Fiddler on the Roof review at the Barbican: the most exquisite misery June 5, 2025 Fiddler on the Roof review: ★★★★★ It isn’t officially summertime until the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre drops a five-star musical. In 2023 it was La Cage Aux Folles and last year their gently simmering Fiddler on the Roof raised the stakes. For summer 2025 Shucked was another smash, but back to Fiddler on the [...]
ABBA legend reveals his one rule for making AI music at SXSW London event June 4, 2025 ABBA star Björn Ulvaeus, who has leaned into music’s technological revolution through his ABBA Voyage hologram show and his campaigning work around music and AI, has said that while he uses AI to make music, it’s essential to rely on a sense of “inner direction” to make sure the music is high quality. It comes [...]
Bono: Stories Of Surrender film review: U2 front man’s compelling vulnerability June 3, 2025 Apple TV+’s output may not yet compete with its rivals Netflix or Disney+, but the streaming service has used its association with music to create some very worthwhile documentaries, most notably, Bono: Stories of Surrender. Beastie Boys Story, What Happened, Miss Simone?, and Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry are other examples of music [...]
Karate Kid: Legends lumbers over line but there’s no killer blow June 3, 2025 Ten years ago, the idea of reviving The Karate Kid franchise with its original star might have seemed fanciful even for nostalgia-obsessed Hollywood. But in 2017, Netflix series Cobra Kai – which caught up with the characters of the 80s films – proved a cult hit that ran for six seasons, coming to a close [...]
Mighty Hoopla 2025 review: a community event in the truest sense June 2, 2025 Mighty Hoopla 2025 review ★★★★★: Go for the vibe, which is unmatched It’s ironic that Mighty Hoopla 2025 was almost closed down for being a nuisance to the local area. While it irked some residents, inside the walls it is one of the truest examples of community, and the power of uniting people together at [...]
Shucked musical: A smash at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre May 27, 2025 Regents Park Open Air Theatre is appropriately dotted with stands serving freshly grilled corn for the arrival of Shucked, a musical obsessed with both corn on the cob and corny jokes. If a rootin’, tootin’, country and western-inflected musical about crop farming sounds like a strange choice to kick off the tenure of Drew McOnie [...]
Toast the City: How we are celebrating the Square Mile! May 22, 2025 This autumn City AM will launch Toast the City, an awards celebrating all the places that make the Square Mile the vibrant, exciting location it is – and we need YOUR help. Over the 20 years we have served the Square Mile, it’s transformed from somewhere people worked hard to a place they want to [...]
Why we love the Square Mile’s Williamson’s Tavern May 22, 2025 In a new series celebrating the businesses nominated for the Toast the City awards, Adam Bloodworth visits one of the Square Mile’s best hidden gems, Williamson’s Tavern, an alleyway-based boozer with a vibe like no other What is it? Ancient rules dictate that sightlines to St Paul’s must be visible from across the capital and [...]
Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme is a work of art May 21, 2025 This year’s Cannes opener is the latest Wes Anderson feature, The Phoenician Scheme. It’s his second time opening the festival, cementing his status as one of the few filmmakers alive who can draw a crowd based on their name alone. Yet, nearly 30 years since his first film, he remains divisive: to some, his work [...]
Italy, Call Me By Your Name style: staying at Luca Guadagnino’s hotel May 17, 2025 Every so often in films, carpets steal the spotlight. There’s the hypnotic hexagonal pattern in The Shining’s Overlook Hotel, The Dude’s Persian rug in The Big Lebowski, or the Kubrick-inspired flooring in The Substance. And no premiere is complete without the deep plush of a freshly vacuumed red carpet. At Palazzo Talìa in Rome, designed [...]