THEGAYUK

Category: Entertainment

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Toxic Avenger The Musical, Arts Theatre, London

    ★★★★★ | The Toxic Avenger, The Musical

    THEATRE REVIEW | The Toxic Avenger The Musical, Arts Theatre, London

    There’s a monster loose at the Arts Theatre in London; it’s toxic, it smells, and it’s completely hilarious!

    It’s The Toxic Avenger, the show that was originally a movie (circa 1984) and just last year played at The Southwark Playhouse to rave reviews. Well, The Toxic Avenger is getting revenge by coming back to a much larger theatre, with a superb cast!

    In a nutshell, the show takes place in New Jersey. You know the place, people only pass through there to get to the bright lights and big city of New York. Well, New Jersey is where the denizens of Manhattan dispose of all of its waste – not just garbage but everything and anything that they don’t want, New Jersey, unfortunately, gets.

    But in a town called Tromaville, New Jersey, which gets the worst of the wasted, there is nerd and aspiring earth scientist Melvin Ferd the Third (Mark Anderson), his mom Ma Ferd (Natalie Hope), Sarah the blind librarian (Emma Salvo), and host of other characters played by Ché Francis and Oscar Conlon-Morray, named appropriately as black dude and white dude. But when Melvin decides to find out who is responsible for the vats of toxic waste in Tromaville, he plans to put a stop to it. His investigation leads to the Mayor (Hope again), but when she finds out Melvin is on her case, she gets her two goons to get rid of Melvin, and they throw him into a vat of toxic sludge. But Melvin does not get killed, he comes back bigger and better than ever – he’s been transformed into “The Toxic Avenger” (a/k/a Toxie)!

    Toxie attempts to get his revenge, but in the meantime, blind librarian Sarah has a thing for him because she thinks he’s French (though when Toxie was Melvin he had a huge crush on her but she rebuffed him). Meanwhile, the Mayor is still up to no good and vows to kill Toxie no matter what it takes. But hilarity (and lots of physical comedy) ensue; lots of running on and off the stage by the cast, Sarah doing everything she can to get with Toxie, and the brilliant Hope has a scene with herself as both the Mayor and Ms Ferd – and one time she’s on stage as both characters! It’s a tour de force performance! Will Sarah and Toxie find love with each other? Will the corrupt Mayor have her way and turn Tromaville into more of a toxic waste dump? Will the front row of the audience escape unscathed? You will have to find out and buy tickets to this must-see show. And did I mention that it’s a musical? Everything you want and more is this show! And the cast are brilliant!

    It’s hard to single out any one performer, but I’m going to. Of course, Hope gets the most exercise (and laughs) as both the Mayor and Melvin’s mother, but it’s Salvo’s performance that is most memorable because she’s playing a blind woman, and it’s so believable! And she’s so funny! Kudos to the cast, and production team, including director Benji Sperring, for bringing us a show that’s one not too miss. It’s got everything a musical should have; escapism, fantasy, great story, amazing performances, and some rocking songs. Buy tickets for this show now!

    From Joe DiPietro and David Bryan (original founding member and keyboardist/vocalist for Bon Jovi), the Tony Award-winning team behind the hit West End musical Memphis.

    The Toxic Avenger The Musical is now playing at The Arts Theatre in London until December 3, 2017

  • When is Season 2 of Orange Is The New Black on Sony Channel in the UK?

    Fans of Orange Is The New Black, who don’t have Netflix – we have news!

    Season 2 of the Emmy Award winning series from Lionsgate, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, is set to have its broadcast premiere in the UK on Sony Channel (Sky 157, Virgin 193, BT 331 and TalkTalk 331).

    The UK television premiere of Season 2 will launch with a double bill every Wednesday at 9pm from 4th October.

    This critically acclaimed comedy drama centres around Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), who is yanked out of her mundane and normal life with her fiancé when she is sentenced to fifteen months in prison for a decade-old drug crime.

