By Aline Mahrud
WHEN?: 7pm UK time 17 February 2024
WHERE?: Vida Arena, Växjö WHERE DO I WATCH?: SVT Play
Last week our predictions were 100 per cent correct – can we do the same again this week?
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN?: Sunday 28 January (matinee), runs through 25 February 2024 RUNTIME: 105 minutes without interval
We promised ourselves we’d seek out more Sondheim after catching the glorious Old Friends starring Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga in London’s West End late last year.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
TRACKLIST: Can’t Tame Her; More Than This Was; On My Love; Ammunition; None Of These Guys; You Love Who You Love; End Of Time; Nothing; Escape; Soundtrack; Venus; The Healing
It’s final track The Healing where Larsson feels at her most personal: ‘Can I be with you after the hurting? After the monsters in my head are finally gone? But can I be with you after the healing?’
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2
Denmark have won the Eurovision Song Contest 3 times but haven’t qualified for a final since Leonora finished 12th with Love Is Forever in 2019 in Tel Aviv.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHEN?: Saturday 10 February, opens 20 February and runs through 6 April 2024
We’re in the 5th row and start to get a little nervous as ushers ask those in the front 3 at the interval whether they’d like to wear disposable waterproofs for the 2nd half as paintballs will be thrown at the stage.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHEN?: Friday 9 February, opens 14 February and runs through 27 March 2024 2024 RUNTIME: 165 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
The beating heart of this play about family by The Hundred And One Dalmatians author Dodie Smith is the unlikely romance between Dora and Charles Randolph’s son Nicholas, played by Billy Howle, and family friend Fenny.
By Aline Mahrud
WHEN?: 7pm UK time 10 February 2024
WHERE?: Scandinavium, Gothenberg WHERE DO I WATCH?: SVT Play
Last week our predictions were 50 per cent correct and this week we have a higher number of debutants which always makes forecasting more tricky.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
Rock quartet Cyan Kicks finished runners up in Finland’s Eurovision selection show UMK (Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu) in 2022 and on Saturday (10 February 2024) return again with this song.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN? Saturday 3 February 2024, opens 13 February booking until 30 March 2024 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (includes a 20-minute interval) Update: now booking Shaftesbury Theatre 15 May through 10 January 2026 Tickets
On 13 July 1985 we weren’t quite old enough for a Saturday job in Woolworth’s or WH Smith’s and instead watched Live Aid on TV at home after our paper round and if there’s 1 message from this global jukebox musical that resonates it is that individuals matter and when they work together they can change things.
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHEN?: Saturday 3 February, runs through 15 June 2024 RUNTIME: 180 minutes (including a 15-minute interval and a brief pause)
It’s the long hot summer of 1976 and 3 sisters reunite in the front room of their mother’s Blackpool guesthouse as she lays dying upstairs.
