For those – like me – who haven’t seen the popular Netflix series on which Stranger Sings! is based, Stranger Things is hugely successful. Set in the 1980s, primarily in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, it is an American science fiction horror drama featuring, among others, Winona Ryder. It centres on mysteries and supernatural events…
“Did that just happen?” a mischievous Michael Banks (Fraser Goodreid) wonders to sister Jane (Dorothea Seierup) after their first outing to the park with Mary Poppins sees park statutes come to life. There are lots of similar moments in Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s new production of Mary Poppins. Cheeky young Michael has some of the…
Writer-director Anthony Fabian takes his audience on a giddy trip around Paris and the would of haute couture in Mrs Harris Goes to Paris. Despite the fact the film is based on Paul Gallico’s 1958 novel Mrs ’Arris Goes to Paris, its closest relative seems to be the recent Netflix series Emily in Paris. The…
A 20-year drought has led to blatant exploitation of the underprivileged. That is the basis of the satirical musical comedy Urinetown. The narrator who sets the scene is also the town’s crooked cop Officer Lockstock (Dom Hennequin), as he is joined by street urchin Little Sally (Chloe Halley). The terrible water shortage has meant that it costs to…
The gay romantic comedy Bros is very funny and has broad mainstream appeal as it follows the formula of those classic rom-coms like When Harry Met Sally. Bobby Leiber (Billy Eichner) hosts a podcast called “the Eleventh Brick at Stonewall” that explores queer history and issues of importance for the gay community. He is also…
A sharp and witty British woman unpicks her life before our eyes and what a life it has been. It has included the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. She explains how she met her one true love, her husband, in a queue at an Italian airport and what came before him, not all of…
CLOC’s production of the hit musical Chicago sizzles. It is cheeky and cheery and holds its own nearly half a century after it was first produced and more than a quarter century on from its revival. The music by John Kander with lyrics from Fred Ebb and book by Ebb and Bob Fosse continue to resonate. Musically, it…
Based on a memoir by the late Timothy Conigrave, playwright Tommy Murphy has given us an up close and personal look at a 15-year gay relationship. It starts in the teen years and works its way through to the HIV/AIDS crisis of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Tim (Gene Efron) has his eyes on the school football captain…
If the recent See How They Run was a movie for theatre nerds, Amsterdam is a movie for history nerds. This hugely ambitious project from writer-director David O. Russell provided a potted but pointed history of the United States between 1917 and 1935. Along the way, he hits some of the more outrageous historical notes…
The 2022 Cunard British Film Festival full programme has been unveiled with a formidable line-up celebrating the talents of Britain’s finest filmmakers and actors including Stephen Frears, Sally Hawkins, Emma Thompson, Bill Nighy and more. Marking its 10th anniversary this year, the festival will deliver a number of exclusive premieres of highly anticipated films in…
