By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2
WHEN?: Saturday 16 September 2023
It’s almost 4 years to the day since we first saw drag Girls Aloud tribute act, named Gals Aloud, at the Underbelly Festival shortly before the Gals leader Cheryl Hole was due to appear on the 1st season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
Last year’s televised show celebrating the work of the late great Sondheim was a real thrill and this month stars including Peters and Salonga perform some of the composer’s best-loved songs alongside Haydn Gwynne (The Welkin, National Theatre), Janie Dee (Follies, National Theatre) and Jac Yarrow (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, London Palladium). Runs at the West End’s Gielgud Theatre 16 September through 6 January 2024. Tickets Update: Performances now begin 21 September without Gwynne. Review
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WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE? Trafalgar Studios RUNTIME: 90 minutes (no interval)
WHEN? 15/12 (matinee), runs to 5/1/20
Drag sashayed ever further into the mainstream this year with a triumphant first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK on the BBC and now we have this pantomime take-over of a renowned West End stage.
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE? Dominion Theatre RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 2/10, closes 2/11/19
Fans of TV’s Strictly Come Dancing are especially well served here by a former winner of the Saturday night ratings hit as the leading man and a finalist as his leading lady.
This unlikely reunion may have been over a quarter of a century in the making but Siobhan Fahey and Marcella Detroit have released three excellent, different yet complementary singles this year already, winning both our Song and Albums of the month. The 14-date UK reunion tour kicks off rather appropriately on Halloween and we join the band at the Palladium on Bonfire Night. Tickets
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE? Underbelly Festival RUNTIME: 70 minutes
WHEN? 19/9/19
Cheryl Hole (pictured centre above) thinks Gals Aloud are more likely to be performing together to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the formation of Girls Aloud in 2022 than the actual group.
She may now no longer be playing the Palladium in September but she was the best thing about Chess at the Coliseum this year and now she stars as Roxie in Chicago at the Phoenix Theatre 13/8 through 14/10. Tickets
