Category: Music

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REVIEW: NE Theatre York in The Sound Of Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York ***

Rebecca Jackson’s Maria in NE Theatre York’s The Sound Of Music

RODGERS & Hammerstein’s The Sound Of Music is handed from York company to York company.

After Nik Briggs’s production on a grand scale for York Stage Musicals at the Grand Opera House in 2019 and Robert Readman’s Pick Me Up Theatre staging for Theatre@41’s Christmas show in 2022, now comes Steve Tearle’s show for NE Theatre York at a third location, the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

Officially press tickets had been given over to charity by director-producer Tearle, but your reviewer was kindly accommodated at Wednesday’s performance.

Tearle played milkman Tevye for the third time when NE Theatre staged Fiddler On The Roof in April 2014,   delivering the York company’s most moving production under his usually flamboyant leadership.

The Sound Of Music is of a similar ilk: the anti-Semitism of Fiddler now matched by the rise of Nazism, and once more you can see how moved he is by his cast’s performance and the audience’s reaction to a show played out against a 2025 backdrop of political turmoil and the rise of the Right.

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musical has further significance for Tearle, who made his stage debut aged 11 as Kurt, one of the Von Trapp children, in a professional tour.

“I’ve always loved this show, and remembering my experience of it always fills me with joy,” he says. “Fast forward to 2025 and I get to produce this famous musical and play my personal favourite part in the show, Max Detweiler.”

Detweiler has been called a “political cockroach”, but just as Andrew Isherwood peppered his Pick Me Up performance with a comic edge more associated with the Emcee in Cabaret, Tearle favours a dapper flamboyance in his wardrobe and camp manner, being arch and surprisingly avuncular, rather than sinister. Having the fluffiest of canine companions in his own dog, Millie Bell, makes it all the harder to be a scurrying, hard-edged cockroach rather than the symbol of limp Austrian compliance with Hitler.

Tearle loves to stretch NE Theatre, whether in size of cast or scale of ambition or his passion for inclusivity. This time that adds up two Marias (Rebecca Jackson & Maia Beatrice); two Captain Von Trapp (Matthew Clarke & Chris Hagyard); three groups of Von Trapp children and multiple members of Strensall & HuntingtonWomen’s Institute, plus the aforementioned dog. 

In their centenary year, Tearle reached out to Strensall & Huntington WI to play the Nonnberg Abbey nuns, and they open the show in choral Latin song, filing in from the wings and the aisles, candles in hand, to fill the stage and line up in front too, the essence of devotion and purity, with a huge cross on the cloth behind.

It is a beautiful  moment of solemnity, peace, sanctuary, as much a cry for today’s world as 1938 Austria, where the hills may be alive with the sound of music but that will soon be drowned out by anything but music, replaced by extremism, intolerance and a hail of Sieg Heils.

The nuns will return at the finale, filling the stage once more with almost painfully beautiful song. Tearle’s directorial judgement here is at its best.

He could let silence fall, but ever effusive, the PT Barnum in Tearle has him addressing the audience, inviting us to take photos, talking of the impact of the show on himself and the cast and plugging NE Theatre’s upcoming concert production of Carousel at Tempest Anderson Hall, Museum Gardens, in June and the York premiere of Roald Dahl’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, The New Musical, at the JoRo in November.

Wednesday’s cast was fronted by Rebecca Jackson’s serene Maria Rainer and Chris Hagyard’s stern but loving widower father, Austrian naval captain Captain Von Trapp.

Jackson radiates goodness and good humour as the unsure trainee nun who finds her true calling looking after seven von Trapp children: the young governess with nonconformist ideas, full of love and kindness, strong of will, independent of mind, determined to nurture and bring joy, but still with so much to learn herself.

She bonds delightfully with the children, led by Caitlin Smith’s wilful Liesl, and her singing is equally adept solo or in tandem with the children.

Hagyard’s Captain von Trapp goes from austere authority, issuing orders to staff and children alike on his whistle, to warming under Maria’s influence, while never wavering from his bold stance against Nazism. He sings Edelweiss with tenderness to still the rising storm.

The supreme vocal performance award goes to Perri Anne Barley’s Mother Abbess, climbing every demanding rising note in Climb Ev’ry Mountain, but sung in keeping with her matriarchal concern rather than with unnecessary showy excess.

Praise too for Ali Butler-Hind’s Elsa Schraeder, all airs and graces, and especially for the outstanding Finlay Butler’s Rolf Gruber, the naïve delivery boy who takes up the Nazi cause. Joe Allen’s musical forces are in fine form too.

NE Theatre York in The Sound Of Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee, all SOLD OUT. Box office: for returns only, 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

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York gig of the week: Andy Bell, Ten Crowns Tour, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

Andy Bell: Showcasing new album Ten Crowns at York Barbican tonight. Picture: Sean Black

ERASURE singer Andy Bell opens his tour at York Barbican tonight on the eve of Friday’s release of his third solo album.

Comprising ten tracks of dazzling, joyous pop, produced and polished in Nashville, inspired by the dancefloor and gospel, Ten Crowns will be available on vinyl (white, oxblood, and picture disc), CD (standard and 2CD versions), gold cassette and digitally via Crown Recordings.

The track listing is: Breaking Thru The Interstellar; Lies So Deep featuring Sarah Potenza; Heart’s A Liar featuring Debbie Harry; For Today; Dance For Mercy; Don’t Cha Know; Dawn Of Heavens Gate; Godspell; Put Your Empathy On Ice and Thank You.

Bell unites with his ultimate pop heroine, Debbie Harry, for the wistful Heart’s A Liar, having first sang about the Blondie icon in DHDQ – short for “Debbie Harry Drag Queen” on his June 2010 album Non-Stop. “To have Debbie Harry singing with me – you know, I still can’t quite believe it,” he says.

The song is Bell’s re-write of a track by English-Italian singer-songwriter and regular Dave Audé collaborator Luciana that Bell imagines being about two lovers who are no good for each other.

