Lizzie Lawton’s Robert, left, and Max Palmer’s Bernard in vexed conversation with Val Debenedetti’s Italian air hostess Gabriella in Rowntree Players’ Boeing Boeing. Picture: Jamie McKeller
LEEDS Conservatoire musical theatre masters graduate and freelance theatre-maker Hannah Shaw is directing her second Rowntree Players production of 2026.
After her LGBTQ+ exploration of gay playwright Oscar Wilde’s “trivial comedy for serious people” The Importance Of Being Earnest in March, she now pilots Marc Camoletti’s high-flying French farce Boeing Boeing, cleared for take-off with five cast members – Bethan Olliver, Jorja Cartwright, Lizzie Lawton, Max Palmer and Rebecca Thomson – returning from her Wilde nights.
Newly on board is Val Debenedetti, who draws on her Italian heritage to play the hot-blooded Gabriella, one of three air hostesses engaged to Palmer’s philandering American architect Bernard.
Rebecca Thomson’s house maid Bertha, fielding yet another problematic phone call in Boeing Boeing. Picture: Jamie McKeller
Shaw introduces all three fiancées, along with Bernard, his gloriously blunt, long-suffering French housemaid, Thomson’s Berthe, and his long-lost friend, Lawton’s callow, gauche Robert, from Wisconsin, in a pre-show sequence in the style of TV credits (think Friends, for example), set to Jennifer Carney’s choreography of Max Barron’s Sixties sitcom theme pastiche.
This establishes both the characters’ individual style and the location, Bernard’s Parisian apartment, with its seven doors – or eight if you count the central double doors – in Camoletti’s 1960 setting, adapted in 1962 by Beverley Cross and Francis Evans. In front is a large sofa, with a leather chair to one side, a bean bag to the other, a drinks trolley, a spinning globe, bannisters by the doors and a regularly ringing phone.
In the tradition of farce, Camelotti’s smart, stylish comedy starts in a haven of calm, where Palmer’s self-satisfied Bernard is the cat with the full-fat cream, utilising the timetables dextrously to juggle his time with his airline fiancées, first Olliver’s apple-pie American Gloria, next Debenedetti’s tempestuous Gabriella, and lastly, Cartwright’s slightly frightening, no-nonsense German, Gretchen.
Each entry is designated by their airline colour – red, blue, yellow – lighting up a door, immediately followed by a sound ‘sting’ from Barron’s compositional tool box, keeping the audience one step ahead every time those signals are repeated.
Into the farcical mix is stirred the interruptive presence of Lawton’s Robert, who has not seen Bernard for more than 18 years and is determined to make up for lost time, never leaving the apartment, always interjecting with a suggestion and then playing his own cards with Cartwright’s Gretchen.
As in The Importance Of Being Earnest, Lawton (they/them) favours a physical form of comedy acting, constantly on the move and no less frenetic in their line delivery.
Lizzie Lawton’s jaunty, livewire Robert in Boeing Boeing. Picture: Jamie McKeller
It plays well against Palmer’s more laidback performance style, his calm-in-the-face-of-a-storm Bernard contrasting with the almost volcanic flow of suggestions and reactions from busy Lizzie’s Robert.
Shaw does not update the Sixties setting, but she has cut the backside-patting tropes, the women all the stronger for being empowered to be the decision makers, including Thomson’s ever-exasperated Berthe demanding an ever-rising pay increase.
Camelotti’s men are exposed as chancers, flippant and indeed weak, despite thinking they hold the upper hand, when in fact the women call the shots.
Consequently, Camelotti’s French frolic retains its Parisian air, Sixties chic and outrageously clichéd national stereotypes – from the jet-set age when air hostesses were the height of glamour – but the humour is liberated from its period chains and now feels more truthful.
Shaw’s cast delights in the ever-quickening chaos of comedy that is frothy and frivolous, but deftly delivered, choreographed slickly with the doors in constant use. The performances are fun, the men, flighty; the air hostesses, saucy but sassy; Berthe, the Shakespeare’s Fool of the piece.
Rowntree Players present Boeing Boeing, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight until Saturday, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Christina Bianco in the role of June Carter Cash in The Ballad Of Johnny & June. Picture: Michael Wharley
AFTER sold-out seasons at La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego, California, and the Citadel Theatre, Edmonton, Canada, Christopher Ryan Grant is playing Johnny Cash on tour in The Ballad Of Johnny & June. Next stop, Grand Opera House, York, from June 30 to June.
Joining him as June Carter Cash will be Drama Desk Award nominee Christina Bianco, the American actress, singer and impersonator last seen in York playing the multi-voiced LV in Jim Cartwright’s tragic-comedy The Rise Of Little Voice at York Theatre Royal in July 2022.
Christina had hankered after the role of the reclusive LV for a decade and what a performance she delivered, mastering an Oldham accent, suitably quiet and diffident yet full of stage presence as she brought the house down with her myriad voices.
“I had the time of my life there because York was one of those places where, when I opened a book, I thought it looked so beautiful, so magical,” she recalls. “Then when Ian [York-born actor and fellow cast member Ian Kelsey] took me around all the sights, it was hard to take it all in, so this time I have a list of things I’d like to see and others I want to go back to.”
Christina Bianco on her guided tour of York with Ian Kelsey, her fellow actor in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice at York Theatre Royal, in July 2022
Christina has been living in the UK for “coming up five years now”. “In fact, it was just before ‘Little Voice’ that I made the move with my husband Bill and our dog Jeff Vader, who’s an adorable Schnauzer/Poodle mix,” she says.
“He’s almost 17 years old, so I guess I started the ‘oodle’ mix trend, though I didn’t know I was trendy at the time! I’m a life-long New Yorker but Jeff Vader’s life has been improved by living in the UK.”
Now Christina is enjoying starring in the new musical co-created and shaped by the recollections of John Carter Cash, Johnny and June’s son, whose role in the show will be played by Ryan O’Donnell, who narrates the story from the son’s perspective.
In that story, love is a burning thing, and no-one burned brighter than Johnny and June. He was a small-town musician and storyteller with a volcanic voice that stirred the soul. She was a multi-talented performer and a music pioneer. The pair married in 1968 and remained together until June’s death in 2003.
