By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHEN?: Saturday 31 May 2025, booking through 28 February 2026 RUNTIME: 130 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
The Broadway production of this musical starring its original British cast is up for 4 Tonys on Sunday (9 June 2025) and to celebrate we made our 3rd visit to this show.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
Lead singer Brett Anderson describes Suede’s new album Antidepressants as ‘broken music for broken people’ and this lead single wears its goth-flavoured punk influences defiantly.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHEN?: Monday 26 May 2025, tour runs through 26 August 2025
Setlist: Lights Camera Action; In Your Eyes; Get Outta My Way; What Do I Have To Do?; Come Into My World; Good As Gone; Spinning Around; On A Night Like This; Last Night I Dreamt I Fell In Love; Better The Devil You Know; Shocked; Things We Do For Love; Dancing; The Locomotion; Hold On To Now; Never Too Late; What Kind Of Fool?; I Should Be So Lucky; Where The Wild Roses Grow; Say Something; Supernova/Real Groove/Magic/Where Does The DJ Go?; Confide In Me; Slow; Timebomb; Edge Of Saturday Night; Tension; Can’t Get You Out Of My Head; All The Lovers; Padam Padam; Love At First Sight
Kylie has been releasing music for almost as long as we’ve been listening to pop and tonight we marvel at the consistency of her hits over 5 decades as well as the showgirl pizzazz with which she performs them.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN?: Saturday 24 May, runs through 14 June 2025 RUNTIME: 120 minutes (includes a 20 minute interval)
At 6pm on Monday 23 May 1988 4 lesbians protesting against Section 28 invaded a BBC studio as Sue Lawley and Nicholas Witchell started presenting the Six O’Clock News.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN? Friday 25 April, opens 8 May and runs through 28 June 2025 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (with a 20-minute interval)
Sondheim, musical theatre’s Shakespeare, died in 2021 and when news emerged of this final new musical hopes were high that he might have saved his best for last.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHEN? Saturday 19 April (matinee), runs through 20 April 2025 Tickets for autumn gigs
Setlist: I Do And I Don’t Care; Mother; Lies; 69; You Forever; Logic Bitch; Prioritise Pleasure; Fucking Wizardry; The Curse; In Plain Sight; What Now; Cheers To Me; If Not Now, It’s Soon; Focus Is Power; I Do This All The Time; The Deep Blue Okay
Self Esteem urges us to keep our cameraphones on, ignore the ‘dusty old pervert vibes’ of this esteemed West End theatre and to get up out of our seats and dance if we want to.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2
WHEN? Saturday 12 April 2025 (matinee, last night)
Based on the 1990 John Waters film (BFI Q&A), this new musical with book by the writer of Hairspray which ran on Broadway in 2008 is brought spectacularly to life in the best production we’ve yet seen at this east London studio venue.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHEN? Saturday 8 March, tour runs through 16 August 2025
SETLIST: Jupiter Drive; Gravity; Forever; Warning Signs; Hate The Way I Love You; Statements; I’m In It With You; Dreams; Coming Close; Euphoria; Is it Love?; Tattoo
It’s International Women’s Day and while Sweden is choosing its Eurovision entry for 2025 the only woman to have won the competition twice is performing in Barcelona as part of an extensive European tour that reaches the UK and Ireland for 8 dates later this month.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2 RUNTIME: 90 minutes
Culkin won a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe and is nominated for an Oscar in the same category while his co-star Jesse Eisenberg who wrote and directed this quiet gem of a movie receives a similar Best Original Screenplay nod.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2
WHEN?: Friday 25 January 2025, opening 4 February and running through 29 March 2025 RUNTIME: 105 minutes (no interval)
There’s so much to rave about in this razor-sharp adaptation of this Greek tragedy containing a 1st stage performance in 18 years by Oscar winner Rami Malek (film Bohemian Rhapsody) but it’s too often left flatfooted by pointless techno dance breaks.
