WHERE: BFI
WHEN: 17/9
We are about to watch the opening episode in the 6th and final season of Downton Abbey when ITV director of television Peter Fincham leaps on stage unexpectedly to tell us this is the beginning rather than the end.
Suede have released the 66-second trailer (above) for 7th studio album Night Thoughts as well as details of the two-night LP plus film launch at Camden Roundhouse.
5. X Factor debut
16 years old and singing a very personal song she wrote herself, the Lincolnshire chanteuse announced herself to the world in X Factor’s class of 2012. Missed would later appear on her 2014 chart-topping UK debut album. Even Cher tweeted her approval of Ella’s cover of her Believe in a later audition. That acoustic cover appears on the deluxe version of Chapter One.
WORTH A LOOK: ***
WHERE: Old Vic
WHEN: 5/9, previews to 10/9, runs to 3/10
The story at the heart of Future Conditional has similarities to the life of Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai.
Does anyone have a better taste in female duet partners? We saw Grant three times last year: Glastonbury, Royal Festival Hall and duetting with Alison Goldfrapp at the Albert Hall. Sinead O’Connor appeared on last proper album Pale Green Ghosts and here former Everything But The Girl star Thorn is duetting (see YouTube clip above) on gorgeous lines like: ‘Francis Bacon, the Dolomites, ballet dancers with or without tights, Central Park on an autumn day, always stunning and never cliche.’ And if that sounds too Vogue Madonna, the chorus reverts to type (‘All these things, they’re just Disappointing …’) until the O’Connor-esque payoff (‘… compared to you.’) Musically, it’s a return to the jauntier elements of breakthrough Queen of Denmark album.
Do you like Hurts? Their 3rd album Surrender is out 9/10. monstagigz was in the audience for the 1st show for this album 16/6 Scala.
Antici ….. pation’s running high for the return of Richard O’Brien as The Narrator in the musical he wrote, The Rocky Horror Show. It runs 11-26/9 at the Playhouse Theatre with a show broadcast to cinemas 17/9 in aid of Amnesty International starring Stephen Fry, Mel Giedroyc, Emma Bunton and Anthony Head. The regular cast includes the brilliant David Bedella (Jerry Springer – The Opera) and tours nationwide after this run.
WORTH A LOOK: ****/*****
WHEN: 21/8 and 22/8
WHERE: Adelphi Theatre and Old Vic
We had the pleasure of being in the front row for the closing night of High Society at the end of Kevin Spacey’s 11-year-run as artistic director of the Old Vic on Saturday night.
5. Kim Wilde
The 30,000 tickets for 80s festival Rewind South at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, 21-23/8 sold out this month. We’ve picked our favourites from the 27 acts performing and in at number 5 is the turn no train journey would be complete without. This YouTube clip of Kim Wilde returning home from a party performing Kids In America and Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree went viral. Performing on Saturday we hope she also plays You Came and You Keep Me Hangin’ On. Train optional.
5. The soundtrack
A confession: we’ve loved the soundtrack since we bought it after Kinky Boots, which is in previews at the Adelphi Theatre from 21/8, won six Tonys in 2013. Hold Me In Your Heart (You Tube clip above) is the showstopper Whitney should’ve recorded. But there’s so much more to the soundtrack than that.
