By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHEN?: Saturday 15 July (matinee), runs through 22 June 2024 RUNTIME: 165 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
We’re in the front row and at the start of Act 2 a character asks the audience member on our left to get up on stage and dance with them.
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN?: Sunday 16 June, running through Sunday 30 June 2024 RUNTIME: 140 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
It’s unusual for a performer to address their audience directly at the end of a show but Izzard does so here acknowledging it divided critics, urging fans to take to social media to spread the word about its appeal to the ‘young and young at heart’ before it departs this venue in a fortnight to go around the world.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
TRACKLIST: Heartbreak In The Making; Same Again (For Love); Ray-Bans; Somebody’s Baby; Hate Being Alone; Strawberry Dream; Close; In My Bones
‘Maybe we’re not made forever, maybe I don’t get to grow older with you, This house is keeping us together, we’re so Close but I’ve never felt further from you …’
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHEN?: Saturday 8 June 2024, opens 18 June and runs through 14 September 2024 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
‘Mother of God!’ For those wondering what Sergeant Ted Hastings did next in the Line Of Duty, wonder no longer …
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: (work in progress)
WHEN?: Monday 3 June 2024, running through 26 June 2024 RUNTIME: 70 minutes without interval
Released in 2023 Gervais’ comedy special Armageddon was the global number 1 most-watched show on Netflix but, as he explains here, it takes a great deal of nights like these to hone new material and see whether it lands before taking it out on tour proper.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHEN?: Saturday 1 June 2024, closes 30 June 2024 RUNTIME: 135 minutes (including a 15-minute interval) Update: now extended through 27 July 2024
We 1st saw this Pet Shop Boys musical on its debut at the intimate Arts Theatre in London’s West End in 2001 and then on its revival at Above The Stag in Vauxhall in 2019 and said: ‘If you’re a Pet Shop Boys fan you’ll marvel at just how good these songs are but also why being so ahead of its time can be the only reason why it wasn’t a bigger hit’.
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2
WHEN? Saturday 1 June 2024 (matinee), and runs through 14 July 2024 RUNTIME: 120 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
This hilarious and really quite touching new British musical answers the question what would happen if you gave 9 Year 11 teens a robot baby each for a week that needs caring for 24/7 and cries, needs feeding and poops?
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2
WHEN?: Friday 31 May 2024
SETLIST: Today, Tomorrow, Sometime, Never; We Know Better; I Can’t Imagine The World Without Me; Iris Art; Father, Ruler, King, Computer; Fear Of Flying; Car Fiction; Worms And Angels; Insomniac; Natural Animal; On, Turn On; If The Dogs Don’t Get You, My Sisters Will; Scream; Great Things; King Of The Kerb; Dark Therapy
We 1st saw Echobelly on a balmy Sunday afternoon at Glastonbury playing 9th on the bill behind Oasis (8th), Chumbawamba (6th), Pulp (5th), Radiohead (3rd) and Blur (2nd).
It’s the young leads of this classic musical we’re most excited to see. Charlie Stemp won our Best Theatre Actor monsta last year (Crazy For You, Gillian Lynne Theatre) and we saw Georgina Onuorah in Cinderella at the same venue. Stephanie J. Block and Adrian Dunbar are the main leads here at the Barbican 4 June through 14 September 2024. Tickets Our preview review
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHEN?: Friday 24 May 2024, runs through 6 July 2024 and then tours the UK RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
‘What’s your damage, Heather?’ The moment we realise we’re not the target audience for this musical of an 80s cult film is when we start to see young women dressed in different coloured blazers as if part of the terrifying clique of bullies called Heather at its heart.