“Debbie gives it this gravitas and this coquettishness, but she’s still very in command. And she recorded her vocals in the studio on Gay Pride, which I thought when I heard it, ‘oh, trust her’!”

The latest single, Lies So Deep, brings together Bell and The Voice finalist Sarah Potenza for an ode to Whitney Houston. “It’s a futuristic love song about a time where everybody is allowed the freedom to love whoever they want without interference,” he says. “Sarah adds the stunning diva counterpart which tips the song into soul overdrive!”

Bell will be on the road from tonight to May 19, performing a set that will combine new compositions with favourites from his solo catalogue and Erasure hits aplenty. His band features his principal Ten Crowns collaborator and co-writer, Grammy-winning American producer, re-mixer and DJ Dave Audé, who opens tonight’s show with a DJ set. 

The album cover artwork for Andy Bell’s Ten Crowns

Bell and close friend Audé collaborated previously on two American dance chart number ones, 2014’s Aftermath (Here We Go) and 2016’s True Original. “We just  kind of carried on writing as an exercise, and after that, Dave moved his family to Nashville because LA [Los Angeles] was so expensive, and so our writing took this kind of gospel-tinged Nashville twist,” says Andy.

Nashville struck him for having a church on every corner. “It reminded me of singing in choirs and cathedral school as a child, where the spirit of the church is imbued in the music,” he says.

Not that Ten Crowns is a sombre, spiritual set, instead being propulsive, electronic, passionate and driven by the need to encounter new emotions and experiences as life races on. 

“I mean, I’ve got everything I could possibly wish for, you know, I really have, but that’s not to say I’m always fulfilled,” says Andy. “This album’s about picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, embracing life – and about taking that feeling on even when you’re fighting demons in the world, like homophobia, and fighting demons in yourself. It’s about being celebratory and uplifting.”

Travelling into new dimensions and possibilities with gospel in the heart and dancing in the soul, Ten Crowns’ release excites Bell. “It’s my third (sort of) solo record [following 2005’s Electric Blue and 2010’s Non-Stop] and in Erasure, our third album [1988’s The Innocents] was our most successful out of all that we’ve done, so I’m taking that spirit with me!”

Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of Bell teaming up with Vince Clarke in Erasure. Good news, the duo has begun work on a new album.

Tickets are still available for tonight’s gig at yorkbarbican.co.uk. Look out for Paul Rhodes’s review for charleshutchpress.co.uk.

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Re-meet Mark Holgate and Suzy Cooper, the fairy king and queen of York Stage’s ‘Dream’ as Shakespeare goes Shameless

Suzy Cooper’s Queen of the Fairies, Hippolyta, in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

GARY Oldman will not be the only former Berwick Kaler co-star returning to a York stage in 2025.

Suzy Cooper, for more than 20 years the ditzy, posh-voiced, jolly super principal gal in the grand dame’s pantomimes, will lead Nik Briggs’s cast alongside York-born actor Mark Holgate in the dual roles of courtly Hippolyta and Theseus and the quarrelling Queen and King of the Fairies, Titania and Oberon, in York Stage’s reinvention of A Midsummer Night’s Dream from May 6 to 11.

In his tenth anniversary of producing and directing shows at the Grand Opera House, Briggs relocates his debut Shakespeare production from the court of Athens to Athens Court, a northern council estate, where magic is fuelled with mayhem and true love’s path still does not run smooth, set to a Nineties and Noughties’ dancefloor soundtrack of Freed From Desire, No Limits, Show Me Love, Everytime We Touch et al as Shakespeare meets Shameless.

Presented as York Stage’s first co-production with the Cumberland Street theatre, Briggs’s ‘Dream’ will feature a new score by musical director Stephen Hackshaw. “Whilst not being a musical, the show will include a live band alongside powerhouse vocals that York Stage are famous for with their musical production,” says Nik.

Mark Holgate and Suzy Cooper in rehearsal for York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Suzy last trod the Grand Opera House boards in dowager dame Berwick Kaler’s valedictory pantomime after 47 years on the York stage in Robinson Crusoe And The Pirates Of The River Ouse, the final curtain falling on January 6 2024.

“It will be lovely to be back in York, performing at the Grand Opera House again,” says Suzy. ““I’ve not worked with Mark before, but he did the Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre season in York the same summer that I did it at Blenheim, when we brushed shoulders in that amazing tent when we gathered for the start of the second summer. It’s going to be a lot of fun working with him.

“For ‘Dream’, the lovely Nik rang me and said, ‘it’s a very unusual thing we’re doing, a co-production with the Grand Opera House, and would you like to play Hippolyta?’. I didn’t  need to think about, and not to have to audition was music to my ears!”

Mark’s career has taken in the Royal Shakespeare Company, Cheek By Jowl, Sheffield Crucible and theatres across the UK, as well as such roles as Banquo in Macbeth and Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre seasons in 2018 and 2019 in his home city.

Forest fireworks: Mark Holgate’s Oberon in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

He last performed on a York stage in Riding Lights Theatre Company’s staged  reading of Maryland, Lucy Kirkwood’s “howl” of a protest play, directed by Bridget Foreman at the Friargate Theatre in November 2021.

Mark’s participation in York Stage’s ‘Dream’ was “actually all down to my Dad”. “He has always been a great support of my acting career,” he says. “He read an article in The Press and sent it over to me, about York Stage putting on ‘Dream’ and that they were holding auditions. I dropped Nik a line, came to York Stage to meet him and that was that.” 

Reflecting on the contrast between his past Shakespeare experiences, including Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, and now with York Stage, Mark says: “The main difference is the rehearsal schedule. A lot of the cast have 9-5s and so rehearsals have worked around people’s availability. Whereas I would rehearse for three or four weeks consecutively, with this production you could have a gap of two weeks before being back in the room again.

“So you really have to be on your game at keeping track of everything you’ve discovered and set in rehearsal. Working in this way is completely new to me. It definitely keeps it fresh and exciting.”

