Category: Music

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REVIEW: NOW That’s What I Call A Musical, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday ***

Sam Bailey’s April Devonshire, left, and Nina Wadia’s Gemma Warner, with the Birmingham skyline behind them, reconnect in NOW That’s What I Call A Musical. Picture: Pamela Raith

THE familiar chunky bold typeface and loud colours of the NOW compilation album series greets the audience on a huge sign, hanging high above Tom Rogers and Toots Butcher’s  set design, to announce we are in the presence of NOW That’s What I Call A Musical.

Next, the equally familiar tones of Craig Revel Horwood, the pantomime villain of Strictly Come Dancing’s judges, voices the obligatory recorded request to switch off all electronic equipment, backed up by the promise of a fab-u-lous show.

Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he, as he is the director-choreography, and the show has all the hallmarks of what the flamboyant Australian loves in a performance: energy, more energy, impish expression, personality and well-drilled routines.

NOW That’s What I Call A Musical is very much Now That’s What I Call A Jukebox Musical, driven in this case by a multitude of 1980s’ smashes guilty pleasures and karaoke bangers with musical supervision, orchestrations and vocal arrangements by Mark Crossland that are invariably as loud and bold as that NOW signage.

NOW’s book writer, Pippa Evans, is an author, writer, performer and BBC Radio 4 and Edinburgh Fringe musical comedy regular with a track record for improvisation and musical theatre (as a founder member of Showstopper! The Improvised Musical), and significantly too she was the dramaturg on 9 To 5: The Musical.

In other words, she knows how to structure a musical’s emotional ebb and flow, and now, in adding ‘jukebox musical’ to her polymath portfolio, she shows a facility for finding humorous ways to shoehorn songs with a knowing wink into the flow of her plot, from Tainted Love to Gold, Everybody Wants To Rule The World to St Elmo’s Fire, as well as delivering punchlines and putdowns aplenty.

That plot is set in Birmingham, now and back then, or more accurately in 2009 and 1989, opening at the Sparkhill school reunion for the Class of ’89, leading into a full-throttle burst of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Relax, one of multiple ensemble numbers that revel in Revel Horwood’s terpsichorean panache.

At this “most dreaded event of their lives”, stoical nurse Gemma Warner (Nina Wadia, last seen in York as Fairy Sugarsnap in the Theatre Royal’s 2023-2024 pantomime Jack And The Beanstalk) is awaiting the arrival of April Devonshire (The X Factor winner Sam Bailey), the best friend she has not seen for years since she headed for Hollywood.

The open-plan design allows the storyline to move between the 20-year division, quickly introducing the younger versions of the more practical Gemma (Nikita Johal) and the dreamer April (Maia Hawkins) that go on to dominate Act One, with scenes in the Warner kitchen and the schoolgirls’ bedrooms in days of planning their lives around Number One magazine quizzes and dreaming of snogging Rick Astley.

We see how Mum (Poppy Tierney) and Dad (Christopher Glover) met (cue their version of Tainted Love, Brummie accents et al), as well as younger versions of Gemma’s entrepreneurial brother Frank (Luke Latchman), school lad Steve (Matthew Mori) and later mullet-haired Tim (Kieran Cooper), who will give hints of the cheating husband to Gemma that he becomes (Chris Grahamson).

Some songs, such as Grahamson’s venal performance of Gold, are used to capture a character; others, like a dazzling silver-suited take on Video Called The Radio Star are there for the fun of it. Some, notably Tainted Love, combine both, switching from a confessional duet for Mum and Dad into an elegant dance routine for six ensemble members.

Act Two fills in the blanks of the missing years, taking on the darker themes of infidelity, broken promises, shattered dreams, strained friendships and infertility as the older Gemma and April move  centre stage, with Wadia and Bailey taping  into pathos and pain as much as humour (especially in Wadia’s drunken scene) as the revelations mount and the friction sparks.

Wadia, in her first pop musical role, has worked on her singing skills to be more than proficient alongside the powerhouse Bailey, whose opening to Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves is the show’s knockout vocal high point.

Grahamson’s smug rat Tim comes to the fore, Shakil Hussain’s Frank steps out of the shadows, and both Callum Tempest’s Barney  and Phil Sealey’s Steve have their moment, the latter putting a full vat of chips into his fleshy take on the Chippendales. Meanwhile, Lauren Hendricks’s teacher Ms Dorian makes the most of her cameos too.

The show taps further into the Eighties’ nostalgia with a roster of guest stars for the tour, from Sonia and T’Pau’s Carol Decker to Toyah Willcox (in Edinburgh) and Sinitta, York’s star turn, who turns from bedroom wall poster and face on a bedspread to bursting into life at Gemma’s initiation and duly sings So Macho, all in white, with a diva final flourish.

She returns for the medley finale too, an effervescent conclusion to a show that may be clichéd but has heart and much as hits and humour, knows its target audience, knows Birmingham (with a good joke about its “beauty”), and knows its Eighties’ pop nuggets, from the teenage exuberance of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and a creepy Every Breath You Take to a table-spinning You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) and a climactic Hold Me Now.

NOW That’s What I Call A Musical runs at Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 11, from Gazette & Herald

York Pop artist Harland Miller with his new work York from his XXX exhibition at York Art Gallery. Picture: Olivia Hemingway

FROM Harland Miller’s Pop Art to Emma Rice’s theatrical world premiere of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, these are exciting times for artistic expression, Charles Hutchinson reports.

XXXhibition of the week: Harland Miller: XXX, York Art Gallery, until August 31, open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm

YORK-RAISED artist and writer Harland Miller has returned to York Art Gallery to launch XXX, showcasing paintings and works on paper from his Letter Paintings series, including the unveiling of several new paintings, not least ‘York’, a floral nod to Yorkshire’s white rose and York’s daffodils.   

