ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Fuse by Everything But The Girl (April 2023)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

TRACKLIST: Nothing Left To Lose; Run A Red Light; Caution To The Wind; When You Mess Up; Time And Time Again; No One Knows We’re Dancing; Lost; Forever; Interior Space; Karaoke

Rewind 24 years to 1999 and Tony Blair’s Labour government was 2 years into power, the year before the UK had hosted its 1st Eurovision in 15 years and duo Everything But The Girl released album Temperamental.

  • Read on for reasons including how we’d love to see both Tracey and Ben tour this 1st album in 24 years
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: The Motive And The Cue starring Johnny Flynn, Mark Gatiss & Tuppence Middleton at the National Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 22 April, opens 2 May running to 15 July 2023 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) UPDATE: This productions transfers to the West End 9 December 2023 through 23 March 2024 at the Noel Coward Theatre Tickets

Mark Gatiss (ITVX’s Nolly) is 1 of our finest character actors and here plays Sir John Gielgud directing Richard Burton in Hamlet in 1964 on Broadway.

  • Read on for reasons including how The Motive should be more confident of its worth and rely less heavily on Shakespeare’s greatest hits
Read More

SONG OF THE MONTH: I Wrote A Song by Mae Muller (April 2023)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

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

We have our Eurovision Song Contest tickets for Liverpool 2023 and we can’t wait to see this potential winner, the UK’s best entry since Gina G in 1996, take to the stage.

  • Read on for reasons including how this song manages to both strike a chord and be a big old cathartic bop simultaneously
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Sunday 16 April (matinee), running to 7 May 2023 RUNTIME: 130 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) UPDATE: For Black Boys transfers to the Garrick Theatre 29 February through 4 May 2024 Tickets

WHERE?: Apollo Theatre, West End, London

Can theatre save lives?

  • Read on for reasons including how we think this production deserves to have a life after this run
Read More

GIG REVIEW: KEiiNO, Michael Rice, Laurell & Ari Olafsson at Heaven

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday April 15 2023

KEiiNO SETLIST: Unbreakable; Dancing In The Smoke; Would I Lie?; Praying; Mother Of The Night; Shallow; Joik solo; Nights Of Thunder; I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me); Colours; Black Leather; On A Night Like This; Monument; the Sun Always Shines On TV; Spirit In The Sky

KEiiNO may only have won the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest televote rather than the event outright but it’s testament to the band’s popularity that nearly 4 years later they can almost fill this prestigious nightclub venue in the heart of London.

  • Read on for reasons including how support acts Ari Olafsson, Laurell and Michael Rice made this a gig to remember
Read More

FILM REVIEW: God’s Creatures starring Paul Mescal & Emily Watson

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

2023 has already been an incredible year for Paul Mescal with a Best Actor Olivier and Oscar nomination under his belt, although film God’s Creatures is very much for the Mescal completists.

  • Read on for reasons including how the best scene is where Mescal’s character is confronted by a woman in a line-up at a wake
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: A Little Life starring James Norton, Luke Thompson & Omari Douglas at Harold Pinter Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Saturday 8 April (matinee), runs through 5 August 2023 RUNTIME: 220 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

It’s hard for us to appreciate the popularity of this play because it is based on a best-selling 2015 book by Hanya Yanigihara we’ve not read and stars a much in-demand actor we’re not especially a fan of.

  • Read on for reasons including how this play is perhaps too reverential to its source material
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: Dancing At Lughnasa starring Siobhan McSweeney, Louisa Harland & Ardal O’Hanlon at National Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

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

WHEN?: Saturday 8 April, opens Tuesday 18 April runs through 27 May 2023 RUNTIME: 155 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Our narrator is actor Tom Vaughan-Lawlor who plays Michael, the unseen seven-year-old boy who is being raised by the Mundy sisters in County Donegal in 1936.

  • Read on for reasons including how the cast includes 3 of Channel 4’s hit comedy Derry Girls
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: Eugenius at Turbine Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Sunday 2 April (matinee), runs through 28 May 2023 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Time travel back to October 2018 and this superhero musical was on the verge of a West End transfer which never materialised when a backer withdrew.

  • Read on for reasons including how this focused revival could propel this superhero musical into the West End finally
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: Marjorie Prime starring Anne Reid, Nancy Carroll, Tony Jayawardena & Richard Fleeshman at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Saturday 1 April, running to 6 May 2023 RUNTIME: 85 minutes (no interval)

In the week when we are mourning the loss of 67-year-old Paul O’Grady this new play about memory, loss and grieving starring Anne Reid (pictured right) feels like appropriate viewing.

  • Read on for reasons including how director Dominic Dromgoole brings the best out of Reid
Read More