Lights out: Ellen Kent Company’s La Boheme at the Grand Opera House on Friday falls victim to Coronavirus social contact measures
THE Grand Opera House, York, is suspending all shows with immediate effect in light of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Coronavirus statement to “avoid unnecessary social contact”.
Mark Cornell, group chief executive officer of the Ambassador Theatre Group, the theatre’s owners, has issued a group-wide statement. “In response to the Prime Minister’s statement this evening, advising the UK public to avoid unnecessary social contact, including in theatres, we regret to inform you that shows in all Ambassador Theatre Group UK venues are temporarily suspended with immediate effect,” he said.
“We understand that this decision comes as a disappointment, and a massive inconvenience for those of you already on the way to a venue this evening, but ultimately we all want the same thing: the health and safety of our communities, and we believe this is the correct decision to make.”
Mr Cornell’s statement continued: “Given the current ambiguity and lack of clarity as to how long our theatres may be closed for, we hope to provide you with an update within the next 48 hours regarding the exchange of tickets. We will be consulting with industry bodies including the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre and the government over the immediate future.
“For now, we would like to thank you for your understanding and patience,
and to recognise the incredible efforts and support of producers, artists,
partners and customers over this difficult period.”
The Grand Opera House has no show tonight, but Round The Horne is in the diary for Wednesday; Psychic Sally, 10 Years And Counting for Thursday; Ellen Kent Company’s La Boheme for Friday and Madama Butterfly for Saturday, and the musical Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story for March 24 to 28.
Meanwhile, Tom Bird, executive director of York Theatre Royal, was holding a meeting this evening. A statement will follow.
Still on…then off: Jimmy Dalgleish as Tom, left, Olivia Caley as Hattie and Jack Hambleton asTom in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Tom’s Midnight Garden. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
Tonight’s 7.30pm performance of Tom’s Midnight Garden at the John Cooper Studio, Theatre @41 Monkate, York IS going ahead, but Pick Me Up Theatre artistic director Robert Readman will call off this week’s run after that.
His Twitter statement at 6.38pm this evening read: “In light of the Government’s latest measures, we will be closing Tom’s Midnight Garden after tonight’s show. Do come if you have tix for another day and we will accommodate as many as possible. We are also sad to announce the postponement of Sondheim 90 and The Pirates Of Penzance. “
Sondheim 90: A Birthday Concert, in celebration of Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday was to have taken place on Sunday; Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates Of Penzance from April 17 to 25, both at 41 Monkgate.
The poster for Sheridan Smith’s return to playing Cilla Black, this time on tour in Cilla The Musical
SHERIDAN Smith will revisit
her portrayal of Cilla Black in Cilla The Musical at Leeds Grand Theatre from
November 9 to 21.
She first played the late Liverpool
pop star and television presenter in Jeff Pope’s award-winning ITV mini-series
Cilla in 2015.
The part was written for Smith originally for a stage show but was then transferred to television, whereupon her performance won her a 2015 National TV Award and TV Choice Award and she was nominated for a BAFTA and EMMY Award too.
Now, expecting a baby in May, 38-year-old Smith has agreed to step inside the role of Cilla once more in impresario Bill Kenwright’s stage production, penned again by Pope.
Sheridan Smith in the role of Cilla Black for ITV’s 2015 mini-series Cilla
Her past theatre credits include her first Olivier Award nomination for Little Shop Of Horrors at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London, and her first Olivier Award and WhatsOnStage Award for playing Elle Woods in Legally Blonde The Musical.
Smith, from Epworth, near Doncaster, then won an Olivier Award and an Evening Standard Theatre Award for her role as Doris in Flare Path. Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler at The Old Vic brought her another WhatsOnStage Best Actress Award and she enjoyed a celebrated run in the West End as Fanny Bryce in Funny Girl in 2018.
Cilla The Musical’s heart-warming musical adaptation of Pope’s television series first toured in 2017, when nominated for Best New Musical in the WhatsOnStage Awards.
Kara Lily Hayworth played Cilla after
ten rounds of auditions and a final four sing-off at The Cavern in Liverpool
for the tour that visited the Grand Opera House, York, in January 2018.
Kara Lily Hayworth played Cilla in the tour of Cilla The Musical that visited the Grand Opera House, York, in January 2018
Directed by Kenwright and Bob Tomson,
Pope’s story “follows the extraordinary life of an ordinary teenage girl from
Liverpool, Priscilla White, and her rocky, yet incredible, rise to fame”.