“I feel a great responsibility to present June as accurately as possible, without doing an impression,” says Christina
“I’d heard of the show when it was at La Jolla Playhouse, where I had a couple of friends in the cast,” says Christina. “I’m a big fan of Johnny and June Carter Cash, with my dad being a DJ, so I had my eye and ear on it when it was being built, but then I did sort of forget about it.
“But then I remember sitting in my dressing room when playing the Narrator in Joseph And The Amazing Dreamcoat – an absolute dream come true, doing my eight shows a week, when the Narrator does more than usual, playing other roles, working my booty off – and I was thinking it would be great to do more of an acting role next.”
Whereupon she received Des McAnuff and Robert Cary’s script for The Ballad Of Johnny & June from the show’s producers, Trafalgar Theatre Productions. “It was so true to Johnny and June’s story, and the fact the piece has the blessing and input of John Carter Cash makes it a show like none other,” says Christina. “The film [James Mangold’s 20025 biopic Walk The Line] is only about 60 per cent accurate, whereas it’s so special that this show comes from the family.”
No doubt that is music to the ears of John Carter Cash, who has said: “It has meant a great deal to me to be involved in bringing this new musical to the stage and see my parents Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash’s story told with such care, heart and honesty.”
Christina Bianco with Christopher Ryan Grant, her fellow American co-star in The Ballad Of Johnny & June. “We got on like a house on fire immediately, bringing out the New Yorker in me. We just seemed to fit together perfectly,” she says. Picture: Michael Wharley
In turn, Christina is delighted to be working with two-time Tony Award-winning director Des McAnuff, whose credits include Jersey Boys, The Who’s Tommy and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical.
“Des and musical director and arranger Ron Melrose, who worked with Des on Jersey Boys, are names I have respected and revered all my working life, and nothing can prepare you for the first meeting,” she says.
“You know the music well, but there was a pressure to get it right, every word, every line, and it went so well that I was sure I wasn’t going to get the part! But it turned out I got the job very early on, and it did feel like a marriage made in heaven.
Christopher Ryan Grant’s Johnny Cash and Christina Bianco’s June Carter Cash in a scene from The Ballad Of Johnny & June. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography
“I then met Christopher Ryan Grant – who my friends in America said had been so marvellous as Johnny – at the photo-call last November and we got on like a house on fire immediately, bringing out the New Yorker in me. We just seemed to fit together perfectly.”
As for playing June, Christina says: “Without giving too much away, the story focuses a lot on June, her story. Like Johnny, she had her problems with addiction [prescription pills in later life], though people didn’t know that, but it’s in John Carter Cash’s book. I feel a great responsibility to present her as accurately as possible, without doing an impression.”
Summing up a show that is as much a play with music as a musical, Christina says: “Like any good musical, it will have you singing along, it will make you laugh, make you cry and hopefully leave you thinking there’s hope in the story of love and redemption – and who doesn’t need that?”
The Ballad Of Johnny & June – The Johnny Cash Musical, Grand Opera House, York, July 28 to August 1, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The tour poster for The Ballad Of Johnny & June, The Johnny Cash Musical
NEWSFLASH
ON July 29 at 1pm, the Grand Opera House has organised a pop-up performance by The Ballad Of Johnny & June principal cast members Christina Bianco (June Carter Cash), Christopher Ryan Grant (Johnny Cash) and Ryan O’Donnell (John Carter Cash) at Forty Five Vinyl Cafe, Micklegate, York’s Nashville-inspired home of concerts by American country acts, record store and coffee house.
“They will play a short selection of songs from the show, which we are really excited about,” says marketing and communications manager Lucy Perrins.
Dominic Goodwin’s struggling variety act Freddie “Mine’s A Half” Francis in Twice Nightly
DOMINIC Goodwin is a man of many arts parts.
Actor, playing everything from Hercule Poirot to Siegfried Sassoon, Wind In The Willows’ Toad to Frankenstein’s Monster. Director. Georgian Little Theatre pantomime dame. Former theatre manager. The Dr Watson half of a Holmes & Watson double act from 2009 to 2024. Tales at Tiffin storyteller. Banks Music Publications director. Mimic. Bon vivant. You are always onto a good thing with Goodwin.
A figure of mirth as much as girth, forever larger than life, with a waistcoat to match, he has added another string to his bow in his debut solo comedy show cum fading memory play, Twice Nightly: a nostalgic trip through the golden days of variety and its dying embers, written and performed by the Scottish-born Ryedale polymath.
The year is 1956, Johnnie “Prince of Wails” Ray’s Just Walking In The Rain is reigning everywhere, Elvis and TV sets are on the rise, clouding the future for the likes of Goodwin’s Freddie “Mine’s A Half” Francis as he struggles with drink and bookings alike, unstable on his feet but ever willing and still able to raise a titter, mild, not bitter.
Tipsy and ever closer to tipping over the edge after 30 years as a second-spot act, we join Freddie on stage, glass of sustenance on a table to his side, and in his dressing room, with a hat stand and partition screen behind to facilitate multiple costume and character changes (in costumes by Pam Broadbent).
Freddie will be as much avuncular narrator as enervated performer, interweaving his own story with routines by the greats of variety in a series of quickfire transformations.
All are pulled off with uncanny mimicry, from Max Miller to Jimmy James and “Monsewer” Eddie Gray (not the Revie-era Leeds United footballer); from the Act Two-opening Norman “Over The Garden Wall” Evans’s gossiping housewife to Robb Wilton’s woeful wartime worries, many performed with the backing of the late performers’families.
Freddie’s own material never matches those heights, but we warm to his recollections of a life spent touring the halls: “the ups, the downs, the riotous, the fantastic and the downright silly,” as Goodwin put it in his CharlesHutchPress interview.
Dominic Goodwin in the guise of Norman Evans’s Over The Garden Wall caricature of a gossiping housewife in Twice Nightly
We learn of Freddie’s days entertaining the troops during the Second World War, surviving the jibes of the intimidating Glasgow Empire crowd, and what really happened when a speciality act lost her snake on stage.
We learn too of the personal price he must pay for “doing what he just had to do”: the trudge of all those nights away, the solace of empty bottles, to the cost of his marriage, providing the show’s pathos to counter all that patter and natter.
Directed by the experienced hand of York actor-director Thomas Frere, Goodwin’s performance is the apotheosis of his many talents, even stretching to baritone singing for The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo, Happy Days Are Here Again, Goodnight Sweetheart and an out-of-season White Christmas.
