America
Power of Sail, Menier Chocolate Factory review - alternately stiff and startlingSaturday, 30 March 2024
The Menier Chocolate Factory has made something of a habit of late out of trawling unexpected corners of the contemporary American repertoire. A happy result of that last May was the local premiere of the Off Broadway show ... Read more... |
MJ the Musical, Prince Edward Theatre review - glitzy jukebox musical with a superb star but a void insideFriday, 29 March 2024
In a secret chamber somewhere, the producers of MJ the Musical may be keeping a portrait of the King of Pop that has acquired all his scars, physical and psychological.Few of them, though, are on show in this version of the ongoing Broadway hit... Read more... |
First person: playwright Paul Grellong on keeping pace with American politicsWednesday, 27 March 2024
I’m writing this in the lobby of the Menier Chocolate Factory a couple of hours before the first preview. I was last here in February for the start of rehearsals. In the time since, I’ve made a handful of, one hopes, helpful adjustments to the... Read more... |
Late Night With the Devil review - indie-horror punches above its weightMonday, 25 March 2024
In Late Night With the Devil, light entertainment rubs shoulders with demonic forces on a talk show. It isn't quite the homerun its 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating would suggest, but this Australian indie production punches above its weight with an... Read more... |
Manhunt, Apple TV+ review - all the President's menTuesday, 19 March 2024
President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on 14 April 1865, five days after General Robert E Lee’s surrender at Appomatox signalled the end of the American Civil War. The ensuing chase to catch his killer, John Wilkes Booth, is the basis of Manhunt... Read more... |
Drive-Away Dolls review - larky lesbian road movie with some iffy gear changesFriday, 15 March 2024
There’s a Coen brother directing, plus a cast that includes Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal, Oscar nominee Colman Domingo and Margaret Qualley, the standout hitchhiker in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood… so why does Drive-Away Dolls feel so insubstantial?... Read more... |
Gerstein, LSO, Rattle, Barbican review - American glitter and sinewMonday, 04 March 2024
How lucky those of us were who grew up musically with the young Simon Rattle’s highly original programming in the 1980s. He’s still doing it at a time when diminishing resources can dictate more careful repertoire, and last night’s Americana proved... Read more... |
Manon Lescaut, English Touring Opera review - a nightmare in too many waysMonday, 26 February 2024
Opera in Britain is currently cursed by funders, politicians and ideologues – of right and left – who heartily detest the form. Alas, some directors do their work for them with interpretations seemingly designed to undermine the very art they are... Read more... |
Memory review - love, dementia and truthFriday, 23 February 2024
Procul Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” is given a new lease on life in Mexican director Michel Franco’s moving, complex film, full of fine performances.Saul (a wonderful Peter Sarsgaard), who has early-onset dementia, plays the song constantly. It’... Read more... |
The Iron Claw review - pancakes and beefcakesFriday, 09 February 2024
The Iron Claw is the sort of solid, mid-market Hollywood “programmer” that is often said to no longer exist on the big screen, and this family saga set in the world of Texas wrestling certainly has the feel of a museum piece. Many have warmed to it... Read more... |
Album: Helado Negro - PHASORWednesday, 07 February 2024
Floridian-born, longtime Brooklyn resident, now Asheville, North Carolina based Roberto Carlos Lange doesn’t rush things, but he gets them done. This is his ninth album in 15 years, during which time he’s built a substantial body of audiovisual /... Read more... |
Barbara Kruger, Serpentine Gallery review - clever, funny and chilling installationsMonday, 05 February 2024
American artist Barbara Kruger started out as a graphic designer working in advertising, and it shows. Her sharp design skills and acute visual intelligence now produce funny, clever and thought provoking installations in which words and pictures... Read more... |