By the age of 25, she was recognised as
international singing star Cilla Black. By 30, she had become Britain’s
favourite television entertainer, leading to such series as Blind Date and Surprise Surprise.
The musical score features such Cilla landmarks as Anyone Who Had A Heart, Alfie and Something Tells Me.
Tickets are on sale on 0844 848 2700
or at leedsgrandtheatre.com.
Did you know?
JEFF Pope wrote the screenplays for Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman; Essex Boys; Philomenaand Stan & Ollie. His television work includes the BAFTA-winning ITV drama Mrs Biggs and Cilla, both starring Sheridan Smith.
THERE’S still life in the boyz! Boyzlife, the supergroup of Irish boy
band graduates Brian McFadden, from Westlife, and Boyzone’s Keith Duffy, will
play York Barbican on October 15.
Their live show is drawn from a joint back catalogue of 18 number one
singles, nine chart-topping albums and combined global record sales of 60
million. Expect to hear World Of Our Own, Mandy, Uptown Girl and Flying Without
Wings among many fan favourites.
First playing together in 2016, Boyzlife embarked on part one of their
2020 travels on February 1 at Hull Bonus Arena, selling more than 35,000
tickets for a 32-date tour that will run until March 28, with limited tickets
still available for Sheffield City Hall on March 24 (box office, 0114 2
789 789 or sheffieldcityhall.co.uk).
Part two of the tour is booked in for September 1 to November 1, taking in
further Yorkshire dates at Victoria Theatre, Halifax, on September 10, The
Dome, Doncaster, October 17, and Scarborough Spa, October 23.
McFadden, 39, featured on all Westlife’s number one singles and albums before
leaving in 2004, since when he has released five albums and 17 singles in a
solo career launched with the UK number one Real To Me in September 2004.
Duffy, 45,finished touring with Boyzone on October 25 last year
on their Thank You And Goodnight Tour after six UK number one singles and five
number one albums in a career where he also has branched out into acting in
Coronation Street, Broken Nation and Fair City.
York tickets go on sale from today on 0203 356 5441, at yorkbarbican.co.uk or in person from the Barbican box office; Halifax, 01422 351158 or victoriatheatre.co.uk; Doncaster, 01302 370777 and 08442 770700 or dcit.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 821888 or scarbroughspa.co.uk.
PICK Me Up Theatre will celebrate Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday in a night of song on March 22, the very day the New York composer and lyricist enters his tenth decade.
Already
the York company has produced four of his musicals, Into The Woods, Assassins,
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street and Follies.
“So, on
the evening of the great man’s 90th, we’ll be presenting an evening
of his finest music in his honour with a cast of 21, performing under musical
director Tim Selman on piano,” says artistic director Robert Readman, who will
be among those 21 voices at the John Cooper Studio, Theatre @41 Monkgate, York.
“This will be one performance only of songs from every show, movie and TV special Sondheim has written the words and music to, from 1955 through to 2013.”
Group numbers will include Children Will Listen; Our Time; Not Getting Married Today; Bring Me My Bride and Sunday, alongside music from A Little Night Music; Dick Tracey; Sweeney Todd; Company; Roadshow; Follies; Into The Woods, Anyone Can Whistle and Sunday In The Park With George.
Performing with Readman at 7.30pm will be Andrew Isherwood; Alan Park; Jennie Wogan; Darren Lumby; Emma Louise Dickinson; David Radford; Susannah Baines; Andrew Roberts; Ed Atkin; Frankie Bounds; Natalie Walker; Adam Price; Mark Hird; Sam Hird; Catherine Foster; Alex Mather; Maya Tether; Flo Poskitt; Juliet Waters and Ryan Smith.
Tickets for Sondheim 90, A Birthday Concert, cost £15,
concessions £13, on 01904 523568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or pickmeuptheatre.com
or in person from York Gin, in Pavement, or the York Theatre Royal box office.
