- Jesus Christ Superstar: The Concert at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
Outdoor theatre is back at one of our favourite venues, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, with 70 performances from 14/8/20 of a concert version of one of the shows most successfully staged there. Tyrone Huntley (pictured above, Leave To Remain and The View UpStairs) joins the cast and was nominated for an Olivier for a previous production of the show at this venue. We’ll be reporting from the previews about what the experience is like. Tickets
- Read on for reasons including Juliet Stevenson at the Donmar, Andrew Scott at the Old Vic and an album by Declan McKenna
2. Blindness at the Donmar
Our last theatre was a preview of City Of Angels at the Garrick in March and so we’re delighted our first trip back is to the Donmar for a socially distanced sound installation featuring the voice of Juliet Stevenson (The Doctor at the Almeida) which runs 1 to 22/8/20. Tickets
3. Three Kings starring Andrew Scott at the Old Vic
This venue staged a live version of Lungs starring Matt Smith and Claire Foy via Zoom during lockdown and Andrew Scott (Hamlet, Sea Wall and Present Laughter) stars in a new play by Stephen Beresford (who wrote 2014’s fabulous film Pride, also starring Scott) which has five performances until 1/8/20.
4. Caitlin Moran film How To Build A Girl on Amazon Prime
Film releases appear a law unto themselves at the moment and this version of the 2014 Caitlin Moran book we’ve read dropped much quicker than we were expecting. Times columnist Moran is one of our favourite authors and this is semi-autobiographical covering her music press career in the early 90s. Elastica’s superb Connection soundtracks an early dream sequence and Beanie Feldstein, the star of our favourite film last year, pulls off the Midlands’ accent with aplomb. Best line: ‘Losing the TV is tough, like when Beth dies in Little Women.’
5. Rumer finally releases Nashville Tears album
Postponed from its original April release because of the pandemic, we’ve now heard seven of the 15 songs from this album of covers by American country songwriter Hugh Prestwood and it’s more uptempo and pop than we were expecting. We last saw her live at the Barbican in 2015 and her next tour has been rescheduled for next year. Tickets
6. Declan McKenna Zeroes album
We caught McKenna’s 2017 Glastonbury set during this summer’s BBC celebration of the event’s first 50 years and, while he doesn’t quite live up to the expectation generated by his 2017 BBC Introducing artist of the year title, it would be fair to say there’s a lot of excitement around the now 21-year-old singer songwriter’s 2nd album Zeroes out 21/8/20. He tours next year including a gig where we hope to join him at the 02 Brixton Academy. Tickets
7. Cinemas return to show Bill & Ted Face The Music
Who would have guessed that 31 years after the original film Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter that they would be about to release its second follow up? Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey followed swiftly two years later and the latest film is set for UK release in August after cinemas reopen in the UK on 31/7.
8. Katy Perry’s new LP makes us Smile
Katy’s 6th studio album arrives 14/8/20 and we’ve already heard 4 of its 12 tracks. 2019 singles Never Really Over and Harleys In Hawaii were meant to be standalone and not appear here but plans have changed, striking us with a little trepidation ahead of this launch. Taylor Swift already appears to have outflanked her with an unexpectedly hip and interesting new album out Friday, Folklore.
9. Brighton Pride goes virtual
Beverley Knight’s ‘pilot’ gig at the Palladium last week gives us hope about some sort of live return but it can’t come soon enough for Brighton Pride which was to have celebrated its 30th year 1 and 2/8/20. Instead look out for archive footage of vintage performances from acts including Years & Years, Nile Rodgers and Lucy Spraggan.
- Picture courtesy Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre via Facebook Tickets
- Have you seen any of these shows or films or heard the albums? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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