FILM REVIEW: Past Lives written & directed by Celine Song

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

Have you ever wondered whether there might be a finite number of people in the world and that all of us have past lives that occasionally bubble to the surface when paths cross?

  • Read on for reasons including why this is never afraid to disappoint and is 1 of the most perfectly executed films of the year
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THEATRE REVIEW: Beautiful Thing at Theatre Royal Stratford East

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: **** RUNTIME: 120 minutes (including 20-minute interval)

WHEN?: Saturday 7 October (matinee), runs until 7 October 2023 Then Leeds Playhouse 18-28 October Tickets & HOME Manchester 31 October – 11 November 2023 Tickets

We took our 1st tentative steps out of the closet in Devon in 1993, the year that this Jonathan Harvey (Mother Goose, Duke Of York’s Theatre) play premiered at London’s Bush Theatre starring Jonny Lee Miller.

  • Read on for reasons including why Leeds and Manchester have a beautiful treat in store
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Sorry, I’m Late by Mae Muller (October 2023)

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

TRACKLIST: I Just Came To Dance; Sorry Daniel; Bitch With A Broken Heart; I Wrote A Song; Me, Myself And I; Tatiana; Somebody New; I Wish I Could Hate You; A Little Bit Sad; MTJL; Breathe; Something Real; Nervous (In A Good Way); Better Days; Porn Lied To Us; Miss America; Written By A Woman

Muller has co-written all but 1 of the 17 songs here and there’s a line in the downbeat, reflective and extraordinarily vulnerable MTJL (Maybe That’s Just Life) that says: ‘I wish I was a better singer, or better than I am. I wish one little thing would go to plan.’

  • Read on for reasons including why this is 1 of the year’s best albums
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THEATRE REVIEW: PIAF starring Elena Roger at Teatro Liceo Buenos Aires, Argentina

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Thursday 14 September 2023 RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes (no interval)

Roger gives a five-star performance of a three-star play in which she is the uncanny embodiment of the French singer who performed in cabaret and chanson styles and was the country’s most popular singer in the 1940s.

  • Read on for reasons including how we joined the enthusiastic standing ovation for this performance and production
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THEATRE REVIEW: Vanya starring Andrew Scott at the Duke Of York’s Theatre

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2 RUNTIME: 110 minutes (no interval)

WHEN?: Saturday 30 September, booking through 21 October 2023

Andrew Scott (Present Laughter, Old Vic) is 1 of this country’s finest actors but this intricate, multi-character Chekhov drama is ill-suited to a 1-man show.

  • Read on for reasons including how this was a valiant effort but not our favourite Vanya
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THEATRE REVIEW: Cabaret starring Jake Shears & Rebecca Lucy Taylor at The Kit Kat Club

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***** RUNTIME: 170 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

WHEN?: Saturday 30 September 2023 (matinee), booking through 28 September 2024

You may know Rebecca Lucy Taylor as indie pop star Self Esteem, this is her West End debut and she is, as her character Sally Bowles might put it, deliciously divine.

  • Read on for reasons including why Shears and Self Esteem make this electric production filthy gorgeous
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SONG OF THE WEEK: Sunny Side Of London by Joker Out (week beginning 30 September 2023)

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

Joker Out lead singer Bojan woke up on his band’s tour bus this year, saw London’s Palace of Westminster and decided the city should be the venue for the lyric about the quintet’s relationship with its fans.

  • Read on for reasons including how the band is working on an album in English
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Tension by Kylie (September 2023)

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

TRACKLIST: Padam Padam; Hold On To Now; Things We Do For Love; Tension; One More Time; You Still Get Me High; Hands; Green Light; Vegas High; 10 Out Of 10; Story

There were 18 months between the 1st time we saw Kylie live on the Enjoy Yourself tour at the now-no-more London Arena in Docklands in 1990 and the 2nd on the Let’s Get To It tour at the old Wembley Arena.

  • Read on for reasons including why this is 1 of the most thrilling points of Kylie’s musical career
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THEATRE REVIEW: Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends starring Bernadette Peters & Lea Salonga at the Gielgud Theatre

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Saturday 23 September (matinee), opens 3 October runs through 6 January 2024 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) UPDATE: Transfers to the Samuel J Friedman Theatre on Broadway from 25 March 2025

We’re sitting on the end of the 3rd row for the 3rd preview at this sold out 986-capacity venue and watch a single tear slide down the cheek of Bernadette Peters during a very moving Send In The Clowns.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is more fun than the BBC spectacular on which it is based
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