The film to watch: The Drama
Zendaya’s faultless red carpet press tour with the help of Louis Vuitton, vintage Vivienne Westwood and Armani Privee has been entertaining enough, but there is also a new film in which she stars opposite Robert Pattinson. The Drama is in cinemas now but be warned it’s a lot darker than a standard rom-com with a tone that’s thrown some audiences. Between the Academy Awards and Cannes it’s full on popcorn season, so you might also want the Imax for wry science fiction with Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary.
The exhibition to see: Fashion Becomes Art, Victoria & Albert Museum London
It’s surrealism for spring from the 1920s to the work of creative director Daniel Roseberry. Fashion Becomes Art at the V&A is (somehow…) the first UK exhibition on Elsa Schiaparelli and runs till 8 November. To get you in the mood, listen to the designer’s granddaughter, 70s Queen of the Scene Marissa Berenson, share her memories and personal insights on the podcast A Life Curated.
The tickets to book: Les Liaisons Dangereuses, National Theatre London and High Society, Barbican London
A stellar cast including Lesley Manville, Aidan Turner and Monica Barbaro revive Christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the National Theatre. Manville appeared in the original 1985 production playing Cecile, one of aristocratic sexual adventurer Valmont’s victims. This time she schemes as his former lover, the Marquise de Merteuil. As dark as theatre can get, try to get a ticket till June 6 or see it through NT Live from June 25.
For something frothier, High Society starring Felicity Kendal and Helen George is at the Barbican from 19 May to Saturday 11 July. It’s a summer must if you love the classic film, its inspiration The Philadelphia Story or both. And while your humming True Love, look ahead too… For even a chance of tickets for their 2027 Sunday in the Park with George, you need to sign up for advance info. Ticket sales for the Sondheim show inspired by Georges Seurat starring Jonathan Bailey and Ariana Grande will start in May.
The event to attend: A new wine club at The Park, London
Hold the merlot, The Park is launching the Miles Raymond Society. Their first wine club event (inspired by Paul Giamatti in Alexander Payne’s Sideways, of course) is a masterclass in rose for spring, which hopefully will have come to London by Thursday 23 April. Book your spot and find out more at reservations@theparkrestaurant.com A few glasses, some sunshine and Hyde Park will definitely start to feel like Santa Barbara…
The collaboration to look out for: Musee Gainsbourgh, Paris
One of the most moving museums in Paris, preserved just as it was when it was his home for 22 years unitl his death in 1991, Musee Gainsbourg, on rue de Verneuil in the 7 th , is now subtly opening the doors to new ways to soak up the history in a manner in which you hope Serge would have approved. As well as visiting the evocative piano bar, Gainsbarre, just across the street, you can now plan a small party or dinner here surrounded by the history and time capsule atmosphere. Put us on the list s’il vous plait…
The TV to watch: Babies, BBC
Rising star Paapa Essiedu has recently won rave reviews on stage opposite Bryan Cranston in All My Sons. Through NT Live from 16 April you can catch that performance in cinemas if you missed the live run, and at home, on the small screen Babies is new from Mum writer/director Stefan Golaszewski. Here, Essiedu stars with Siobhan Cullen as a couple navigating babyloss. While it’s undoubtedly hard material, it’s one of the best reviewed BBC dramas in years. Six parts available to watch now.
The album to listen to: Your Favourite Toy, Foo Fighters
The new album from the Foo Fighters Your Favourite Toy is out at the end of the month. Four years since the untimely loss of the band’s drama Taylor Hawkins in 2022, Dave Grohl has described the start of this album as their therapy for the tragedy that ‘that threw our world upside down.’
The books to read: Fame Sick, Lena Dunham and See You on the Other Side, Jay McInerney
When Jay McInerney eulogised 80s downtown in his fiction Lena Dunham could have been a kid with the crayons at the Odeon. Grown up, Dunham’s precocious first work Girls drew many comparisons with Bright Lights, Big City. This month her second memoir, Fame Sick is a coruscating must read, with the same intensity of the TV show and her first coming of (under) age book Not that Kind of Girl.
Meanwhile, McInerney, is, he says, concluding his portrait of a marriage with See you on the Other Side. Fictional literary It couple Russell and Corrine Calloway, whom he first introduced to readers in Brightness Falls (1992) have grown-up twins, including a girl of their own trying to open a restaurant in Brooklyn. They’re still frequenting the Odeon as the pandemic takes hold of life as they (and we) knew it. McInerney’s emotional realism, unerring social observation of several generations and subtle hints of autobiography in his fiction make for a great New York pairing with Dunham’s mordant millennial memoir.
