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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
2016 X Factor winner Terry came out as gay this month and released this single which includes the hook: ‘I used to kiss him in the back of His Car, hiding from the world who we are, I’m sorry for every single lie.’
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2
WHEN?: Wednesday 27 March 2024, runs through 12 May 2024 RUNTIME: 105 minutes (no interval)
The artwork (main picture) transforming the titular white sail with 2 eye holes into an image to strike fear into hearts isn’t the only subtlety in this play about an American university lecturer and boating enthusiast who invites a white nationalist to speak there.
By Neil Durham
WHEN?: Thursday 9 May 2024
WHERE?: Malmo Arena, Malmo
HOW DO I WATCH?: BBC1 8pm, eurovision.tv or SVT
It’s non-binary artist Nemo (pictured) who has the best song in this less competitive semi final that will need a big performance to do it justice live but inevitably it will be the appearance of Israel’s Eden Golan with a rewritten entry no longer called October Rain that will likely dominate headlines.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHEN?: Saturday 23 March and runs through 30 March 2024 RUNTIME: 215 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
‘Out, vile jelly!’ We’re in the front row at this intimate venue and Gloucester’s bloody, gouged-out eye rolls across the stage towards us in the 1st King Lear we’ve seen since Kenneth Branagh’s in the West End late last year.
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
UK release: 16 March 2024
This story of a pre-adolescent boy who may be being bullied at his Japanese school is told from 3 points of view – his mother’s, his teacher’s and his own.
