The diary

HIGH BROW

OCTOBER

CARLOS ACOSTA
Royal Albert Hall, 3-7 October
A farewell ‘best of’ programme from the Cuban dancer, featuring some of his old friends from the Royal Ballet.

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI
Donmar Warehouse, from 6 October
Kemp Powers’s play is set at a real-life party that must be someone’s dream dinner: your guests are Cassius Clay (not quite yet Muhammad Ali), Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and NFL star Jim Brown.

PICASSO PORTRAITS
National Portrait Gallery, from 6 October
They have more than 80, going right back to his realist youth.

BEYOND CARAVAGGIO
National Gallery, from 12 October
The Baroque master’s works alongside those of the artists he influenced across Europe.

NOVEMBER

THE TEMPEST
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford, from 8 November
Simon Russell Beale is Prospero.

AMERICAN PASTORAL
In cinemas from 11 November
Ewan MacGregor’s directorial debut is a prestige Philip Roth adaptation. He takes the lead.

LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL
11-20 November
With Wayne Shorter, Norma Winstone and Art Spiegelman (yes, the Maus one).

THIS HOUSE
Garrick Theatre, from 19 November
West End run for James Graham’s sell-out National Theatre drama about Parliament’s 1970s crises.

INGOLF WUNDER
St John Smith’s Square, 19 November
The acclaimed young Austrian pianist’s programme features Mozart, Schubert and Chopin.

DECEMBER

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG
Tate Modern, from 1 December
Major retrospective of the pop art pioneer, organised with New York’s MoMA.

JOAN EARDLEY
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, from 3 December
Glasgow street scenes and fishing village landscapes, plus her preparatory material.

ART
Old Vic, from 10 December
20th-birthday revival for the hit blank-canvas comedy.

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY
Royal Opera House, from 21 December
Fed up with The Nutcracker? Try this revival of the Royal Ballet’s celebrated production of the Petipa classic.

LOW BROW

OCTOBER

DAVID BADDIEL
Vaudeville Theatre,
until 15 October
The comedian’s touching one-man show, My Family — Not The Sitcom, claims a West End run after success at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK
In cinemas from 21 October
A second outing for Tom Cruise as Lee Child’s tough guy. With a critic-baiting title like that, they must be confident.

THE YOUNG POPE
Sky Atlantic, 27 October
Jude Law puts on the big hat as director Paulo Sorrentino (Il Divo, The Consequences of Love, The Great Beauty) brings his Oscar-winning talents to premium telly.

NOVEMBER

THE CROWN
Netflix, from 4 November
The on-demand service’s most expensive drama ever follows the future Elizabeth II from 1947 to the present. It’s eventually meant to run to 60 episodes, and the script is by Peter Morgan (The Queen). Does she get royalties?

JAMES BLAKE
Touring until 5 November
The dance producer turned singer-songwriter’s UK tour takes in Leeds, Bristol and Belfast, ending up in Brixton.

ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX
Yas Marina, 25-27 November
Last race of this Formula 1 season. Will the Hamilton-Rosberg battle still be going?

STRICTLY BALLROOM
West Yorkshire Playhouse, from 30 November
Baz Luhrmann’s first film gets the stage-musical treatment.
December

CHRISTMAS CONCERTS
St Martin in the Fields, throughout December
St Martin in the Fields is a beautiful setting for a festive concert, and the packed programme includes carols and Bach by candlelight .

ENGLAND vs AUSTRALIA
Twickenham, 3 December
England’s rugby team will hope to inflict more misery on the old enemy after the emphatic series victory down under earlier in the year.

CINDERELLA
London Palladium, from 9 December
Panto returns to the Palladium for the first time in 30 years. Amanda Holden is the fairy godmother, with Paul O’Grady as the wicked stepmother.

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE
In cinemas from 16 December
Since the main Star Wars narrative is meant to end after a mere nine films — and last year’s was Episode VII — its new masters at Disney have made the prudent decision to do some standalone spin-off movies. Meanwhile, we are still awaiting Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money.