Suzy Cooper: “Making decisions organically about how we’ll play Hippolyta’s relationship with Theseus”

Suzy adds: “Mark and I have had around five days’ rehearsals, which though it sounds really scary, as you’d normally do three weeks, but actually they’re intense days, so I just have to keep calm and carry on!

“We’re still undecided, right up to the last minute, making decisions organically about how we’ll play Hippolyta’s relationship with Theseus, where she’s been won as a prize, but maybe she’s not unhappy about that. Wait and see!

“It’s trickier than Titania, and you know me, I need to get my [acting] shoes on to get my feet rooted in a role.”

What are the challenges of playing two roles, Theseus and Oberon, in one play, Mark? “Remembering who I am playing in each scene. Only joking! Theseus is quite tricky as, once you’ve seen him in the first scene, he doesn’t appear again right till the end. Keeping hold of his journey after playing Oberon in between will be the challenge.

Mark Holgate’s Oberon and Suzy Cooper’s Hippolyta, centre, with Sam Roberts’s Demetrius, left, Amy Domeneghetti’s Helena, Will Parsons’ Lysander and Meg Olssen’s Hermia in York Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

“I’m really looking forward to taking them on to the Grand Opera House stage. Both of my daughters have performed there but I never have. They beat me to it.”

York Stage’s ‘Dream’ calls on Mark to do a double act at the double with Suzy Cooper’s Hippolyta and Titania. “Suzy and I have never worked together but we have crossed paths. On the first day of rehearsal I was a bit nervous as usual on the first day. Like the first day of school. Then Suzy entered the room, I walked over and gave her a hug and all my nervous energy disappeared.

“She has been an absolute joy to work with and I really look forward to sharing the Grand Opera House stage with her.” 

Both Suzy and Mark have “previous” form for appearing in Shakespeare’s most performed comedy. “I’ve never played Titania before, but I did play the fairy, Mustardseed, and Snout the Tinker in Lucy Pitman-Wallace’s production at York Theatre Royal, with Malcom Skates as Bottom and Andrina Carroll as Titania, and then Peter Quince in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s production at Blenheim Palace in 2019, the summer when I also played Lady Macbeth in Macbeth,” says Suzy.

“Suzy has been an absolute joy to work with and I really look forward to sharing the Grand Opera House stage with her,” says Mark Holgate

“Those nights doing ‘Dream’ were so joyful, when director Juliet Forster said ‘just trust in what you do’, but Nik’s show is a very different ‘Dream to any I’ve seen or done before, with Nik’s wonderful design and working with a composer. It’s the youngest, most exciting version I’ve experienced. I’m seeing out my history in the play with these new actors.”

Mark was  part of Juliet Forster’s cast for Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre production of ‘Dream’ at the Eye of York in 2018. “The audience just love it,” he says, exploring the 1595 play’s abiding  popularity. “Apart from theatre being a great form of escapism, the play itself is such a fantastic piece. It has great characters, it’s funny, dramatic, poetic, and in this production the songs, movement and storytelling from a superb ensemble will really blow your socks off.

“I hope people come to see it because it will be so different to the idea of Shakespeare that you have in your head. It will be a lot of fun. It’s on for only one week, so get those tickets booked.”

York Stage in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Grand Opera House, York, May 6 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees . Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Dream casting: York Stage’s poster artwork for Suzy Cooper and Mark Holgate’s participation in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 18, from Gazette & Herald

Climb every mountain: Rebecca Jackson in the role of Maria in Steve Tearle’s production of The Sound Of Music for NE Theatre York

THE spring weather may be perking up, but Charles Hutchinson still finds reasons aplenty to stay in the dark for cultural satisfaction.

York musical of the week: NE Theatre York in The Sound Of Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

IN its centenary year, members of Strensall Women’s Institute have accepted NE Theatre York creative director Steve Tearle’s invitation to play the abbey nuns in this Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

The show brings back special memories for Tearle, who played Kurt Von Trapp at the age of 11 in a professional tour in his first role in any show. This time he plays his favourite part, Max Detweiler. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Cracking the whip: Carrie Hope Fletcher’s Calamity Jane in Calamity Jane, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Senior

Whip-cracking touring musical of the week: Calamity Jane, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

WEST End leading lady Carrie Hope Fletcher takes the title role of fearless, gun-slinging Calamity Jane, the biggest mouth in Dakota territory and always up for a fight, in North Yorkshireman Nikolai Foster’s touring production, based on the cherished 1953 Doris Day movie.

When the men of Deadwood fall hard for Chicago stage star Adelaid Adams, Calamity struggles to keep her jealousy holstered. Here come The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away), The Black Hills Of Dakota, Just Blew In From The Windy City and Secret Love in this Watermill Theatre production, choreographed by Nick Winston.  Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Got it taped: Gary Oldman with the reel-to-reel tape machine in Krapp’s Last Tape at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Gisele Schmidt

York theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, until May 17

OSCAR winner Gary Oldman returns to York Theatre Royal, where he made his professional debut in 1979, to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since 1989.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home. The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.” Tickets update: check availability of returns on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Andy Bell: New songs, solo favourites and Erasure hits at York Barbican tonight

York gig of the week: Andy Bell, Ten Crowns Tour, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

ERASURE singer Andy Bell opens his tour at York Barbican on the eve of Friday’s release of his third solo album, Ten Crowns, ten tracks of  dazzling, joyous pop, produced and polished in Nashville, inspired by the dancefloor and gospel, available on vinyl, CD (standard and 2CD versions), gold cassette and digitally via Crown Recordings.

Bell’s set combines new compositions with favourites from his solo catalogue and Erasure hits aplenty. His band features his principal Ten Crowns collaborator and co-writer, Grammy-winning American producer Dave Audé, who opens tomorrow’s show with a DJ set. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Guitar Legends: Terrific riffs galore at Milton Rooms, Malton

Tribute show of the week: Guitar Legends, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm,

GUITAR Legends celebrates the music of iconic guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Prince, Gary Moore, Mark Knopfler and Jimi Hendrix.

