MUSIK STARRING FRANCES BARBER
Pet Shop Boys and Jonathan Harvey’s acclaimed one-woman musical cabaret starring Frances Barber, is coming to cinemas across The UK on 9 and 12 April.
One of the most acclaimed theatrical events in recent years, MUSIK will come to cinemas across the UK for a very special big-screen release, bringing its raw electricity to the cinema for the first time. The film offers a rare chance to experience an unforgettable live solo performance in full, with immersive sound, striking close-ups and the comfort of your local cinema, placing audiences front and centre.
The screening features a live recording from MUSIK’s 2025 run at the stunning Wilton’s Music Hall in London, alongside further scenes filmed especially for a cinema audience. At the heart of MUSIK is a towering one-woman performance by Frances Barber, returning to the iconic character Billie Trix, first created in the 2001 West End musical Closer to Heaven.
Billie Trix is a radical, existentialist and preposterous icon in this bold and hilarious one-woman odyssey through the 20th and 21st centuries. From post-war Berlin to the New York art scene, from folk duos to disco comebacks, Billie Trix has done it all – often naked, usually high, and always on her own terms. Drawing on her warped memories, lost loves, and chaotic career, Billie delivers a savage, surreal monologue that collides memoir, stand-up, and cabaret.
Blending an outrageous and hilarious monologue written by acclaimed playwright Jonathan Harvey with original songs by Pet Shop Boys, MUSIK is a genre-defying exploration of fame, failure, and fierce individuality – wrapped in sequins and spiked with satire.
At once riotous and poignant, this cult show returns as a filmed stage event that cements Billie Trix’s place in the pantheon of outsider icons. As she says herself: “I am music. Ich bin Musik. Without me, there is nothing.”
Looking ahead to MUSIK’s cinema premiere, Barber says, “I’m so excited that cinema audiences can now experience MUSIK. Performing as Billie Trix has always been a live, dangerous exchange, and the big screen brings audiences closer than ever to that relationship. Sharing Billie with cinema audiences across the UK feels like giving the show a bold new lease of life.”
Following sold-out stage performances and overwhelming critical acclaim since its premiere at the Edinburgh Festival in 2019, MUSIK has been hailed as a cult classic in the making, with critics praising Barber’s fearless performance and the show’s outrageous wit and musical power.
Bold, funny and ferociously theatrical, MUSIK is a one-woman play powered by an extraordinary performance and unforgettable music – now experienced as it has never been before, on the big screen. MUSIK is produced by Denise Silvey and directed by Andy Morahan, with Mark Thomas also producing.
Note from MustSeeTheatre.com founder Liam Rudden: “Even after 40 years as a critic, it still sends a frisson of delight to see my words appreciated and used on a poster. ‘The Pet Shop Boys’ songs are thought-provoking, raw and insightful’, on this one come from my MustSeeTheatre.com review of MUSIK at Wilton’s Music Hall last year, but it’s the first time I’ve has a double whammy; the Edinburgh Evening News quote, ‘Jonathan Harvey at his most biting…’ , is pulled from the show’s first five star review after I saw the production at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019 when I was Festivals Editor of that publication. Thank you Neil, Chris and all the team for using them. Appreciated.
MUSIK by Jonathan Harvey with songs by Pet Shop Boys, starring Frances Barber, is in cinemas across the UK on April 9 and 12
