16m in below), you know that you’re witnessing something extra special.

  • Read on for reasons including how this show opens with the 2001 Theme and, astonishingly, lives up to it

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Q&A & TV PREVIEW: No Offence featuring Paul Abbott, Joanna Scanlan & Will Mellor

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE?: BAFTA, London

WHEN?: 10/9, 1st episode airs 13/9/18

‘He’s either a spook, from Special Branch or the work experience,’ observes Joanna Scanlan’s Detective Inspector Viv Deering of the young man in a suit impeding her progress in the investigation which dominates the 1st episode in this 3rd series of No Offence. ‘I’ve got more 5 O’Clock shadow than he has.’

  • Read on for reasons including why Scanlan thinks her character is ‘Paul Abbott in a dress’

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