- Madonna brings Madame X to the London Palladium
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.
- Read on for reasons including new Pet Shop Boys album, Richard Armitage’s West End return and VAULT Festival
2. Pet Shop Boys release Hotspot album
Dreamland was a Song Of The Month for us last year and the Olly Alexander duet featured in a triumphant Hyde Park gig in September. Hotspot is out 24/1/20 and hear the 2nd track from it above. The Boys play The 02 in May as part of a UK tour. Tickets
3. Daniel Radcliffe returns to the Old Vic
We saw Radcliffe on Broadway in 2018 in The Lifespan Of A Fact and we like him because he always makes interesting acting choices. We enjoyed our 2016 Q&A with him but it’s his last appearance at the Old Vic in Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead in 2017 that means we can’t wait for his return to that iconic stage opposite Alan Cumming and Jane Horrocks in Beckett’s Endgame. Runs 27/1 through 28/3/20. Tickets
4. Richard Armitage and Toby Jones take on Uncle Vanya
The 1st big West End show out of the blocks in 2020 is Conor McPherson’s (Girl From The North Country) take on a Chekhov classic that has a lot to do to surpass a recent Almeida production. The cast includes Armitage (following up an award-winning lead in The Crucible at the Old Vic in 2014) and Jones who we last saw at the Royal Court. Runs 14/1 to 2/5/20. Tickets
5. Lesley Manville makes The Visit to the National
We last saw Manville (TV’s Mum) on stage in the West End in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night and here in the Olivier at the National she plays an improbably beautiful and impenetrably terrifying woman who returns to her hometown. Hugo Weaving (The Matrix and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) co-stars and Jeremy Herrin directs. Runs 31/1 to 13/5/20. Tickets
6. The Welkin starring Maxine Peake
Author Lucy Kirkwood wrote Mosquitoes and The Welkin is set in rural Suffolk in 1759 as Sally Poppy is sentenced to death for murder. When she claims to be pregnant, a jury must decide whether she’s lying. Starring Peake and the one-to-watch Ria Zmitrowicz, Haydn Gwynn and Cecilia Noble at the Lyttelton at the National 15/1 to 23/5/20. Tickets
7. Steps’ Ian H Watkins makes same sex TV history
Steps are expected to release a new album in 2020 and as a warm up band member H becomes the first celebrity in a same sex partnership in ITV’s Dancing On Ice. It’s a groundbreaking first. We still think Steps should try Eurovision because live is where they well and truly shine. Watch Dancing On Ice from 5/1/20. Steps tickets
8. VAULT Festival begins
We caught the winner of our Best New Musical monsta at this south London festival and we’ve everything crossed for something as memorable as Fat Rascal’s Vulvarine: A New Musical in 2020.The VAULT Festival runs 28/1/20 through 22/3/20. Tickets and What’s On
9. Get Into London Theatre
The Society Of London Theatre (SOLT) offers discounted tickets to a range of London’s finest shows in January. Details
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