Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing review – like a horror movie … only this is real life

St Paul’s Cathedral, London Elemental roars and full-frontal vocal expressivity as the UFO focuses on a mission bigger than a good performance There were climaxes in Verdi’s Requiem that would surely have registered on a seismometer as they gathered into a thrillingly elemental roar before dissipating as a series of echoed convulsions into the vast dome above. There were choral susurrations that swept over the orchestra, exhortations delivered in crisp consonants. There were sinuous woodwind lines that took a few seconds to wend their way out of the orchestral clamour, and vocal soloists – Natalya Romaniw, Natalie Lewis, René Barbera and Jongmin Park – who cut instantly through it in a shock of full-frontal expressivity from the very front of the stage. Four years after making their UK debut with their second ever performance, the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra is now on its fifth international summer tour. Founded by Canadian-Ukrainian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson in response to the Russian invasion in February 2022, this orchestra has always had a mission bigger than producing a good performance. And what counts as “good” is always shaped by circumstance, after all. As the numerous speeches that preceded the music stressed, the UFO tour as “cultural ambassadors”, their work centred on hope and resilience, solidarity and justice at what one Ukrainian diplomat called “probably the most difficult moment in our modern history”. One of the orchestra’s percussionists is away at the frontline – so too is the son of composer Bohdana Frolyak, whose Gloria opened the concert, its smudgy chromaticism weighted with sadness...

After being shelved as a tax-writeoff, this Looney Tunes reboot redraws the hapless hunter as the Erin Brockovich of the cartoon world Here is a quirky, peculiar, yet strangely diverting live-action-toon hybrid of the kind that hasn’t been popular at the movies for many a day; it gives us a new twist on the surreal forever war between Wile E Coyote and the speedy Road Runner (catchphrase “beep beep”, pronounced “meep, meep”). The music over the closing credits will incidentally disappoint fans of this animated franchise; they’ve gone with the Clash’s I Fought the Law, but surely it should be Roadrunner from Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers? Coyote Vs Acme is a comedy whose obsessive and hyperactive pedantry is exhausting, but arguably part of the point, aimed at America’s litigious culture, corporate arrogance and monopoly capitalism. So when producers Warner Bros initially decided to shelve the whole thing as a tax writeoff, that must have felt to director Dave Green like an ironic cartoon anvil to the head. Well, the film was rescued and it would be great therefore to discover that this is a masterpiece. Sadly it’s not, but there are some laughs and the pure fanatical oddity makes this watchable...

Off the coast of Dakar, Goree Island is home to the Senegal’s first elite boarding school for girls. The Mariama Ba School of Excellence encourages its students to challenge what has traditionally been expected of girls across the predominantly Muslim West African nation. The school has a 100% completion rate, and admits 35 students, whose tuition and board are completely state-funded, each school year.