Inspired by his upbringing in 1970s’ Yorkshire and an itinerant lifestyle in New York, New Orleans, Berlin and Paris during the 1980s and 1990s, Miller creates colourful and graphically vernacular works that convey his love of popular language and attest to his enduring engagement with its narrative, aural and typographical possibilities. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk.

Simon Oskarsson’s Valerian, left, Ewan Wardrop’s Roger Thornhill, Katy Owen’s Professor and Mirabelle Gremaud’s Anna rehearsing a scene for Emma Rice’s production of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By North West. Picture: Steve Tanner

World premiere of the week in York: Wise Children in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, York Theatre Royal, until April 5, 7.30pm plus 2pm, March 26 and April 3; 2.30pm, March 29 and April 5

IT would be strange if, in a city of seven million people, one man were never mistaken for another…and that is exactly what happens to Roger Thornhill, reluctant hero of North By Northwest, when a mistimed phone call to his mother lands him smack bang in the middle of a Cold War conspiracy. Now he is on the run, dodging spies, airplanes and a femme fatale who might not be all she seems.

Wise Children writer-director Emma Rice turns film legend Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller on its head in her riotously humorous reworking. Replete with six shape-shifting performers, a fabulous 1950s’ soundtrack and a heap of hats, this dazzling co-production with York Theatre Royal, HOME Manchester and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse plays with heart, mind and soul in a topsy-turvy drama full of glamour, romance, jeopardy and a liberal sprinkling of tender truths. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Nina Wadia’s Gemma and Sam Bailey’s April in NOW That’s What I Call A Musical, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Pamela Raith

Musical of the week: NOW That’s What I Call A Musical, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm matinees, today and Saturday

DIRECTED by Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood, comedian Pippa Evans’s hit-laden musical is set in Birmingham in 1989 and 2009. Back in the day, school friends Gemma Warner and April Devonshire are planning their lives based on Number One magazine quizzes and dreaming of snogging Rick Astley. Twenty years later, Gemma (Nina Wadia) and April (The X Factor winner Sam Bailey) face the most dreaded event of their adult lives: the school reunion.

Drama, old flames and receding hairlines come together as friends reunite and everything from the past starts to slot into place. Sinitta, Eighties’s pop star of So Macho and Toy Boy fame, will be the guest star all week in a show featuring Gold, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Tainted Love, Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves et al. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Nearly here: Nearly here: Paddy McGuinness brings his Nearly There tour to York Barbican tomorrow

Comedy gig of the week: Paddy McGuinness, Nearly There, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.45pm

FARNWORTH comedian, television and radio presenter and game show host Paddy McGuinness plays York on his first stand-up itinerary since 2016. Launching the 40 dates last year, he said: “It’s been eight years since my last tour and there’s lots of things to laugh about! I’m looking forward to getting back in front of a live audience, along with running the gauntlet of cancel culture, click bait and fake news.” Tickets update: only a handful of single seats still available at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Contemporary jazz gig of the week: Jamie Taylor & Jamil Sheriff, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, tomorrow, doors 7.30pm

THE musical association and friendship between guitarist Jamie Taylor, principal lecturer in jazz guitar at Leeds Conservatoire, and Leeds jazz pianist, composer and educator Jamil Sheriff goes back over 20 years of performing together in settings ranging from intimate small groups to large ensembles, such as Sheriff’s own big band.

Playing as a duo at Rise, they will channel this shared history and musical empathy, taking inspiration from jazz piano and guitar collaborations such as Bill Evans with Jim Hall and Fred Hersch with Bill Frisell. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.

Dr Rangan Chatterjee: Health and happiness hacks at York Barbican

Meet “the architect of health and happiness”: Dr Rangan Chatterjee, The Thrive Tour 2025, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm

JOIN Dr Rangan Chatterjee, inspirational host of Europe’s biggest health podcast, Feel Better, Live More, author and star of BBC One’s Doctor In The House, for two transformative hours of learning the skill of happiness, discovering the secrets to optimal health, breaking free from habits that hold you back and discovering how to make changes that last. “Be empowered, be inspired and learn how to thrive,” he says. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

James Jay Lewis: Raw garage blues at Milton Rooms, Malton

Ryedale blues gig of the week: James Jay Lewis, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

SELFT-TAUGHT multi-instrumentalist James Jay Lewis has performed with The La’s and played bass for fellow Liverpool band Cast and now lead guitar in The Zutons, having earlier formed the band Cractilla.

He has written, recorded and produced two solo albums, the acoustic odyssey Back To The Fountain and the lo-fi, rough and ready garage blues of Waiting For The World, on which he plays all the instruments. He has worked with Nile Rodgers at Abbey Road Studios, is involved in the new Zutons album and is venturing into recording, producing and composing for television and film. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Alligator Gumbo: Re-creating New Orleans 1920s’ jazz in 2025 Helmsley on Saturday

New Orleans jazz jive of the week: Alligator Gumbo 2025, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

LEEDS seven-piece band Alligator Gumbo evoke the Roaring Twenties’ heyday of the New Orleans swing/jazz era, when music was raw, fast paced and largely improvised with melodies and solos happening simultaneously over foot-stomping rhythms. Their repertoire is built around songs made famous by Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Jelly Roll Morton, and Billie Holiday, played in the traditional style. Box office:  01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.  

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‘RENT is the reason we fell in love with theatre in the first place,’ says Inspired By Theatre director Dan Crawfurd-Porter

Inspired By Theatre principal cast members for RENT: left to right, Maddie Jones, Jess Gardham, Iain Harvey, Dan Poppitt, Gi Vasey, Mikhail Lim, Tom Collins and Fen Greatley-Hirsch. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

FROM the York theatre company that brought the Hutch Award-winning production of Green Day’s American Idiot to the Joseph Rowntree Theatre last July comes another iconic American rock musical, RENT.

