1. La Cage Aux Folles at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Arguably 1 of our favourite London theatre venues, this atmospheric outdoor spot is particularly musical friendly. Director Tim Sheader has run this venue for over a decade and takes over as artistic director at the Donmar next year. La Cage Aux Folles is the story of a gay male couple whose son visits with news that he is to marry the daughter of an ultra-Conservative MP and farce ensues when this defender of the most traditional values in family life arrives with mother and daughter. Runs 29 July through 16 September 2023. Tickets Review

• Read on for reasons including debut Cian Ducrot LP, the return of Pulp and Crazy For You

2. Debut Cian Ducrot LP

Ducrot’s debut album Victory is out 21 July, he plays Southsea’s glorious Victorious Festival next month and we see him on tour later this year at his biggest London show to date at the Eventim Apollo in November. We saw him at KOKO earlier this year and Part Of Me was a song of the week for us also in April. Tickets Update: Ducrot’s album is now out 4 August 2023

3. Pulp return

The Sheffield Britpop band fronted by charismatic Jarvis Cocker return after more than a decade away from the live circuit with numerous gigs including 2 nights at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith where we join them. We reviewed Cocker live with his band as Jarv Is at Camden Roundhouse in November 2021 saying: ‘A confession: we went through a 90s phase of seeing Pulp at every opportunity we could – Glastonbury, Reading Festival, Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London in 1994, Glastonbury, Mile End, Exeter Uni in 1995, and finally V Festival in 1996 As well as occasionally dressing as Jarv Did.’ Tickets Review

4. Crazy For You starring Charlie Stemp

We last saw Stemp star in Mary Poppins and here he plays theatre-mad Bobby Child who is torn between his showbusiness dreams and running the family bank. Premiered in Chichester last summer, it contains Gershwin melodies including Someone To Watch Over Me, I Got Rhythm and They Can’t Take That Away From Me and runs at the Gillian Lynne Theatre 24 June through 20 January 2024. Tickets Review

5. Song From Far Away starring Will Young

We last saw pop star Young in concert in Hackney, east London, in September 2021 and wrote: ‘We’ve seen Young twice in the West End in Cabaret, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award and Strictly Ballroom. He’s asked when he might return and he says he’d like to but with ‘something really good’ which indicates to us that we shouldn’t hold our breath just yet.’ We saw Song From Away at the Young Vic in 2015 and it is the story of a banker in New York who is grieving his younger brother’s death, a story pertinent to Young. Runs at Hampstead Theatre 28 June through 22 July 2023. Tickets Review

6. Madonna: The Celebration tour

The Queen of Pop’s Madonna: The Celebration Tour opens 15 July in Vancouver, Canada and arrives in London in October for the 1st of 6 dates at The 02. We join her in Barcelona in November for 2 dates at the Palau Sant Jordi. The tour runs through 30 January 2024 where it finishes in Mexico. It highlights a recording career spanning 4 decades and we last saw her at the London Palladium in February 2020 just before Covid. Tickets Update: Get well soon Madonna whose tour will now no longer start 15 July. Should it go ahead, we’d suggest opening in London in October at The 02 when the European leg starts and putting the US dates at the end of the tour

7. Alison Goldfrapp at Somerset House

Alison’s debut solo LP The Love Invention was an album of the month for us in April and we saw her 1st solo gig at HERE at Outernet. We said: ‘Both So Hard, So Hot and the album’s title track are real pop highs and Alison has never sounded so at home on the dancefloor even in her band’s prime.’ Alison plays at Glastonbury Festival this weekend before we join her again for an outdoor gig at London’s Somerset House. Tickets Review

8. Disruption starring Nathaniel Curtis

Curtis starred in the monsta-winning It’s A Sin and here features in a play by Andrew Stein that asks rather presciently will AI make us truly happy? The thriller runs at the Park Theatre 7 July through 5 August 2023. Tickets Review

9. Indiana Jones goes Fleabag

The 5th and final film in this franchise opens in the UK 28 June with Harrison Ford as our titular hero starring opposite monstagigz favourite Phoebe Waller Bridge (Fleabag, Wyndhams Theatre) as Indy’s goddaughter in a film titled Indiana Jones and The Dial Of Destiny.

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre Tickets
• Have you seen a show at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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