ANNA X, Harold Pinter Theatre review - lacking in substance

★★★ ANNA X, HAROLD PINTER THEATRE Emma Corrin and Nabhaan Rizwan perk up one-dimensional drama about a Russian conwoman

Emma Corrin and Nabhaan Rizwan perk up one-dimensional drama about a Russian conwoman

There just isn’t enough there, with ANNA X. Daniel Raggett’s production is the third and final of the RE:EMERGE season at the Harold Pinter Theatre, with Emma Corrin of Lady Di fame in the lead. The graphic design – the brightly-striped faces of Corrin and her co-star, Nabhaan Rizwan, on a dark background – is impeccable. Joseph Charlton’s writing, not so much.

Summer of Soul review - glorious documentary combines music and black American history

★★★★★ SUMMER OF SOUL Glorious documentary combines music and black American history

Blistering concert performances from 1969 with insightful interviews and archive

It’s entirely appropriate that in 2021, when debates about racism fill our minds and music festivals are still curtailed that Summer of Soul, filmed in 1969 but forgotten for decades, should win Sundance and hit our screens. Its director Questlove (aka Ahmir Khalib Thompson) is a man of many talents, frontman with The Roots, a DJ with an extraordinary vinyl collection and a music journalist.

French Exit review - Michelle Pfeiffer faces mortality

★★★ FRENCH EXIT Michelle Pfeiffer faces mortality in mother-son drama

Mother-son drama is both arresting and arch

Michelle Pfeiffer all but purrs her way through French Exit, as befits a splendid actress who cut a memorable Catwoman onscreen nearly thirty years ago. Playing a New York grande dame who deals with bankruptcy by decamping with her son Malcolm (Lucas Hedges) to Paris, Pfeiffer informs the character of the mortality-obsessed Frances Price with an implicit "meow", as if forever finding fault with a world in which, short of funds, she is now surplus to requirements.

theartsdesk Q&A: choreographer Christopher Scott

Q&A: CHOREOGRAPHER CHRISTOPHER SCOTT On creating the sizzling dance scenes for 'In The Heights'

The creator of the sizzling dance scenes for 'In The Heights' on how they came about

Having won recognition for his streetdance routines on American TV’s So You Think You Can Dance, choreographer Christopher Scott was asked to help bring Lin-Manuel Miranda’s pre-Hamilton stage hit to the big screen. In The Heights was shot entirely on location on the streets of Washington Heights, a largely Dominican neighbourhood in New York.

In the Heights review - to life, Lin-Manuel Miranda-style

★★★★ IN THE HEIGHTS To life, Lin-Manuel Miranda-style

2008 Tony winning musical transfers joyously to the screen

The general uptick of late in film versions of stage musical hits continues apace with In the Heights, which, to my mind anyway, is far more emotionally satisfying and visually robust onscreen than it was on Broadway, where it won the 2008 Tony for Best Musical.

Shiva Baby review - sex, lies and rugelach

★★★★ SHIVA BABY Trapped in a Jewish family gathering

Trapped in a Jewish family gathering: Emma Seligman's debut feature is full of life

Comedian Rachel Sennott stars as Danielle, a conflicted, bisexual twenty-something college student who's taking money she doesn't really need from a sugar daddy who isn't who she thinks he is. Emma Seligman’s debut feature, which began as a short in her film studies degree at New York University, is full of energy in its exploration of the dynamics of sex, power and career, with lox and bagels on the side.

My New York Year review - lacklustre portrait of an ingenue

★★ MY NEW YORK YEAR Old-fashioned romcom aimed at a young female audience

Old-fashioned romcom aimed at a young female audience misses its mark

This pallid chick flick limps out on release having changed its title since its Berlinale 2020 debut; in the US it's known as My Salinger Year, but perhaps market research in Blighty decreed that name-checking the author of The Catcher in the Rye wouldn't play as well here.

New York City Ballet 2021 Spring Gala online review - Balanchine and Robbins shine in a dark theatre

★★★★ THE NEW YORK CITY BALLET 2021 SPRING GALA Dancers return to the Lincoln Center in Sofia Coppola's quietly moving short film

Dancers return to the Lincoln Center in Sofia Coppola's quietly moving short film

It’s official. Masks are coming off across America while theatres remain dark. Over here, theatres are about to re-open and masks must be worn. An identical situation gives rise to different responses prompted by local preoccupations. Local preoccupations are at work in ballet too. Witness the 2021 Spring Gala performance put out digitally by New York City Ballet.

Album: St Vincent - Daddy's Home

★★★★ ST VINCENT - DADDY'S HOME Real-life nostalgia fuels a funk-soul reinvention

Real-life nostalgia fuels a funk-soul reinvention

From her indie roots to the Grammy-winning angular art-rock of her self-titled 2014 album and the new wave glam of MASSEDUCTION, St Vincent has refused to allow her work to be pigeonholed.