In the vein of such solitary rueful ruminations as Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, Heathcote Williams’s Hancock’s Last Half Four and Philip Meeks’s desolate veteran pantomime dame in Twinkle, Little Star, life’s fading fires and thwarted pathways in Twice Nightly make for a brightly burning star vehicle for Dominic Goodwin.
Dominic Goodwin’s 22-date tour of Twice Nightly began on May 21, climaxing with this week’s five-night run at The Lantern Theatre, Brighton (July 21 to 25).
Twice Nightly will play Terrington Village Hall, near York, on March 12 2027, 8pm. Box office: ticketsource.com; email terringtonvillagehallinfo@gmail.com or phone Dave on 01653 648394.
Did you know?
THE wall for Dominic Goodwin’s Norman “Over The Garden Wall” Evans routine was built in Dominic’s home village of Moniaive in south west Scotland by Angus McIver, whose wife, Carole, searched for the correct colour paints to design it.
Did you know too?
DOMINIC Goodwin uses Frankie Vaughan’s make-up box, donated to Henley on Thames Kensington Theatre, when applying the colours Number 5 and 9 in a dressing-room scene.
Hannah Davies & Jack Woods in tandem. Picture: Matt Jopling
THE Ballad Of Blea Wyke began as a five-minute commission for the Green Shoots project at York Theatre Royal in May 2022 that demanded further exploration.
Then came the Scarborough Fair Fringe premiere of the 60-minute version in June 2025.
Now, North Yorkshire slam champion poet, theatre-maker, storyteller and writer Hannah Davies and guitarist Jack Woods’ re-imagining of the selkie myth for a not-too-distant dystopian future on the North Yorkshire coast is shedding its skin anew, playing Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, and Helmsley Arts Centre, with the backing of York arts organisations Say Owt and Next Door But One.
Hannah, by the way, has been on the move too, leaving Scarborough for Saltburn-by-the-Sea, with a return to York upcoming, but the draw of the sea prevails in The Ballad Of Blea Wyke, where her fascination with the myth of seals transforming into humans by shedding their skin plays out so imaginatively.
The crashing of waves wrapped within an eerie soundscape set the haunting atmosphere in the bar seating at Helmsley Arts Centre, with a door open to the garden beyond, enhancing the sense of direct connection with the natural world (as opposed to using the HAC theatre).
Leather’O musician Woods sits to the side, complementing Davies’s lyrical word-spinning throughout with simpatico acoustic guitar, loop effects and sporadic harmonies.
Davies, in sea green dress, has a magnetic, mellifluous voice and highly original turn of phrase, allied with a grace of presence, that makes her storytelling so compelling in its combination of contemporary insight, timeless mystery and folkloric mythology in her subject matter.
In her too-close-for-comfort near-future, especially prescient in this hottest of summers, there is nothing left to fish, ice cream and buses have long gone, cities are locked down, motorways have closed, Bluetooth and sugar are taxed, the military issues permits and fines, and most people have never seen the sea.
The waters are rising, the shallows are toxic, the East Coast cliffs are crumbling, and the last grey seal is bobbing in the water “like a blubbery shuttlecock”.
In her private school, scholarship student Cerys feels out of place on her 18th birthday, and not only because of her Broad Acres accent that has the other girls calling out “Hey, Yorkshire” as she stands scowling in the canteen queue at the end of term before they “fly off to their air-cons in private jets”.
Cerys, the loner, will instead venture to the place where no-one is allowed to tread: Blea Wyke, the headland located south of Ravenscar, “the Town That Never Was” (on account of Victorian plans to convert the hamlet into a resort to rival Scarborough being abandoned after only 12 houses were built).
Born in a storm and fearless, Cerys is carrying her social worker’s case folder, containing everything about her life, her back story. Looking on from Clifftop Farm, as she wades into the sea, is a tall, wiry, weather-beaten stranger who has patched up a hole in his jacket with Gaffer Tape.
His farm is now a shell, ruined through fire and flood, landslides are commonplace, and yet still he remains, counter to the government scheme to repatriate farming families in towns.
What keeps him there? What draws Cerys to the sea? Davies’s story will hook you in, as all the while the last grey seal looks on and the love story of the farmer and selkie girl is revealed.
Davies’s imagery keeps on delighting, whether describing the selkie’s shod skin as an “oily rind” or “discarded peel” or depicting “girls with fossils for toes” and “eyes like Whitby Jet”. Humour peppers the salty sea tale too, typified by a badge that proclaims “Geology Rocks”.
Nostalgia for lost times, erosion of coast and rural tradition alike, the curse of climate change and lost nature, the need for mystery and magical realism to survive, for love and ultimately hope to prevail, are interwoven into Davies’s mystical yet earthy storytelling drama, replete with poetry and siren song, directed so harmoniously by Em Whitfield Brooks, whose PitchWitches vocal quintet had opened the Helmsley show.
Above all, The Ballad Of Blea Wyke reinforces the joy to be found in sharing stories. As Hannah told CharlesHutchPress: “Stories are embedded into us at the very core. We are all made up of our stories and by telling and sharing them we get to see and understand ourselves in others action, words and deed. Humans need connection and shared experience to thrive and I think stories do that for us all. In such a divided world we need that more than ever.”
How true. If you missed this month’s York and Helmsley performances, put this date in your diary: October 8, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Stephen Webb’s Dr Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, doing the Time Warp again at the Grand Opera House, York
TOM Jones on the coast, Knavesmire’s music showcase weekend, a not-so-sweet Transylvanian transvestite and a French farce promise variety aplenty in Charles Hutchinson’s week ahead.
Musical of the week: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, tonight and tomorrow, 8pm; Friday & Saturday, 5pm and 8.30pm
STEPHEN Webb leads the cast as Dr Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show’s latest return to the Grand Opera House, joined by comedian Jackie Clune as the Narrator. Directed by Christopher Luscombe, Richard O’Brien’s outré musical tells the story of squeaky-clean American college sweethearts Brad and his fiancée Janet’s very frank encounters at the freaky doctor’s Transylvanian castle after their car breaks down.
