Author: mrmonstagigz

PREVIEW/PREDICTIONS: Eurovision Song Contest Semi Final 2 2024 starring Nemo, Kaleen, Joost & Mustii

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WHEN?: Thursday 9 May 2024

WHERE?: Malmo Arena, Malmo

HOW DO I WATCH?: BBC1 8pm, eurovision.tv or SVT

It’s non-binary artist Nemo (pictured) who has the best song in this less competitive semi final that will need a big performance to do it justice live but inevitably it will be the appearance of Israel’s Eden Golan with a rewritten entry no longer called October Rain that will likely dominate headlines.

  • Read on for reasons including the 10 songs we think will make it through to the 11 May final
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THEATRE REVIEW: King Lear starring Danny Sapani & Clarke Peters at the Almeida

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 23 March and runs through 30 March 2024 RUNTIME: 215 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

‘Out, vile jelly!’ We’re in the front row at this intimate venue and Gloucester’s bloody, gouged-out eye rolls across the stage towards us in the 1st King Lear we’ve seen since Kenneth Branagh’s in the West End late last year.

  • Read on for reasons including how it is Lear’s interaction with his Fool which is most insightful here
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FILM REVIEW: Monster

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

UK release: 16 March 2024

This story of a pre-adolescent boy who may be being bullied at his Japanese school is told from 3 points of view – his mother’s, his teacher’s and his own.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is a sensitive film about how individuality should be nurtured
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THEATRE REVIEW: My Neighbour Totoro at the Barbican

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 16 March 2024, runs through 23 March 2024 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) UPDATE: This production transfers to the Gillian Lynne Theatre 8 March through 2 November 2025 Tickets

The remaining week of performances for this Royal Shakespeare Company and Joe Hisaishi production of the 6 Olivier Award-winning stage version of the beloved 1988 Studio Ghibli film are sold out and we wouldn’t be surprised if it returns to London for another run soon.

  • Read on for reasons including how this contains some of the finest puppetry we have ever seen
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LAST NIGHT: THEATRE REVIEW: Till The Stars Come Down at the National Theatre

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By Neil Durham

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

WHEN?: Saturday 16 March 2024 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (with a 20-minute interval) Update: Transfers to the Theatre Royal Haymarket 1 July through 27 September 2025 Tickets

‘I’m not leaving. I haven’t danced the Macarena yet,’ says the quite brilliant Olivier Awards-nominated Lorraine Ashbourne (main picture, right) playing drunken Auntie Carol who is being ushered towards a taxi from her niece’s wedding.

  • Read on for reasons including how the campaign for this hilarious comedy to reach a wider audience starts now
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PREVIEW/PREDICTIONS: Eurovision Song Contest Semi Final 1 2024 starring Baby Lasagna, Electric Fields, Hera Bjork & Bambie Thug

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WHEN?: Tuesday 7 May 2024

WHERE?: Malmo Arena, Malmo, Sweden

HOW DO I WATCH?: BBC1 at 8pm in the UK or eurovision.tv or SVT

We think this is by far the tougher of the 2 semi finals and also that it will be much more difficult to lose 5 of these songs ahead of Saturday’s final rather than the 6 that will go home early in Semi 2.

  • Read on for reasons including who are the 10 entrants we think will make the 11 May final
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THEATRE REVIEW: Opening Night starring Sheridan Smith at the Gielgud Theatre

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

WHEN?: Monday 11 March 2024, opens 26 March and runs through 27 July 2024 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Hats off to Sheridan Smith (Shirley Valentine, Duke Of York’s Theatre) for fully embracing the role of the leading lady who turns up drunk for her opening night because that must feel uncomfortably close to home.

  • Read on for reasons including how Smith needed more memorable songs to make this show fly
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PREDICTIONS: Eurovision Song Contest 2024 finalists starring Nebulossa, Olly Alexander & Marcus & Martinus

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WHEN?: 8pm (UK time) 11 May 2024

WHERE?: Malmo Arena, Sweden

HOW DO I WATCH?: BBC1 in the UK SVT Also eurovision.tv

Nebulossa (pictured) showed some cheek in Spain’s national final selection and below we predict how it and the other pre-qualified finalists will fare in the Eurovision Song Contest final.

  • Read on for reasons including how we think this year’s 6 Eurovision finalists will do on 11 May 2024
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Glorious by Bananarama (March 2024)

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK: ****

TRACKLIST: Really Saying Something; Cruel Summer; Robert De Niro’s Waiting; Venus; More Than Physical; A Trick Of The Night; I Heard A Rumour; Love In The First Degree; Only Your Love; Preacher Man; I Could Be Persuaded; Movin’ On; Last Thing On My Mind; Every Shade Of Blue; Take Me To Your Heart; Prove Your Love; If; Crazy; Move In My Direction; Look On The Floor; Feel For You; Love Bite; Love Comes; Love Don’t Live Here; 17; Extraordinary; Baby It’s Christmas; Now Or Never; La La Love; Stuff Like That; Looking For Someone; I’m On Fire; It’s Gonna Be Alright; Favourite; Masquerade; Forever Young; Running With The Night; Cruel Summer (3am Mix); Feel the Love; Supernova

Keren Woodward and Sara Dallin have been a duo as Bananarama for the last 33 years of their 44-year career and so this curated album finds them choosing 10 tracks from each of the 4 decades of their career thus far.

  • Read on for reasons including how this album reminds how they’ve written some of pop’s finest moments across 40-plus years
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PREVIEW: 9 reasons why we can’t wait for April 2024 starring Sir Ian McKellen in Player Kings

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

  1. Player Kings starring Sir Ian McKellen

Director Robert Icke (Oresteia and Hamlet, Almeida) combines Henry IV parts 1 and 2 and McKellen (Mother Goose, Duke Of York’s Theatre) plays Falstaff alongside Richard Coyle’s (Ink, Almeida) Henry and Toheeb Jimoh’s (Romeo and Juliet, Almeida) Hal. Runs at the Noel Coward Theatre 1 April through 22 June 2024. Tickets McKellen’s ‘performance of a lifetime’ Player Kings review

  • Read on for reasons including new Pet Shop Boys album, Bananarama at the Palladium & Two Strangers
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