Lara McClure: Atmospheric storytelling at A Feast Of Fools II
YORK collective Navigators Art presents A Feast Of Fools II, a last gasp of mischief to mark the curtain closing on the festive holiday on January 5 at the Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York.
“Welcome to our second alternative end-of-season celebration of Twelfth Night and Old Christmas, packed with live folk music, spoken word and a nod to the pagan and the impish,” says artist and co-founder Richard Kitchen.
Henry Parker: York singer and guitarist
“Flushed with Edinburgh Fringe success, Dr Lara McClure will set the scene with some atmospheric storytelling. We’re also delighted to welcome two acclaimed York musicians: Oli Collier, with a walk on the dark side, and singer, guitarist and rising star Henry Parker.”
On the 7pm to 10.30pm bill too will be York alt-folk legends White Sail, who return from last year’s event with new material, and doing likewise will be poet and experimental musician Thomas Pearson.
“Last year’s show sold out, so be sure to grab your tickets before they’re gone,” advises Richard. Booking in advance is recommended at bit.ly/nav-feast2. Doors open at 6.30pm.
Samuel Wyn-Morris: Playing the Beast for the second year running, in York this winter after the Sunderland Empire last year. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
ENOUNTERING the tornado power and might of his voice in the role of The Beast in Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York, Samuel Wyn-Morris had a surprising admission to make.
“I never sang until I was 17,” says the Welshman from Llanelli. “There was a lad who was a tenor at my school and one day I heard him singing. I was more a rugby boy at the time. Until then I thought, ‘I’m not into music’, but when he didn’t hit his big note, I sang it and hit it!”
In that transformative moment, a career was born, but not without bumps in the road. “I horrified by mum and dad by applying to only one drama school, Guildford [School of Music and Drama], but I got in.
“Then after I graduated, I suffered an incredible loss of confidence. Two years of not working in theatre. Instead I was selling wine and I worked as a butcher too, but kept cutting myself. I gave myself an ultimatum: if I don’t get into Les Miserables, that’s it, it’s all over.”
Glory be, he did, landing three separate contracts with Cameron Mackintosh’s company over the next, Covid-interrupted five years, starting as the 2nd Cover for the role of Enjolras.
When the actor playing Enjolras caught Covid and the 1st Cover suffered a sinus infection, Samuel’s big moment came. “The cover hadn’t missed a show for something like seven years. As chance would have it, Cameron Mackintosh, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil [the writers] were all in the audience that night! “ Samuel would soon go on to play the role in his own right.
Welsh actor and teacher Samuel Wyn-Morris
Now that wonderful voice can be heard in York in a five-star performance in Beauty And The Beast. “It’s been a fantastic show to do,” he says. “My only previous experience of York was an unsuccessful date. She was from Scotland, I was from Wales, so we thought, ‘let’s meet in the middle’: York!
“We stayed at Grays Court. Lovely hotel. Very good bar, which is important to a Welshman! But it just didn’t work out.”
This time, romance in York is confined to the Grand Opera House stage as The Beast falls for pantomime debutante Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle. “I played The Beast last year at the Sunderland Empire in my first ever pantomime. Same show, different songs, different director too, Paul Boyd, and the theatre was huge: 2.000 seats!
“I got the call for York in July and I thought ‘why not’?! Theatre work had been quite dry for me this year, with producers being tentative about putting on shows.”
Samuel works as a supply teacher in London, teaching History and Religious Education to Key Stage 3 pupils in Years 7 to 9 when not performing in musical theatre.
Now it has been his turn to learn once more: lines for his role as The Prince/The Beast. “It’s different from Les Miserables, where you have four weeks in the rehearsal room and then go on stage,” he says. “For this pantomime, to get to grips with it was a challenge. It’s so, so quick in the rehearsals and so easy to get lost!”
Samuel Wyn-Morris’s The Beast and Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle in Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Director George Ure had his cast running the full show by the end of the first week in the rehearsal room. “Know your lines on day one,” advises Samuel. “And you have to put so much energy into it from the word go.
“That’s not to say that’s not the case with Les Miserables or Titanic [the musical that Samuel toured to China], but from the start in panto it’s go-go-go. Twelve shows in a week is the maximum. You have to deal with the tiredness and exhaustion from all the energy you spend.”
Not that he is complaining. He loves pantomime. “There are elements of stand-up comedy, romance, drag with the dame, big songs and wonderful choreography. I’ve got a more classical voice, Jennifer has more of a pop voice, so it’s a pick’n’mix that works really well.”
Before taking on the role of The Beast for the first time, Samuel had a conversation with his director for Titanic. “I said, ‘what do I do in the show? I’m not funny’. He said, ‘you’re not meant to be’! All UK Productions pantomimes are story driven, and this show [written by Jon Monie] is a good example of that.
“I like the freedom that panto brings, as opposed to the demands of Les Miserables, which hammers your voice. Playing Enjolras is one of the hardest roles you can do. With pantomime, you can bring more physicality to it, you can play around with the pace – and working with Jennifer has been a joy.”
UK Productions present Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Born to pun: Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
PANTOMIMES, theatrical family adventures and a Wonderland experience are still delighting in 2024 as Charles Hutchinson also looks ahead to 2025.
