The best in the world of entertainment this May

The Dandelion Chandelier Luxury Entertainment Calendar highlights notable new events in theater, film, popular music and television in May 2018. It’s a quick read, after which you’ll be pop-culturally literate all month! For the rest of the Luxury Calendar, click here. And for a list of fantastic new books being published this month, click here.

Festival season is officially in full swing. The month of May brings with it 3 great options to attend in the US, Denmark and Spain.  In addition to festivals, there are some major tours kicking off as well, including U2 and Taylor Swift.  For those who prefer the screen, May is a great month for indie films with the annual Cannes Film Festival taking place and the lastest movie debit from Diablo Cody.  May is a slower month on the small screen and on the stage with only a handful of new releases, though you can be sure we won’t be missing Little Women or A Long Day’s Journey Into the Night!  And as for podcasts dropping, this month brings the drama.

Film

Charlize Theron plays Marlo, a mother of three in Tully.  Marlo is gifted a night nanny by her brother (Mark Duplass) to help her care for her newborn. While at first hesitant to accept the extravagance, she comes to form a unique bond with the young nanny named Tully (Mackenzie Davis) – May 4

Hollywood heads to Cannes this month as Cate Blanchett has been named President of the Jury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.  Set to open the festival this year is Asghar Farhadi’s psychological thriller Everybody Knows, starring Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Ricardo Darí. And the amfAR Cannes Gala at the historic Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc brings out every A-list actor and top model in town – May 8 – 19

Celebrate Mother’s Day watching one tough mother: Gabrielle Union stars as a single mom who relocates to a Malibu mansion and finds herself the target of four murderous criminals in Breaking In – May 11

The wisecracking mercenary Deadpool returns in Dealpool 2 – May 18

Saoirse Ronan stars in the entrancing adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novella, On Chesil Beach about a young British couple on their honeymoon in 1962 – May 18

The Star Wars universe continues to grow with the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story.  The film focuses on everyone’s favorite scoundrel, Han Solo, originally brought to life by Harrison Ford, but now played by Alden Ehrenreich in this prequel directed by Rob Howard – May 25

Television

Stephanie Danler’s breakout 2016 novel Sweetbitter, about a young girl navigating the highs and lows of the New York restaurant scene in the mid-aughts heads to Starz.  Stars Ella Purnell and Tom Sturridge – May 6

Little Women gets the Masterpiece treatment on PBS.  The three part BBC miniseries premieres on Mother’s Day and stars Emily Watson as Marmee and Angela Lansbury as Aunt March – May 13

The British Academy Television Awards take place on at the Royal Festival Hall in London; Black Mirror, Line of Duty, The Crown and Three Girls were all nominated for multiple awards – May 13

Gear up for the royal wedding with Million Dollar American Princess: Meghan Markle on the Smithsonian Channel – May 20

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt returns for its 4th season on Netflix – May 30

Theater

Nominations for the 72nd Annual Tony Awards will be announced live from the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center; Katharine McPhee and Leslie Odom, Jr. will deliver the announcement at 8:30A – May 2

Sir Richard Eyre directs Jeremy Irons and Lesley Manville in Eugene O’Neill’s devastating Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork, A Long Day’s Journey Into the Night at Brooklyn Academy of Music – Previews May 8, Opens May 13

The classic story of Peter Pan returns to the stage in London at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre – Previews May 17, Opens May 24

Orlando Bloom stars as a cop who moonlights as a killer for hire in the multi award winning comic thriller, Killer Joe at Trafalgar Studios – Previews May 18 opens June 6

The award-winning musical The Rink skates into Southwark Playhouse for its first London revival in almost 30 years – Previews May 25, Opens May 29

The Public Theater opens this year’s Shakespeare in the Park season with Othello, the Bard’s classic tragedy of jealousy and misplaced trust. It will be directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, who helmed last season’s acclaimed Broadway revival of Jitney – May 29 -June 24

Popular Music

Khalid hits the road again after a brief hiatus – May 2

U2 kicks off its latest tour in Tulsa this month.  The eXPERIENCE & iNNOCENCE Tour will criss cross North America through July and then head to Europe for August to November – May 2

The female trio (and sisters) HAIM play Radio City Music Hall for two nights – May 4 – 5

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be televised on HBO.  This years inductees include Bon Jovi, The Cars, Dire Straits, The Moody Blues, Nina Simone and Sister Rosetta Tharpe – May 5

Taylor Swift heads back on tour for the first time since 2015, with her latest album Reputation in Glendale, AZ at the University of Phoenix Stadium – May 8

Known for their dreamy pop ballads, Beach House drops their 7th album, aptly named 7 – May 11

If you love soulful rock, you are in luck – both Ray LaMontagne and James Bay are releasing new albums.  LaMontagne’s 15th album is titled A Part of Light and Bay’s 5th is called Electric Light.  Both drop on the same day – May 18

The 2018 Billboard Music Awards air on NBC.  Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes and Dua Lipa will take the stage to perform – May 20

Billy Joel continues his residency at MSG – May 23

Modest Mouse, The National and David Byrne headline the Sasquatch! Music Festival over Memorial Day weekend in Washington – May 25 – 27

Named by CNN as one of the “7 African music festivals you really have to see,” the Bushfire Music Festival in Malkerns Valley, Swaziland showcases world music along with a line-up of theater, poetry, dance, art exhibits, story-telling, puppetry, film, and themed workshops. A vibrant handcraft market, family-friendly performances and a Kid Zone, as well as the recently introduced interactive art and dialogue space, The Barn, make for a cool weekend – May 25-27

Copenhagen Distortion is a celebration of “Copenhagen Street Life and New Dance Music.”  With an estimated 100,000 guests per day, Distortion is one of the largest annual gatherings in Europe. The Distortion week starts with 20-40 street parties in the Nørrebro and Vesterbro districts – with an “anything goes” music profile – and the week ends with the Distortion Ø festival with 6-10 stages on an industrial island in the Copenhagen harbour – with focus on new dance music: hip hop, trap, world, house, experimental and techno – May 30 – June 3

Indie darlings Arcade Fire, Bon Iver and The XX headline Primavera Sound in Barcelona – May 30 – June 3

New Podcasts

The Making of a Massacre is a five part series from Pro Publica that follows the story of a gunmen from one of the most violent drug trafficking cartels in the world and the horrific events that followed during March 2011 – May 4

Stephen Winter, the acclaimed director behind 2015’s Jason and Shirley, returns this month with Adventures in New America.  The story is described as “A wild blues- and afropunk-tinged ride through the New York City of New America, a country not so different from our own, where jobs and healthcare are hard to come by and bad news is a constant presence … except that it’s also populated by vampire zombies from outer space.” Sounds like an adventure – May 11

30 for 30 Podcasts returns with its first serialized season: five episodes that delve deep into the complicated world of Bikram Yoga – a community grappling with its own identity and survival in the wake of sexual assault allegations against its charismatic guru and founder, Bikram Choudhury – May 22

See other May 2018 Events:

— Travel

— Food & Drink

— Planes, Yachts & Autos

— Fitness & Sports

— Fashion & Design

— The Arts

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