Cue an adventure full of fun, frolics, frocks and frivolity, bursting with timeless songs and outrageous outfits as O’Brien combines science-fiction, horror, comedy and music while encouraging audience participation. Those audiences are sure to dress up in the most outrageous fancy dress. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Lou Bass’s artworks for Bring Me Sunshine at Helmsley Arts Centre
Exhibition of the week: Bring Me Sunshine, Paintings by Lou Bass and Adam King, Helmsley Arts Centre, until September 4
SCARBOROUGH artists Lou Bass and Adam King have teamed up for a joint exhibition, Bring Me Sunshine. A regular North Yorkshire Open Studios participant at Beeforth’s Hive, Lou’s vibrant paintings are brought to life with help from playful and poignant characters, such as Donkey, Crow, Angry Man, Bandit Cat, Dog and Fox, as she explores emotions and situations through simple narratives.
Painter and printmaker Adam has been painting for more than 35 years, holding exhibitions and doing residencies throughout Yorkshire. Educated at Leeds Met, York St John and Huddersfield, he led the Foundation Art and Fine Art degree courses when lecturing at Harrogate College before painting full time. His work is marked by a fresh approach to image making, combining simplicity with sophistication and a sureness of composition.
Andrew O’Neill: Looking to Escape at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, on Friday. Picture: Andrew O’Neill
Fringe shows of the week: Halfway To Edinburgh at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, presents Dylan Howells in Forget About Me (Work In Progress), tonight, 7.30pm; Joe Sellman-Leava in Copycat (Work In Progress), tomorrow, 7.30pm; Andrew O’Neill: Escape, Friday, 8pm
IN a remote, northeast village, something lurks in the bathroom: something Dylan struggles to remember, which even his dad’s deadly DIY skills can’t fix, as designer-performer Dylan Howells weaves psychological illusions and fragmented memories into a magical, chilling tale of a home that won’t stay still.
Part magic show, part ghost story, tonight’s show Forget About Me isn’t your typical conjuring act: mind-bending mentalism and spine-tingling effects blur the line between reality and fiction in a twisted tale designed to get under your skin.
DOES AI spell the end of humanity, or the dawn of a new utopia, ponders Fringe First winner Joe Sellman-Leava tomorrow. He might be a technophobe, but he is determined to find out by using innovative design and a whirlwind of uncanny impressions to tell the story of a teacher, a student and a copycat dictator to examine the links between art, fascism and rapid technological change.
HOW do we get out of this mess, asks cult comedian Andrew O’Neill on Friday in his surreal, political show, Escape, about the ways in which we disagree with each other, while suggesting some ways we can find our way out. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Jorja Cartwright’s German flight attendant Gretchen in rehearsal for Rowntree Players’ Boeing Boeing
Farce of the week: Rowntree Players in Boeing Boeing, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm
MARC Camoletti’s high-flying 1960s’ French farce Boeing Boeing is cleared for take-off in Hannah Shaw’s English-language production for Rowntree Players. Meet self-styled Parisian lothario Bernard, who has Italian, German and American fiancées, each one a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.”
He keeps “one up, one down, and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and to Bernard’s apartment, at the same time. Shaw’s cast features Max Palmer as Bernard, Lizzie Lawton as Robert, Rebecca Thomson as Berthe, Jorja Cartwright as Gretchen, Bethan Olliver as Gloria and Val Debenedetti as Gabriella. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Welsh pop legend Tom Jones: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday
Coastal concerts of the week: Scarborough Open Air Theatre, An Evening with James Taylor and His All-Star Band, Friday; Tom Jones, with Stone Foundation, Saturday; gates open at 6pm
MASSACHUSETTS singer, songwriter and guitarist, Laurel Canyon folk luminary, six-time Grammy winner and Rock and Roll and Songwriters Halls of Fame inductee James Taylor, 78, draws on six decades of songs, from his self-titled 1968 debut to 2021’s 19th studio album, American Standard, on Friday night.
Tom Jones, or Sir Tom Jones since 2006, to be more formal, returns to Scarborough this weekend at 85 to perform such favourites as It’s Not Unusual, What’s New Pussycat?, Delilah, Green, Green Grass Of Home, A Boy From Nowhere, Kiss, Mama Told Me Not To Come and Sex Bomb. Joining Sir Tom will be the eight-piece soul collective Stone Foundation. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Holly Taymar: Performing Eva Cassidy’s songbook at Helmsley Arts Centre
Tribute show of the week: Holly Taymar Sings Eva Cassidy, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
YORK singer-songwriter Holly Taymar delivers a warm, authentic performance that blends Eva Cassidy’s folk, jazz and blues material in renditions of Fields Of Gold, Songbird, Over The Rainbow and Autumn Leaves.
In a show of appreciation for Eva’s life and career, rather than imitation, Taymar combines intimate guitar accompaniment, mesmerising stage presence, melody and emotional truth. Singer-songwriter David Swann supports. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Craig David: TS5 DJ set after Friday evening’s race card at York Racecourse
Race day concerts of the week: York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, Craig David presents TS5, Friday, and Tom Grennan, Saturday
SOUTHAMPTON singer-songwriter and DJ Craig David presents his TS5 DJ set on Music Showcase Friday’s double bill of racing and old-skool anthems, from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, plus current House hits, when he combines his song and MC skills.
Tom Grennan: Saturday live set at York Racecourse
BEDFORD singer-songwriter Tom Grennan is Saturday’s post-racing performer, drawing on such hits as Little Bit Of Love, Let’s Go Home Together, Remind Me, Here and How Does It Feel, plus songs from his number one albums Evering Road, What Ifs & Maybes and Everywhere I Went Led Me To Where I Didn’t Want To Be and top-five debut Lighting Matches. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk; no booking fees; free parking on race day.
York tenor Ashley Stillburn: Making his York Proms debut on Sunday
Picnic concert of the week: York Proms, York Museum Gardens, Sunday 5.30pm
RUN by classical chart-topping York soprano Rebecca Newman and now in its ninth year, York Proms features music from the world of classical and opera, film soundtracks and show songs. Increasing the orchestra size this summer will enable the inclusion of iconic John Williams cinema compositions.
The soloists are York-born tenor and West End musical actor Ashley Stillburn in his York Proms debut and British/Irish soprano Jennifer Coleman, making her third appearance. Tickets update: Still available at yorkproms.com/collections/tickets-2026.
Bumpy landing ahead: Bethan Olliver’s Gloria, left, Val Debenedetti’s Gabriella and Jorja Cartwright’s Gretchen, the three flight attendants in Rowntree Players’ Boeing Boeing
LEEDS Conservatoire musical theatre masters graduate Hannah Shaw is directing her second production of 2026 for Rowntree Players.
