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New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Jack Massarik's rating
Reader rating
Phone: 0207608 8840/8838
Trains: Tube: High Street Kensington 
Improving on his Liszt: Herbie Hancock at the Albert Hall
This strange concert, a thing of fits and starts, took the form of a mystery tour. Music-lovers who had paid up to £60 a ticket were surprised to hear no introductory announcements. No programmes were found either, not even a set-list flyer, so at the first interval the information desks were besieged. People demanded details of the unspecified overture (Mozart, the Marriage of Figaro) just performed by an uncredited orchestra (the Philharmonia) and its anonymous conductor (John Axelrod). Staff rolled their eyes, chattered into walkie-talkies and promised details after the show.
Of course the star pianists needed no introduction, which was just as well because they didn’t get one either. But it would have been instructive to identify their opening score. Allegedly Vaughan Williams’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, it was somewhere between classical and modern, with leisurely whole-tone arpeggios which, without taxing their illustrious keyboard technique in the sightest, created a Thirties feel.
Part Two found the co-stars sharing a piano, with Lang on bass-clef for a delicate piece (Ravel, Mother Goose Suite) apparently designed to test who could play the quieter. Lang remained barely audible for two Debussy preludes and jazz fans sat on their hands until Part Three, when Hancock finally played some solo piano, a polished medley of his two most elegant standards Cantaloupe Island and Dolphin Dance.
Bear-hugs of mutual admiration from the bill-toppers helped the packed hall to relax as the orchestra returned for Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. This high-spirited, jazz-tinged hybrid was enjoyed by both pianists in different ways.
For an encore, Lang suggested excerpts of the Hungarian Rhapsody No 2. Hancock gamely agreed — “I’m gonna try and improve on Liszt?” —but China outplayed the United States here, Lang unleashing for the first time some of the awesome technique that has made him famous. It was the last act of an evening of indifferent production rescued by sheer star power.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