Through a blend of live music, visuals and anecdotes, the show takes a journey through rock history, showcasing tenor vocal prowess and guitar virtuosity. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Learlike: Greensleeved tell Shakespeare’s tragedy of King Lear from the distaff side at York International Shakespeare Festival

Festival of the week: York International Shakespeare Festival presents Greensleeved in Learlike, York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium, Saturday, 2pm

GREENSLEEVED, a female-led pan-European ensemble, premiere their show Learlike in York, presenting Shakespeare’s tragedy of King Lear but this time told by his daughters. These tyrant-children are newly in power but old in their ability for manipulation and deceit. Or are they? Even in the most corrupt homes the roots of resistance grow deep.

Greensleeved comprises performers who met at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: Amber Frances (Belgium), Ariela Nazar-Rosen (Poland/USA), Lucy Doig (Scotland), Julia Vredenberg (Norway) and Cecilia Thoden van Velzen (Netherlands). For the full programme to May 4 and tickets, head to: yorkshakes.co.uk.

Rob Auton: Any eyeful tower of ocular comedy at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall

The eyes have it:  Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, Saturday, 7.30pm

“THE Eyes Open And Shut Show is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says surrealist Barmby Moor/York comedian, writer, artist, podcaster and actor Rob Auton. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut…thinking about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.” Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Scouting For Girls: Heading for York and Leeds in 2026

Gig announcement of the week: Scouting For Girls, York Barbican, March 17 and Leeds O2 Academy, March 24 2026

LONDON trio Scouting For Girls will accompany the 2026 release of a new studio album with a 22-date tour that takes in York Barbican and Leeds O2 Academy next March. General ticket sales open at 10am on Friday  at yorkbarbican.co.uk and academymusicgroup.com.

Roy Stride, vocals, piano and guitar, Greg Churchouse, bass guitar, and James Rowlands, drums, last payed York Barbican in October 2021. Next year’s shows will mark the 15th anniversary of their Everybody Wants To Be On TV album too.

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The James Brown Experience to get up offa that thing at York Barbican. Also making it funky in Harrogate and Bradford in October

Guy Kelton Jones: Fronting The James Brown Experience in York, Harrogate and Bradford

THE James Brown Family Foundation is teaming up with The James Brown Experience for a 12-date autumn tour that will visit York Barbican on October 1, Royal Hall, Harrogate, on October 3 and St George’s Hall, Bradford, on October 9.

Promoted by Cuffe & Taylor, this immersive concert experience “goes beyond imitation” to bring to life the songs, dance grooves and back story of the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. Tickets are on sale at CuffeandTaylor.com; yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/the-james-brown-experience/; harrogatetheatre.co.uk or 01423 502116 and bradford-theatres.co.uk.

Founded for charitable and educational purposes in April 2007 by Brown’s daughter, Dr Deanna Brown-Thomas, the James Brown Family Foundation seeks to build on her father’s legacy of charitable giving in many communities around the United States and to see the world as Brown did, bringing hope to those who are less fortunate. 

The foundation says: “This production not only honours James Brown’s extraordinary musical legacy, but it also reflects his creativity, hard work and passion. We are thrilled to see this show bring his legacy and sound to new audiences.

“Our commission is to expand James Brown’s vision, touching those here at home and around the world to assist underprivileged children and impoverished families through our initiatives and projects.”

The James Brown Experience celebrates Brown’s impact on music, culture and civil rights, capturing his electrifying energy, soul-power voice and dynamic moves in a night of high-octane dance numbers, heart-wrenching ballads and timeless soul and funk classics.

As well as revelling in such hits as I Feel Good, It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World, Get Up Offa That Thing, Sex Machine and Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag, the show also explores the life and soul of the South Carolina-born singer, songwriter, dancer, musician and record producer in his own words.

The James Brown Experience features The New Soul Generals, a nine-piece funk orchestra whose musicians have toured with Jamiroquai, Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse and Martha Reeves.

Out front will be Guy Kelton Jones, tasked with matching the standards of “the Hardest Working Man in showbusiness” in his rasping vocals and itchy-footed moves. Like Brown, he was raised in Georgia.

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REVIEW: Calamity Jane, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday ****

Carrie Hope Fletcher’s Calamity in Nikolai Foster’s production of Calamity Jane. Picture: Mark Senior

MUM knows best. West End leading lady Carrie Hope Fletcher has played Éponine and Fantine in Les Misérables, Veronica Sawyer in Heathers: The Musical and Wednesday in The Addams Family, as well as originating the role of Cinderella in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella, but her mother reckoned there was one role her South Harrow daughter was born to play.

Namely, the gun-slingin’, tough-talkin’, hard-ridin’ American frontierswoman Calamity Jane, the feisty tomboy role immortalised by Doris Day in the 1953 film and last played on tour on the Grand Opera House stage by Jodie Prenger in February 2015.

Mrs Fletcher’s instinct was spot on. Here was a Calamity waiting to happen, you could say. Carrying her mum’s hopes, Carrie Hope is whip-smart in The Watermill’s cracker of a touring production as York audiences experience her musical theatre chops for the first time, having seen her only in Love Letters, her exploration in song of all forms of love, from romantic to maternal, unrequited to obsessive, at York Barbican last October. 

What a fabulous voice she has, even if the emotional release of the serenading Secret Love was shared with a women in the row behind your reviewer, who could not resist joining in with every line. Please, please desist.

Perhaps now is the time to introduce a singalong performance for every familiar touring musical to abate this selfish trend. If not, dear audiences, show better instinct when to join in, pretty much at the cast’s invitation here for reprises of Deadwood Stage and Black Hills Of Dakota.

Seren Sandham-Davies’s Katie Brown, the wannabe showgirl in Calamity Jane. Picture: Mark Senior

The 2025 Calamity Jane carries all the hallmarks of the 2015 version: direction by North Yorkshireman Nikolai Foster; co-direction and choreography by Nick Winston; set and costume design by Matthew Wright; musical supervision and orchestration by Catherine Jayes, topped off by the witty  touch of the plush Grand Opera House being covered by a worn, faded, ropey one to transform the York theatre into the financially stricken Golden Garter theatre in Deadwood, South Dakota.