    Season 2 sees Piper wake up in solitary and she’s not coping very well in her new surroundings, whilst in the prison a bathroom turf war erupts between the convicts. Dark, silly and subversive, who knew a tale about a woman’s prison could deliver such a lot of laughs!

    Watch the UK Network Premiere of Orange Is The New Black Season 2 on Sony Channel Sky 157, Virgin 193, BT 331, Talk Talk 331 on Wednesday at 9pm from 4th October.

  • Louis Theroux’s new documentary looks harrowing

    Trust Theroux to get right to the nub of the problem

    Louis Theroux's new documentary looks harrowing
    America has a love affair with prescription painkillers, which has led to a widespread dependency on opiates, but following a crackdown on over-prescription, two million Americans are finding new ways to feed their habit.
    With the pills now becoming increasingly expensive and scarce on the black market, vast numbers of Americans have turned to the cheaper and stronger opiate: heroin. The drug now claims more lives in the US than either car accidents or gun crime. And, for the first time in over two decades, life expectancy in the US is declining – largely attributed to the rise in fatal heroin overdoses.

    In Huntington, West Virginia, Louis Theroux embeds himself in an Appalachian community that is being devastated and stretched to its limits by widespread heroin use. With one in ten babies in the city born dependent on opiates and a fatal overdose rate 13 times the national average, this is the epicentre of the most deadly drug epidemic in US history.

    Louis spends time with the user community caught in the vice-like grip of drug misuse and follows the emergency services struggling to cope with multiple overdoses each day.

    Louis Theroux: Dark States – Heroin Town BBC Two on 8 October at 9pm

     

  • Oh no! Netflix is raising its prices

    Fan favourites such as Orange Is The New Black and House Of Cards are going to be a little more expensive to watch from now on.

    Fan favourite House Of Cards will be a little more expensive to watch from now on thanks to a price hike.

    Netflix is about to raise its prices, the first time in two years – meaning that your monthly spend could be up to 11.2 percent more expensive.

    The standard UK price plan will rise by 50 pence, from £7.49 to £7.99, whilst the premium price plan will rise by a whole pound, meaning it will now cost £9.99 a month. That’s £12 extra a year… We can handle that… right?

    The basic account will stay static at just £5.99 a month.

    Charges only apply to the two top tiers of membership – the Standard and the Premium. The basic member will remain at £5.99.

    In the US, the price plans will rise by $1 to $10.99 a month for the standard service and $2 to $13.99 for the premium service.

    Netflix has been at the forefront of streaming technology, forcing mainstream television companies and film distributors to reconsider their options. In a digital age, Netflix is a real disruptor – as millions of people leave linear television behind.

    So, what are we getting for our extra £££? Well, Netflix has promised to produce 40 feature films in the coming year, and a continuation of its original programmings, such as House Of Cards, Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why and ATypical.

    Still worth it though, right?

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Band – Sheffield Theatres and National Tour

    THEATRE REVIEW | The Band – Sheffield Theatres and National Tour

    ★★★★★| The Band 

    In 1993, teenager Rachel and her best friends are obsessed with The Band, and sneak off behind their parents back’s to a concert where, on the way home, they discuss the future, make promises to each other and swear that they will be best friends for ever. But when something happens that shatters their world, the girls go their separate ways. 25 years later, The Band brings them back together, when Rachel wins a competition to see them in Prague, and decides to invite the group she had lost touch with. But with an awkward reunion on the cards, it’s going to be a trip they will never forget.

    Photo Credit – Matt Crockett

    Launched primarily off the back of a Saturday night TV talent show, The Band became the UK’s fastest selling theatre tour; but now that the TV show has ended and the hype has died down, the question is, is it actually any good? And the answer is a resounding “yes”.

    What elevates The Band high above other jukebox musicals is the story written by Tim Firth. Firth successfully interweaves great characterisations with nostalgia, comedy and genuine emotion in a heartfelt story about friendship, self-belief, realising that it is never too late to achieve your ambitions and that life doesn’t always pan out how you planned.