The full programme for Sondheim 90, A Birthday Concert:
INTRODUCTION – The Frogs – ANDREW ISHERWOOD & ALAN PARK
THE TWO OF YOU – Kukla, Fran & Ollie – JENNIE WOGAN
TAKE ME TO THE WORLD – Evening Primrose – DARREN LUMBY & EMMA
LOUISE DICKINSON
THEY ASK ME WHY I BELIEVE IN YOU – I Believe In You – DAVID RADFORD
EVERYBODY SAYS DON’T – Anyone Can Whistle – SUSANNAH BAINES
SATURDAY NIGHT – Saturday Night – ANDREW ROBERTS, ED ATKIN,
FRANKIE BOUNDS, ANDREW ISHERWOOD & COMPANY
SO MANY PEOPLE – Saturday Night – NATALIE WALKER & ADAM PRICE
THE BEST THING THAT HAS HAPPENED – Road Show – SAM HIRD & ADAM
PRICE
LOVE I HEAR – A Funny Thing Happened On To The Way To The Forum –
FRANKIE BOUNDS
BRING ME MY BRIDE – A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum
– MARK HIRD
RAIN ON THE ROOF – Follies – ANDREW ROBERTS & CATHERINE FOSTER
YOU COULD DRIVE A PERSON CRAZY – Company – ALEX MATHER, EMMA
LOUISE DICKINSON & MAYA TETHER
GETTING MARRIED TODAY – Company – FLO POSKITT
AGONY – Into The Woods – DARREN LUMBY & SAM HIRD
MOVE ON – Sunday In The Park With George – EMMA LOUISE DICKINSON
& ADAM PRICE
THE LADIES WHO LUNCH – Company – JULIET WATERS
GOODBYE FOR NOW – Reds – DARREN LUMBY
LIVE ALONE AND LIKE IT – Dick Tracy – DAVID RADFORD
MORE – Dick Tracy – MAYA TETHER
NOT A DAY GOES BY – Merrily We Roll Along – ALEX MATHER
FEAR NO MORE – The Frogs – SAM HIRD
CHILDREN WILL LISTEN – Into The Woods – SUSANNAH BAINES &
COMPANY
OUR TIME – Merrily We Roll Along – FULL COMPANY
Second half:
PRETTY LADY – Pacific Overtures – DAVID RADFORD, ED ATKIN &
ANDREW ROBERTS
KISS ME/LADIES IN THEIR SENSITIVITIES – Sweeney Todd – ALEX
MATHER, SAM HIRD, MARK HIRD & RYAN SMITH
JOHANNA – Sweeney Todd – ED ATKIN
NOT WHILE I’M AROUND – Sweeney Todd – JENNIE WOGAN
A LITTLE PRIEST – Sweeney Todd – RYAN SMITH & SUSANNAH BAINES
GIANTS IN THE SKY – Into The Woods – FRANKIE BOUNDS
THE MILLER’S SONG – A Little Night Music – EMMA LOUISE DICKINSON
BROADWAY BABY – Follies – FLO POSKITT
LOVE WILL SEE US THROUGH/YOU’RE GONNA LOVE TOMORROW – Follies –
SAM HIRD, ADAM PRICE, EMMA LOUISE DICKINSON & NATALIE WALKER
THE BALLAD OF GUITEAU – Assassins – SAM HIRD & MARK HIRD
FRANKLIN SHEPARD INC. – Merrily We Roll Along – ALAN PARK
EVERYBODY OUGHT TO HAVE A MAID – A Funny Thing Happened On The Way
To The Forum – SAM HIRD, MARK HIRD, ROBERT READMAN & ANDREW ROBERTS
ANYONE CAN WHISTLE – Anyone Can Whistle – ALEX MATHER
NO ONE HAS EVER LOVED ME – Passion – ADAM PRICE
LOVING YOU – Passion – SUSANNAH BAINES
UNWORTHY OF YOUR LOVE – Assassins – ALAN PARK & CATHERINE
FOSTER
LOSING MY MIND – Follies – MAYA TETHER
WHAT CAN YOU LOSE – Dick Tracy – DARREN LUMBY
BEING ALIVE – Company – DAVID RADFORD
SEND IN THE CLOWNS – A Little Night Music – JULIET WATERS
BIRTHDAY CAKE SCENE – Company
SUNDAY – Sunday In The Park With George – FULL COMPANY.
Ellen Kent’s production of La Boheme: lighting up the Grand Opera House, York, on March 20
OPERA producer and
director Ellen Kent returns to the Grand Opera House, York, with a brace of Puccini
productions next week.
