GIG REVIEW: Ricky Gervais & Friends at Leicester Square Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: (work in progress)

WHEN?: Monday 3 June 2024, running through 26 June 2024 RUNTIME: 70 minutes without interval

Released in 2023 Gervais’ comedy special Armageddon was the global number 1 most-watched show on Netflix but, as he explains here, it takes a great deal of nights like these to hone new material and see whether it lands before taking it out on tour proper.

  • Read on for reasons including what it’s like to see 1 of the world’s biggest stars at such an intimate work in progress gig
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THEATRE REVIEW: Closer To Heaven starring Frances Ruffelle at the Turbine Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 1 June 2024, closes 30 June 2024 RUNTIME: 135 minutes (including a 15-minute interval) Update: now extended through 27 July 2024

We 1st saw this Pet Shop Boys musical on its debut at the intimate Arts Theatre in London’s West End in 2001 and then on its revival at Above The Stag in Vauxhall in 2019 and said: ‘If you’re a Pet Shop Boys fan you’ll marvel at just how good these songs are but also why being so ahead of its time can be the only reason why it wasn’t a bigger hit’. 

  • Read on for reasons including how this is our favourite ever musical and this is its best revival
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THEATRE REVIEW: Babies starring Zoe Athena & Bradley Riches at the Other Palace

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

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

WHEN? Saturday 1 June 2024 (matinee), and runs through 14 July 2024 RUNTIME: 120 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

This hilarious and really quite touching new British musical answers the question what would happen if you gave 9 Year 11 teens a robot baby each for a week that needs caring for 24/7 and cries, needs feeding and poops?

  • Read on for reasons including how you’ll go ga-ga for the songs and you’ll struggle to get the earworm Baby, Baby, Baby out of your head
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GIG REVIEW: Echobelly at Lafayette, King’s Cross

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

WHEN?: Friday 31 May 2024

SETLIST: Today, Tomorrow, Sometime, Never; We Know Better; I Can’t Imagine The World Without Me; Iris Art; Father, Ruler, King, Computer; Fear Of Flying; Car Fiction; Worms And Angels; Insomniac; Natural Animal; On, Turn On; If The Dogs Don’t Get You, My Sisters Will; Scream; Great Things; King Of The Kerb; Dark Therapy

We 1st saw Echobelly on a balmy Sunday afternoon at Glastonbury playing 9th on the bill behind Oasis (8th), Chumbawamba (6th), Pulp (5th), Radiohead (3rd) and Blur (2nd).

  • Read on for reasons including how we’d love to see them again soon with a new album of material
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9 reasons why we can’t wait for June 2024 starring Kiss Me Kate

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

  1. Kiss Me Kate at the Barbican

It’s the young leads of this classic musical we’re most excited to see. Charlie Stemp won our Best Theatre Actor monsta last year (Crazy For You, Gillian Lynne Theatre) and we saw Georgina Onuorah in Cinderella at the same venue. Stephanie J. Block and Adrian Dunbar are the main leads here at the Barbican 4 June through 14 September 2024. Tickets Our preview review

  • Read on for reasons including Slave Play, Tom Holland as Romeo, The Constituent and Alma Mater
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THEATRE REVIEW: Heathers: The Musical @SohoPlace

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Friday 24 May 2024, runs through 6 July 2024 and then tours the UK RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

‘What’s your damage, Heather?’ The moment we realise we’re not the target audience for this musical of an 80s cult film is when we start to see young women dressed in different coloured blazers as if part of the terrifying clique of bullies called Heather at its heart.

  • Read on for reasons including how to see this production in London and across the UK
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THEATRE REVIEW: Boys From The Blackstuff at the National Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 25 May 2024, runs through 8 June and then onto the Garrick Theatre 13 June through 3 August 2024 Tickets RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Songs including Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick by Ian Dury, Depeche Mode’s New Life and Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division play before curtain up to set the scene as the UK in 1982 or thereabouts.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is an adaptation that is always sensitive to the elements that made the original so human with a real sense of place and time
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THEATRE REVIEW: A View From The Bridge starring Dominic West, Kate Fleetwood & Callum Scott Howells at Theatre Royal Haymarket

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 25 May 2024, runs through 3 September 2024 2024 RUNTIME: 140 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

The unnaturally blond hair and high-pitched giggle of Scott Howells’ Italian immigrant Rodolpho turns the stomach of West’s dock worker Eddie Carbone and the head of his niece Catherine.

  • Read on for reasons including how this production about immigrants who just want to work will have resonance in this election period and is brilliantly performed
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THEATRE REVIEW: Romeo and Juliet starring Tom Holland & Francesca Amewudah-Rivers at the Duke Of York’s Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

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

WHEN?: Monday 20 May, opens and runs through 3 August 2024 RUNTIME: 140 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Outside it’s 1 of the hottest days of the year and inside this historic venue the most remarkable thing about this very Jamie Lloyd production of the Shakespeare classic is the absolute inferno of chemistry between its 2 leads.

  • Read on for reasons including how this Romeo and Juliet is very Jamie Lloyd and how Holland is well cast
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THEATRE REVIEW: Jerry’s Girls starring Cassidy Janson, Jessica Martin & Julie Yammanee at the Menier

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

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

WHEN?: Sunday 19 May, opens 22 May and runs through 29 June 2024 RUNTIME: 110 minutes (with 15-minute interval)

Janson (pictured centre) played to more than a thousand people each night in musicals & Juliet (Shaftesbury Avenue) for which she won the Best Supporting Actress Olivier Award, and Beautiful at the Aldwych and here she plays tribute to the work of composer/lyricist Jerry Herman with hits from shows including Hello Dolly! and La Cage Aux Folles in a far more intimate setting.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is the perfect introduction to Hello Dolly!
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