GIG REVIEW: Patti LuPone: A Life In Notes at London Coliseum
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ***** Tour continues through 24 May 2025 Tickets
Setlist: A Song For You; Come-On-A My House; Summertime Summertime; Ebb Tide; We Kiss In A Shadow; Teen Angel; Town Without Pity; I Wish It So; Some People; Lilac Wine; Alfie; Saratoga Summer Song; The Man That Got Away; Those Were The Days; On Broadway; Don’t Cry For Me Argentina; I Dreamed A Dream; The Ladies Who Lunch; Stars; Anything Goes; Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye; I Didn’t Know What Time It Was; Time After Time; Make You Feel My Love; Ready To Begin Again (Manya’s Song); Forever Young
This ornate London theatre has a 2,558 capacity and it’s testament to LuPone’s star quality during this biographical show in which she appears onstage with only 2 musicians that it feels much more intimate.
- Read on for reasons including how LuPone’s star quality make this gigantic venue fizz with the intimacy of an off-Broadway dive bar
FILM REVIEW: Nosferatu starring Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Emma Corrin & Willem Dafoe
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: **** RUNTIME: 133 minutes
This is the 1st film we’ve seen Depp in and the daughter of actors Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis is both other-worldly and hugely captivating in a pivotal role that must convince in this tale of 2 very different worlds colliding here.
- Read on for reasons including how this is a superbly crafted horror from a director at the top of his game
ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Polari by Olly Alexander (February 2025)
WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2
TRACKLIST: Polari; Cupid’s Bow; I Know; Shadow Of Love; Make Me A Man; Dizzy; Archangel; Miss You So Much; When We Kiss; Whisper In The Waves; Beautiful; Heal You; Language
Duets with Kylie Minogue, Pet Shop Boys and Elton John mean the groundwork has been laid and that this 1st official solo album’s predominantly uptempo, 80s-influenced musical theme makes perfect sense.
- Read on for reasons including how to see Alexander on his tour including the London Palladium this year
PREDICTIONS: Melodifestivalen 2025 heat 3 starring Greczula, Malou Prytz & Annika Wickihalder
By Aline Mahrud
WHEN?: Saturday 15 February 2025 7pm UK time
WHERE?: ABB Arena, Västerås
Established male MF stars have won the 1st 2 Melodifestivalen heats and this week we believe it’s the turn of newcomer Greczula to shine.
- Read on for reasons including our predictions for who will finish where on Saturday
THEATRE REVIEW: Richard II starring Jonathan Bailey at Bridge Theatre
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHEN?: Monday 10 February, opens 18 February and runs through 10 May 2025 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (with a 20-minute interval)
Bailey is perhaps best known as Fiyero in film Wicked, nominated for 10 Oscars on 2 March, although we have previously reviewed him in Shakespeare (King Lear, Chichester Festival Theatre) but never as the leading man.
- Read on for reasons including the parallels between Fiyero and Richard II and how this accessible production could be your gateway to Shakespeare
THEATRE REVIEW: Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet and Yew starring Omari Douglas at Bush Theatre
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHEN?: Saturday 8 February, opens 13 February and runs through 22 March 2025 RUNTIME: 165 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
Bush Emerging Writers’ Group alumni Coral Wylie (pictured above right) writes and stars as 19-year-old Pip who identifies as non-binary, has dropped out of education and feels misunderstood by their parents.
- Read on for reasons including how there’s a big heart at the root of the show that deserves nourishing
THEATRE REVIEW: Unicorn starring Nicola Walker, Stephen Mangan & Erin Doherty at the Garrick Theatre
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHEN?: Saturday 8 February (matinee), opens 13 February and runs through 26 April 2025 RUNTIME: 140 minutes (with a 20-minute interval)
We’re at dinner with friends the night before we see this and they mention they caught it on its 1st preview.
- Read on for reasons including why this is hugely funny and the best new play of the year so far
FILM REVIEW: A Real Pain starring Kieran Culkin & Jesse Eisenberg
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2 RUNTIME: 90 minutes
Culkin won a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe and is nominated for an Oscar in the same category while his co-star Jesse Eisenberg who wrote and directed this quiet gem of a movie receives a similar Best Original Screenplay nod.
- Read on for reasons including how this elegant film is both brief and hard-hitting
PREDICTIONS: Melodifestivalen 2025 Heat 2 starring Klara Hammarström, Kaliffa & Eric Segerstedt
By Aline Mahrud
WHEN?: Saturday 8 February 2025 7pm UK time
WHERE?: Scandinavium, Gothenburg
Melodifestivalen showed its strength in depth last week with a 1st heat strong on musical diversity and there is much that is different to again appreciate here in this 2nd outing.
- Read on for reasons including Kaliffa, Eric Segerstedt & Schlagerz
