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.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Donmar Warehouse
WHEN: 17/8 runs to 26/9
Four women in one room: waiting for the return of a dictator in the opulence of a presidential palace. A photojournalist, a translator, the dictator’s wife and her best friend are all wondering why he is so late.
Who is the nation’s favourite actress? We’d answer Sheridan Smith and tickets for her starring role in Funny Girl at the Menier Chocolate Factory go on sale today.
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE: Almeida Theatre
WHEN: 15/8 runs to 19/9
‘Another night at the Almeida – and still no set,’ observes a neighbouring theatregoer to a friend as the (metaphorical) curtain is about to rise.
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.
WORTH A LOOK: ***
WHERE: National Theatre
WHEN: 6/8 runs to 20/9
Beaux Aimwell (Samuel Barnett) and Archer (Geoffrey Streatfield), down on their luck and planning to fleece heiresses, are the best reasons to see this adaptation of George Farquhar’s 1707 comedy.
WORTH A LOOK? ****
WHERE: Barbican
WHEN: 5/8 runs to 31/10
‘F**k!’ A stage manager has just told an exasperated Cumberbatch that tonight’s production must be halted an hour or so in because of a faulty trap door. Hamlet’s just been visited by the ghost of his father and his out-of-character expletive says it all.
WORTH A LOOK: ****
OUT: 7/8
Tracklist: Lose Control; Love Is Free; Got To Work It Out; Set Me Free; Tell You (Today)
In pop’s holy trinity of 2015 singles we’d place Robyn’s Love Is Free between current favourite King by Years and Years and Little Mix’s Black Magic.
Why do we love him so? What on earth has encouraged normally mild-mannered theatregoers to queue overnight? Is theatre the new rock’n’roll? Or, heavens, the new football?
