Entertainment News

The Birmingham 2022 Festival today announces that the six-month celebration of creativity attracted an audience of over 2.4 million making it the largest cultural programmes to have accompanied a Commonwealth Games.

Audiences came from across the UK, with more than 750,000 enjoying the programme on offer at the 9 free Festival Sites during the 11 days of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. 

Cunard, in conjunction with Simon Friend Entertainment, announces the performance of Deborah Moggach’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel aboard flagship ocean liner Queen Mary 2 between 15 and 22 December 2022 (M240).

Based on the bestselling novel that was turned into an award-winning film, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a joyous, feel-good comedy about taking risks, finding love, and embracing second chances, even in the most surprising of places.

Once upon a time, it might have been surprising to see the West African genre's breakout star chatting to British pop royalty. But Eddie Kadi, who's been hosting the UK's first Official Afrobeats Chart Show for the past 12 months, isn't so shocked.

"It's a year that's been really significant for Afrobeats," he says. "The growth and sound that's penetrated around the world."

Romesh Ranganathan has announced a short UK and Ireland tour for 2024. The stand-up and sitcom star will embark on his Hustle tour in at the end of April 2024, with dates at major venues in Brighton, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London, Birmingham and Manchester. 

A ubiquitous figure for anyone who owns a television, fronting The Weakest Link, Avoidance, Rob & Romesh Vs, The Misadventures Of Romesh Ranganathan, the breakout comedy star is the busiest man in show business and will play a variety of big venues, so expect these tickets for the UK's favourite curmudgeon to sell out fast. 

The BEON1X music festival kicks-off in Cyprus and promises to become a notable electronic music festival, with a record number of fans occupying the dance floor at the venue on the first weekend. The festival is envisioned as a starting point for a future large-scale BEON1X Art Cluster - conceived as a unique international socio-cultural project by representatives of the international art, business, and IT communities

Two world class firework displays will light up the city of Wolverhampton’s skyline in November – and tickets for this spectacular event are on sale now.

The event, which will feature two firework displays, will take place on Saturday, November 5, at Wolverhampton Racecourse, Gorsebrook Road.

Wolverhampton Art Gallery is delighted to present The Caribbean Front Room, curated by Juliet Whitter.

The exhibition opens from 1 October and runs until 20 October, offering a trip down memory lane by staging a typical front room and living room that would have been the hub of many local homes in the later decades of the twentieth century.

B:Music, the music charity responsible for Birmingham’s Town Hall and Symphony Hall is delighted to announce two new commissions for young Birmingham-based jazz musicians, which will premiere in a double bill on the iconic Symphony Hall stage in October. Baritone saxophonist Alicia Gardener-Trejo and guitarist Steve Saunders are the successful applicants in this year’s annual Jazzlines Commission, and they will perform their new compositions at the world-renowned Symphony Hall in the heart of Birmingham on Sunday 30 October. 

eleven10creative have joined Wolverhampton Grand Theatre’s business club. The agency are strategic thinkers who design and develop visual communications to help businesses and organisations tell their brand story, stand out and ultimately be successful within their field.

They work across a wide range of sectors, including business, education, local government, sport & leisure and retail. They are all about high value and high quality – creating awareness, consistency, perception, value and recall.

The RSC has announced that Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey, will be the Co-Artistic Directors of the Royal Shakespeare Company taking up the post from June 2023. Daniel is currently Artistic Director of Chichester Festival Theatre and Tamara is Artistic Director of Theatr Clwyd. Daniel and Tamara are regular collaborators and applied together for the position.

Gloucestershire’s hometown hero returns to his roots this Christmas, when Dick Whittington and His Cat Tweedy takes centre stage at The Everyman Theatre from Friday 25th November to Sunday 8th January. This purrr-fect pantomime adventure is a must on every festive family calendar, with spectacular sets and singalongs, a star-studded cast and gags aplenty set to transport audiences to the streets of London town, paved with gold...!

Produced by Live Nation, the 21-date North America run continues with stops in Chicago, Toronto, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles and more before wrapping up on October 23rd at San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.

The tour will proceed with the European and Australian legs on November 8th in Amsterdam and concludes on January 4th in Sydney. 

The team at Google paid tribute to iconic Jamaican poet, folklorist, writer, and educator Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley on September 7 to celebrate what would have been her 103rd birthday.

“Miss Lou”, as she was known across Jamaica and its Diaspora, earned a Google Doodle – fun, surprising, and sometimes spontaneous changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and scientists.

Wolverhampton Grand Theatre have announced full casting for this year’s magical pantomime adventure, Aladdin!

Fresh from the West End production of Moulin Rouge The Musical, West End leading lady and singing sensation Zoe Birkett will play Spirit Of The Ring alongside EastEnders’ Beppe Di Marco, Michael Greco as Abanazar.

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) will screen the state funeral of Her Majesty The Queen on Monday 19 September in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.  The building will open at 10am, with access to the auditorium from 10.15am ahead of the funeral service between 11am-12noon. It is expected that the screening will end at 1pm, with the building closing at 1.30pm.

Alice D today releases her brand new EP ‘Into The Light’. The rising London artist’s previous singles, ‘Nervous’ and ‘Passion’, have seen Alice highlighted by Wonderland, The Voice, FAULT, Noctis, the Sunday Mirror and more, while also picking up airplay as a BBC Introducing Spotlight Artist.