After her LGBTQ+ exploration of gay playwright Oscar Wilde’s “trivial comedy for serious people” The Importance Of Being Earnest in March, she returns to the Joseph Rowntree Theatre to stage Marc Camoletti’s high-flying French farce Boeing Boeing, cleared for take-off on Thursday.
Presented in Beverley Cross and Francis Evans’s 1962 translation, Boeing Boeing is set in 1960 Paris, where self-styled lothario Bernard, a successful architect living abroad, reckons he can juggle his three flight attendant fiancées – American Gloria, German Gretchen and Italian Gabriella – with ease on account of their frequent “layovers”.
All it demands is a question of timing and a little help from his trusted French housekeeper, the long-suffering and sarcastic Berthe, who reluctantly plays “romantic air traffic controller” as Bernard keeps “one up, one down, and one pending”.
Jorja Cartwright’s’ Gretchen making her point to Lizzie Lawton’s Robert and Max Palmer’s Bernard in rehearsal for Rowntree Players’ production of Boeing Boeing
However, unexpected schedule changes suddenly bring all three to Paris, and to Bernard’s apartment, at the same time. Oops.
“I knew I wanted to do a farce, and Boeing Boeing was one of the first that came up, which I then read, along with our movement director, Jennifer Carney,” says Bradford-born Hannah, who now lives in South Cave, 40 minutes from York.
“It has pace, which farces have to have, it has lovely physical comedy element and it has clever wordplay.” It has doors too, plenty of them. “Seven!” says Hannah, looking up at the JoRo stage ahead of Monday’s rehearsal. “Or eight if you class the double doors as two.”
She is working with a cast that, predominantly, has undergone theatre training. “We’re very lucky that the majority of them will be playing the role they auditioned specifically for. Val [Debenedetti ], who’s playing Gabriella, has Italian heritage.
Lizzie Lawton’s Robert, Max Palmer’s Bernard and Val Debenedetti’s Gabriella rehearsing a scene from Boeing Boeing
“Jorja [Cartwright] has had sessions with family members, who live in various places, to get Gretchen’s German accent right; Rebecca [Thomson] has done a lot of her own research for Berthe, listening to French performers speaking in English.”
The cast’s performances will not be playing to the stereotypes and caricatures of 1960s’ farce, however. “It would be very easy to fall into that trap because the script leans into those stereotypes, like the moment where Robert [Bernard’s friend] pats Gloria on the backside, but we’ve cut that because it doesn’t need it. We’ve done our best for our women in the play to be empowered,” says Hannah.
“When Gretchen and Robert meet for the first time, rather than being harassed by him, we make the directorial choice that Jorja’s Gretchen is playing a game with him, teasing him, so they’re both toying with each other, and she’s playing hard to get.
“You will find that both our male characters [Bernard and Robert] show weaknesses, whereas our female characters do not.”
Director Hannah Shaw overseeing a rehearsal for Rowntree Players’ production of Boeing Boeing
Movement director Jennifer Carney’s contribution is vital to the comedic interplay. “Physically, the way they embody a character comes through in their characterisation,” says Hannah, who also draws on 1960s’ sitcoms as a style influence.
Composer Max Barron, who worked with Hannah on her end-of-year show Going Out at Leeds Conservatoire in 2025, has written an original score for Boeing Boeing, also inspired by Sixties’ sitcoms. “We’ve created a pre-show ‘credits’ sequence performed by the cast to establish the character motifs, where Max has worked on our ‘theme song’, choreographed by Jenny,” she says.
Hannah’s directorial style for Boeing Boeing will marry the visual, the aural and the characters. “For example, you will know which of the flight attendants is entering from the colour flashing on the door to represent their airline colours and then a sound ‘sting’, and then she will make herself known and the scene will continue,” she says.
Hannah’s Boeing Boeing production will not be a 1960s’ museum piece. “I think if you viewed it through that lens, it wouldn’t age very well, but it’s flex enough that if you have a vision not to be sexist, it won’t be sexist,” she says. “We don’t abandon the text, but it’s all about changing the subtext. That’s how you create the magic.”
Rowntree Players in Boeing Boeing, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Thursday to Saturday, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Jorja Cartwright’s Gretchen and Rebecca Thomson’s Berthe clash in Boeing Boeing
The poster for the 75th Anniversary Tour of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, playing Grand Opera House, York, next summer
THE world’s longest-running play, Agatha Christie’s thriller The Mousetrap, will return to the Grand Opera House, York, from June 21 to 26 2027 on its 75th Anniversary Tour.
Christie’s iconic play first played the Cumberland Street theatre on the Diamond Anniversary Tour when the mouse first escaped its London trap in 2013 and last visited York in March 2023 on its 70th anniversary travels.
Producer Brian Fenty has announced that Nicholas Bailey and Susan Penhaligon will star as Major Metcalf and Mrs Boyle respectively in Christie’s 1952 murder mystery, famed for its silent clues, shifting shadows and the best-kept secret in theatre history. Watch this space for news of further casting and the creative team.
Nicholas Bailey: Cast as Major Metcalf in 75th Anniversary Tour of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap
A shocking murder rattles London. Far from the chaos, a remote country guesthouse welcomes seven strangers seeking refuge, but when a police sergeant battles through a deadly snowstorm with a warning no-one expects, it becomes clear the threat is already within their walls.
Every whisper hides a clue, every story masks a lie, and as suspicion tightens its grip, one question chills the room: who among them is capable of murder?
Nicholas Bailey is best known for his portrayal of Dr Anthony Trueman in BBC One’s EastEnders since 2000, returning to the role on several occasions, most recently in 2025.
The 2023 cast for Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap on its last visit to the Grand Opera House, York
Bailey has enjoyed a varied career across stage, screen and radio. His theatre credits include Richard Eyre’s King Lear (National Theatre), Macbeth (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), Dreamgirls (West End), Jackie – The Musical (UK tour), Mother Courage And Her Children (UK tour), Life Is A Dream (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, Barbican Centre and BAM, New York) and Julius Caesar (Royal Exchange).
His television credits include Coronation Street, Casualty, Doctors, Death In Paradise, House Of Anubis and Holby City and he played Carl Lawrence in BBC Radio 4’s long-running rural drama The Archers from 2012.
Susan Penhaligon first came to prominence in the landmark television drama Bouquet Of Barbed Wire drama before becoming a household name as Helen Barker, younger sister to Dame Judi Dench’s linguist Laura Dalton in the ITV sitcom A Fine Romance from 1981 to 1984.