Directed once more by company founder Dan Crawfurd-Porter, Jonathan Larson’s groundbreaking Tony Award winner will run at the JoRo from April 10 to 12 with its celebration of life, even in the face of adversity.

“RENT tells a story of love, resilience and artistic defiance, making it as relevant today as it was when it debuted 30 years ago,” says Dan.

Dan Poppitt’s Roger, left, Gi Vasey’s Mimi and Mikhail Lim’s Benny in Inspired By Theatre’s RENT. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

Set in the heart of New York City’s East Village at the apex of the AIDS epidemic, RENT follows a group of young artists struggling to survive, create and hold onto hope in the face of uncertainty.

Larson’s revolutionary score, with its blend of rock, pop and musical theatre, features such numbers as Seasons of Love, La Vie Bohème and Take Me Or Leave Me.

“This isn’t just another revival; for us, it’s personal,” says director Dan, who credits the show as a major inspiration for his company’s formation and mission to bring bold, meaningful theatre to York audiences.

Fen Greatley Hirsch’s Angel and Joseph Hayes’s Tom Collins. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

“RENT is the reason we exist and the reason we fell in love with theatre in the first place. It’s a show that has inspired us to tell stories, push boundaries and build a thriving theatre community.

“This production brings together returning favourites and exciting new members of the company, and I’ve never seen a cast quite like this before. We’ve assembled a powerhouse of performers, ready to bring this iconic show to life like never before.”

Crawfurd-Porter’s principal cast comprises American Idiot leading man Iain Harvey as Mark; Dan Poppitt as Roger; Gi Vasey as Mimi; Joseph Hayes as Tom Collins; Maddie Jones as Maureen; York blues musician Jess Gardham as Joanne; Fen Greatley-Hirsch as Angel and Mikhail Lim as Benny.

Iain Harvey’s Mark in Inspired By Theatre’s RENT. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

In the ensemble will be: Richard Bayton; Katie Brier; Kailum Farmery; Rebecca Firth; Jack Fry; Chloe Pearson; Lucy Plimmer-Clough; Fernadna Aqueveque Retamal; Connie Richards; Josh Woodgate and Tiggy-Jade.

Crawfurd-Porter is joined in the production team by choreographer and assistant director Freya McIntosh, musical director Matthew Peter Clare and assistant producer Charlie Clarke.

Inspired By Theatre was known formerly as Bright Light Musical Productions. “We rebranded as Inspired By Theatre to reflect our evolving vision: theatre that moves people, challenges perspectives and delivers unforgettable moments both on and off the stage,” says Dan.

Maddie Jones’s Maureen and Jess Gardham’s Joanne. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

“We saw this philosophy come to life with our highly successful production of Green Day’s American Idiot last summer when more than 1,000 audience members, many covered head to toe in merchandise, packed the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, proving that a show can be more than just a performance, it can be an event.”

Inspired By Theatre in RENT, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, April 10 to 12, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: https://www.josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/all-shows/rent/2761.

Inspired By Theatre ensemble members Connie Richards, left, and Tiggy-Jade. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

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REVIEW: Steve Crowther’s verdict on Craven Faults, Rymer Auditorium, University of York, March 12

Craven Faults: “Navigated rural map using loops, symmetries, images bleeding in to each other to create this inspired journey”

I MUST start off with a confession: I’ve never heard of Craven Faults. Well, actually that’s not true. I know the Craven Faults System in the Yorkshire Dales, having done a lot of hiking around Malham etc, and this, basically, is what we saw on screen.

Starting out with a pastoral loop of sheep safely grazing, we were transported over a monochrome, bleak and overcast landscape (as it often is in this part of the Yorkshire Dales). The way Craven Faults navigated this rural map using loops, symmetries, images bleeding in to each other to create this inspired journey was – for me – simply unique.

In front of the screen was an impressive modular synthesiser with a million leads and sockets (patch cables); the artist’s electronic orchestra. I assume the artist was the enigmatic Craven Faults himself. Not sure why, but he reminded me of Jeremy Corbyn (no insult intended), and his gentle, calm modus operandi never drew any attention to himself. Even his response to the spontaneous audience appreciation only drew an unassuming waft of the hand.

The ambient score(s) drew inspiration from Krautrock; Tangerine Dream and particularly Kraftwerk. The visual as well as musical parallels with their 1974 hit Autobahn – Wir fahr’n, fahr’n, fahr’n auf der Autobahn – are striking. But there were the obvious echoes of minimalism – cellular repetition, ostinati, electronic looping and, possibly, Harrison Birtwistle.

Although not from God’s own country, this great Lancastrian composer used musical layers when composing. He talked about an analogy with the construction of the stone walls that feature so powerfully in these rural landscapes.

To be sure, the patchwork of musical layers in this score is not hewn out of the rock face, but those layers are there nonetheless: invariably rooted in square four-beat phrases, the musical base upon which the repeating motives are superimposed. And then the magic happened.

Without any warning, the artist at work became part of the film, and in real time. Like bubbles released into the air, these real-life images floated into being and disappeared. We had the introduction of vintage colour images. It was genuinely transcendental. OK, spookily other-worldly then.

If the performance had ended here, I would have described the composition as a work of genius, but it didn’t. Instead we had a kind of psychedelic kosmische imagery signing-off that put me in mind of Stanley Kubrick’s finale of 2001 A Space Odyssey.

It was either a transformation too far or, at 10.50pm, past my bedtime. Nevertheless, Craven Faults is a truly remarkable artist with something distinct and significant to say.

Review by Steve Crowther

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REVIEW: York Musical Society, Bach’s Mass in B minor, York Minster, March 15

Baritone soloist David John Pike

FOLLOWING a call to prayer, the concert opened with a gravitas-laden Kyrie. It took a moment or two to get into the groove, but despite the ever-generous Minster acoustic, I could hear the choral fugue weaving its way through to a pleasing cadence.

