WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE? Underbelly Festival RUNTIME: 70 minutes
WHEN? 19/9/19
Cheryl Hole (pictured centre above) thinks Gals Aloud are more likely to be performing together to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the formation of Girls Aloud in 2022 than the actual group.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE? Leicester Square Theatre RUNTIME: 60 minutes
WHEN? 7/9/19, closes 7/9/19
STOP PRESS: MUSIK returns to the Leicester Square Theatre 5/2 – 1/3/20. Tickets
‘About me, the critics lied. I ignored them – and survived,’ sang character Billie Trix in song Friendly Fire (see below) played by Frances Barber in ahead-of-its-time 2001 Pet Shop Boys’ musical Closer To Heaven.
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE? Old Vic RUNTIME: 170 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 3/9, opens 5/9 and runs to 5/10/19
‘The only thing that’s criminal here is the £4 cost of a programme – and that you have to go outside to pee.’
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE? Other Palace RUNTIME: 160 minutes (with a 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 30/8, opens 5/9 and runs to 23/11/19
There is a song here, Breaking Down, that is so good and so well performed by Laura Pitt-Pulford that you’ll want to stand and cheer at its conclusion towards the end of the opening half.
WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2
WHERE? National Theatre (Lyttelton) RUNTIME: 90 minutes (no interval)
WHEN? 26/8, opens 29/8 and runs to 25/11/19
Stars Alex Jennings and Lindsay Duncan boast 5 Olivier Awards between them and we really couldn’t be in safer hands.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE? Turbine Theatre RUNTIME: 150 minutes (with a 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 25/8, opens 6/9 and runs to 13/10/19
Welcome to London’s newest theatre at a venue close to Battersea Power Station which we last visited in the late 90s for a pop gig starring Robbie Williams, Gary Barlow and All Saints.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE? Noel Coward Theatre RUNTIME: 65 minutes (no interval)
WHEN? 20/8, opens 28/8 and runs to 14/9/19
No Time To Die is revealed as the title of the new Bond film Waller-Bridge co-wrote moments before she takes to the West End stage to kill off the character with which she made her name.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE? Gielgud Theatre RUNTIME: 170 minutes (including 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 17/8 and runs to 30/11/19
STOP PRESS: This production returns at the Sondheim Theatre for 6 weeks from 5/12/20 Tickets
This year’s BBC adaptation of Les Miserables was song-free and here that idea is very much reversed with the focus on the score of the behemoth musical with the labyrinthine plot far less well explained.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE? Donmar Warehouse RUNTIME: 165 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 16/8, opens 22/8 and runs to 5/10/19
The stage is so cluttered that at a suitably dramatic moment lead Monica Dolan turns on her heels, loses her balance, falls off the stage and ends up in an unsuspecting audience member’s lap.
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE? Almeida Theatre RUNTIME: 170 minutes (with 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 12/8, opens 20/8 and runs to 28/9/19
STOP PRESS: The Doctor transfers to the Duke Of Yorks in the West End from April 2020 Tickets
Welcome to writer/director Robert Icke’s final production as Associate Director at this venue in a remarkable run which has seen 3 West End transfers at 5 attempts.