    The back catalogue of Take That songs is ripe for the picking, and with plenty of hits spanning their 30 year career, including Relight My Fire, Greatest Day, Prey, Shine and Back For Good, the show primarily presents the musical numbers not as standalone songs, but almost as if it is the soundtrack to the character’s lives; and cleverly places them naturally into the story; meaning that they are there to support the narrative and not because the fans expect them to be shoehorned into the show somehow.

    In a cast which is fairly faultless and which works incredibly well together, Rachel Lumberg excels as Rachel, the bubbly woman whose love of The Band brings her friends back together; Alison Fitzjohn provides many of the laughs as the self-depreciating Claire and the young ensemble who play the teenage friends are brilliantly put together.

    As for the Let It Shine winners, they were everything you would expect; putting on a great performance as they belted their way through the musical numbers,  singing and dancing their hearts out with confidence and professionalism; and looking great to boot; meaning that it’s not surprising at all to hear that they are working on their first album.

    The presentation of the show, especially for a touring production, is big budget and incredibly well done, with inventive staging, immersive lighting, a solid sound design and direction which keeps the show moving along flawlessly. The production is incredibly slick and polished and barely stops for breath as it speeds along.

    The success of the show is how all of the individual elements are present and come together to produce the whole package; and in the audiences relatability to the story and characters. We have all had a band which we have obsessed over, we have all had songs which remind us of a particular time in our lives and we have all had friends who we lose touch with.

    The Band surpassed all expectations and is a crowd-pleasing, foot tapping, fun packed show crammed with genuine warmth and emotion at its heart.

    The Band is at Sheffield Lyceum until Saturday 14th October 2017 , before continuing on an extensive national tour until July 2018. Visit The Band Official Website for details.

     

  • THEATRE REVIEW | I Knew You, The Rep

    ★★★ | I Knew You, Birmingham Rep

    I Knew You, written by Steven Camden, aka Polar Bear – the renowned spoken-word artist, comes to The Door with a delicate yet powerful domestic tale.

    Growing up in a non-nuclear family is more custom in this generation, but what is not often seen, is the repercussions of a family break up. Through the stories of Angela (Lorna Laidlaw) the mother; Nathan (Brenton Hamilton) the son; Patrick (Roderick Smith) the father, we see the nucleus of the family drama.

    The writing is sublime with poetry ringing alongside the emotional speeches. Lorna showcased comedy and emotion very well, carrying the story – very good crescendo of emotions as the story progressed. Brenton did a great job with anger, but a little one-dimensional with the less climatic stuff. Roderick was a good choice for the sullen Patrick, giving the audience a good look-in to the other side of the argument, but a little lacklustre in the final speech. What was nice about the production was the feeling of provenance with actors hailing from Birmingham, with local accents adding to the comfort.

    The play was only fifty minutes long, and I am wondering if story beat opportunities were missed as the story appeared to be presented in chunks, in places, and the build-up of the drama was lost with a very sudden ending at Patrick arriving in the house.

     

  • When is Will and Grace being shown in the UK?

    So the original cast of Will and Grace have reunited and a new series has been launched, but when is it coming to the UK?

    When is Will and Grace being shown in the UK?

    Back in the noughties, Will & Grace was the show that broke the mold for the gay community. Now, ten years since the last episode was filmed a new series has been produced and fans are eagerly awaiting its broadcast in the UK.

    The original series ran from 1998 to 2006 – over 8 series.

    In January 2017 it was announced that a new series would be made – with the backing of the entire original cast – all except one cast member who wouldn’t be returning.

    Sixteen episodes, expanded from an original order of 10, were made by the producers.

    When will Will & Grace be shown in the UK?

    As of the beginning of October, there is no known air date or even channel for the ever popular sitcom. This is despite it already airing in the US pulling a magnificent 10.19 million viewers for its American broadcaster, CBS.

    Channel 4 was the original broadcaster for the show in the 00’s and although it remains to be seen if Channel 4 will pick up the show this time around. We will update this when there is confirmation on a UK broadcaster.

    Has Will & Grace been extended to further series?

