We were at the 1st preview of this Chekhov adaptation by Conor McPherson and were blissfully unaware it would be closed by COVID-19 in March and be on cinema screens later in the year. The production is shortlisted for 4 monstas awarded 30/12/20.
1. Groovejet
I know she attributes an awful lot of her subsequent musical opportunities to this track, with Spiller, and this 2000 summer track must surely sit somewhere in your life soundtrack. Indie kids will have known her from Theaudience and dance lovers will adore what the NME called this “slip of irresistible ice-filtered summer funk”.
‘We’re going up, up, up, up, up, up!’ Euphoria is a song which is well-titled. A number 3 hit in the UK, it was also memorably performed in a Kate Bush-fashion ripe for lampooning years later in best interval act ever Love, Love, Peace, Peace. The song itself is a credible piece of electro pop which only narrowly missed out on our greatest ever winners list but did make it to the Melodifestivalen top 5.
We were at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki in 2007 when this had the misfortune of following immediately after eventual winner Molitva by Marija Šerifović. We hadn’t fancied it much before we left London for Finland but when we arrived it was clear what a fan favourite it was. Multiple key changes, a riot in Bacofoil and a simple, insistent hook, it defeated Šerifović in a recent Eurovision Again vote. ‘Let’s speak dance!’
Thank you to our tens of thousands of readers who drove up our traffic by more than 12 per cent in 2019 and welcome to a top six of the most popular content of the year.
Sheridan Smith won our Best Theatre Actress monsta in 2015 and here stole the show in Lloyd Webber’s Palladium revival of one of his biggest hits. We said in our review: ‘We know we’re in safe hands when the always reliable Sheridan Smith channels Eric Morecambe from behind a fake moustache, confiding to the audience: ‘It’s still me.’ It was such a success that it returns to the Palladium for a second run next summer. Tickets
We’ve been visiting Barcelona regularly since the turn of the century, have owned a flat off Las Ramblas in Raval for the last 15 years and here is our guide to the top 5 must-visit restaurants and bars in this city we love.
Martin McDonagh features twice in this list and wrote/directed the Oscar-winning film Three Billboards in 2018. We were at the 2nd preview for this new play at the Bridge Theatre and weren’t keen: ‘Our problem with A Very, Very, Very Dark Matter is that, while McDonagh could be argued to be skewering the lazy racism of 18th Century Europe of the time, it makes for a very uncomfortable and politically incorrect watch in 2018.’
We were at the first preview of the Young Vic production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof at the Apollo Theatre in July when Jack O’Connell decided to perform naked. Review
WHERE: BFI
WHEN: 5/1
It’s 40 years since Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party pricked a nation’s consciousness through a cheesy-pineapple skewer, we’re here with the Oscar-nominated director and much of the cast to celebrate the TV career of its star, Alison Steadman.
Sir Ian has long been one of our favourite actors and when he shared our BFI Shakespeare Q&A with him on his Facebook page in April our traffic went into meltdown. Pictorial evidence above.
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