WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE: Union Chapel, supporting Billy Lockett
WHEN: 15/2/18
SETLIST: Shoot Me Down; Blood Diamonds; Plastic; Pretty Boy; Paper Crown; Psycho; Bad and Beautiful; Black Dahlia
‘Does anyone here know a Pretty Boy?’ Our new favourite singer is about to launch into her best song in the atmospheric surroundings of Islington’s Union Chapel.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Bush Theatre
WHEN: 13/2, runs to 3/3/18
Monica Dolan is perhaps best known for her roles in material as diverse as W1A, Inside No 9 and her BAFTA Award-winning turn in Appropriate Adult as Rosemary West.
WHEN?: 3/3/18
We wouldn’t usually cover Finland’s Eurovision selection show, Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), but we’re doing so this year because it has chosen UK X Factor runner-up Saara Aalto to sing each of three songs.
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE: Theatre Royal Haymarket
WHEN: 9/2, press night 20/2, runs to 5/5/18
We’re imagining that most of the packed audience at this venue are here for Doctor Foster star Suranne Jones and it’s her name we hear in occasional murmurings from our fellow guests ahead of this first preview.
WHEN?: 7pm (UK time) 10/2/18 on SVT (link at the bottom of the page below)
WHERE: Gothenburg
This week’s heat boasts a very contemporary song which is our favourite entry so far but will the Swedes get behind a singer not from their own country?
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
OPENS IN THE UK: 8/2/18
Guillermo del Toro’s tenth effort arrives on these shores with more Oscar nominations than any other film this year, a startling 13.
WHEN?: 7pm (UK time) 3/2/18 on SVT (link at the bottom of the page below)
WHERE: Karlstad
It’s not unusual for heat 1 of Melodifestivalen to spring a song to beat and we definitely think there’s one here – and it probably is the one you were expecting.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Bridge Theatre
WHEN: 27/1, press night 30/1, runs to 15/4/18
This is the show that should have been the one to launch Nick Hytner’s Bridge Theatre.
WHEN?: BBC2 7/2/18 7.30pm
WHERE: Brighton Dome
We think this year’s UK Eurovision selection is the best since its 90s heyday (when Deuce were beaten by Love City Groove) and venture that there’s a potential Eurovision Song Contest winner in this year’s half dozen.
Postponed from October due to health reasons, the world’s greatest pop star drops by for two nights at The 02 this month. Her last album Joanne won our monsta for Best Album in 2016. Tickets Her new film A Star Is Born is out in May.