    Yes, Will and Grace have been picked up for a 10th season.

  • FILM REVIEW | Kingsman: The Golden Circle

    KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE – The camp as Christmas Jason Bourne/James Bond piss take is back for number two with big laughs, endless extreme bloodshed and more anal sex jokes again.

    FILM REVIEW | Kingsman: The Golden Circle

    Nutshell – Eggsy and the sexy as fu*k Merlin (The shaggable Mark Strong) go on the run after Julianne Moore and her henchmen totally destroy the Kingsman spy organisation. So it’s off to Kentucky in the USA to meet the even bigger and better Statesmen organisation of great looking spies like Channing Tatum and Halle Berry, cue car chases galore, gadgets, robo attack dogs and the kidnap of Elton John via Glastonbury, The Alps and Cambodia in the sequel twice as explosive as the first.

    Running Time – 141 minutes;

    Certificate – 15.

    Tagline – ‘Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated
    The Gay UK Factor – Taron Egerton – fit, Mark Strong – masculine, Pedro Pascal – Hairy Latin stud, Channing Tatum – Uber fit and loads of other thugs and good guys that no-one would kick out of bed – this is a true wank fest.

    Cast – Egerton, Strong, Pascal and Tatum are backed up by Colin Firth (didn’t he die in the first one?), Keith Allen, Julianne Moore, Halle Berry, Michael Gambon, Jeff Bridges and Elton John with a real major part so plenty here to keep you occupied – how big will the cast be in part three and will Bennie and Jet the Robodogs be back?

    Key Player – Matthew Vaughan the director and man behind Kick-Ass, The X-men, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Eddie The Eagle etc is a master at mixing light content with bouts of extreme gore and action and he has the perfect vehicle here. He also writes the film here alongside Jane Goldman (Mrs Jonathon Ross) and their endless invention is here for all to see and boy is it giving the fans what they want.

    Budget – $104 Million way up on the first film and its cash registers are ringing like crazy making that back in just 5 days so it is off into the land of mega profit from now. This is a big hit and some.

    Best Bit – 1.31 mins; A breathtaking assault on an Alpine mountaintop stronghold climaxing in a truly stunning cable car sequence one of the best action beats of the year and it even beats the opening London Taxi fight/chase which is as good as any sequence of the Summer but the film just gets better as it goes on .

    Worst Bit – 0.21 mins; Julianne Moore as the bad guy who has a thing for Grease style 1950’s Americana and her HQ is a Fonzie/Happy Days style diner is just not nasty enough even though she does have a mean trick of putting her enemies through a burger mincer – she is a bit like a fourth division Bond villain when we needed a nasty as f*ck Blofeld type.

    Little Secret – There just having fun here but this movie stars a mega five Oscar winners in Firth, Berry, Moore, Bridges and Elton the latter for The Lion King. The original film length was over 3 hours 40 minutes which would have made it the longest blockbuster of the Millenium and beating Titanic/Avatar & any Lord Of The Rings film until the Studio insisted on cuts. This is Elton’s 21st acting credit and by far his biggest, he has starred in everything from SpiceWorld, Tommy and Bob The Builder in the past but here he gets to kick butt instead of shagging it.

    Further Viewing – Kingsman 1, James Bond circa Roger Moore, Spy, Austin Powers, The Bourne Identity, Kick-Ass, Carry On Spying and The Johnny English films.

    Any Good – Matthew Vaughn said if you didn’t like the first one you are gonna really hate this one and likewise we believe the converse is just as correct. More of the same just bigger and brasher all in all not as good as the number one but isn’t that normal with sequels.

    Rating – 69% out of 100.

  • The club Violet Chachki accused of dragging her out, is considering legal action

    This is getting interesting.

    First, RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Violet Chachki, (Jason Dardo), accused the nightclub, Le Depot of “physically dragging her out” because the entertainer was not masculine enough, now the French nightclub is considering legal action.

    After Chachki’s accusations, the club was deluged with bad reviews from fans of the drag queen. It has now put forward its own version of events, saying it was ready to pursue legal actions.

