Reviews
Leaving Neverland: Michael Jackson and Me, Channel 4 review - sordid revelations from the court of the King of PopThursday, 07 March 2019
Not just the Peter Pan of Pop, but also its very own Houdini. With the aid of shed-loads of money, an illusion-spinning PR machine and the most aggressive lawyers that money could buy, Michael Jackson managed to make it to his premature exit in 2009... Read more... |
Alys, Always, Bridge Theatre review - mildly perverse but rather dispiritingThursday, 07 March 2019
Okay, so this is the play that will be remembered for the character names that have unusual spellings. As in Alys not Alice, Kyte not Kite, etc. Anyway, Lucinda Coxon's adaptation of journalist Harriet Lane's 2012 bestseller for the Bridge Theatre... Read more... |
Kamasi Washington, Brixton Academy review - reaching transcendenceWednesday, 06 March 2019
There’s jazz, and there’s transcendent jazz. Kamasi Washington and his band are the latter. His group — who hail from Los Angeles and have played together since childhood, made waves in 2015 when they released The Epic, a three-hour concept album,... Read more... |
Derry Girls, Series Two, Channel 4 review - welcome back, gangWednesday, 06 March 2019
When Derry Girls premiered on Channel 4 in early 2018, there was little fanfare. But it’s been a whirlwind year for the four girls from Derry (and the wee English lad), capturing British hearts before conquering the US through Netflix... Read more... |
Inside Bitch, Royal Court review - brave, hilarious yet very slenderWednesday, 06 March 2019
Dear Clean Break, Thank you very much for your latest, called Inside Bitch, a show which is billed as "a playfully subversive take on the representation of women in prison". It's a great celebration of your 40th anniversary. I saw this at the Royal... Read more... |
Ray & Liz review - beautifully shot portrait of povertyWednesday, 06 March 2019
Ray’s world has shrunk to a single room in a council flat. His life consists of drinking home-brew, smoking, gazing out of the window, listening to Radio 4 and sinking into an alcohol-induced stupour. There’s no need ever to leave his bedroom... Read more... |
Robin Hood, The Opera Story, CLF Café review - folk hero re-imagined as Tory villainWednesday, 06 March 2019
What’s the one thing everyone knows about Robin Hood? That he steals from the rich and gives to the poor. So it was quite a brave decision to re-cast Robin as a rapacious Tory shires MP, doing his best to stop the poor becoming rich. At least, I... Read more... |
Fleabag, Series 2 review - a standing ovationTuesday, 05 March 2019
What a super-talented woman Phoebe Waller-Bridge is. Hot on the heels of the success of her adaptation of Killing Eve, she now spoils us with a second series of Fleabag (BBC Three, then BBC One) that opened with an episode so gobsmackingly good that... Read more... |
Bernheim, Finley, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - top Italians in second gearTuesday, 05 March 2019
Would Verdi and Puccini have composed more non-operatic music, had they thrived in a musical culture different to Italy's? Hard to say. What we do know is that they both became absolute masters of orchestration – Puccini rather quicker than Verdi,... Read more... |
Total Immersion: Ligeti, Barbican review - exploring a 20th-century master mindTuesday, 05 March 2019
A day devoted entirely to the life and work of György Ligeti celebrated this composer’s remarkable oeuvre through a sequence programme of film, talks and concerts of his music. The final two of these performances were a short recital of his choral... Read more... |
The Lego Movie 2 Videogame review - everything is not awesomeTuesday, 05 March 2019
The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame is based on events that take place in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part film that came out in February. The story begins in the desolated wasteland of Apocalypseburg where alien invaders have left Bricksburg in ruins.... Read more... |
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Guildhall School review - earthy, energetic BrittenMonday, 04 March 2019
It speaks vivid volumes for the superb health of our music colleges that the Guildhall School tackles every aspect of Britten's long and layered Shakespeare adaptation with total confidence. On Friday night, there wasn't a weak expressive link... Read more... |
