Hugh Grant tells the tale of when he was playing the part of the presumed husband of Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep) in the hugely entertaining film, he asked director, Stephen Frears, whether the man was an adventurer after Foster Jenkins’s money or genuinely in love with the woman who was living a passionately dedicated life of self-deception. How should I know? replied Frears, You’re the actor.
Theatre
Joshua Harmon’s Admissions at Trafalgar Studios Confronts White Liberals in Denial
United Kingdom Joshua Harmon’s Admissions: Trafalgar Studios, London. 16.3.2019. (CSa)
Charm and Wit Sparks These Pirates of Penzance at Wilton’s Music Hall
United Kingdom Gilbert and Sullivan, The Pirates of Penzance: Sasha Regan’s All-Male Hit at Wilton’s Music Hall, London. 27.2.2019. (JB)
A Superb Production of Sweeney Todd in Belfast
United Kingdom Sondheim, Sweeney Todd: Cast, Chorus and Band of Northern Ireland Opera and Lyric Theatre / Sinead Hayes (Conductor), Lyric Theatre, Belfast, 6.2.2019. (RB)
The Global Phenomenon Notre Dame de Paris Makes a Captivating Return to London
United Kingdom Notre Dame de Paris (Richard Cocciante [music] and Luc Plamondon [lyrics]): Singers, Dancers, Musicians, Acrobats and Break Dancers of the Notre Dame de Paris Company, English National Opera Orchestra / Matthew Brind (conductor). London Coliseum, 23.1.2019. (JPr)
Simon Callow’s Uplifting, Yet Thought-Provoking, New Film Version of A Christmas Carol
United Kingdom Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol with Simon Callow: Adaptation by Tom Cairns and Simon Callow; Production designed by Marie Lanna; Cinematography by David Raedeker. Screened at Cineworld Basildon, Essex, 11.12.2018. (JPr)
The New One: A Brilliant Birbiglia on the Couch with Baby
United States Mike Birbiglia’s The New One: Cort Theatre, New York. 19.11.2018. (CSa)
For Only An Hour is Something Rather Memorably ‘Rich and Strange’
United Kingdom Sardoville’s For Only An Hour with Phil Sanger: The Blue Elephant Theatre, London, 16.11.2018. (JO’D)