The Christe soprano duet— Zoë Brookshaw and Philippa Boyle — with obbligato violins was in the altogether sunnier key of D major. The singers’ clear, confident deliveries and crisp string articulation brought a welcome relief and respite.

But then back to a second Kyrie fugue. This worked much better; maybe the choir were more at ease with the vocal demands, but I think the greater clarity and confidence benefited from Bach’s doubling of instruments and voices.

Assured string and clear trumpet playing added much to the celebratory opening of the – D major again – Gloria. I did lose a bit of choral detail, but this is a given in this acoustic. Nicola Rainger was on fine form with a disciplined, technically challenging violin obbligato accompaniment to Philippa Boyle’s captivating Laudamus Te.

Despite the impressive, soaring trumpet contribution, the Gratias Agimus Tibi seemed to have that ‘morning after’ quality. The balance between soprano (Zoë Brookshaw), tenor (Nicholas Watts) and flute obbligato (Della Blood) with muted strings was nigh-on perfect.

Indeed, David Pipe’s judgement was an impressive feature throughout the concert. The Qui Sedes Ad Dexteram Patris was sung by countertenor Tom Lilburn, and very well indeed. The clarity, almost purity of tone, worked really well with Jane Wright’s oboe d’amore obbligato accompaniment.

Baritone David John Pike fared less well in the following Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus. I lost detail in the lower register, but as the aria is scored for the bass voice, this really wasn’t surprising. Janus Wadsworth was excellent on horn, but again I found it tricky to hear the bassoon playing with any real clarity.

The closing Cum Sancto Spiritu proved to be an enjoyable fugal first-half signing-off. The tempo was suitably energetic, and the strings in good nick with fine, crisp articulation.

This brought us to a welcome 15-minute break where the audience seemed to bypass chat about the performance in favour of how cold it was.

The Credo is in itself an altogether satisfying movement, probably on account of its clearly defined symmetrical structure. There was an impressive account of Et In Unum Dominum Jesus Christum from Zoë Brookshaw (soprano) and Tom Lilburn (countertenor) with sympathetic string commentary.

The aria Et In Spiritum Sanctum was more suited to the baritone range and gave David John Pike the chance to showcase what a very fine singer he really is. The oboe d’amore obbligati support was really well judged too. However, I could have sworn they were placed stage left. But not so. Of the three central choral sections, the opening five-part chorus Et Incarnatus Est De Spiritu Sancto fared best. In a quiet setting, the performance shone brightly.

By the time we reached the end of the Sanctus, it was clear that, to use a footballing metaphor, there were a lot of tired legs out there. The demands on the chorus are massive and unrelenting.

Yet, following a poignant Agnus Dei performed by Tom Lilburn with yearning string commentary, they rallied to deliver a splendid Dona Nobis Pacem to bring this enormous spiritual journey to a satisfying conclusion.

Finally, we should mention the consistent quality support from organist Shaun Turnbull and the authoritative direction of conductor David Pipe. But I am going to leave the last word with tenor Nicholas Watts. His performance of the Benedictus aria— with lovely flute accompaniment (Louise Evans, I think) — was, for me, the highlight of the concert.

Review by Steve Crowther

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REVIEW: Rowntree Players in Glorious!, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, 2.30pm and 7.30pm today ***

Neil Foster’s Cosme McMoon Jackie Cox’s Florence Foster Jenkins and Mike Hickman’s St Clair Bayfield in the Rowntree Players poster for Glorious!, mirroring the composition of the poster for Stephen Frears’ film, by the way

GLORIOUS! is the true story of 1940s’ New York socialite heiress Florence Foster Jenkins, “the worst singer in the world”, yet cherished by Cole Porter and Tallulah Bankhead, no less.

You may recall Meryl Streep’s Oscar-nominated tour de force in Stephen Frears’ 2016 film or Hull actress Maureen Lipman in the West End premiere of Peter Quilter’s 2005 play with music. Now is the turn of Jackie Cox in Martyn Junter’s elegant production for Rowntree Players.

Meanwhile, as chance would have it, across the Pennines, Wendi Peters is playing Florence in a revised version of Quilter’s joyous drama at the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester until March 30.

In her day, bemused audiences would great the screeching warbling of the deluded Florence with mocking laughter, but in Glorious! the laughter is reserved for Quilter’s script, whose wit is even sharper than Florence’s ever-enthusiastic but far-from-pitch-perfect singing.

We first encounter Cox’s flamboyant Florence in her grand hotel suite abode, where her constantly supportive manager and long-time companion, failed British Shakespearean actor St Clair Bayfield (Mike Hickman), has arranged for dapper Cosme McMoon  (Neil Foster) to be her new piano accompanist.

Apparently, St Clair has been cut from the streamlined Manchester production, but Hickman makes you wonder why as he continues his run of impressive performances with this arch, dry-humoured fixer.

Foster’s McMoon takes his place behind assorted grand pianos through the show, his face a picture of alrm when he first encounters the shocking noise of “the First Lady of the sliding scale”.

It becomes a running joke how McMoon’s eloquence allows him to seemingly flatter Florence by leaving out the exact word that would insult her and yet impart that meaning to the audience. Here Quilter’s delicious, mischievous writing is at its best, along with the moment he plays a delightful trick on the audience in a funeral scene, turning sombre repose to chuckles.

Florence loves to sing, loves to dress up, loves to entertain, loves to raise money for charity, loves music, but she does not take kindly to criticism, vetting her potential audiences by restricting entry to invitation only to her notorious balls.

She is shielded from the truth by kindly/sycophantic friends, such as Dorothy (Jeanette Hunter in a double act with a stuffed dog), but in Cox’s hands you cannot but warm to her passion for performing, even if you cover your ears when another high note falls off the cliff edge.

