It’s billed as a play not a musical but Stereophonic, theUS hitnowin London, has some of the best new songs played on a West End stage this decade. The tracks deepen the relationships within a rising yet imploding 70s band during coke-fuelled sessions for their new LP. But the songs become the source of much drama, too, not least when the group fight over which will make the final album. How could they cutMasquerade?! Happily it’s included on theoriginal, sensational Broadway cast recordingalongside Bright, a track catchy enough to warrant its trio of versions.
“Queen Lear” was playwrightTanika Gupta’s pitchfor her 2024 drama about a British Bengali restaurateur and mother of three who is diagnosed with early onset dementia. Meera Syal plays the lead role. Available on National Theatre at Home from 8 July.
A chance to look (or listen) to Lear itself. Richard Wilson as the king is reason enough to tune in but thisDrama on 4BBC radio production of Shakespeare’s towering tragedy also boasts David Tennant, Greta Scacchi, Tamsin Greig and Toby Jones.
“She had the thing that you can’t teach,” runs one accolade for Liza Minnelli in this documentary that takes in her illustrious lineage and the highs and lows of her personal life while also showcasing her electrifying performances.On BBC iPlayer.
Jon Fosse won the Nobel prize in literature in 2023, praised by the committee for expressing “the most powerful human emotions of anxiety and powerlessness in the simplest everyday terms”. Philadelphia’s Wilma theatre presents A Summer Day, his meditation on memory, available7-27 July.
A tribute to blazing singer-songwriter featuring her tracks, her influences and a piece of her heart. Mary Bridget Davies dons the round glasses for the musical, filmed at the Peacock theatre in London in 2024. OnMarquee TVfrom 4 July.
In this 1973 play, Terence Rattigan “came as close as he ever did to exposing his own emotional defensiveness”, wrote Michael Billington. The Orange Tree’s revival runsat the theatreuntil 5 July and is then availableon demand, 8-11 July.
From Sadler’s Wells, here isa trio of short filmsthat reimagine classic works. Folu Odimayo’s The Lions are Coming draws on The Rite of Spring, Mythili Prakash’s Mollika is inspired by Rabindranath Tagore and Aṁṁonia, choreographed by Emma Farnell-Watson and Kieran Lai, pays homage to Pina Bausch.