WORTH A LOOK?: ****
It’s by no means la Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires but the London Palladium balcony performance given by Rachel Zegler at 9pm on show nights and 4pm on matinees to the hundreds of passers-by in the capital has, quite rightly, earned itself a single release.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHEN? Saturday 14 June, opens 27 June and runs through 6 September 2025 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (with a 20-minute interval)
Zegler may be best known currently as a film star (West Side Story and more recently Snow White) but that is all about to change as she is absolutely sensational in this debut London stage role.
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre hosted Lloyd’s Evita in 2019 but we’re imagining this Palladium incarnation will be different starring as it does West Side Story‘s Zegler. We’re hoping it will be more Romeo And Juliet than Sunset Boulevard. Runs at the Palladium 14 June through 6 September 2025. Tickets Our review
Our most read content of 2024 was this preview review of the West End debut of Alien star Weaver in Jamie Lloyd’s take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest which runs at Theatre Royal Drury Lane until 1 February 2025. Tickets
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2
WHEN?: Monday 9 December 2024, opens 17 December and runs through 1 February 2025 RUNTIME: 135 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
We’ve certainly had the recent windy weather to fully appreciate the timing of this much looked-forward-to production starring Storm Sigourney.
Weaver who starred in the original Alien movies but not this year’s fine newcomer to the franchise Alien: Romulus makes her West End debut as Prospero in this Jamie Lloyd (Romeo and Juliet, Duke Of York’s Theatre) version of The Tempest which we’ve previously seen starring Simon Russell Beale at the Barbican in 2017. Will it be ‘such stuff as dreams are made?’ Runs at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane 7 December through 1 February 2025. Tickets Our review
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
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.
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2
WHEN?: Saturday 23 December (matinee), runs through 6 January 2024
What would Glenn Close think?
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHEN?: Thursday 14 September 2023 RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes (no interval)
Roger gives a five-star performance of a three-star play in which she is the uncanny embodiment of the French singer who performed in cabaret and chanson styles and was the country’s most popular singer in the 1940s.
