Ivo van Hove

THEATRE REVIEW: Opening Night starring Sheridan Smith at the Gielgud Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

WHEN?: Monday 11 March 2024, opens 26 March and runs through 27 July 2024 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Hats off to Sheridan Smith (Shirley Valentine, Duke Of York’s Theatre) for fully embracing the role of the leading lady who turns up drunk for her opening night because that must feel uncomfortably close to home.

  • Read on for reasons including how Smith needed more memorable songs to make this show fly
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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
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9 reasons why we can’t wait for April 2023 starring Derry Girls Dancing At Lughnasa

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

  1. Derry Girls cast Dancing at Lughnasa at the National

Siobhan McSweeney (The Alchemist, Barbican Theatre) and Louisa Harland (Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp, Royal Court) may be best known as Sister Michael and Orla McCool from Channel 4’s Derry Girls but here they reunite onstage with fellow cast member Ardal O’Hanlon in Brian Friel’s (Translations, National Theatre) 1936-set County Donegal tale of the Mundy sisters battling poverty to raise seven-year-old Michael and care for their uncle Jack. Runs 6 April through 27 May 2023. Tickets Review

  • Read on for reasons including The Motive And The Cue, A Little Life and A Play For The Living In A Time Of Extinction
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THEATRE REVIEW: The Human Voice starring Ruth Wilson at the Harold Pinter Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 20 March (matinee), runs to 9 April 2022 RUNTIME: 70 minutes without interval

Wilson is on the phone and onstage in a rectangular box behind see-through glass in her 1st West End role since her Hedda Gabler at the National was Olivier Award-nominated in 2017.

  • Read on for reasons including how there are only 31 performances in this short run
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THEATRE REVIEW: Lazarus starring Michael C. Hall, Amy Lennox and Sophia Anne Caruso

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: **

WHERE: King’s Cross Theatre

WHEN: 27/10, runs to 22/1/17

The original cast recording of this show already sits at number 8 in this week’s midweek album charts as we take our seats for this third preview in a new temporary 800-seat King’s Cross Theatre venue.

  • Read on for reasons including Sophia Anne Caruso’s beautifully realised Girl

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Q&A: Michael C. Hall talks about Lazarus and David Bowie

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WHERE: BFI

WHEN: 18/9

We’ve just watched 1976 Bowie film The Man Who Fell To Earth when Michael C. Hall, the star of his new musical Lazarus, appears on the BFI stage for a Q&A.

  • Read on for all the Lazarus gossip plus a video of Hall performing at the Mercury Prize

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9 reasons why we can’t wait for October

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

  1. Lazarus rises

This 18-song David Bowie musical ran off Broadway for three months from November 2015 and features hits including Life On Mars?, Heroes and Absolute Beginners. It was written by Bowie with Once author Enda Walsh. Starring Dexter’s Michael C. Hall and directed by Ivo van Hove, it runs 25/10 – 22/1 at the King’s Cross Theatre and seems a fitting salute to the star who died 10 days before curtain down on the US show. Tickets.

  • Read on for reasons including Star Trek, Anne-Marie Duff and Glenda Jackson’s return

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