Susan Penhaligon: Cast as the volatile Mrs Boyle in the 75th Anniversary Tour of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap
Her television credits include Emmerdale, Doctors, Casualty, Bergerac, Doctor Who, Upstairs, Downstairs and the BBC’s adaptation of Dracula.
Penhaligon has appeared extensively on stage in the West End and across the UK, with credits including The Real Thing (Strand Theatre), Three Sisters (Albery Theatre), Of Mice and Men (Mermaid Theatre), Broken Glass (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and UK tours of Cabaret, The Importance Of Being Earnest, And Then There Were None and Fisherman’s Friends – The Musical. Her film work includes The Land That Time Forgot, Patrick, Count Dracula, Soldier of Orange and The Uncanny.
She last appeared on the York stage in April-May 2019 in Moira Buffini’s political drama Handbagged, playing The Queen (Elizabeth II) opposite Sarah Crowden’s Margaret Thatcher, at York Theatre Royal.
Susan Penhaligon as The Queen, with Sarah Crowden as Margaret Thatcher, in Handbagged at York Theatre Royal in 2019
For the chance to Step into Monkswell Manor and solve the great British murder mystery that has kept the world guessing for generations, tickets are on sale at atgtickets.com/york.
Did you know?
On March 19 2025, The Mousetrap celebrated its 30,000th performance in the West End and was presented with a Guinness World Records certificate for the world’s longest theatrical run.
Sharing its name with the play within the play in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Agatha Christie’s murder mystery opened in 1952 and continues to enthral audiences at London’s St Martin’s Theatre, now booking into its 75th year in 2027.
York artistCarolyn Coles enjoying painting in plein air at Sandsend
ARTISTS and fossil collectors Carolyn Coles and Mike Marshall share their love of the north east coastline in Beyond The Nab at St Mary’s Church, Sandsend, near Whitby, on July 24 to 27.
Held at this beautiful church located at the end of the Sandsend Valley at the bottom of Lythe Bank, the special four-day event takes place in one of Yorkshire’s prettiest valleys, noted for its picturesque, high-end stone cottages, rich local history, tied to the Mulgrave Estate, and ancient woodlands leading to the ruins of Mulgrave Castle.
On show and sale will be contemporary paintings with a traditional twist, sculptured fossils, evocative photography, jet jewellery, cards and prints, with both York seascape artist Carolyn Coles and East Coast fossil legend Mike Marshall on hand to guide you through the works.
South Bank Studios artist Carolyn will be demonstrating painting techniques while Mike, who runs Yorkshire Coast Fossils, will be glad to identify any fossil you bring along. A pop-up cafe will serve light refreshment in aid of the church, championed by volunteer Helen Lloyd.
Mike Marshall looking out to sea
Carolyn explains the idea behind the event as a “brilliant medley of art and heritage, combining contemporary art and sculpture with traditional techniques”. “We talked about coming together professionally as our work is a perfect compliment and we have such a shared love of the area,” she says.
Carolyn has had a busy 2026, joining wildlife sculptor Karen Fawcett and PICA Studios ceramicist Emily Stubbs in The Sky’s The Limit exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, York, from January 24 to mid-March and taking part in York Open Studios on April 18, 19, 25 and 26.
“My dream is to open a studio and gallery and live by the coast, so this event is a huge pleasure to hold,” she says.
Carolyn Coles and Mike Marshall, Beyond The Nab, St Mary’s Church, Sandsend, near Whitby, July 24 to 27, 10am to 5pm. A preview event will be held on June 24, 5pm to 7pm. “You will be very welcome to come along and join us in celebrating this very special part of Yorkshire,” says Carolyn.
Carolyn Coles’s studio at South Bank Studios, York
Carolyn Coles: back story
AFTER studying art and illustration in the early 1990s, Carolyn has exhibited artwork in York, Leeds, London, Derby, Manchester and Hereford in solo and shared shows, selling work internationally too.
She has worked in the creative industry for more than 30 years within adult education, graphic design and illustration and now paints full time from her studio with a group of 19 artists at South Bank Studios, Southlands Methodist Church, Bishopthorpe Road, York.
Sandsend, by Carolyn Coles, from her Beyond The Nab exhibition
Described by Pyramid Gallery curator Terry Brett as “a painter of gorgeous seas and skies”, Carolyn has chosen seascapes as her primary subject matter and likes to capture atmosphere, usually with a leaning towards dark and moody, and generally on a larger scale.
Carolyn’s love of the seaside and nature in general is reflected in her painting. Utilising a range of styles, her latest work is mostly impressionistic: “This allows the viewer to interpret their own story and pull their own memories back into play,” she says.
“I’m interested in recreating a feeling, an essence. I love being by the sea or in the hills. It’s a tonic. The noise, everything, just soaks into me. I like to be playful, bold and subtle in my work, which is mostly acrylic on stretched canvasses.”
Mike Marshall’s photograph of the sea at Sandsend with Whitby in the distance. Picture: Yorkshire Coast Fossils
Mike Marshall: back story
MIKE works with locally sourced fossils and Whitby Jet, sculpting and polishing the fossils into natural pieces of art. Fossils are used in the process of producing hand-crafted pieces of Whitby Jet jewellery too. Photography has become part of Mike’s life too, capturing the landscape and wildlife that he encounters on the Yorkshire coast.
Yorkshire Coast Fossils: back story
SITUATED close to the historic port of Whitby on the North Yorkshire Heritage Coast, Yorkshire Coast Fossils has been supplying customers with high-quality fossil specimens, Whitby Jet jewellery and photography since 1989.
The majority of the fossils offered are from the upper lias shales of the Lower Jurassic. Specimens range from the relatively abundant ammonites Dactylioceras and Hildoceras to rarer collectors pieces, such as remains of marine reptiles, including Ichthyosaur, Plesiosaur and marine crocodile, as well as occasional fish and crinoid specimen.
Yorkshire Coast Fossils also offers a range of polished fossil gifts, such as sectioned and polished ammonites, as well as other unusual cut and polished fossil material.
Also available is a range of handmade Whitby Jet jewellery, some being inlaid with local ammonites, Baltic Amber, Mammoth ivory and other semi-precious stones. Bespoke pieces of jewellery can be commissioned and made according to a customer’s requirements.