Under the Opera
International umbrella, she presents La Bohème on March 20 and Madama Butterfly
the following night, with sopranos Elena Dee, from Korea, and Alyona Kistenyova,
from Odessa National Opera, billed for the 7.30pm performances, subject to cast
changes.
Ukrainian tenor and former military pilot Vitalii
Liskovetskyi, from the Kiev National Opera, will be reprising his role as
Rodolfo in La Bohème; Spanish tenor Giorgio Meladze, who sang with José
Carreras in 2014, plays Pinkerton in Madama
Butterfly; Moldovan baritone Iurie Gisca will be singing Marcello in La
Bohème.
Soprano Marina Tonina takes the role of
Musetta in La Bohème and both productions will feature a full chorus, orchestra
and sumptuous sets and be sung in Italian with English surtitles.
Set in the
backstreets and attics of bohemian Paris, La Bohème tells the tragic tale of
the doomed romance of consumptive seamstress Mimi and penniless Rodolfo.
Madama Butterfly’s heat-breaking story of the beautiful young Japanese girl who falls in love with an American naval lieutenant, with entirely predictable consequences in the world of opera, will be staged with a Japanese garden and antique wedding kiminos.
Tickets are on sale on 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york.
Look out for the dog in Ellen Kent’s La Boheme next week
Here, Ellen Kent answers questions on her 2020 production of Puccini’s opera of love and loss, La Bohème, a touring show inspired by Ellen reading George Orwell’s Down And Out In Paris.
What can the Grand Opera House audience expect from your production,
Ellen?
“I like to provide shows at a very high level and I like large productions, so the feel is very much of a big show.
“I try to put everything into it, from the sets to the artists on the stage, and I like to add things. For example, with La Bohème, I have these fabulous visuals. I’m a very visual director and producer, so I give audiences the whole package.
“The overall experience is of something that is very beautiful, with gorgeous and spectacular sets. The curtain goes up and, depending on the opera of course, I want the audience to feel the ‘Wow’ factor. The sets have got to be beautiful and I like to wrap something visually stunning around the plot.”
How are you staging La Bohème?
“It’s set in the French Impressionist period, so my sets reflect that. For instance, I’ve gone for a beautiful Chagall and Renoir feel and it’s quite stunning. You get this beautiful French Impressionist flavour and everything is done to serve that, so when you look at it, it’s a bit like an Impressionist painting.
“I like to dress my sets, so in LaBohème, for instance, Act One is set in an attic and it’s got all these wonderful rooftops, as if they’ve been painted by one of the great French artists.
“Then I like to add something more realistic, so you have this sort of Impressionist painting but we’ve also got windows lit up and we have smoke coming out of a few of the chimneys.
“I’ve got a human skeleton – though not a real one of course –
which I’ve dressed with a hat and a scarf. We also have a dog on stage; a brass
band; snow machines; a carnival effect; the cafe with waiters running around, a
market stall.
“I want the audience to feel the ‘Wow’ factor ,” says opera producer and director Ellen Kent
“The whole thing is a visual feast and I always like to draw on the
period an opera is set in. I do have an Eiffel Tower, which of course was built
later, but that’s a bit of poetic licence.”
Why is La Bohème so beloved?
“With [Jonathan Larson’s
American musical] Rent basing itself
on La Bohème, for example, people use Puccini’s operas as
benchmarks to build modern musicals on, which shows how strong the stories and
themes in his operas are.
“The music is beloved because it’s so great and La Bohème is my personal favourite because you have this poignant story wrapped around this fabulous music. There’s something rather special about Puccini’s scores and the stories that go with them are very well constructed. Some of what the characters sing is heart-rending, and people love tragedy.
“La Bohème is a very sad little story and it’s got Puccini’s wonderful music and moments of great poignancy. There’s something about the violins that brings up those goosebumps and goes straight to your soul.
“It also has a lot of comedy, which I like to bring out. Opera should be giving you the whole deal – wonderful music, gripping storylines – and these two really deliver.”
How does La Bohème fit into
the timeline of Puccini’s work?
“Like Verdi, he started off with these great Biblical-style operas, such as Turandot, for instance. They’re big storylines, not necessarily personal dramas. Then everything changed around the 1830s, when realism and domestic storylines became fashionable.
“Puccini jumped on to the bandwagon. La Bohème is about a domestic tragedy and it is complete realism. It’s about very poor people living in the deprived parts of Paris: these artisans and poets starving in garrets and living in mindless poverty.”
