Month: July 2021

THEATRE REVIEW: Be More Chill starring Scott Folan, Miracle Chance, Blake Patrick Anderson & Renee Lamb at Shaftesbury Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including 20-minute interval)

WHEN?: Matinee Thursday 29 July, booking to 5 September 2021

When Covid-19 closed theatres in March 2020 this production was booking at the Other Palace until May and we said in our February review that: ‘This preview received a rapturous standing ovation, a sign that Be More Chill looks set to be with us when the weather warms up – and perhaps even longer should the West End melt to its charms.’

  • Read on for reasons including what this West End transfer looks and feels like in a post-lockdown world
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THEATRE REVIEW: Heathers The Musical starring Christina Bennington, Jordan Luke Gage & Jodie Steele at Theatre Royal Haymarket

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

WHEN?: Matinee Wednesday 28 July 2021, booking to 11 September 2021

RUNTIME: 150 minutes (with a 20-minute interval)

We were at a preview of this production at the Other Palace over 3 years ago and we’re back because we’ve enjoyed its 2 new leads in Bat Out Of Hell (Dominion, Christina Bennington) and & Juliet (Shaftesbury Theatre, Jordan Luke Gage).

  • Read on for reasons including how the vociferous audience is so powerful it is like having an extra Heather onstage
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THEATRE REVIEW: My Night With Reg starring Paul Keating, Stephen K. Amos and Gerard McCarthy at Turbine Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Tuesday 27 July 2021, running to 21 August 2021 UPDATE: Run extended to 11 September 2021

RUNTIME: 135 minutes (including 20-minute interval)

Written in 1994, the same year as film Four Weddings and a Funeral, comedy My Night With Reg could easily have been re-titled ‘two funerals and a housewarming’.

  • Read on for reasons including why this awards-laden classic can stand shoulder to shoulder with The Boys In The Band
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THEATRE REVIEW: Hamlet starring Sir Ian McKellen at Theatre Royal Windsor

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

RUNTIME: 165 minutes (including 20-minute interval)

WHEN?: Monday 26 July 2021, booking to Saturday 25 September 2021

The concept of age-blind casting can have undergone no truer test than here with the 82-year-old McKellen playing the titular role of a character often thought to have been aged about 30.

  • Read on for reasons including why you shouldn’t choose onstage seating if you see this production in Windsor
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THEATRE REVIEW: Anything Goes starring Sutton Foster, Robert Lindsay, Gary Wilmot & Felicity Kendal at the Barbican

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: matinee Sunday 25 July 2021, opens 4 August, runs to 17 October

RUNTIME: 145 minutes (including a 20-minute matinee)

Sutton Foster won a Tony for her portrayal of nightclub singer Reno Sweeney in the 2011 Broadway production and there are 2 moments here at this 3rd preview where she spurs the enthusiastic audience into mid-show standing ovations.

  • Read on for reasons including how Foster’s chemistry with Lindsay as public enemy Moonface Martin is a delight
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PREVIEW: 9 reasons why we can’t wait for August 2021 starring Culture Club

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

  1. Culture Club and Bananarama play Kenwood House

This is shaping up to be 1 of our 1st gigs proper since Madonna at the Palladium pre-lockdowns in February 2020 and we couldn’t be more thrilled. The occasion is Heritage Live and the setting is north London’s beautiful Kenwood House. We’ve seen Rufus Wainwright here before and we know we’re in for something special because Culture Club and Bananarama always deliver live. Tickets

  • Read on for reasons including new albums from Lorde and Will Young and the Victorious festival
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SONG OF THE WEEK: I Wanna Be Your Slave by Måneskin (week beginning Friday 23 July 2021)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

If winning May’s Eurovision Song Contest in front of 183 million viewers wasn’t enough, Italy’s Måneskin had a top 20 hit with the victorious Zitti e buoni in the UK – and then followed it with 2 top 10 successes.

  • Read on for reasons including how London’s live music gig scene was key to the band’s success
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THEATRE REVIEW: Romeo and Juliet starring Alfred Enoch at Shakespeare’s Globe

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: via livestream 10 July 2021, runs to 17 October 2021

RUNTIME?: 110 minutes (no interval)

There’s a screen above the stage which alternates statements and statistics to highlight the mental health issues raised in this tragedy but also how young people are affected today.

  • Read on for reasons including how this livestream was bedevilled with problems
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ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Boy From Michigan by John Grant (week beginning 16 July 2021)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

TRACKLIST: Boy From Michigan; County Fair; The Rusty Bull; The Cruise Room; Mike And Julie; Best In Me; Rhetorical Figure; Just So You Know; Dandy Star; Your Portfolio; The Only Baby; Billy

We’re reminded of the close of 2 of our favourite albums of the 90s – Pulp‘s His’n’Hers and REM’s Automatic For The People – by the tenderness and tunefulness of final track here, Billy.

  • Read on for reasons including how to see Grant on tour in London and across the UK soon
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella (Original Album Cast Recording) starring Carrie Hope Fletcher (July 2021)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

TRACKLIST: Buns ‘N’ Roses; It Has To Be Her; Bad Cinderella; So Long; Unfair; Unbreakable; Hunks’ Song; Man’s Man; So Long (Reprise); Only you, Lonely You; The Queen’s Boudoir; I Know You; I Know You (Reprise); The Village Square; Unfair (Reprise); The Godmother’s Shop; Beauty Has A Price; Fanfare; The Cinderella Waltz; The Ball; I Know I Have A Heart; Act 2 Scene 2; I Am No Longer Me; Moment Of Triumph; What Were You Thinking?; Far Too Late; Ego Has A Price (Reprise); The Wedding Fanfare; The Wedding March; The Ceremony; The Vanquishing; Man’s Man (Reprise); Cinderella’s Solilioquy; The Wedding Party; Finale; Marry For Love; Only You, Lonely You

With former Killing Eve showrunner Emerald Fennell at the helm in the year she won an Oscar for Promising Young Woman this Cinderella was always likely to be a radical reinterpretation of the beloved fairy tale – and so it proves.

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