Storms End, by Carolyn Coles, from her Beyond The Nab exhibition
Stephen Webb’s Dr Frank N Furter: Third time at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: David Freeman
MARCH 2022, October 2024, now July 2026. The time to do the Time Warp again at the Grand Opera House comes around ever more quickly. Once it was every three years, then 31 months, now 21.
No doubt Rocky Horror aficionados will be delighted by that acceleration, making their pilgrimage to Richard O’Brien’s schlock-horror rock’n’roll musical comedy sextravaganza time and time again to enact the time-honoured rituals established since 1973 in gothic fancy dress.
Likewise, new converts as wide-eyed and innocent as O’Brien’s American sweetheart college nerds Brad Majors and Janet Weiss sign up for their rites-of-passage initiation to the cult of Rocky Horror.
This time, Stephen Webb is doing a Time Warp of his own, back in Dr Frank N Furter’s fishnets on tour, having played the role at the Grand Opera House in 2019 and 2022. The swagger, the grace and the fruity decadence are now accompanied by a doomed sense of impending tragedy, especially in his rendition of Don’t Dream It, Be It.
Christopher Luscombe is still on directorial duty too, cracking the whip – like Frank in Act Two – to sustain its fast and increasingly furious pace, to push the tongue ever further into the cheek, to make it a visual and sensual feast in tandem with set designer Hugh Durrant.
Nothing can rectify the dip in quality of songs in Act Two or the mad rush to the finishing line, more in keeping with a Jacobean tragedy’s pile-up of dead bodies, but the 2026 production has increased momentum. On opening night, too, it overcame a sudden stoppage, when Bethany Amber Perrins had to take over from Daisy Steere as Columbia after a 20-minute hiatus. As ever, the show must go on, and indeed it did, quickly re-establishing its rhythm.
For any newcomers, the storyline opens with newly engaged, squeaky-clean American college couple Brad (James Bisp) and prim prom queen Janet (2022 returnee Haley Flaherty) losing their way in a storm and then their cherry under the seductive allure of Webb’s castle-dwelling transvestite scientist, Dr Frank N Furter, all framed in a bravura send-up of horror and sci-fi B-movies, heightened by O’Brien’s raucous pastiche of Fifties’ rock’n’roll music.
His show is driven by song, set-piece, outre characters and carnal pleasure, not quite disguising the flimsy plot with its shameless riff on Frankenstein in Frank N Furter’s desire to forge a new life in the form of glitter-dusted beefcake Rocky (Morgan Jackson).
All the while, the audience plays its part, not only in its dress code of Fifties’ waitress outfits, scientist cloaks, Frank N Furter fishnets and tattoos, gold shorts and blond wigs, but in participating in the ritual interjections, focused heavily on the salacious and salty shout-outs (after rice, confetti, lighter flames and water pistols were given the red card).
Most are directed at the unflappable Narrator, on this occasion the actor, stand-up comedian and author Jackie Clunes, who consistently outwitted the audience, especially in her anatomical proclamations and acerbic topical asides. She shows originality in her retorts and quips, contrasting with the often crude “scripted abuse” from the stalls, although one shout of “Prince Andrew” made you crave more such impromptu cries.
For the rituals to work at their best, they need more participants than at Monday’s more-reserved- than-usual show, where the insults sometimes could not be discerned if watching from the Dress Circle. Clunes, nevertheless, worked the crowd skilfully, ever responsive but one thought ahead too.
What strikes you more and more after 50 years is how the sartorially and sexually audacious Rocky Horror fits with our gender-fluid times far more than in its earliest form, with its themes of transvestism, freedom of self-determination and homosexuality chiming ever louder alongside the old chestnuts of infidelity, the price of ambition and loss of innocence.
The Rocky Horror Show, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, Wednesday and Thursday, 8pm;Friday & Saturday, 5pm and 8.30pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Ashley Stillburn: York-born tenor, making York Proms debut on Sunday
THE York Proms picnic concert returns to York Museum Gardens on Sunday for its ninth celebration of pomp and circumstance.
Gracing the open-air stage will be York-born tenor and West End star Ashley Stillburn in his York Proms debut, and British-Irish soprano Jennifer Coleman, completing her hat trick of appearances.
Event co-founder Rebecca Newman says: “We have tried to book Ashley for a couple of years now, and even came very close in the past but diary clashes prevented it. I worked with Ashley in 2010 on a Bev Jones show at the Grand Opera House, when he was only about 17!
“I was so pleased to see how he went on to pursue a career in the arts and I know he will absolutely knock the socks off the audience on the night. Having the connection to York just makes it even more special.”
Ashley says: “It’ll be such a special event for me to return to York to perform and especially as it’s such a well- loved event in one of the most iconic spots in York.”
After leaving his beloved home city of York in 2011, Ashley graduated from Guildford School of Acting (GSA) in 2014 with a 1st Class BA (Hons) degree in Musical Theatre and the award for Best Performance in a Musical.
Ashley left vocational training early at GSA to join the West End cast of Les Miserables, in which he played the role of Feuilly and understudied and played Enjolras. He went on to appear as Raoul in The Phantom Of The Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre, London); Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd (Opera de Toulon); Corrado Montelli in Death Takes A Holiday, Armand Dufau in The Braille Legacy and Walter Hartright in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s first revival of The Woman In White, all at the Charing Cross Theatre in the West End.
He appeared as Charles Clarke in the UK and international tour of Titanic – The Musical and returned to the West End production of The Phantom Of The Opera post-COVID, where he covered and played both The Phantom and Raoul at certain performances. He later returned to play The Phantom in April 2023 for a brief period to cover for an unforeseen absence within the cast.
Ashley Stillburn in Les Miserables. Picture provided by York Proms
Ashley has worked extensively in the development of new and developing work and has participated in workshops that include She Loves You, All About My Mother, Coastliners, Dance With A Stranger, Murder At The Gates, Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, Strangers, Annie Get Your Gunand Production 54.
Ashley’s concert work includes West End Men: Unplugged Live from Park Theatre; West End Men in Concert (Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, Thailand); Enjolras in Les Miserables in Concert (Beau Sejour, Guernsey); Raoul in The Phantom Of The Opera in Concert (MFCC Arena, Malta) and Carols by Candlelight at St Martin in the Fields, London. He also appeared as one of the ‘3 Phantoms’ singing Music Of The Night at West End Live in Trafalgar Square in 2022.