Has Rent opened up La Bohème to new audiences?
“Yes. I tend to take a musical theatre approach to operas, with lavish visuals, and I get a lot of people coming to the shows who haven’t been to an opera before but they’ve seen big musicals like Miss Saigon or Rent. I firmly believe in opening up opera to the masses.”
Your production will be sung
in Italian with surtitles, rather than in English. Does that reflect the purist
in you?
“I can’t stand operas in English! I am a purist in that regard; you start putting them into English and the whole sound changes. Puccini wrote with Italian vowels, and when you’re singing, you need that Italian in the voice, instead of clipped British intonations. “And, of course, surtitles open opera up to the masses and they’re much better than just having a synopsis in the programme.
“We do that too, but the actual words used are poetic and moving.
The librettos are extremely good pieces of writing and you get all this emotion
coming out of the words, matched by the emotion coming out of the music. You
put those two together and the audience gets a much better experience.”
” I can’t stand operas in English!” says Ellen Kent. “I am a purist in that regard; you start putting them into English and the whole sound changes “
What first sparked your love
of opera?
“I was born in India to a colonial father and my mother was known
as the queen of amateur operatics in Bombay. My mother loved producing and
putting on shows – and they were really good, actually.
“She managed to put me into every single opera from about the age
of four. I’d be dressed in these wonderful costumes and I loved it. Then we
moved to Spain and we’d go see all the – rather bad – travelling operas.
“That said, from the age of six, I declared I wanted to be a film
star. Eventually, after my father had retired, I enrolled at Durham University
to do a degree in Classics to appease him because he insisted ‘You’ve got to
have some academic education’.
“I don’t regret doing that degree now because it’s given me a wonderful background for all the operas I’m doing. After I finished my degree, I went to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, trained as an actress, singer and dancer, because although I got a place at the Royal Academy of Music to go be an opera singer, I decided it was too narrow a field.”
What happened after you left
theatre school?
“I went on to acting and musicals and was putting on European
children’s theatre when Rochester City Council, who were among the people
funding me, asked me to put on a children’s show in Rochester Castle gardens.
“I don’t know where these notions come from, but I found myself
saying, ‘I don’t think that’s really suitable but opera might work’. So, that’s
how it all started, with an outdoor production of Nabuccoin 1992 to 7,000 people.
“I remember the sun sinking over the River Medway with all these
people having picnics. We had champagne tents, candelabras, the whole works,
and I thought, ‘this is what I want to do. It’s fantastic. I’m going to do
opera’. Since then, it’s been a series of wonderful adventures.”
Why is it important to take
opera to regional theatres?
“I’m quite an instinctive person so, although I never really thought it through, I just knew audiences in the regions would be hungry for opera. And why go to London when you have these wonderful sites – these outdoor arenas and lovely big theatres – all around the country?
“I felt that half the population didn’t know how wonderful these
works were and I’ve never changed my concept of it. The regions are where these
shows need to be.”
Robert Plant and Suzi Dian, fronting Saving Grace, the Platform Festival’s prize capture
ROBERT Plant will headline this summer’s Platform Festival as the crescendo of Pocklington Arts Centre’s 20th anniversary celebrations.
The former Led Zeppelin frontman
and lyricist, now 71, will lead Saving Grace, his folk-blues collaboration with
fellow vocalist Suzi Dian, at Pocklington’s Old Station on July 10.
Tea time…then Omid Djalili plays the Platform Festival
“Hopefully we’ve pulled something
rather special out of the bag for our 20th anniversary!” says delighted
director Janet Farmer. “Bringing Robert Plant to Pocklington is a major coup
for us.”
Shed Seven’s Rick Witter and Paul
Banks, folk-rock icon Richard Thompson, comedian Omid Djalili, The BBC Big Band
and country-pop twin sisters Ward Thomas are among the other acts signed up for
the fifth Platform Festival, running from July 9 to 15.
Richard Thompson: closing show at Platform Festival on July 15
“The Platform Festival programme
reflects this very special year for us,” says Janet. “Robert Plant is a
legendary name in the music scene and it’s so exciting that he and the other
highly accomplished musicians in Saving Grace will be joining us for such a
significant event.
“There’s no doubt Robert and
Saving Grace are the biggest band we’ve ever booked for Platform. Curating a
line-up of artists that we personally love every year is always a source of
much pride for our team and we strongly believe this year’s line-up is both the
best and most star-studded music bill we’ve ever put together.”
