Reviews
Anything Goes, Barbican review - an explosion of joy
Thursday, 05 August 2021
"Times have changed", we're informed in the cascadingly witty title number of the Cole Porter musical Anything Goes, now in revival at the Barbican and bringing with it a pandemic-clearing tsunami of joy.
Zola review - high-energy comic thriller tackles sex work
Thursday, 05 August 2021
It’s hard to imagine a movie more of its time than Zola, as it takes on sex, race, the glamorisation of porn and the allure of the ever-online world.
Wonderville, Palace Theatre review - magic and...
Thursday, 05 August 2021
Variety is a form of entertainment most usually seen on Saturday night television these days, but Wonderville is an attempt to bring it back into the...
Brauss, BBC Philharmonic, Gernon, BBC Proms...
Wednesday, 04 August 2021
Two nights after the Scottish Chamber Orchestra had brought the first great E flat major symphony to the Proms – Mozart’s 39th – a serendipitous...
RhineGold, Birmingham Opera Company, Symphony...
Tuesday, 03 August 2021
The love of power corrupts, the power of love falters or fails. The essence of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung is also what Graham Vick communicated so...
Johnston, BBCNOW, Bancroft, BBC Proms - laments and luminosity
A finely formed programme that both mourned and celebrated |
Thora Hjörleifsdóttir: Magma review - love burns in debut novel from Iceland
A raw examination of the destructiveness of a toxic relationship |
Luisa Miller, Glyndebourne review – small-scale tragedy, big emotions
Bold casting includes a sensational main-season debut from soprano Mané Galoyan |
Changing Destiny, Young Vic review – an epic literary discovery
A 4,000-year-old poem reopens this venue, but is more educational than dramatic |
Bo Burnham: Inside, Netflix review - a masterpiece about lockdown angst
Tour de force of confessional comedy |
theartsdesk at the Ryedale Festival 2021 - music returns to the moors
A host of musical delights in the Yorkshire countryside |
The Cunning Little Vixen, Longborough Festival Opera review - life, death and the menopause in the forest
Janáček's strip cartoon engagingly directed and sung, orchestrally problematic |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Tim Buckley - Merry-Go-Round at the Carousel
Essential first-ever release of previously unheard live shows from 1968 |
First Night of the Proms, Hyde, BBCSO, Stasevska review - levitational ecstasies
Finn floats and ignites a well conceived programme back in the Royal Albert Hall |
The Sparks Brothers review - giddy celebration of the Mael brothers
Edgar Wright takes a break from directing actors to craft a love letter to pop |
Limbo review - quiet but voluble
Story of a Syrian in Scotland packs a gentle wallop |
Bagdad Café, Old Vic review - sweet but scattershot
Stage adaptation of 1987 film needs more narrative drive |
theartsdesk at the Three Choirs Festival - Purcell, Gabriel Jackson and Duruflé
Choral music loud, soft and chorus-less as the oldest festival returns |
Oleanna, Arts Theatre review - Mamet on power and tragedy
David Mamet’s most controversial play retains its explosive charge |
The Most Beautiful Boy in the World review - a harrowing tale vividly told
The terrible price of stardom |
Opera in Song, Opera Holland Park review – world-class singers in a brilliant recital triptych
Baritone Julien Van Mellaerts and pianist Dylan Perez programme a winning mini-festival |
The Two Character Play, Hampstead Theatre review - tender, poetic and piercingly cruel
A timely return for Tennessee Williams' long-neglected play |
Professor T, ITV review - whimsical tales of boffinly detection
Ben Miller illustrates the power of mind over matter |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Chris Barber - A Trailblazer's Legacy
Fond box-set tribute to the significant British blues and jazz visionary |
Off the Rails review - go for the scenery, not the script
'Mamma Mia!' wannabe features lots of Blondie but very little sense |
Reclaiming Amy, BBC Two review - Winehouse family and friends remember
A great voice silenced too soon |
Old review - time flies in tropical island mystery
Alternative-reality holiday from hell is not M Night Shyamalan's finest hour |
Le Comte Ory, Garsington Opera review - high musical style and broad dramatic comedy
Rossini can take the high jinks of Cal McCrystal in a deliciously cast romp |
Lava, Bush Theatre review - poetic writing, mesmerically performed
Debut work from Benedict Lombe is a red-hot poem of protest |
latest in today
Anything Goes, Barbican review - an explosion of joy
"Times have changed", we're informed in the cascadingly witty title number of the Cole Porter...
Zola review - high-energy comic thriller tackles sex work
It’s hard to imagine a movie more of its time than Zola, as it takes on...
Wonderville, Palace Theatre review - magic and illusion fami...
Variety is a form of entertainment most usually seen on Saturday night television these days, but Wonderville is an attempt to bring it...
Album: Alan Vega - Alan Vega After Dark
Following in the slipstream of wide critical acclaim for posthumous album ...
Brauss, BBC Philharmonic, Gernon, BBC Proms review - surpris...
Two nights after the Scottish Chamber Orchestra had brought the first great E flat major symphony to the Proms – Mozart’s 39th – a serendipitous...
First Person: young musicians Brooke Simpson and Erin Black...
The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain’s Hope...
Album: Tomu DJ - Feminista
The endless circles and spirals that dance music moves in can take you to some strange places.
It is, after all, a little...
RhineGold, Birmingham Opera Company, Symphony Hall review -...
The love of power corrupts, the power of love falters or fails. The essence of...
Johnston, BBCNOW, Bancroft, BBC Proms - laments and luminosi...
The Proms are back, even if they don’t yet feel remotely...
Thora Hjörleifsdóttir: Magma review - love burns in debut no...
Thora Hjörleifsdóttir’s Magma is certainly not an easy read. It describes, in short...