Throughout the course of his career, he has appeared multiple times on Elaine Paige On Sunday on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio Kent and BBC Radio York.
Ashley has had the good fortune to work with leading creatives and practitioners in the theatre, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Claude Michel- Schoenberg, Hal Prince, Dame Gillian Lynne, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Dame Maureen Lipman, Maria Friedman, Brian Conley, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Maury Yeston and David Zippel.
He has worked as a guest entertainer on some of the world’s most luxury ocean liners and is a member of a cappella group Shantify, enjoying two runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a brief stint at the Ambassador’s Theatre in the West End.
Ashley was delighted to appear in To Maury, With Love at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in celebration of Maury Yeston’s 80th birthday in February this year.
Since 2023, Ashley has lived in Buxton in the Peak District with his wife and two young children, building a career in education. He has taught at prestigious northern institutions, including serving as director of music at St Bede’s College, Manchester, and head of performing arts at Beech Hall School, Macclesfield, and he is a guest lecturer at The Hammond School in Chester and KTCo in Castle Donington.
He is also an accredited partner for Derbyshire Music Partnership and has become part of its body of staff, aiming to build opportunities and access to singing and music across Derbyshire.
Soprano Jennifer Coleman: Making her third York Proms appearance on Sunday
GUEST soprano Jennifer Coleman will be returning to Museum Gardens after earlier York Proms appearances in 2019 and 2023, when she took on the more classic soprano songs and the finale in the Night At The Musicals-themed show.
Royal College of Music graduate Jennifer’s performance career has spanned opera, concerts, television and recitals.
As of August 2025, she is a full-time chorus member of the Royal Ballet and Opera (formerly the Royal Opera House) in Covent Garden, London. In 2026, she is delighted to be covering the role of First Bridesmaid in the Royal Opera’s production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and she also covered the soprano solo in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms for the Royal Ballet.
In the 2025/26 season with RBO, Jennifer will perform in Tosca, Les Vêpres Siciliennes, Die Zauberflöte, Ariodante, Turandot, Traviata, Boris Godunov, Peter Grimes, Samson & Delilah, Le Nozze di Figaro, I Puritani and La Boheme.
From 2018 to 2025, Jennifer was a full-time soprano chorister with Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (OBV) (International Opera Awards: Best Opera Company 2019) in Antwerp and Ghent, Belgium. Productions ranged from Mozart to Philip Glass to Wagner.
For OBV, she performed as a soloist in Verdi’s Libera Me from Requiem in Choeurs in 2022, Brahms’s Deutsches Requiem, Schreker’s Der Schmied von Gent, La Cugina in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, cover Giovanna in Verdi’s Ernani and a spoken solo in Halevy’s La Juive.
Jennifer completed her undergraduate training at the Royal Northern College, Manchester, then graduated with distinction from the Masters of Music and Diploma course at the Royal College of Music, London, where she was a Theo Max van der Beugel scholar.
In 2016, she won a Musical Odessey Prize; in 2017, she won the Hatfield Festival Voice Competition and was a Britten-Pears Young Artist.
Her operatic roles have included First Bridesmaid in Le Nozze di Figaro (cover, Royal Opera); Theodora in Handel’s Theodora (RCM Oratorio Society); Pamina, Mozart’s The Magic Flute (St John’s Opera); Taumann/Dew Fairy, Hänsel und Gretel (RCMIOS); Mabel , The Pirates Of Penzance; Frasquita, Carmen; 2nd Niece, Peter Grimes (Dartington International); Priestess, Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride (Euphonia Opera); Noga, Tom Smail’s Electric Blue (Tête-à-Tête) and Vixen, Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen (RCM Scenes).
Concert performances include soprano solos in Bach’s St John Passion, Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem, Handel’s The Messiah and Dixit Dominus, Purcell’s Come Ye Sons Of Art, Fili in Handel’s bilingual Acis And Galatea (Snape Maltings) and Elsie Suddaby in Vaughan-Williams’ Serenade To Music.
Among further highlights, she reached the semi-finals of Belgium’s Got Talent with her opera duo, toured the world for six months as the resident opera singer aboard The Silver Muse and undertook an 11-concert tour of the South of France with the Young Virtuosi Orchestra in 2016.
She performed recitals in Spain as part of the Encuentro de Música y Academia de Santander in 2017, sang on ITV’s The Only Way Is Essex and gave recitals with clarinettist Peter Dec at the Royal Albert Hall, Kings Place, Victoria & Albert Museum and Royal Academy of Art, London.
Naming her dream roles, Jennifer picks: Musetta (La Boheme); Leila (Bizet’s Pearl Fishers); Cleopatra (Handel’s Giulio Cesare); Cunegonda (Bernstein’s Candide); Eliza Doolittle (Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady) and, most especially, Mary Poppins (the Sherman Brothers’ Mary Poppins).
When she is not singing, Jennifer generally can be found at Parkrun, drinking tea out of china teacups or tucking into delicious Belgian chocolates.
Rebecca Newman: York Proms co-founder and organiser
Sunday’s York Proms programme
RUN as ever by classical chart-topping York soprano Rebecca Newman, Sunday’s York Proms will feature music from the world of classical and opera, film soundtracks and show songs.
“This year we have invested a bit more into the stage show, with a larger instrumental line-up in the orchestra to support these great singers, and also to allow us to take on some of the bigger film pieces, like works by Star Wars composer John Williams,” says Rebecca.
“We’ve always been restricted by the size of the venue and stage, but this year we’ve pushed the boat out a bit more and we hope our audience enjoys it.”
Tickets are on sale in advance at www.yorkproms.com or at the Visit York Information Centre. Attendees are allowed to bring food and drink, including alcohol, plus picnic chairs (which helps to keep down costs). Food and drink be will be available on site on the day, with a bar, hot and cold food and drinks, treats, and more. No tables or trolleys are permitted on the main lawn.
Please note, NO tickets will be sold on the gate. Previous years’shows have sold out, so prompt booking is advised.
Fast Track tickets have sold out; gates for these ticket holders will open at the Marygate entry at 5pm. Gates for all other ticket holders will open on Museum Street at 5.30pm, after the Fast Track queue has entered.
Wheelchair spaces can be booked after booking a disabled plus carer ticket via the website.
Entertainment will start from around 6pm and the evening show will begin at 7.30pm, climaxing with a low-noise fireworks finale from 10pm to 10.20pm.