“There’s no doubt Robert Plant and Saving Grace are the biggest band we’ve ever booked for Platform,” says festival director Janet Farmer
Plant and Dian are joined in his blues and folk-inspired acoustic co-operative by Oli Jefferson on percussion, Tony Kelsey on mandolin, baritone and acoustic guitars, and Matt Worley on banjo, acoustic and baritone guitars and cuatro. Their support act will be delta blues singer, songwriter and bottleneck slide guitarist Catfish Keith.
The 2020 Platform Festival comprises four stand-alone shows plus a day-long event on three stages. First up, British-Iranian comedian Omid Djalili will perform on July 9, followed by Saving Grace’s July 10 concert. The 18-piece BBC Big Band will play on July 14, conducted by Barry Forgie, with Jeff Hooper on vocals; guitarist, singer, songwriter and Fairport Convention founding member Richard Thompson will close the festival on July 15.
Saturday headliners: Shed Seven’s Paul Banks and Rick Witter
The
festival’s Saturday bill, on July 11, will be headlined by Rick Witter and Paul
Banks’s Shed Seven Acoustic show, wherein the York Britpop alumni’s frontman
and lead guitarist will perform such Sheds anthems as Going For Gold, Chasing
Rainbows, She Left Me On Friday and Getting Better, complemented by cherry-pickings
from 2017’s Instant Pleasures, their first studio album in 16 years.
Shed
Seven launched Instant Pleasures with a special show at Pocklington Arts Centre
in November that year, by the way.
Country-pop twin sisters Ward Thomas: Platform Festival return
Joining
the Sheds in the July 11 line-up will be bagpipe band TheRed Hot
Chilli Pipers, with their ground-breaking fusion of traditional Scottish music
and rock and pop anthems. “Think men in kilts, bagpipes with attitude, drums
with a Scottish accent and a show that carries its own health warning,” says
Janet.
Ward
Thomas will follow up their April 30 gig at Leeds City Varieties and arena tour
supporting James Blunt with a return to the Platform Festival, where Hampshire
twins Catherine and Lizzy Ward Thomas previously appeared in 2017.
Big show: The BBC Big Band
Acoustic
folk singer Lucy Spraggan, once of The X Factor, will make her Platform debut a
year later than first planned; festival favourites The Grand Old Uke Of York will
be back with their upbeat rock, pop, ska and anything in-between ukulele covers,
and New York Brass Band will play the Platform Saturday for the first time,
fresh from pumping up the party atmosphere with their smokin’ New Orleans Mardi
Gras jazz at Pocklington Arts Centre’s 20th anniversary party night
on March 6.
Festival
newcomer Twinnie, alias York-born Twinnie-Lee Moore, 32-year-old star of West
End musicals, The Voice contestant, model, film actress and Hollyoaks soap
queen, is now a Nashville-hearted singer-songwriter. After wowing the C2C country
gathering at London’s O2, Platform will be her Yorkshire homecoming.
Twinnie: country roads lead York-born singer-songwriter to Pocklington on July 11
Heading
Pockwards too that Saturday will be husband-and-wife duo Truckstop Honeymoon, hollering
their blasts of bluegrass, punk rock and soul to a five-string banjo and doghouse
bass, and Buffalo Skinners, returning to the festival for the first time in
four years with their Sixties’ folk and modern-day Americana.
York
blues singer-songwriter Jess Gardham and Plumhall are on the bill too, and as
ever the third Saturday stage will be spotlighting the region’s emerging talent,
curated by the tireless, peerless Charlie Daykin and Access Creative College.
Tickets
are on sale at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk, platformfestival.com and
seetickets.com or on 01759 301547.
HUSBAND and wife Robert and Alison Gammon will perform the next Dementia
Friendly Tea Concert at St Chad’s Church, Campleshon Road, York, on March 19.
The afternoon entertainment will take the usual format of a 45-minute programme of classical music at 2.30pm, followed by tea, coffee and homemade cakes.
Alison, on clarinet, and Robert, on piano, will play Camille
Saint-Saens’ Clarinet Sonata alongside Niels Gade’s Fantasy Pieces.
