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Crazy

For You

Live West End

The West End’s free outdoor extravaganza returns for 2023

Musical theatre fans, get ready for outdoor dancing and sing-alongs with some of the West End’s biggest stars: West End Live is back! It’s the initiative that turns some of the most expensive forms of entertainment in London into the cheapest fun going. Each year, casts of some of London’s best West End musicals emerge blinking into the open-air for a weekend of free alfresco performances in Trafalgar Square, accompanied by fun photo ops, merch stalls, and bags of showbiz atmosphere.

After a few years disrupted by the pandemic, it’s pretty much settled back into a regular June weekend slot again. The line-up is TBC, but almost always includes basically every musical in the West End and coming to the West End, plus a few randomly worked in non-musicals besides.

Trafalgar Square, London, WC2 5DN www.westendlive.co.uk

Mighty

Hoopla

Mighty Hoopla is London’s biggest pure pop festival and a highlight of the LGBTQ+ summer calendar. Taking place in Brixton’s Brockwell Park, this year’s line-up includes Jameilia and Natasha Beddingfield, plus a kaleidoscopic range of drag superstars, recognisable DJs and emerging LGBTQ+ performers. Oh, and Eurovision winner Loreen. As ever, Mighty Hoopla will also welcome an array of mostly LGBTQ+ club nights and venues including The Karaoke Hole, The Cocoa Butter Club and Drag Energy, so it’s safe to presume there will be glitter. Line-up includes: Kelly Rowland, Years & Years, Confidence Man, Roisin Murphy, Vengaboys. www.mightyhoopla.com www.crazyforyoumusical.com

The legendary Susan Stroman directs this massive new West End production of the beloved retro musical ‘Crazy for You’ is a golden age musical comedy that’s actually from 1992: writer Ken Ludwig took a load of classic songs by George and Ira Gershwin – largely from the 1930 musical ‘Girl Crazy’ – and spun them into a shimmeringly delightful retro confection that’s almost indistinguishable from the era it’s paying homage to, the odd knowing flourish aside. Following Bobby Child, a rich banking scion who must – for complicated reasons – stage a successful musical in a backwater Nevada town in order to win over the woman he loves, it’s a loving tribute to a bygone era of great American musicals that probably seemed more distant in the Lloyd Webber-dominated early ’90s than it does now.

Marylebone

Summer Festival

Outdoor film screenings, live music, alfresco bars and dining, craft stalls and a dog show: you’ll find all this and more at Marylebone’s annual summer fair which takes over Paddington Street Gardens for a whole weekend in June. Visit on Saturday for open-air film screenings of recent blockbuster hits like ‘Elvis’ starring Tom Hanks and Austin Butler. Or visit on Sunday when Marylebone Village will be pedestrianised to make way for fashion and food stalls, funfair rides, DJs and bubble artists. Essentially, a summer fête dialled up to 11. www.marylebonevillage.com