THEATRE REVIEW: Mood Music starring Ben Chaplin and Seána Kerslake at the Old Vic

WORTH A LOOK?: **

WHERE: Old Vic

WHEN: 30/4, press night 1/5 runs to 16/6/18

We groaned when Rhys Ifans was cast in the lead here because he had been so unexpectedly right as Scrooge in this venue’s production of A Christmas Carol that we weren’t sure we wanted to see him quite so soon in something else.

  • Read on for reasons including why Mood Music must be a nightmare to learn and perform

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THEATRE REVIEW: A Christmas Carol starring Rhys Ifans, John Dagleish and Golda Rosheuvel

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHERE: Old Vic

WHEN: 28/11, press night 29/11, runs to 20/1/18

Providing family entertainment with a message has been the aim of Old Vic artistic director Matthew Warchus since succeeding Kevin Spacey in 2015.

  • Read on for reasons including how 54,000 free mince pies feature in this production

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PREVIEW: 9 reasons why we can’t wait for May

  1. We go ape for the Eurovision Song Contest

The final of the 62nd contest takes place in Kiev, Ukraine, on 13/5 at 8pm on BBC1 and the pre-contest publicity has been dominated by the host country’s banning of Russia’s entry. Check out the search box for our predictions for this year which include the contest’s most surefire winner: Occidentali’s Karma by Francesco Gabbani (pictured above).

  • Read on for reasons including Felicity Kendal, new band Lilac Lungs & a Game Of Thrones Q&A

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TOP 5: Best read monstagigz content of 2016

  1. When Sir Ian McKellen shared our Q&A with him on his Facebook page

Sir Ian has long been one of our favourite actors and when he shared our BFI Shakespeare Q&A with him on his Facebook page in April our traffic went into meltdown. Pictorial evidence above.

  • Read on for the preview when Kit Harington got naked and Sheridan Smith Twitter banter

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THEATRE REVIEW: Aladdin starring Dean John-Wilson & Jade Ewen

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHERE: Prince Edward Theatre

WHEN: 6/6, press night 15/6 booking to 11/2/17

Summer’s biggest blockbuster shows are arguably this very panto remake of the 1992 Disney musical and Harry Potter and The Cursed Child which open within days and a stone’s throw of each other in London’s West End.

  • Read on for details of the two big moments in this musical of the year so far

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Q&A: Sir Ian McKellen & review of Heuristic Shakespeare app

WHERE: BFI

WHEN: 28/4

Without his leading role in the film Richard III, which he also co-wrote, Sir Ian McKellen doubts whether he would ever have been cast as Gandalf and Magneto in the Lord Of the Rings and X-Men films respectively.

  • Read on for a review of Sir Ian’s new Heuristic Shakespeare app

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AWARDS SHORTLIST: TV & film of the year

It’s almost Christmas and what would the festive season be without some recognition of the best of 2015? Over the next fortnight we’ll shortlist five nominees in each of 11 categories for our Oscars, or monstas if you will, of 2015. Read on for the nominees for our four TV & film monstas of the year.

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AWARDS SHORTLIST: Gig of the year

It’s almost Christmas and what would the festive season be without some recognition of the best of 2015? Over the next fortnight we’ll shortlist five nominees in each of 11 categories for our Oscars, or monstas if you will, of 2015. Read on for the nominees for the monsta for gig of the year.

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Q&A: House of Cards creator Beau Willimon

WHERE: BFI

WHEN: 3/10

‘You might think that; I couldn’t possibly comment.’ It’s the phrase common to both the original BBC show and the US remake of House of Cards. Beau Willimon, creator and show runner of the US version, is explaining during the BAFTA – BFI Screenwriters’ Lecture Series that it’s included in the reboot as homage to its source material.

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