“Gade was a 19th century Danish composer who taught Edvard Grieg and was
a friend of both Felix Mendelsohnn and Robert Schumann,” says Alison. “In fact,
the Fantasy Pieces are rather like Schumann at times. Robert will play
some Debussy and Chabrier for solo piano too.”
Looking ahead, Alison says: “We’re well advanced with the planning for
the rest of the year, with only May’s concert to confirm. I hope to have a list
of dates and musicians to hand out at the next concert on April 16 when we’ll
be welcoming The Clementhorpe Piano Trio.”
No charge applies for these tea concerts, but donations are always welcome.
“Any money left over from heating the church and tuning the piano is sent to
the Alzheimer’s Society,” says Alison.
“Everyone is welcome at these relaxed events and the concerts provide an
opportunity for people who may not be able to attend a formal classical recital
to experience live music.
“Please note, there is a small car park at St Chad’s and some roadside
parking nearby, but we recommend that you come early. I shall bring some hand
sanitiser for use before eating if anyone is worried about viruses.”
Nile Rodgers & Chic: on their way back to Scarborough Open Air Theatre in August. Picture: Jill Furmanovsky
EVERYBODY dance,
Nile Rodgers & Chic are to return to Scarborough Open Air Theatre this
summer two years after their debut there.
Looking forward to
the August 21 show, Rodgers says: “As most people know, the UK is my home from
home. Myself and Chic had a brilliant time when we played Scarborough
OAT in 2018 and we cannot wait to come back again this summer. It’s going to be
another amazing night, so bring your dancing shoes!”
Tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday (March 13) at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com, on 01723 818111 or 01723 383636 or in person from the Scarborough OAT box office, in Burniston Road, or the Discover Yorkshire Coast Tourism Bureau, at Scarborough Town Hall, St Nicholas Street.
Nile Rodgers is a
multiple Grammy Award-winning composer, producer, arranger and guitarist with
more than 200 production credits to his name. He is constantly traversing new
musical terrain and successfully expanding the boundaries of popular music.
As the co-founder
of Chic with Bernard Edwards, Rodgers pioneered a dancefloor language that
generated such hits as Le Freak, Good Times and Everybody Dance,
while also sparking the advent of hip-hop.
His Chic catalogue
and work with David Bowie, Diana Ross, Sister Sledge and Madonna have sold more
than 500 million albums and 75 million singles.
“It’s going to be another amazing night, so bring your dancing shoes,” advises Nile Rodgers. Picture: Jill Furmanovsky
His subsequent
innovative, trendsetting collaborations with Daft Punk, Avicii, Sigala,
Disclosure and Sam Smith continue to place Rodgers, now 67, at the vanguard of
contemporary soul, disco mand pop music.
No wonder the American guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer,
arranger and composer has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the
Songwriters Hall of Fame, whose chairmanship post he now holds.
What’s more, Rodgers
was appointed as the inaugural chief creative advisor for the Abbey Road
Studios, home to The Beatles’ iconic recording sessions, in London.
Peter Taylor, of Scarborough OAT concert promoters
Cuffe and Taylor, says: “Nile Rodgers & Chic are global
superstars and we’re delighted to be bringing them back to Scarborough OAT.
“The show in 2018 was brilliant, Nile and Chic never
fail to get an entire arena on their feet dancing. This is going to be one of
the highlights of the summer and I would strongly advise people to get their
tickets now because you will not want to miss this!”
Keep on running….all the way to Scarborough Open Air Theatre for Supergrass gig on June 20
Scarborough Open Air Theatre’s 2020
line-up
Tuesday, June 9: Lionel Richie
Wednesday, June 17: Westlife
Saturday, June 20: Supergrass
Saturday, June 27: Alfie Boe
Saturday, July 4: Snow Patrol
Friday, July 10: Mixtape,
starring Marc Almond, Heaven 17 and Living In A Box featuring Kenny Thomas
Lionel Richie: headlining York Festival’s Sunday line-up
MACY Gray and Lighthouse Family are big-name new additions to the bill for Lionel Richie’s closing night at this summer’s inaugural York Festival.
Grammy Award winner Gray, from Canton, Ohio, and Newcastle pop-soul duo Tunde Baiyewu and Paul Tucker will perform at the three-day event at York Sports Club, Clifton Park, Shipton Road, on June 21.
This is more good
news for festival promoters Cuffe and Taylor after the City of York Council
thumbs-up for a licence, albeit with the proviso that the volume must be turned
down.
