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In Project Hail Mary is the discovery of a science fiction movie that draws a clear line from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Arrival . Based on the novel by Andy Weir, whose debut The Martian set the pattern for witty and scientifically-minded prose against an excellent plot, made it a successful movie. It feels like a long time ago, but here we are with another archetypal hero-by-default who wakes to find himself on a spacecraft approaching Tau Ceti (11.9 light years away), with no idea who he is or why he is there.   We soon learn that he’s a schoolteacher, having been drummed out of the scientific community for an unpopular opinion which—as they sometime do—become popular later on. A microbial form of alien life is draining the sun of its energy, and how can there be life in the extreme heat of the sun? The book and the film deal with the science without treating the audience as incapable. Weir gives us a science teacher who can talk to kids without patronising them, and the fi...

Jamie Lloyd’s production of the Lloyd Webber/Rice musical fills the London Palladium on a hot evening, famously even spilling onto the balcony which has caused some newspaper pieces as well as social media ‘fuss’. Rachel Zegler, who has just been in the Snow White live action remake, takes the title role and genuinely she is the best thing in the show—not just with the sweet voice of a Disney alum, but raunchy in a production that sexualises almost every character including many of Peron’s military associates. The staging is limited to an ascending platform, like the seating at a sports arena, and otherwise all is darkness pierced by light. And the volume is set to loud. The story of Eva Peron’s rise, written in the seventies and sounding every bit like the Englishmen who wrote it, has somehow retained popularity because of the songs and the quality of the casting. Formerly a concept album it has gone as far as finding itself on film and the casting of Latino performers gives it more p...

Sweet Mother of all things preposterous, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning is a long and enjoyable movie. The story follows on from the previous, with Cruise’s Ethan Hunt on the run from his own good guys with a key which will unlock some theoretical antidote to the AI which is taking over the world’s nuclear arsenal in every nation. The first hour or so is the set-up, and the opening titles occur quite a long time into the film. Why, even before the first scene we get Actual Tom Cruise thanking us all for coming to see the film on the big screen as the makers intended. Cruise’s commitment to the big-screen experience is laudable and Christopher McQuarrie knows how to put together a tense action scene. In this case there’s a set-piece underwater sequence where Hunt has to go to the stricken submarine from the previous movie. He has to recover a part which has the source code of the AI which can be used to destroy it. Meanwhile the establishment is suspicious. President Angela ...

Up until his death, Stephen Sondheim was working on one final show. The man whose achievement in musical theatre died in 2021. For me, Sunday In The Park With George and Into The Woods are beyond compare—and Assassins is acerbic and wonderful but emphatically not for everyone. Sweeney Todd is another masterpiece. It always seemed that Sondheim had a difficult time assembling money for productions, and took a lot of time to develop the works in intense collaboration with his librettists. When he died, few knew that he had a final work in progress. Based on The Discreet Charm of The Bourgeoisie and The Exterminating Angel , two films by Spanish director Louis Bruñuel, which I’ve not seen. In Act One a group of rich friends assemble for Brunch, but the plans have not been set up. They go to a series of restaurants where their desire for food is unmet until they reach the Moranda embassy. One of the friends is the ambassador to this fake hispanic state. Another is a revolutionary who is c...

No-one would have believed, back in the early 80s when I first heard the album, that I’d be sat forty or more years later watching the hugely popular Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of War of The Worlds : the album is a classic piece of 1970s ensemble musical performers plus the gravitas of Richard Burton’s unmistakable voice. That the album is a classic meant little to me back then: that its running time was a bit more than you could fit on a 90 minute cassette was the big problem. So you listened on vinyl or you missed the rather important end… They’ve re-worked the piece, with some inserted commentary from HG Welles at the beginning of the 20th Century, then after the two world wars. It’s part of the show’s message about the arrogance of post-Victorian Empire being brought low by an overwhelmingly violent takeover from the alien red planet. We know that it’s not red weed that gives that world its colour, but almost everything else about the message of this piece rings very differently ...

Shakespeare’s most popular comedy is the perfect romantic comedy: it’s got the two lovers who can’t function together because they’re both in love; and it’s got the ridiculous pairing between Hero and Count Claudio, and the drama when Hero is accused of secretly “speaking” to another man on the eve of her wedding. It’s a lot of fun and the tragedy of Hero’s false allegation can be seen as what pulls Beatrice and Benedick together. Directors of the play have to come up with joyful conceits to make everything work. And the very stylish young Jamie Lloyd has decided that a 90s club musical is the way to go. As usual the stage is completely bare and there’s confetti and pulsing lights to go with the classic tracks—which are neatly placed between scenes for all of the first half. Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell are both fantastic in a performance which uses all the Shakespearean wit plus nods to the pair’s Marvel roles and Hiddleston’s reputation is being very popular with the ladies. The...