What’s more, like comedian Les Dawson’s deliberately maladroit piano playing, it takes skill to sing always tantalisingly either side of the right note. Director Hunter encouraged Cox to worsen her singing in rehearsal, advice that pays off in Cox’s indestructible performance.

Her Madame is neither an operatic diva, nor a circus freak show, more a singing equivalent to Olympian ski jumper Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards in still giving pleasure for all the faults in her technique. Quilter brings so much heart her character and to his storytelling, summed up in a poignant finale where we are invited to think how Florence, by now in angel wings for her triumphant Carnegie Hall farewell, thought she sounded when she sang.

That angelic frock is but one of many striking costume choices by Julie Fisher and Cox herself, matched by the set design with yellow walls and green doors for Florence’s hotel apartment.  Abundant flowers adorn the stage, courtesy of Robert Readman and cast members, and if Cox’s singing puts teeth on edge, the soothing recorded piano arrangements by Sam Johnson are of the highest order.

Martyn Hunter pops up in dapper dinner jacket to play a CBS news reporter, Graham Smith has a cameo as the Undertaker, and Quilter’s skill at crafting humorous characters is further affirmed by Moira Tait’s Maria, Florence’s Mexican maid, who sticks stoically to speaking Spanish  – aside from “sandwiches” – but understands every English utterance in another running gag.

Chris Higgins draws boos for her performance as Mrs Verrinder-Gedge, not for the quality of her acting, be assured, but for her music snob’s rude, mean-spirited interruption of Madame’s concert.

Not boos, but cheers, even tears, accompany Florence’s swan song – fitting for Rowntree Players’ polished, amusing, ultimately poignant show. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when the XXX factor hits the gallery walls. Hutch’s List No. 11 from The York Press

York Pop artist Harland Miller with his new work York from his XXX exhibition at York Art Gallery. Picture: Olivia Hemingway

FROM Harland Miller’s Pop Art to Emma Rice’s theatrical world premiere of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, these are exciting times for arts exploits, Charles Hutchinson reports.

XXXhibition launch of the week: Harland Miller: XXX, York Art Gallery, until August 31, open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm

YORK-RAISED artist and writer Harland Miller has returned to York Art Gallery to launch XXX, showcasing paintings and works on paper from his Letter Paintings series, including the unveiling of several new paintings, not least ‘York’, a floral nod to Yorkshire’s white rose and York’s daffodils.   

Inspired by his upbringing in 1970s’ Yorkshire and an itinerant lifestyle in New York, New Orleans, Berlin and Paris during the 1980s and 1990s, Miller creates colourful and graphically vernacular works that convey his love of popular language and attest to his enduring engagement with its narrative, aural and typographical possibilities. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk.

David John Pike: Baritone soloist at York Musical Society’s concert

Classical concert of the week: York Musical Society, Bach Mass in B minor, York Minster, tonight, 7.30pm

DAVID Pipe conducts York Musical Society’s singers and orchestra in Bach’s epic choral work, replete with magnificent choruses, resplendent fugues, moving arias and soloists Zoe Brookshaw and Philippa Boyle (both soprano), Tom Lilburn (countertenor), Nicholas Watts (tenor) and Canadian/British/Luxembourger David John Pike (baritone), who returned to music after initially training and working as a chartered accountant. Tickets: available from York Minster or on the door.

Tayla Kenyon: Exploring memories and the choices we make in Fluff at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Fringe play of the week: Teepee Productions and Joe Brown present Fluff, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

NOW is the time for Fluff to do the ultimate puzzle: her life. As she navigates her way through her most treasured and darkest memories, she desperately needs to piece together her life, story by story, person by person.

Tayla Kenyon performs solo in her darkly comedic 75-minutre play, co written with James Piercy, as she explores memories and the choices we make, using a non-linear plot line to enable the audience to feel, first hand, the devastating effects of dementia. Box office:  tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Ewan Wardrop in rehearsal for his role as reluctant hero Roger Thornhill in Wise Children’s production of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, premiering at York Theatre Royal from March 18

World premiere of the week in York: Wise Children in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, York Theatre Royal, March 18 to April 5, 7.30pm plus 2pm, March 26 and April 3; 2.30pm, March 29 and April 5

IT would be strange if, in a city of seven million people, one man were never mistaken for another…and that is exactly what happens to Roger Thornhill, reluctant hero of North By Northwest, when a mistimed phone call to his mother lands him smack bang in the middle of a Cold War conspiracy. Now he is on the run, dodging spies, airplanes and a femme fatale who might not be all she seems.

Wise Children writer-director Emma Rice turns film legend Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller on its head in her riotously humorous reworking. Replete with six shape-shifting performers, a fabulous 1950s’ soundtrack and a heap of hats, this dazzling co-production with York Theatre Royal, HOME Manchester and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse plays with heart, mind and soul in a topsy-turvy drama full of glamour, romance, jeopardy and a liberal sprinkling of tender truths. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Nina Wadia’s Gemma and Sam Bailey’s April in NOW That’s What I Call A Musical, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Pamela Raith

Musical of the week: NOW That’s What I Call A Musical, Grand Opera House, York, March 18 to 22, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm matinees, Wednesday and Saturday

DIRECTED by Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood, comedian Pippa Evans’s hit-laden musical is set in Birmingham in 1989 and 2009. Back in the day, school friends Gemma Warner and April Devonshire are planning their lives based on Number One magazine quizzes and dreaming of snogging Rick Astley. Twenty years later, Gemma (Nina Wadia) and April (The X Factor winner Sam Bailey) face  the most dreaded event of their adult lives: the school reunion.

