THEATRE REVIEW: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill starring Audra McDonald

WORTH A LOOK: *****

WHERE: Wyndham’s Theatre

WHEN: 17/6, press night 27/6, runs to 9/9

SETLIST: I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone; When A Woman Loves A Man; Crazy He Calls Me; Gimme A Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer); Baby Doll; God Bless The Child; Foolin’ Myself; Somebody’s On My Mind; Easy Livin’; Strange Fruit; Blues Break; T’ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do; Don’t Explain; What A Little Moonlight Can Do; Deep Song

It’s March 1959 and Billie Holiday is singing in South Philadelphia at the titular run-down bar in one of her last performances before her death just four months later.

  • Read on for reasons including what the view from the 2nd row of cabaret-style seating is like

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GIG REVIEW: Idina Menzel

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHERE: Royal Albert Hall

WHEN: 16/6

SETLIST: Queen Of Swords; Seasons Of Love; Don’t Rain On My Parade; Everybody Knows; Cake/Black Dog; I’m Not That Girl; Wind Beneath My Wings; Defying Gravity; I Do; Bridge Over Troubled Water; Rock Steady; No Day But Today; Dear Prudence/Do You Want To Build A Snowman?; For Good; Let It Go; I See You; Ev’ry Time I Say Goodbye

We’ve been working away in Liverpool and it’s taken us four hours to travel several hundred miles to make it here with a rucksack shortly after curtain up.

  • Read on for reasons including how Idina Menzel charms after an awkward start

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AWARDS: MONSTAS: Our best musical shortlist of 2017 so far

We awarded 12 monstas for the best pop, theatre, TV and film of 2016 in December – and here we look at the cream of 2017 so far and what’s to come. Funny Girl and Groundhog Day are previous winners in this category.

  • Read on for our favourite musicals of 2017 so far and our hopes for the next half year

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THEATRE REVIEW: Cover My Tracks starring Jade Anouka & Charlie Fink

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

WHERE: Old Vic

WHEN: 9/6, runs to 17/6

‘Gig theatre’ is the term used to describe this 70-minute show currently running on the same stage as John Boyega’s Woyzeck just half an hour after its curtain down.

  • Read on for reasons including why Jade Anouka is the most charismatic actor of the moment

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AWARDS: MONSTAS: Our best theatre actor shortlist of 2017 so far

We awarded 12 monstas for the best pop, theatre, TV and film of 2016 in December – and here we look at the cream of 2017 so far and what’s to come. James McAvoy and George Mackay are previous winners in this category.

  • Read on for our top 5 best theatre actors of 2017 so far and our hopes for the next half year

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THEATRE REVIEW: Barber Shop Chronicles starring Cyril Nri & Fisayo Akinade

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE: Dorfman Theatre, National

WHEN: 3/6, press night 7/6 runs to 18/7

STOP PRESS: Barber Shop Chronicles runs at the Camden Roundhouse in summer 2019. Tickets

Barber Shop Chronicles is an ambitious and fun 105-minute play without interval set in barber shops in London, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

  • Read on for reasons including why this play packs an emotional punch

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ALBUM REVIEW: Home Counties by Saint Etienne

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

OUT: now

TRACKLIST: The Reunion; Something New; Magpie Eyes; Whyteleafe; Dive; Church Pew Furniture Restorer; Take It All In; Popmaster; Underneath The Apple Tree; Out Of My Mind; After Hebden; Breakneck Hill; Heather; Sports Report; Train Drivers In Eyeliner; Unopened Fanmail; What Kind Of World; Sweet Arcadia; Angel Of Woodhatch

Saint Etienne are now out on tour, we’ve had a look at a recent setlist and are disappointed that only five songs from this impressive collection made it to their current live shows.

  • Read on for reasons including why this album evokes early Saint Etienne LPs

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ALBUM REVIEW: Pollinator by Blondie

WORTH A LOOK: ****

OUT: now

TRACKLIST: Doom Or Destiny; Long Time; Already Naked; Fun; My Monster; Best Day Ever; Gravity; When I Gave Up On You; Love Level; Too Much; Fragments

Q: What do Joan Jett, Charli XCX, Sia, Nick Valensi (The Strokes), Dev Hynes and Johnny Marr all have in common?

  • Read on for reasons including our highlights of Blondie’s 11th studio LP

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5 reasons to see Bananarama on tour this winter

  1. It’s Siobhan’s 1st Nana tour

We were there at the old Wembley Arena for the first Bananarama World Tour in 1989 but founder member Siobhan Fahey took no part in the 40-plus gigs. See her for the first time on tour with the band this winter.

  • Read on for reasons including rare US TV footage of the World Tour’s opening night in Boston

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