A lonesome banjo is attached, the first sign that this will be an actor-musician musical,  where even Carrie Hope Fletcher joins on coconuts to mimic the sound and motion of a horse and carriage.

Complementing Wright’s nostalgic palette of colours in his evocation of the Deadwood City of Summer 1876, Tim Mitchell’s lighting compounds the sense of being amid the summer dust, dry heat, bluest skies and wild life of the Midwest, where Calamity Jane’s entrance is held back to enable maximum impact after talk aplenty about of how she “tried to behave like a man but couldn’t help lovin’ like a woman”.

Fletcher looks right at home in buckskins and britches, hands on her gun belt, quips on her lips, Dakota accent on a roll. Her Calamity whips up a storm; she sure can crack a wisecrack and she is as abrasive as coal tar soap once was, but behind the brassy front of this game gal is a vulnerability that steadily seeps through, especially when her romantic feelings are exposed.

Fletcher’s Calamity does not need to fire a gun to make an impact on each return, and crucially for the light, humorous tone of Foster’s production of Sammy Fain, Paul Francis Webster and Charles K Freeman’s musical, Fletcher’s performance is suffused with fun to go with the games being played.

Falling out: Vinny Coyle’s Wild Bill Hickok clashes with Carrie Hope Fletcher’s Calamity. Picture: Mark Senior

Caught up in those games are Vinny Coyle’s Wild Bill Hickok and Luke Wilson’s  Lieutenant Danny Gilmartin, as they squabble over Seren Sandham-Davies’s young maid and wannabe singer Katie Brown.

As in 2015, Jayes’s orchestrations bring out the golden ripeness of such familiar songs as The Deadwood Stage, The Black Hills Of Dakota and A Woman’s Touch in a rip-roaring show where the actor-musician skills on all manner of acoustic instruments add so much to the joy. Winston’s choreography peaks with the hoedown euphoria of Hoedown.

You will go wild for Coyle’s  old-fashioned leading man, Wild Bill Hickok, a guitar slinger as much as a gun slinger when he sings Higher Than A Hawk, while you can feel Wilson’s smitten Gilmartin turning up the room temperature on an already warm night.

Above all, just as her mum predicted, Fletcher carries all before her as Calamity, a whip-crackin’ winner of a goodtime, goofball musical hit.

Calamity Jane, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

York Dance Works dancers join Carrie Hope Fletcher on The Deadwood Stage at Grand Opera House at Calamity Jane matinee

Pink stetson gathering: Lead actress Carrie Hope Fletcher and the York Dance Works dance team on stage at the Grand Opera House, York, before Wednesday’s matinee of Calamity Jane, the 100th performance of the 2025 tour

YORK Dance Works’ adult dance team met multi-award-winning West End actress and singer Carrie Hope Fletcher to relive their ‘Deadwood Stage’ moment at the Grand Opera House on Wednesday.

That afternoon they watched Carrie playing the title role in the matinee to celebrate their love of the whip-crackin’ American musical.

Before the 2020-2021 pandemic, the dance group learned a routine to The Deadwood Stage to be performed in a showcase event.  When lockdown was imposed, the team continued to learn the routine virtually, enabling the group to keep in touch and dance their way through a challenging period.  The dancers eventually performed the routine live in 2022 and have not forgotten it since.

York Dance Works principal Catherine Finta says: “When we were learning the routine online, it became a highlight – to dance, chat and have a social catch-up in what was quite a lonely time. 

Cast members celebrate the 100th performance of the 2025 tour of Calamity Jane with cake and balloons on the Grand Opera House stage stage on Wednesday

“Normally, we finish routines and move on to the next one, but with the stop/start uncertainty of the lockdowns, we worked on this one for longer than usual.  When we were finally able to, we wanted to perform this on stage, pink stetsons and all, and finally did in summer 2022.

“When we heard Calamity Jane was coming to York, we immediately booked a dance group outing to see the fabulous Carrie Hope Fletcher and the amazing cast.”

Wednesday’s matinee also marked the 100th performance of the Calamity Jane tour. Among the cast is Samuel Holmes, who plays Francis Fryer, having last appeared at the Cumberland Street theatre in the 2012 tour of Monty Python’s Spamalot.

“I’m very excited to be doing our 100th performance, especially in such a beautiful theatre,” he says. “It’s a very special theatre with lots of special memories for me.  The audiences are so amazing, and the reactions to the performances have been brilliant.  So, if you can get a ticket, come down and see us as we’d love to celebrate the hoedown and the party with you”.

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West End star Carrie Hope Fletcher cracks the whip in Western musical Calamity Jane on York return at Grand Opera House

Carrie Hope Fletcher’s Calamity Jane in Nikolai Foster’s touring production of Sammy Fain’s musical at the Grand Opera House, York

WEST End leading lady, author and vlogger Carrie Hope Fletcher returns to York from tomorrow to Saturday in the title role in Calamity Jane at the Grand Opera House – much to her mum’s delight.

Something about the gun-slingin’, tough-talkin’, hard-ridin’ frontierswoman immortalised by Doris Day in the 1953 film made her reckon it was a role that Carrie was born to play.

How could she say No when the offer came through to the 32-year-old South Harrow actress, whose credits include Éponine and Fantine in Les Misérables; Veronica Sawyer in the original West End production of Heathers: The Musical; Wednesday in The Addams Family; Beth in the arena tour of The War Of The Worlds  and originating the role of Cinderella in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella.

“My mum had always said I would be a good Calamity Jane, and through the entirety of my adult career she has always said she would love to see my playing the part,” says Carrie. “It’s her dream role for me. So I looked into it and listened to the songs and watched the movie starring Doris Day and fell in love with it. Doris is such an icon. Though I did have to prepare my mum not to get her hopes up as things do fall through and you never know what might happen.”