Drama, old flames and receding hairlines come together as friends reunite and everything from the past starts to slot into place. Sinitta, Eighties’s pop star of So Macho and Toy Boy fame, will be the guest star all week in a show featuring Gold, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Tainted Love, Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves et al. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

In the Strummer time: Stiff Little Fingers’ Ali McMordie, left, Steve Grantley, Jake Burns and Ian McCallum pay tribute to The Clash punk hero at York Barbican. Picture: Will Byington

Punk gig of the week: Stiff Little Fingers, Flame In Our Hearts Tour, York Barbican, March 18, doors 7pm

NORTHERN Irish punk legends Stiff Little Fingers’ tour title is a nod their 2003 track Summerville, recorded to mark the untimely passing of Joe Strummer of The Clash.

Frontman Jake Burns says: “The opening line to the song is ‘You lit a flame in my heart’ and still stands strong today as it did when I wrote it. Joe was a legend and a huge influence on myself and the band. Calling the tour Flame In The Heart keeps Joe in everyone’s memory.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. Meanwhile, Monday’s double bill of The Darkness and special guests Ash has sold out.

Nearly here: Paddy McGuinness brings his Nearly There tour to York Barbican next Thursday

Comedy gig of the week: Paddy McGuinness, Nearly There, York Barbican, March 20, 7.45pm

FARNWORTH comedian, television and radio presenter and game show host Paddy McGuinness plays York on his first stand-up itinerary since 2016. Launching the 40 dates last year, he said: “It’s been eight years since my last tour and there’s lots of things to laugh about! I’m looking forward to getting back in front of a live audience, along with running the gauntlet of cancel culture, click bait and fake news.” Tickets update: only a handful of single seats still available at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Dr Rangan Chatterjee: Health and happiness tips at York Barbican

Meet “the architect of health and happiness”: Dr Rangan Chatterjee, The Thrive Tour 2025, York Barbican, March 21, 7.30pm

JOIN Dr Rangan Chatterjee, inspirational host of Europe’s biggest health podcast, Feel Better, Live More, author and star of BBC One’s Doctor In The House, for two transformative hours of learning the skill of happiness, discovering the secrets to optimal health, breaking free from habits that hold you back and discovering how to make changes that last. “Be empowered, be inspired and learn how to thrive,” he says. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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Now that’s what I call a debut musical role for Nina Wadia at Grand Opera House

Nina Wadia’s Gemma Warner, left, and Sam Bailey’s April Devonshire in NOW That’s What I Call A Musical, on tour at Grand Opera House, York, next week. Picture: Pamela Raith

NINA Wadia grew up listening to the NOW tapes. “For me, being part of this musical is like going home,” she says, as NOW That’s What I Call A Musical heads to the Grand Opera House, York, next week.

On tour since last September, comedian-writer Pippa Evans’s fun-filled show, bursting with Whitney Houston, Wham!,  Blondie, Tears For Fears, Spandau Ballet hits and many more besides, offers the chance to relive the playlist of your lives in celebration of 40 years of the NOW That’s What I Call Music compilation brand.

“When I read the script, I immediately fell in love with the characters and Pippa’s story,” says Nina who “couldn’t wait to get started on my first ever musical”.

Profiling herself on social media as “Mother, Actress, Producer and Presenter”, Nina has embraced everything, from radio drama company regular to soap opera, in a career that has taken in the  BBC Asian sketch comedy in Goodness Gracious; TV roles as Aunty Noor in Citizen Khan, Mrs Hussein in Still Open All Hours and Zainab Masood in EastEnders; being a video game voiceover artist and narrator for the animated series Tweedy And Fluff on Channel 5’s Milkshake and taking her terpsichorean turn as a Strictly Come Dancing contestant in 2021. She is a charity campaigner too, honoured with an OBE.

NOW That’s What I Call A Musical director-choreographer Craig Revel Horwood and writer Pippa Evans

Now she is starring alongside Sam Bailey, 2013 winner of The X Factor, and Eighties’ pop star Sinitta, of So Macho and Toy Boy fame, in Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood’s touring production of NOW That’s What I Call A Musical.

“I did a workshop for it in October 2023 and thought nothing of it at first because we do a lot of workshops; sometimes things happen; sometimes they don’t, but this one has worked out,” says Nina. “It’s a really fun piece, right up my street, comedy and drama mixed together, but I was a bit confused because music was not my thing.

“But I did sing in the York Theatre Royal panto that winter [playing the kooky Fairy Sugarsnap in Jack And The Beanstalk], and the next thing I knew, they offered me the show, and I thought ‘I’ll take the chance’. It’s been such fun, getting my singing voice up to speed and working with this incredible cast: 21 of us, a huge cast!”

Pippa Evans’s show heads back to 1989 in Birmingham, where school friends Gemma Warner and April Devonshire are busy with planning their lives based on Number One Magazine quizzes and dreaming of snogging Rick Astley.

Nina Wadia with NOW That’s What I Call A Musical co-star Sinitta. Picture: Oliver Rosser

Cut to Birmingham 2009, for the most dreaded event of their adult lives: the school reunion. Drama, old flames and receding hairlines come together as friends reunite and everything from the past starts to slot into place for Nina Wadia’s Gemma and Sam Bailey’s April.

“It’s like a play within a musical and people come away very, very surprised, not expecting what they see,” says Nina. “Then everyone is up on their feet at the end for the medley.”

Nina and Sam are joined by a rotating roster of star turns on the tour run, whether Sinitta, Sonia, T’Pau’s Carol Decker, Jay Osmond or, for one week only in Edinburgh, Toyah Willcox.

“They each do a special fantasy sequence, coming on to do a big number and the megamix at the end,” says Nina. “It’ll be Sinitta doing it in York and she’s so much fun. All our guest stars bring their own style to it, and Sinitta has a real diva style, sending herself up.”

