The youngest generation possibly hasn’t experienced either Gene Wilder or Johnny Depp’s Willy Wonka, dating back 52 years and 18 years respectively. So, now they have their own Wonka and the singing, dancing Timothee Chalamet makes a good fist of it in the title role. Willy Wonka is charming and effusive as the magic man…
Magic Mike or Santa? Honestly, there are times you can’t tell the difference in this sexually promiscuous, irreverent Christmas revue that provides no shortage of fun. It upends everything you thought you knew about the festive season and keeps the laughs coming. A traditional Christmas carol behind curtains gives way to smut and innuendo, which the enthusiastic…
As the director of Borat and Bruno, Larry Charles can hardly be accused of playing it safe. So it is again with Dicks: The Musical. This is a hard-swearing, politically incorrect comedy, which will delight those sick and tired of woke. Dicks is the cinematic adaptation of the musical stage play F…ing Identical Twins: The…
Acceptance is the theme of the musical Kinky Boots, which is based on the 2005 film of the same name. Charlie Price is a young man destined to take over his family’s Northampton-based shoe manufacturing business – the fourth generation to do so. His father Harold has never thought otherwise. And yet, Charlie doesn’t have a passion for…
Deliciously absurdist, The Long Pigs is one of the cleverest, most creative shows of the year. The three artists on stage – Clare Bartholomew, Nicci Wilks and Mozes – adhere to the adage that actions speaks louder than words. Very few words are spoken. Some sounds are made and the eclectic music bed is triumphant. As you…
The low-brow comedy Bottoms comes out on top. PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edibiri) are besties. They’re also gay. Neither is popular at school. Still, PJ is ready to go with the flow, but Josie is not, convinced she will never get laid. Josie has her eyes on cheerleader Isabel (Havana Rose Liu), who…
Five Troll brothers were once part of a successful boy band, BroZone, but that came to an inglorious end. Now, all these years later, getting the group together again is the only way out for one of the guys, who has been kidnapped by imposters. That, in short, is the plot to Trolls Band Together;…
What is art? That is one of the questions at the heart of Red. Another concerns pretension. American writer John Logan wrote Red about Russian-born painter Mark Rothko (25th September, 1903 – 25thFebruary, 1970), who migrated to the USA at the age of 10. The Broadway production won six Tony Awards in 2010, including Best Play. Rothko…
The first known reference to vampires appeared in written form in Old Russian in AD 1047, soon after Orthodox Christianity moved into Eastern Europe. According to Britannica, the first prose vampire story published in English is believed to be John Polidori’s “The Vampyre” (1819). That was about a mysterious aristocrat named Lord Ruthven who seduces young women, only to…
A quirky, psychological drama, Cat Person takes its time to ignite but comes into its own in the third act. Margot (Emilia Jones) is a diligent, 20-year-old university student, specialising in anthropology, who has a vivid imagination. She works part-time at the candy bar in an old-style movie theatre. Into the cinema walks tall, dark,…
