Edouard Manet, The Railway, 1873. Oil on canvas. 93.3 x 111.5 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Horace Havemeyer in memory of his mother, Louisine W. Havemeyer, 1956.10.1 Photo courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Art
Manet: Portraying Life
Royal Academy, January 26 - April 14
This exhibition of Edouard Manet’s portraits is the show I am most excited about in 2013. Manet is the most under-valued of the Impressionists, too often confused with Monet, and yet one of the most important and beautiful artists of the 19th or any other century. His portraits – there will be more than 50 on display – are some of the most lustrous and revealing ever painted.
www.royalacademy.org.uk
Chagall: Modern Master
Tate Liverpool, June 14 - October 6
More than 60 paintings and works on paper from this most poetic of painters.
www.tate.org.uk
Lowry and the Painting of Modern Life
Tate Britain, June 25 - October 20
A reassessment of the artist as a significant portrayer of industrial life.
www.tate.org.uk
Vermeer and Music: Love and Leisure in the Dutch Golden Age
National Gallery, June 26 - September 8
Free exhibition of paintings from the Dutch master and his contemporaries.
www.nationalgallery.org.uk
January theatre special
There is an enormous amount of drama you won’t want to miss this month.
The Accrington Pals
Royal Exchange, London. From January 17
You’ve got a heart of stone if Peter Whelan’s play based on the true story of the Lancashire mill workers who went to the Somme doesn’t reduce you to tears. It is being revived at the Royal Exchange by director Paul Dacre, from January 17.
www.royalexchange.co.uk
Quartermaine’s Terms
Wyndham's Theatre from January 23
Rowan Atkinson stars as a hopeless, hapless teacher whose career is under threat in Simon Gray’s wonderful tragi-comedy receiving a major West End revival under the direction of Richard Eyre after opening in Brighton and Bath before moving to Wyndham's on January 23.
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Life of Galileo
Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, from January 31
Bertold Brecht’s scientific drama gets a new translation from Mark Ravenhill and a central performance from Ian McDiarmud as it is revived by the RSC at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, under the direction Roxana Silbert, from January 31.
www.rsc.org.uk
Theatre - coming up this year
The Audience
Gielgud Theatre, London, W1, from February 15 - June 15
Helen Mirren repeats her role as the Queen in a new play from Peter Morgan who wrote that film and other dramas based on true events such as The Deal and Frost/Nixon. This time, he reimagines HM’s encounters with her PMs including Haydn Gwynne (Mrs Thatcher), Robert Hardy (Churchill) and Paul Ritter (Major). Stephen Daldry directs.
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Peter and Alice
Noel Coward Theatre, London, from March 9 - June 1
At the opening of a Lewis Carroll exhibition the original Alice came face to face with the real Peter Pan, and the result has inspired a play by John Logan, starring Judi Dench and Ben Wishaw.
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Passion Play
Duke of York’s Theatre, London, from May 1 - Aug 3
Zoe Wanamaker stars in a revival of Peter Nichols’s coruscating study of marriage.
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Relatively Speaking
Wyndham’s Theatre, London, from May 14 - Aug 31
Felicity Kendal returns to the stage and to Alan Ayckbourn in this lovely comedy of confusion.
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Classical music and dance
Benjamin Britten Centenary
You won’t be able to avoid celebrating the great British composer’s birth this year: his music is everywhere, around the country and the world. Highlights include the UK performance of all 14 of his operas including Gloriana at the Royal Opera House from June 20, a 100-event 'Around Britten' tour by cellist Matthew Barley, taking the Third Cello Suite to venues around the country, and a performance of Church Parables, at Orford Church - the venue they were written for - on June 16. Full details of all events www.britten100.org
La Traviata
London Coliseum, Feb 2 - Mar 3
A new production of Verdi’s tragic masterpiece starring American soprano Corinne Winters arrives at English National Opera in his bicentenary year
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Written on Skin
Royal Opera House, London, March 8-22
New opera from George Benjamin, with a magnificent score unveiled to acclaim in France.
www.roh.org.uk
The Raven Girl
Royal Opera House, London, May 24 – June 8
Wayne McGregor’s first narrative ballet for the Royal Ballet, developed with The Time Traveler’s Wife author Audrey Niffinegger.
www.roh.org.uk
Musicals
Once
Phoenix Theatre, London, from March 16 - Nov 30
It’s not often an Irish musical opens in New York, picks up eight Tony awards – and then takes up residence in the West End. But that is the trajectory of Once, a heartbreaking, funny and charming musical by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, based on the film of the same name, which tells the tell of two musicians who fall in love. It’s a joy.
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A Chorus Line
London Palladium, from Feb 2 - July 13
This sophisticated classic returns after a 37-year absence, with its auditioning dancers revealing inner turmoil as they perform.
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The Book of Mormon
Prince of Wales Theatre, London, from Feb 25 - June 1
The Broadway sensation from the creators of South Park arrives to entertain British audiences.
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From Here to Eternity
Shaftsbury Theatre, London, from September 30
Long awaited doesn’t begin to describe this new musical with lyrics by Tim Rice, based on James Jones’s 1951 novel.
Exhibitions
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
British Museum March 28 - September 29
The moment Vesuvius erupted in AD79, raining molten lava on the urban centre of Pompeii and the seaside resort of Herculaneum is the moment time stood still for these towns: a dog fixed forever at the moment of its death, a family huddled together. These famous casts of the victims, plus more than 250 objects, many newly excavated and never before seen outside Italy, come to the Reading Room in what is, potentially, the exhibition of the decade, let alone the year.
www.britishmuseum.org
Glam! The Performance of Style
Tate Liverpool, February 8 - May 12
The look of the 1970s gets serious artistic treatment,
www.tate.org.uk
Treasures of the Royal Courts: Tudors, Stuarts and the Russian Tsars
March 9 - July 14, V&A, London
Rich chivalric objects from 1555, including some spectacular silver.
www.vam.ac.uk
David Bowie Is
March 23 - July 28, 2013, V&A, London
An insight into the career and influence of one of pop’s most iconic figures, with the help of his own archive.
www.vam.ac.uk
Tours
An Evening with Jack Jones
From May 13, various venues
The smooth-voiced singer has endured for five decades, with his own distinctive brand of crooning. But now he has decided to give his tonsils a rest and this tour is billed as a farewell. He is in nostalgic but bullish mood: he will be paying tribute to his friends such as Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams and Mel Torme but “I haven’t lost the high notes,” he says.
www.jackjones.org
Nigel Kennedy
From April 24, various venues
Only this particular violinist could be celebrating the music of Bach and Fats Waller on the same programme, beginning in Edinburgh.
Bonnie Raitt
From June 9, various venues
With a new album Slipstream to promote, the auburn-haired blues singer-songwriter is back on the road when she begins a British tour in Southend on Sea.
www.bonnieraitt.com
Michael Buble
From June 30, various venues
The charming Canadian brings his Crazy Love tour and his own appealing enthusiasm to Britain, starting at the O2 Arena.
www.michaelbuble.com
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