Nina Wadia: Mother, actress, producer, presenter, voiceover artist and charity campaigner

The magic roundabout of guests brings it challenges. “It’s on a wing and a prayer and that’s genuinely half the fun of it, because audiences find it hilarious,” says Nina. “We’ve had maybe two four-hour sessions before they each perform with us.”

She is full of praise for Pippa Evans’s script. “Pippa said she really wanted me to be in the show and wrote the part of Gemma for me, which is a real compliment. She has a wonderful ability to come up with a line where I can make people laugh and also feel empathy and she really understands friendships and how they work,” says Nina.

“My best friends are from when I was 18/19, when you have big dreams, and in this story they’re two friends who’ve not seen each other for 20 years. You see their younger selves with all their dreams and then the second half really flies as you see what’s happened to them.

“It’s funny for 80 per cent of it but you also get invested in it really quickly, going from belly laughing to not being sure what to think, from laughter to crying to dancing at the end.”

Nina Wadia’s Fairy Sugarsnap in Jack And The Beanstalk, York Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions’ pantomime in 2023-2024

Nina is looking forward to her return to York. “I was really quite ill at the start of the panto, which was so upsetting as it was my first time in York, and what’s lovely is that I now get to do what I wanted t do while I was in the panto, which is to train my voice and use it properly,” she says.

“I’m not a musical theatre actor, so the best advice I was given was that if you sing in character, as Gemma, the voice just comes. That advice came from Georgia, our musical director, who said ‘don’t be nervous’and gave me so many different vocal exercises to do. If I felt nervous in September, by October I felt really invested in it and now I love it.”

ROYO, Universal Music UK, Sony Music Entertainment and Mighty Village present  NOW That’s What I Call A Musical, Grand Opera House, York, March 18 to 22, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york

Copyright of The Press, York.

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Graham Fellows marks 40 years of genial John Shuttleworth on Raise The Oof tour and with a new book and album too

Punching the air: John Shuttleworth marks 40 years of bonhomie, bon mots and persistently, perkily mundane yet quirkily profound songs at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, Sheffield City Hall, King’s Hall, Ilkley, Hull Truck Theatre, The Forum, Northallerton and Scarborough Spa. Picture: Tony Briggs

ACTOR, writer and musician Graham Fellows created his comic alter ego John Shuttleworth, good-natured Sheffield sage and perky Yamaha organ purveyor of charmingly mundane songs, when he was 26.

“John was 46. Very specifically I made him 20 years older than me,” recalls Graham, as Shuttleworth’s 40th anniversary tour, Raise The Off, arrives at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall tonight  to herald a run of Yorkshire performances.

After four decades, how old is John now? “Listening to an old radio show from 1999 on Sunday, I was surprised when he said ‘let a man in his late-fifties’, because I still think of him as being in his late-fifties. He has aged slower and slower. Maybe he’s about 62 now – and I don’t really want  John to have grandchildren.”

You don’t need to be a mathematician to work out that Graham’s own age has outstripped Shuttleworth’s age: he will turn 66 on May 22.

Ironically, John Shuttleworth, with his leather jacket, slacks, slick side parting, glasses and love of mints, always seemed older than he was. “I think that’s true,” says Graham. “I guess that’s partly because he started as a 46-year-old perceived by a 26-year-old without the knowledge of what it’s like to be 46.

“It’s an interesting subject but extremely difficult to analyse, but  I do think he’s still a bit old for his age. He’s still fixated on bands like Sister Sledge and The Pointer Sisters, with lots of references to the Eighties.”

Graham’s Shuttleworth act “hasn’t really changed”, but the audience profile has. “”A lot of them are the same people  that have always come to the shows, but some are bringing their sons and daughters and even their grandchildren,” he says.

Could he envisage ever putting Shuttleworth out to grass? “I can’t kill him off, but maybe I’ll make him retire or be inundated with so much DIY work that he can’t tour any more,” says Graham. “But my biggest problem is I’ve always had a bad memory and as an actor I struggled with that. A couple of years ago I had to turn down a big part as I had sleepless nights about remembering the lines.

The book cover artwork for John Shuttleworth Takes The Biscuit!

“Now, I have a banana on stage for the Raise The Oof shows, and [if he goes awry] I’ll take a bite and do a joke about Andy Murray and bananas, and by then I usually remember what I was talking about, though obviously I can’t do that too much in one show.”

The ageing process is kicking in. “My mind is wearing out! My body is wearing out! My memory is wearing out! Now my keyboards are wearing out! I’ve had some bad luck with them,” says Graham. “Even my leather jacket is wearing out.”

Through the years, Shuttleworth has worked his way through more sweaters than slacks and maybe four jackets. That clothes list triggers Graham’s memory of one particular night at Clapham Grand. “It was only when I arrived that I realised my jacket had been left behind in Newcastle-under-Lyme,” he says. “Incredibly, someone in the audience was wearing a very similar jacket and he was encouraged to swap it for my sweater for the night.”

In another sign of the passage of time, “I used to carry a make-up box to apply grey to my hai; now I have grey hair. I used to apply crow’s feet around  my eyes, now I  don’t have to. In the way that Tintin always looks the same, I always thought John would look the same…though he did wear a cagoule in 500 Bus Stops [John’s 1997 mini TV series].”

Graham has developed further comic characters, such as failed rock historian Brian Appleton and Goole concreter Dave Tordoff, but he acknowledges that John Shuttleworth has “outshone them, out-performed them”. “You go where the money he is,” he says. “But the thing about Shuttleworth is that he has the songs and he has depth and range.”

Putting together Shuttleworth’s 40th anniversary show, with its combination of nostalgia, new stories and a new song, The Ballad Of Dangly Man, Graham says: “I think I know what works, but as you get older, your enthusiasm to do the work and the sheer effort to come up with new stuff, when your energy levels have gone down a bit…

…I look back at the inventiveness of the radio show with four of five characters all being played me and Martin Willis providing me with extra material until he passed away.”

