THEATRE REVIEW: Coming Clean at the Turbine Theatre

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By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Wednesday 17 April and runs through 27 April 2024 RUNTIME: 120 minutes (with a 20-minute interval)

Struggling writer Tony is in a relationship with the more successful author Greg and would rather devote time to his career than keep their Kentish Town flat spick and span so employs a cleaner.

  • Read on for reasons including why this is a barrel of laughs but also shines a light on the suitability of the gay marriage legislation that was to come
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PREVIEW: 9 reasons why we can’t wait for May 2024 starring Dominic West in A View From The Bridge

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

  1. A View From The Bridge in the West End

Transferring from Bath’s Theatre Royal, this Lindsay Posner production stars Dominic West (TV’s The Crown), Kate Fleetwood (Ugly Lies The Bone, National Theatre) and Callum Scott Howells (Cabaret, Kit Kat Club) in this Arthur Miller play about 1 man’s place in the close-knit American-Italian community of 1950s New York. Runs 23 May through 3 August 2024 at Theatre Royal Haymarket. Tickets Our preview review

  • Read on for reasons including Olly Alexander, Boys From The Blackstuff and Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey
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THEATRE REVIEW: London Tide at the National Theatre

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Wednesday 10 April 2024, opens 17 April and runs through 22 June 2024 RUNTIME: 205 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

PJ Harvey has written 13 new tracks which are sung by the cast here in this ‘play with songs’ which adapts Dickens’ last novel Our Mutual Friend.

  • Read on for reasons including how the songs are understated, dark, brooding yet hauntingly beautiful
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THEATRE REVIEW: Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York) starring Sam Tutty & Dujonna Gift at The Criterion

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By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Sunday 7 April, opens 23 April and runs through 14 July 2024 RUNTIME: 135 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) Update: run extended through 31 August 2024

If you’re here because leading man Sam Tutty won a Best Actor In A Musical Olivier Award for Dear Evan Hansen, sit down, sip on a coffee and stay a while because he’s a good reason but not the best 1 to see this new musical.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is the story of an unlikely couple saving each other when they least expect it
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THEATRE REVIEW: Player Kings starring Sir Ian McKellen at the Noel Coward Theatre

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Saturday 6 April 2024, opens 11 April and runs through 22 June 2024 RUNTIME: 220 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

McKellen (Mother Goose, Duke Of York’s Theatre) dons a fatsuit and gives the performance of a lifetime as Falstaff in writer/director Robert Icke’s (Oresteia and Hamlet, Almeida) combination of Shakespeare’s  Henry IV parts 1 and 2.

  • Read on for reasons including how you should grab the chance to see McKellen on stage while you have the chance
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SONG OF THE MONTH: Dancing Star by Pet Shop Boys (April 2024)

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WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

Archive footage of ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev features in the video for this song about a rule breaker seeking freedom from oppression and it reminds us why Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant is pop’s finest lyricist.

  • Read on for reasons including why Pet Shop Boys are our favourite act
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GIG REVIEW: Bananarama at the Palladium

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Thursday 4 April 2024, tour runs through 7 September 2024

SETLIST: I Heard A Rumour; Last Thing On My Mind; Movin’ On; Trick Of The Night; Cruel Summer; Masquerade; Move In My Direction; Love, Truth and Honesty; I Want You Back; Looking For Someone; Atomic; Supernova; Only Your Love; Preacher Man; Really Saying Something; Nathan Jones; Forever Young; Lost In Music; Stuff Like That; Look On The Floor; Favourite; Love Don’t Live Here; Feel The Love; Robert De Niro’s Waiting; Love In The First Degree; You Spin Me Round (Like A Record); Venus

Bananarama’s imperial phase may have ended after we saw them on their 1st tour headlining Wembley Arena in 1989 but you would never know it from this raucous celebration of their 40-plus years in pop.

  • Read on for reasons including what the secret of Bananarama’s longevity is
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GIG REVIEW: Dagny at the 02 Academy Islington

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Wednesday 3 April 2024, tour runs through 24 August 2024

SETLIST: Same Again (For Love); Backbeat; Ray-Bans; Please Look At Me; Used To You; Bye Bye Baby; Highs And Lows; Pretty; Come Over; Strawberry Dream; Love You Like That; Heartbreak In The Making; Brightsider; Somebody

‘You know I play Norway all the time?’ It’s Dagny’s 1st London gig this year and she understands people have come a long way to see her and so she wasn’t expecting someone to shout ‘Norway’ when she asks this north London audience where they’re from.

  • Read on for reasons including everything we know about Dagny’s new single
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THEATRE REVIEW: Hadestown at the Lyric Theatre

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By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

WHEN?: Saturday 23 March 2024 (matinee), runs through 22 December 2024 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

This production faces stiff competition from Guys And Dolls (Bridge Theatre), Groundhog Day (Old Vic) and Sunset Boulevard (Savoy Theatre) for the Best Musical Theatre revival at this month’s Olivier Awards.

  • Read on for reasons including how performers including Gloria Onitiri and Melanie La Barrie are a treat
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THEATRE REVIEW: Police Cops: The Musical at Southwark Playhouse (Elephant)

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Friday 29 March 2024, runs through 20 April 2024 RUNTIME: 135 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Film franchise The Naked Gun is probably the closest touchstone for this 80s, US-set musical co-written by Ben Adams (Eugenius, Turbine Theatre) from A1 and Subwoolfer.

  • Read on for reasons including how this spoof comedy music could well arrest you
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