“It’s so wonderful Calamity is not just an ingenue or the soppy romantic or just a comedy character, she is all of it,” says Carrie Hope Fletcher

Mum knows best, however! Since January, Carrie has been leading North Yorkshireman Nikolai Foster’s cast in the good-hearted Western musical comedy, following the likes of Carol Burnett, Barbara Windsor, novelist Lynda La Plante, Toyah Willcox and Jodie Prenger, who played Calamity on its last Grand Opera House visit in February 2015.

Carrie loves how the fearless, feisty Calamity pushes her as a performer. “I am relatively new to the whole world of Calamity Jane, but it’s a dream role in terms of her as a character,” she says of a whip-crackin’ woman “prone to making a few blunders and mistakes”. “She is the romantic lead, gets a great love story, has an amazing female friendship with Katie Brown and gets all the cracking, belty numbers.

“She ticks all of those boxes and it’s so wonderful she’s not just an ingenue or the soppy romantic or just a comedy character, she is all of it. Parts like that are really rare and she has been great fun to get to know.”

The subject of femininity plays out in Calamity’s relationship with Wild Bill Hickok, the Howard Keel-originated role now played by Vinny Coyle. “There are conversations between her and Wild Bill where he says ‘Why can’t you be more feminine?’,” says Carrie. “She goes through a Cinderella story finding it, but ultimately ends up going back to who she is comfortable as, and being loved and accepted for it. And it’s all hidden within this funny, farcical story.”

Carrie Hope Fletcher: West End leading lady, musical theatre singer, author, vlogger and sister of McFly’s Tom Fletcher

She is not daunted by singing songs such as The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away) and Secret Love forever associated with Doris Day. “I have a good mindset about the pressure that comes with that,” she says. “You can’t please everyone as everyone has different versions of what they want the character to be. If you tried to please people, you would come up with this warped version that isn’t anyone’s dream version.

“I feel like I have been entrusted with the role and I need to be the one to decide who this version of Calamity Jane is. And if people don’t like it, they don’t like it. But if they do, it means all the more.”

Alongside her theatre work, Carrie has published a series of books for young people and accrued more than 500,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel and hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers. She last appeared in York last October in Love Letters, her exploration in song of all forms of love, from romantic to maternal, unrequited to obsessive, at York Barbican. 

As always, she found joy in singing, joy that transferred to the audience too. “That’s what people latch on to. Maybe the joy I get from it separates me from others. That’s what people connect to,” she says. “I do think that musical theatre is based in expressing emotion, and if you’re not feeling it one night, then it won’t transmit to the audience.”

The tour poster for Calamity Jane starring Carrie Hope Fletcher

Now her focus is on being on the road in Calamity Jane for the best part of a year, necessitating being away from her husband, fellow performer Joel Montague, and their daughter, Mabel, who will join her for some of the dates, however.

If juggling motherhood and appearing in a major tour were not enough, Carrie has mastered a new skill while working on Calamity Jane. Her cast cohorts are actor-musicians, and not one to be left out, she can be spotted picking up an instrument – a somewhat unusual one.

“I got the coconuts to play,” she says. “I am the horse! So while everyone else is incredibly talented with the saxophone and the trumpet and cello, I’ll be focusing on the coconuts.”

Calamity Jane, Grand Opera House, York, April 29 to May 3, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york

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REVIEW: Paul Rhodes’s verdict on Across The Evening Sky, Pocklington Arts Centre

Josienne Clarke: “Did a wonderful job bringing Sandy Denny’s much-loved songs back to an audience” at Pocklington Arts Centre. All pictures: Paul Rhodes

Across The Evening Sky: Josienne Clarke Sings the Songs of Sandy Denny, Pocklington Arts Centre, April 25

A NIGHT of Sandy Denny is not one to be missed. In the week of the 47th anniversary of Denny’s early death at 31, singer-songwriter Josienne Clarke did a wonderful job bringing these much-loved songs back to an audience.

Clarke has an affinity for Denny, whom she discovered when someone said she sounded like her. She has a voice capable of doing justice to the poetic melancholy that ran so deep. She doesn’t copy as such, but reinterprets the material faithfully in her own style. Clarke’s voice is more trained than Denny’s, adding an almost classical precision.

The voice and the lyrics took centre stage, accentuated by Clarke’s warm presence and her striking way of tilting her head to her left as she sings. Her top-notch four-piece band (Alec Bowman-Clarke on low-slung bass, Dave Hamblett on drums, Matt Robinson on keyboards, and the distinctive Lukas Drinkwater on lead guitar) provided sympathetic accompaniment, and they grew in confidence as the set progressed.

Josienne Clarke performing at Pocklington Arts Centre with band members Dave Hamblett, Alec Bowman-Clarke and Lukas Drinkwater

Running to 15 songs over 80 minutes, in a combination of “hard or very hard” material to sing and play, the setlist was skilfully chosen. There was barely a misstep, perhaps only Blackwaterside was a bridge too far. This reviewer can’t have been the only one who would happily have stayed for another set, or two, hopefully next time around.

Sandy Denny’s legacy is an unusual one. The audience were mostly of the same generation as Denny, as her flame still burns largely in darkness for younger listeners. Award winning but low selling in her lifetime, her legend now sits at the very apex of the folk pyramid.

Unlike her contemporary Nick Drake, her music has never really reached the mainstream. The exception is the standard Who Knows Where The Time Goes – our encore. Like many so-called standards (Song To The Siren, A Song For You), this is musically simple, but the lyrics somehow harness something universal. The evocative opening line provides the title of the evening’s performance.

Maybe much of Denny’s work is too private and melancholy to ever gain mass appeal. She liked to mask her feelings in complex metaphors. The other factor is, far more than Drake, her records were all flawed and marred by overproduction (“the string fur coats” as Denny called it) or poor song selection.

Josienne Clarke: “Spot on sticking to the slow ballads” in her April 25 concert

After Fairport, Denny’s up-tempo songs were always the weakest on any of her records (you would be wise not to Jump The Broomstick with Richard Thompson), and Clarke was spot on sticking to the slow ballads. Autopsy, Late November, The Pond And The Stream and the deathless Fotheringay were all present and beautifully, lovingly restored.