There is no evidence of decreasing energy, however: not only is John Shuttleworth on tour from January 29 to May 16 with tales of his early days with neighbour Ken Worthington, the humorous realities of married life with miserable wife Mary, and his relentless mission to make it big in music, but here come a book and CD, both out now.

The sleeve artwork for John Shuttleworth’s new album, The Pumice Stone & Other Rock Songs

On March 6, Omnibus Press published John Shuttleworth Takes The Biscuit!, A Crumbly Selection of Songs and Stories, full of tales and homespun advice from his life in and around Sheffield, brought to life with cartoons by Graham’s’ long-time friend and collaborator, Kevin Baldwin.

What did Graham learn about Shuttleworth from writing the book? “I learnt that John is a bottomless well and I certainly learnt about myself – that I’m a lazy sod who kept putting it off,” he says. “It was a bit of a struggle to come up with new stories but I’ve also used old stories and Kevin’s wonderful cartoons.

“I felt some of my songs leant themselves to pictures and my girlfriend suggested doing them like a graphic novel, so Kevin, who animated Henry’s Cat, did these graphic novel designs.

“The way he’s depicted Mary and Ken, I’m not sure he’s got them quite right – [making Mary fat and giving Ken ginger hair], but he got John and Joan Chitty just right.”

Look out too for The Pumice Stone & Other Rock Songs album, available at shuttleworths.co.uk and at gigs.

John Shuttleworth: Raise The Oof, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, tonight (last few tickets) and tomorrow (sold out), 7.30pm. Also playing: Sheffield City Hall, March 26, 8pm; King’s Hall, Ilkley, April 1, 7.30pm; Hull Truck Theatre, April 2, 7.30pm; The Forum, Northallerton, April 10,7.30pm, and Scarborough Spa, April 11, 7.30pm.

Box office: Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com; Sheffield, ticketmaster.co.uk; Ilkley, bradford-theatres.co.uk; Hull, 01 482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk; Scarborough, ticketmaster.co.uk.

The poster for John Shuttleworth’s Raise The Oof! tour

John Shuttleworth on his 40th anniversary tour, Raise The Oof!

“ACTUALLY, I feel rather calm, although after 40 years and still no chart success, perhaps I should be slightly anxious,” muses John. “My wife Mary says I should get a proper job, but there’s not time – I’m about to retire!

“Besides, Comet – where I used to demonstrate audio equipment – no longer exists. As for the sweet factory in the Rotherham area where I worked as a security guard in the 1980s, that’s now an Axe Throwing Centre. Oof!

“But I’m still posting off my songs (on cassette tape with Dolby, so it’s not too hissy) to cutting-edge pop acts like Chris Rea and the Lighthouse Family, plus I’m still being booked for nostalgic singalongs at the local hospice (for petrol money only), so we have every reason to celebrate my long and illustrious career.

“Do come along and join me in punching the air, and helping – in an orderly and controlled fashion – to RAISE THE OOF!”

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The Wedding Present’s musical, Reception, to be unwrapped at Slung Low HQ The Warehouse in Holbeck, Leeds, this summer

David Gedge: Songwriter and frontman of The Wedding Present and Cinerama

YORK writer-director Matt Aston’s new musical inspired by David Gedge’s songs for The Wedding Present and Cinerama, will premiere at Slung Low’s theatre space, The Warehouse, in Holbeck, Leeds, from August 22 to September 6.

Reception’s story of love, loss, break-ups and breakdowns – everything you would expect from a Wedding Present song – is built around a group of Leeds University friends that keeps in touch over five years of trials, tribulations and life events, from a graduation ceremony and a stage & hen do to a funeral, wedding and, of course, the accompanying reception.

Set in and around Leeds in the late-1980s, Reception will be presented to a mixture of cabaret-style seating – with  ‘wedding guests’ enjoying a glass of fizz on arrival and a three-course meal – as well  as more traditional raked seating.

The idea of a musical spun around Gedge’s songs had been brewing for writer and director Matt Aston over several years and serendipitously comes to fruition on the 40th anniversary of the Weddoes’ debut single Go Out And Get ’Em Boy – on the Reception Records label that prompted the show’s title.

Matt met Tony Ereira, director of Leeds record labels Come Play With Me and Clue Records, inevitably at a Wedding Present gig, in Leeds in early 2019, when the seeds of the play were duly sown.

“I started talking about it with David [Gedge] five years ago, just before the Covid lockdown,” recalls Matt. “We raised money through crowdfunding, I wrote the draft script and did some R&D (research and development), and got the show pencilled in for a couple of venues, but they fell through in the Covid backlog.

“But then, in 2024, I met Alan Lane at Slung Low, where I went to see their new space in Holbeck. He was really up for it and we set it in motion before Alan left to become artistic director for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Alan is still Slung Low’s vice-chair, and venue manager Matt Angrove has taken over the arrangements for the show.

“They’ve been great in finding dates for us and in liaising with The Wedding Present to fit in with the 40th anniversary.”

Reception will wrap its story around songs from four decades of The Wedding Present, Cinerama’s back catalogue and a new Gedge composition.song.

The Wedding Present & Cinerama: the back story

THE Wedding Present were formed in 1985 by David Gedge, who had graduated from the University of Leeds in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics in 1981, and continue to tour and release new music today with vocalist and guitarist Gedge as the only constant member.

Their songwriting has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of The Fall, Buzzcocks and fellow Leeds band Gang Of Four to more varied forms. They have bothered the UK Singles Chart’s Top 40 on 18 occasions, including a history-making run of 12 singles – one for each month – in 1992, matching Elvis Presley’s achievement for a single year.

Cinerama were formed by Gedge in 1998, subsequently released a series of singles and albums significantly different in musical style to The Wedding  Present, rooted in French-influenced cinematic/soundtrack-style arrangements.