    “Le Dépôt is a Gay Club that has existed for 19 years and is an institution of Parisian nights that respects all the LGBTQI communities and all the gays in particular that they have chosen to express their personality in a masculine, feminine or androgynous. The establishment is in essence a place of respect for all and all of the sexualities.

    “Violet Chachki was returned to the door of the establishment following unacceptable and inappropriate behavior and several reports of clients. Violet Chachki has posted videos of the Cruising Sex space of the establishment on her Instagram account, among others, even though this is expressly forbidden in the settlement of the establishment and that it had been reminded to him several times.
    The management of the establishment did not react at the moment because it wished to cross-check the information and to watch the videos resulting from the telemonitoring.

    The nightclub has been in existence for 19 years and is in the centre of French capital, Paris.

    The statement continues:

    “At no time has there been any judgment on the gender, physical, skin color, sex or appearance of Violet Chachki who was received within the institution without any discrimination as the whole the clientele came for a festive event as part of the Fashion Week in Paris.

    “Violet Chachki was not dismissed from the evening because she was not male enough, as she claims in her tweet: “I was just physically dragged out of the depot in Paris for not being masc presenting enough. I’m in shock and disgusted. fuck the French “(@violetchachki, 4:40 on 01/10/2017) but because his behavior was not in conformity with the rules of the establishment and the respect of the privacy of other customer in the Cruising space.

    “Violet also showed an intolerable aggressiveness towards the security personnel who remained courteous despite the insults that you can see on his video or made against the French on his twitter account.

    “The institution relays all campaigns against LGBTQI discrimination and has never been the subject of such a defamatory campaign and will initiate legal proceedings if necessary”.

    Oooo. Dramz

  • Drag Race Winner “F**K the French”

    Winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Violet Chachki has slammed the French after being physically dragged from a sex nightclub in Paris.

    The winner of RPDR Season 7 took to Twitter to slam the Le Depot nightclub in Paris, for physically dragging the winner out of the club for not being masculine enough. The DQ, who has 162,000 followers on Twitter, tweeted her alleged assault in the early hours of Sunday morning.

    Taking to Twitter Chachki wrote,“I was just physically dragged out of le depot in Paris for not being masc presenting enough, I’m shocked and disgusted. F**k the French.”

    The entertainer also uploaded a video of the incident.

    Later the Drag Queen spoke to dating app, Hornet to give more details, saying,

    “It was a fashion week party. At a club that has dark rooms downstairs for sex. I was there seeing 3 friends that were performing/dj. I wasn’t in drag but I had makeup on. I met someone there who also had makeup on but was obviously male bodied but very feminine. We tried to go downstairs to the sexy part when like 4 guys picked us up and dragged us out of the club.”

    Naturally, the incident did not go down well with the Season 7 winner’s fans, who blasted the club with messages over the treatment of Chachki, flooding the club’s Facebook page with messages of disapproval. The club itself now has over 3.5k one-star reviews on its Facebook page.

    Chacki, later withdrew the “f**k the French” comment, saying, “Obviously I love the French and I love Paris. There’s (sic) good and bad people everywhere. I was upset- and rightfully so. What a drama. Over it”

     

  • LGBT Films at Raindance Film Festival 2017

    The Raindance Film Festival has just wrapped up and, over the course 0f 10 days, showed a good selection of LGBT films, some of which are worth looking out for if they ever get released or available online.

    Anatomy of a Ballet Dancer: Marcelo Gomes (ABOVE)

    A documentary about the life and career of one of the ballet’s biggest stars, who has been with the American Ballet Theatre for 20 years. This film is not just for ballet fans as we get to see the inner workings of the mind of Gomes, who had talent at a very young age. This film also deals with how he overcame his parents’ divorce, as well as coming out of the closet in a big way on the cover of a magazine, and how he has become one of ballet’s biggest stars. The documentary shines a light on his relationship with his father, who for some reason does not want to go see Gomes dance on stage in his hometown of NYC. Gomes comes across as such a nice and down to earth guy, and it doesn’t hurt that he parades around in really really tight ballet clothes that leave nothing to the imagination.