In the words of Old-Fashioned Waltz, one of her very finest (and the title track of her finest LP), Denny’s music will always be held dear. Clarke is aware of the weight of expectation that comes with the songs and this humility provided one of the most memorable moments. Towards the end of Matty Groves, she forgot the words momentarily, and her smiles and laughter were a joy to see – an echo of Denny’s own vibrant fragility.

It was always asking too much for Clarke to freeze time, but she and her band did a wonderful job of transporting Pocklington to Sandy’s musical mansion on the other side of the moon. Clarke is planning to release a new record of her own recordings, heavily influenced by Denny, and on this showing, that should be quite something.

Review by Paul Rhodes

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when theatre goes on trial. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 18, from The York Press

Gary Oldman in the York Theatre Royal auditorium, where his production of Krapp’s Last Tape is in its second week. Picture: Gisele Schmidt

FANCY serving on a jury in a true crime thriller? Find out how in Charles Hutchinson’s guide to going out.

York theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, until May 17

OSCAR winner Gary Oldman returns to York Theatre Royal, where he made his professional debut in 1979,  to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since 1989.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home. The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.” Tickets update: check availability of returns on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

James Bond Concert Spectacular: Celebrating the music of the long-running film series. Picture: Bryan Marshall

Film music event of the week James Bond Concert Spectacular, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

CAROLINE Bliss, who played Moneypenny in The Living Daylightsand Licence To Kill, will be the compere for Q The Music’s James Bond Concert Spectacular, sharing anecdotes from her film appearances.  

Focusing not only on Bond theme songs, such as Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die and Nobody Does It Better, the show also pays homage to the complete canon, covering chase music, incidental cues and suites from across the series. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

You are the jury: Murder Trial Tonight III, in court at York Barbican on Tuesday

Courtroom drama  of the week: Tigerslane Studios presents Murder Trial Tonight III – The Doorstep Case, York Barbican, April 29, 7pm

“THIS isn’t just a theatre play; it’s a social experiment,” says Murder Trial Tonight’s West End director, Graham Watts. “We aim to challenge perceptions and engage our audience in a way that goes beyond traditional theatre.”

Welcome to Tigerslane Studios’third season of  Murder Trial Tonight – The Doorstep Case, wherein storytellers, technicians and performers break down the fourth wall and bring true-crime stories to life. The show begins on screen, giving the backdrop to the case, followed by a live murder trial, with the audience as the jury. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Carrie Hope Fletcher: Shooting from the hip and lip in Calamity Jane at the Grand Opera House, York

Whip-cracking musical of the week: Calamity Jane, Grand Opera House, York, April 29 to May 3, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

WEST End leading lady Carrie Hope Fletcher takes the title role of fearless, gun-slinging Calamity Jane, the biggest mouth in Dakota territory and always up for a fight, in North Yorkshireman Nikolai Foster’s touring production, based on the cherished 1953 Doris Day movie.

When the men of Deadwood fall hard for Chicago stage star Adelaid Adams, Calamity struggles to keep her jealousy holstered. Here come The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away), The Black Hills Of Dakota, Just Blew In From The Windy City and Secret Love in this Watermill Theatre production, choreographed by Nick Winston with musical supervision by Olivier, Grammy and Tony Award winner Catherine Jayes. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Karine Polwart’s poster artwork for her Feather & Ether Tour show at Pocklington Arts Centre

Folk gig of the week: Karine Polwart, Feather & Ether Tour, Pocklington Arts Centre, April 30, 8pm

THIS year marks 25 years since Karine Polwart embraced a full-time career as a Scottish folk singer and 20 years since she scooped three BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards with  her debut solo album Faultlines. 

Her Feather & Ether Tour is a rare chance to enjoy her in intimate, conversational solo performance. Expect a clutch of new songs and wonder tales and an night of curiosity and compassion from Polwart, songwriter, theatre-maker, broadcaster and storyteller, whose work evokes a richness of place, hidden histories, scientific enquiry and folklore. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Learlike: King Lear re-told from the distaff side in the UK premiere at the York International Shakespeare Festival

Festival of the week: York International Shakespeare Festival presents Greensleeved in Learlike, York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium, May 3, 2pm

GREENSLEEVED, a female-led pan-European ensemble, premiere their show Learlike in York, presenting Shakespeare’s tragedy of King Lear but this time told by his daughters. These tyrant-children are newly in power but old in their ability for manipulation and deceit. Or are they? Even in the most corrupt homes the roots of resistance grow deep.

Greensleeved comprises performers who met at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: Amber Frances (Belgium), Ariela Nazar-Rosen (Poland/USA), Lucy Doig (Scotland), Julia Vredenberg (Norway) and Cecilia Thoden van Velzen (Netherlands). For the full programme to May 4 and tickets, head to: yorkshakes.co.uk.

Rob Auton: Any eyeful tower of ocular comedy at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall

The eyes have it:  Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, May 3, 7.30pm

“THE Eyes Open And Shut Show is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says surrealist York/Barmby Moor comedian, writer, artist, podcaster and actor Rob Auton. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut…thinking about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.” Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Scouting For Girls: Heading for York and Leeds in 2026

Gig announcement of the week: Scouting For Girls, York Barbican, March 17 and Leeds O2 Academy, March 24 2026

LONDON trio Scouting For Girls will accompany the 2026 release of a new studio album with a 22-date tour that takes in York Barbican and Leeds O2 Academy next March. Fans who pre-order the Wolfcub Edition at scoutingforgirls.os.fan will receive access to a ticket pre-sale that opens at 10am on April 30. General sales follow from 10am on May 2 at yorkbarbican.co.uk and academymusicgroup.com.

Roy Stride, vocals, piano and guitar, Greg Churchouse, bass guitar, and James Rowlands, drums, last payed York Barbican in October 2021. Next year’s shows will mark the 15th anniversary of their Everybody Wants To Be On TV album too.

