The goths, the punks, the Torture Garden bohos, the Weill bores, the burlesquers, the Day of the Dead day-trippers, the necro-obsessed and a cabaret critic who swears regularly and profusely that he is done with critiquing cabaret — they all adore The Tiger Lillies. They think the Lillies are righ…
American Karina Canellakis, the London Philharmonic Orchestra's principal guest conductor, delivers an exhilarating evening at the Royal Festival Hall with her assured handling of Elgar's Violin Concerto in B minor, UK premiere of Dai Fujikura's Radiance and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor.…
When you have Monica Mason, Antoinette Sibley and Anya Sainsbury all saying how much they revered and respected a person, it's 99.9% chance the individual in question is Ninette de Valois. De Valois is responsible for British ballet as we know it. She started The Royal Ballet School (or a version of…
The setup for Torben Betts’s new political thriller is an unlikely one: a successful New York journalist in the 1960s hires a new nanny, then proceeds to draw her into a dangerous investigative reporting project, before ultimately ending up in an effective hostage situation. Unfortunately, the res…
The Bridge is undoubtedly the call to action our landscape needs, and a powerful and assured one at that. Yet, it occasionally becomes too comfortable in its comedic strengths, never quite pushing itself, or its audience, beyond them.…
Starring Keira Knightly, Stephen Dillane and Luke Thompson, Robert Icke's adaptation of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Oscar-winning film The Lives of Others comes to the West End until 9 January 2027. What did the critics think?…
The words 'genius' and 'iconic' are overused these days, but for certain people, there are no more appropriate accolades. Composer John Williams is one such person. Arguably the most famous film composer in history, he has won five Academy Awards, earned over 52 Oscar nominations and won 27 Grammys.…
Bloodless, metaphorically and literally, production is lost in too many contradictions…
The original meaning of the word ‘cèilidh’ is ‘companion’, and the event itself has developed into one of the most recognisable kinds of Scottish gatherings with its traditional music and dance. It feels apt, then, that the core idea of a cèilidh has now been fleshed out and transformed in…
The Royal Albert Hall has built a world-class reputation for its Films in Concert series and sometimes delights audiences with guest appearances. Tom Cruise popping up at the screening of Top Gun: Maverick In Concert was quite the surprise, but the venue may have surpassed itself with its screeni…
A society on the brink crumbles into grime, decay and dissolution…. Witty, gritty opéra-comique La Dame de Pique (The Queen of Spades) by Fromental Halévy premiered in 1850, but has never been staged since. Featuring a cast of exciting emerging singers and a chamber orchestra...