     

    There is a Light (Il Padre d’Italia)

    A beautifully written and told and acted story of gay man Paolo who, unusually, encounters a very pretty young pregnant woman – Mia – in a backroom gay sex bar. She’s presumably looking for her boyfriend who ditched her. Paolo befriends her and they leave together and embark on a road trip that turns into something a bit more. Luca Marinellil and Isabella Ragonese are a revelation in the leading roles, and the great soundtrack is an added bonus. Look for this film any way you can.

    Discreet

    Written and directed by Travis Mathews, who collaborated on Interior Leather Bar with James Franco, as well as a documentary series of gay men in several cities, brings us a film that is about a gay drifter Alex (Jonny Mars) who takes up residence in his supposed mute grandfather’s house. At the same time, he pursues a local young teenage boy and spends time at the local gay cinema with a muscular Italian man. Alex is also hypnotized by some sort of strange sex website run by an oriental woman that seems to help him drive his inner ego. It all makes for a very strange and uncomfortable movie with an awful narrative, a self-indulgent work on Mathews part. This one is a miss.

    The Joneses

    Jheri Jones is a fascinating woman, and in this excellent documentary we learn that Jheri is no ordinary woman, she used to be Jerry. But to her four male children, one of whom is gay and comes out in the documentary at the age of 37, Jheri is actually both mom and dad (their actual mother passed away years ago at the age of 59). Including Jheri’s two understanding grandchildren, The Joneses show how the family have accepted and embraced Jheri’s transition (which took place years ago). But it’s Jheri who is the star of this documentary- she fascinating, fun, fierce, and fabulous.

    The Misandrists
    Controversial film director Bruce LaBruce is, as always, in unusual form in this strange film about a school for girls and the powering teachers who lead them and who call themselves the Female Liberation Army. But all is not what it seems with the girls, some are hiding secrets, and one of them is hiding a male soldier in the basement dungeon. But it gets to be a bit too much when a penis is surgically cut off which leads to, at the very end, a lesbian orgy that leaves nothing to the imagination. It’s 90 minutes that’s a bit too much to take.

    Mist
    A Mexican film with English subtitles, it’s the story of a young pregnant woman, Martina, who escapes her life in Mexico City to go look for the father she never knew in Berlin. Of course while in Berlin she encounters all sorts of people, including a memorable drag queen played by the fabulous Dieter Rita Scholl. But Martina’s boyfriend comes looking for her in Berlin, and she’s got a strange habit of spontaneously stealing things. Mist is worth a watch for the performances.

    Apricot Groves
    Aram (Narbe Varten) has just flown back to Armenia from where he’s living in California to ask the parents of his girlfriend for her hand in marriage. He is squired around town by his confident and worldly brother Vartan (Pedram Ansari). But another purpose of Aram’s trip is for him to undergo surgery, and it’s this revelation at the end of the film (and a bit in the beginning) that makes “Apricot Groves” a real treasure.

    Boys for Sale
    Having never been to Tokyo, I didn’t realise that there was such a huge male escort scene there. In this well-done documentary, we get to meet several ‘urisen’ (male sex workers) in Tokyo’s Shinjuku 2-chome gay district, where they all talk to the camera about their lives and what led them to this type of work. It’s a fascinating film by director Itako and Executive Producer Ian Thomas Ash. It also includes very clever and compelling drawings of a sexual nature that depict the Urisen’s non-exciting sexual encounters. Try to find this documentary anyway you can.

    While not specifically LGBT, two other films at Raindance are recommended because of their great music stores. Trendy, about a man who moves to London from up north to escape a bad incident, is shot almost entirely in East London and many scenes take place in Berlin-style underground clubs. Afterparty is just what you’d expect. It takes place in a huge nightclub in Belgrade, focusing on one of the bartender’s quest to become famous, and where the music is just as fast and furious and thumping as the main character.