In Focus: NE Theatre York in The Sound Of Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 29 to May 3, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday

NE Theatre York’s cast for The Sound Of Music at the JoRo

TWO Marias, two Captain Von Trapps, three groups of Von Trapp children and multiple members of Strensall Women’s Institute, plus a dog, add up to NE Theatre York’s production of The Sound Of Music.

In its centenary year, Strensall Women’s Institute has accepted creative director Steve Tearle’s invitation to play the abbey nuns – and sing several big numbers – in the heartwarming Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

The show brings back special memories for Tearle, who played Kurt Von Trapp at the age of 11 in a professional tour in his first stage role.

NE Theatre York creative director Steve Tearle with his dog Millie Bell

“I’ve always loved this show, and remembering my experience of it always fills me with
joy. Fast forward to 2025 and I get to produce this famous musical and play my personal
favourite part in the show, Max Detweiler,” says Steve, whose dog, Millie Bell, will make an appearance in the canine role of Max’s dog.

Tearle’s cast features newcomers aplenty to the stage. “NE Theatre prides itself on giving
people of all ages the confidence to perform on stage, and this is the perfect
opportunity with more than 20 people who have never performed before,” he says.

NE Theatre York in rehearsal for The Sound Of Music

“We’re producing the show with all the elements that everyone loves but keeping with the
West End trend of scaled-back sets and using lighting effects to highlight the action. The
focus, as always, will be on the talent of the actors on stage and giving everyone a moment
to shine.”

Maia Beatrice and Rebecca Jackson will alternate the role of Maria while Matthew Clarke and Chris Hagyard will do likewise as Captain Von Trapp. NE Theatre stalwart Perri Anne Barley will play Mother Abbess; Ali Butler and Aileen Hall will take turns as Baroness Elsa. Tearle is joined in the production team by musical director Joe Allan.

NE Theatre’s production coincides with a brace of landmarks: the 60th anniversary of Robert Wise’s film starring Julie Andrews as the singing nun and the 90th anniversary of the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

Rebecca Jackson in the role of Maria in Steve Tearle’s production of The Sound Of Music for NE Theatre York

Quick refresher course: The Sound Of Music is based on the real-life story of the Von Trapp family of singers, one of the world’s best known concert groups in the era immediately preceding the Second World War.

When Maria, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey, becomes governess to a widowed naval captain’s seven children, she brings a new love of life and music into the home. Among the much-loved songs are My Favourite Things, Climb Every Mountain, Do Re Mi, Sixteen Going On Seventeen, Edelweiss and The Sound of Music.

A number of tickets are being given to charities. Hurry, hurry to secure a seat as April 29, May 1 and May 2 are down to “last few tickets”, availability is limited for April 30 and both May 3 performances have sold out. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on Leeds Song, Roderick Williams & Andrew West, Howard Assembly Room, Leeds, April 6

Baritone Roderick Williams

BRITAIN’S  favourite baritone, the ubiquitous Roderick Williams, brought a typically eclectic programme to the Leeds Song festival under the banner “A touch of the exotic”, with Andrew West as his deft collaborator at the piano.

It involved ten composers from Schubert to Sally Beamish, four of them female. It was right to begin with Schubert: he has always been the yardstick against whom song composers measure themselves. His setting of Goethe’s Kennst du das Land? distils the Romantic poets’ infatuation with Eastern climes. Sure enough, Williams’s quickened pulse at ‘Dahin!’ (it’s there!) captured that excitement.

Even more exotic, as more Debussyan, was Denis Browne’s last song, Walter de la Mare’s Arabia (1914), with its delicate piano and opiate aura, a timely reminder of a great talent snuffed out by war.

Arthur Bliss’s pithy Siege and Rebecca Clarke’s elegy A Dream were but preludes to Amy Woodforde-Finden’s much-loved Kashmiri song, where our duo conjured nostalgia without undue sentimentality.

Duparc’s only two settings of Baudelaire, arguably his best songs, were finely drawn. The shimmering impressionism of L’invitation au Voyage was balanced by his last mélodie, the sonnet La Vie Antérieure, which boiled up into a sensuous climax reflecting the flashing foam. The gradual return of the painful secret in the poetry was complemented by West’s beautifully poised postlude.

Sally Beamish’s Four Songs from Hafez were a commission from Leeds Lieder in 2007; it was good to hear them again. They centre on three birds and a fish as translated from 14th century Persian by Jill Peacock.

Much of the composer’s illustrative talent is found in the piano, birdsong of course but also watery undercurrents of excitement in ‘Fish’ where Williams accentuated Hafez’s “wine of creation”. ‘Hoopoe’, a love letter, had some delicate touches here.

Hafez’s wine also featured in Wolf’s Erschaffen und Beleben (Creation and Animation), as answer to a clodhopper’s problems. Williams was well attuned to Goethe’s sense of humour both here and in Wolf’s First Coptic Song.

The Jamaican-born composer Eleanor Alberga’s star has been rising rapidly in recent years. Her early years as a pianist and involvement with dance are both assimilated into The Soul’s Expression (2017), four settings of 19th century female poets. Described as a piano sonata with linking songs, it is through-composed (running without a break).

The songs are wonderfully evocative of nature, with piano interludes that take the place of strings in the original version. After an ecstatic glimpse of heaven in a cornfield, there are two calmer sections involving a gentle breeze at sunset and a shower of rose petals, before the title song, to an Elizabeth Barrett Browning sonnet, delves into more spiritual territory, with the baritone briefly using falsetto against whispering keyboard. It was a touching experience.

More light-hearted, although no less powerful, were Harry Burleigh’s Five songs of Laurence Hope –the pseudonym of Adela Florence Nicolson – which are much influenced by negro spirituals. They include ‘Kashmiri Song’, but using all three of its verses (unlike Woodforde-Finden’s version) and tellingly repeat its ‘Where are you now?’ at the close. There was a glorious climax to ‘Worth while’ and especially strong emotion in the final song, ‘Till I Wake’. Williams and West are a superb duo.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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