York Festival will run from June 19 to 21, with Camden Town nutty boys Madness headlining on the first night and Irish matured boy band Westlife on the Saturday, before American soul legend Lionel Richie says Hello on the Sunday.
Macy Gray: Sunday new addition
Macy Gray made her
breakthrough in 1999 with the single I Try and the seven million-selling debut
album On How Life Is, her American R&B and soul song-writing inspired
principally by Billie Holiday.
Over the next two
decades, Gray released ten studio albums, the latest being 2018’s Ruby, as well
as featuring on songs with Dolly Parton and Ariana Grande and appearing in films
and on TV shows.
Lighthouse Family singer
Baiyewu and keyboardist Tucker released their first single, Lifted, in
1995, en route to selling ten million albums and charting with the singles High
and Ocean Drive.
Six-times platinum debut album Ocean Drive was followed by Top Ten albums Postcards From Heaven and Whatever Gets You Through The Day. After an 18-year hiatus, the duo reunited last year to record Blue Sky In Your Head, their fourth studio set.
Lighthouse Family: reunited
York Festival director Peter Taylor says: “We’re delighted to add
both Macy Gray and Lighthouse Family to our debut line-up. Together with the
global icon that is Lionel Richie, this is going to be an amazing and
unforgettable night.”
Opening-night headliners Madness will be joined by Ian Broudie’s Lightning Seeds, Craig Charles, for a Funk and Soul Club DJ set, Leeds indie rockers Apollo Junction and York band Violet Contours.
Westlife’s Saturday line-up features All Saints, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Scouting For Girls and Take That’s Howard Donald for a DJ set.
For more information and tickets, go to york-festival.com.
Courtney Marie Andrews: Pocklington return in the summer. Picture: Sam Stenson
PHOENIX singer-songwriter
Courtney Marie Andrews will showcase her new album at Pocklington Arts Centre
on June 17 on her six-date tour.
Old Flowers will be
released on June 5 on Loose/Fat Possum Records as her follow-up to 2018’s May
Your Kindness Remain.
Created in the ashes
of a long-term relationship, Andrews’ ten new songs amount to her most
vulnerable writing to date as she chronicles her journey through heartbreak,
loneliness and finding herself again.
“Old Flowers is
about heartbreak,” says Courtney Marie, 29. “There are a million records and
songs about that, but I did not lie when writing these songs. This album is
about loving and caring for the person you know you can’t be with.
“It’s about being
afraid to be vulnerable after you’ve been hurt. It’s about a woman who is
alone, but OK with that, if it means truth. This was my truth this year: my
nine-year relationship ended and I’m a woman alone in the world, but happy to
know herself.”
Produced by Andrew
Sarlo, who has worked with Bon Iver and Big Thief, Old
Flowers was recorded at Sound Space Studio and features only three musicians:
Andrews, on vocals, acoustic guitar and piano; Twain’s Matthew Davidson, on
bass, celeste, mellotron, pedal steel, piano, pump organ, Wurlitzer and background
vocals, and Big Thief’s James Krivchenia on drums and percussion.
“This album is about loving and caring for the person you know you can’t be with,” says Courtney Marie Andrews
Defining their
intentions, Sarlo says: “Before we got to the studio, we agreed to prioritise making this record
as cathartic and minimal as possible, focusing on Courtney’s voice and her
intention behind the songs.
“Because of this,
the record is all about performance. I believe a great recording is the
chemistry between everything during basics and the ability to feel something
happening, instead of obsessing over the perfect take. Courtney embraced this
approach and we ended up with a raw, natural and human record.”
The resulting track listing comprises Burlap String; Guilty; If I Told; Together Or Alone; Carnival Dream; Old Flowers; Break The Spell; It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault; How You Get Hurt and Ships In The Night.
Courtney Marie last
played Pocklington in December 2018, at the end of a week when she was felled
by a viral infection the morning after her London gig and had to call off her Birmingham,
Bristol and Oxford gigs.
Rested and recuperated,
she was still nursing a cough, but found the energy for a solo set of songs and
stories, introducing Ships In The Night and It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault,
two new compositions that would end up on Old Flowers.
This time Courtney
Marie will play with a full band in the lead-up to her series of summer
festival engagements. Tickets for June 17’s 8pm gig cost £20 on 01759 301547
or at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
