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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Fiona Maddocks's rating
Reader rating
Phone: 020 7589 8212
Trains: Tube: High Street Kensington 
, Tube / Bus: 9, 10, 52, 360 
Rising star: Gwilym Simcock has been captured from basement-club obscurity
Gwilym Simcock, 27, dazzling poet of the keyboard and Radio 3 New Generation Artist, has been catapulted from basement-club obscurity to Saturday night Proms stardom. As Jamie Cullum urged recently: "Catch Gwilym while you can still see him in venues without ushers".
Too late. The Albert Hall Red Coats were out in force.
In a weekend packed with premieres, Simcock's Progressions wins the prize for enlightened commissioning. This half-hour work combines the BBC Concert Orchestra with his own inspirational trio: Phil Donkin double bass, Martin France drums and Simcock himself. A stiffly traditional sounding piano concerto morphs into a noisy, rhythmically rich climax with extended improvisations and a short, bullet-shot ending. Orchestral colour is subtle and adroit, though tightening some swoony string passages would add muscle.
The mostly American programme concentrated on Gershwin, with a floaty arrangement of My Man's Gone Nowby Jason Yarde and his own short, amiable BBC Commission. Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto, an ever-astonishing masterpiece, with clarinettist Michael Collins as stylish soloist, provided the gold standard.
The BBC Concert Orchestra (a conspicuously smiling band) is throwing off its Cinderella reputation. Conductor Charles Hazlewood brings nimble, bandleader incisiveness and beady eclecticism. Forget whether or not it's jazz, one of those red-rag words to the classically timorous. Can we just call it music?
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