Still time for pantomime: Aladdin, York Theatre Royal, until January 5 2025
LOOK out for CBeebies’ Evie Pickerill at the double, dashing between the Spirit of the Ring and the Genie of the Lamp in the fifth collaboration between Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and Evolution Productions script writer Paul Hendy.
Paul Hawkyard’s villain returns to York after a winter away doing panto in Dubai to renew his Theatre Royal double act with Robin Simpson’s dame, playing bad-lad Ivan Tobebooed to Simpson’s Dolly (not Widow Twankey, note). Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
In the frame: Phil Atkinson’s bodacious baddie, Hugo Pompidou, in UK Productions’ Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Still time for pantomime part two: Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025
THE jokes are as cheesy as the French setting of the village of Camembert, brassier and fruitier too in Jon Monie’s script, as George Ure directs the Grand Opera House pantomime for the first time.
Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer is a magically bouncy Fairy Bon Bon; Jennifer Caldwell delights as Belle; Samuel Wyn-Morris is a stentorian-voiced Beast/Prince; comedian Phil Reid’s Louis La Plonk and Leon Craig’s towering dame, Polly La Plonk lead the comic japes with gusto and Phil Atkinson sends up his French-accented dastardly hunk, Hugo Pompidou, to the max. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Bea Clancy’s Harrietty Clock and Marc Akinfolarin’s Pod Clock in The Borrowers at Hull Truck Theatre
“Perfect alternative to pantomime”: The Borrowers, Hull Truck Theatre, until January 4 2025
SET against a backdrop of Christmas in the East Riding of Yorkshire during the 1940s’ Blitz, artistic director Mark Babych’s enchanting production explores themes of adventure, friendship and the joy of love and togetherness in the tale of adventurous, spritely Borrower Arrietty Clock, who lives secretly under the floorboards of a country house.
Her small but perfectly formed family borrows from the humans above, but Arrietty longs for freedom and fresh air. However, the Borrowers have one simple rule: to remain hidden from the “human-beans”, especially bad-tempered housekeeper Mrs Driver and rebellious gardener Crampfurl. When an evacuee, a human boy from neighbouring Hull, arrives in the main house, Arrietty becomes curious… and starts making mistakes. Box office: 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.
Checks and stripes: Alice’s Christmas Wonderland at Castle Howard. Picture: Charlotte Graham
Madder than the Mad Hatter if you don’t see: Alice’s Christmas Wonderland, Castle Howard, near Malton, until January 5 2025
FALL down the rabbit hall into “an experience like no other”: Lewis Carroll’s Alice in her Christmas Wonderland at Castle Howard, where the CLW Event Design creative team, headed by Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie, has worked on the spectacular project since January.
The stately home has been transformed into an immersive Christmas experience, dressed in set pieces, decorations and floristry, coupled with projections, lighting and sound by Leeds theatre company imitating the dog. Box office: castlehoward.co.uk.
Casting a shadow: James Willstrop’s villainous bruiser, Bill Sikes, in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
Dickens of a good show: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm on December 28 and 30, plus 2.30pm, December 28 and 29
HELEN Spencer takes the director’s reins and plays Fagin in York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s staging of Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel, described as a “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist”.
Not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, it does feature John Biddle’s musical arrangements to complement Dickens’s fable of Oliver Twist being born in a workhouse, sold into an apprenticeship and recruited by Fagin’s band of pickpockets and thieves as he sinks into London’s grimy underworld on his search for a home, a family and love. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Party invitation: The poster for Irie Vibes Sound System’s New Year’s Eve Party at The Crescent, York
New Year’s Eve Party: Irie Vibes Sound System, The Crescent, York, December 31, 8pm to 2am
IRIE Vibes Sound System bring the full rig and crew for a joyous night of reggae, roots, dancehall, dub and jungle to the closing hours of 2024 and beyond midnight. MC Sherlock Art will be on hosting duties, bringing the fire, while Lines Of Duty will be delivering their brand of dance music in Room 2, “manipulating long- playing micro-grooves for a full frequency audio experience”. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Music talk to note: The Arts Society, Helmsley presents Christmas In Bach’s Leipzig: The Christmas Oratorio of 1734/5, Helmsley Arts Centre, January 6 2025, 7.30pm
IN his illustrated talk, commentator, broadcaster, performer and lecturer Sandy Burnett explores how Johann Sebastian Bach brings the Christmas story alive in his Weihnachtsoratorium or Christmas Oratorio, written for Lutheran congregations in 1730s Leipzig.
An overview of Bach’s life and achievement precedes a close look at this magnificent work, where the German composer draws on various forms, ranging from recitative, arioso, aria, chorale and instrumental sinfonia through to full-blown choruses infused with the joyous spirit of the dance. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Malton & Norton Musical Theatre’s poster for January’s production of Jack And The Beanstalk
First big show of the New Year at Milton Rooms, Malton: Malton & Norton Musical Theatre in Jack & The Beanstalk, January 18 to 25. Performances: January 18, 1pm and 5.15pm; January 19, 2pm; January 21 to 24, 7.15pm; January 25, 1pm and 5.15pm
MALTON & Norton Musical Theatre pantomime stars promise a family-friendly giant adventure packed with laughs, toe-tapping songs and plenty of audience participation.
Jack, his brave mother and their quirky friends will face off against the towering giant in a magical world full of comedy and surprises in an enchanting tale of bravery and beanstalks. Box office: 07833 759263 or yourboxoffice.co.uk.
Paul Hawkyard’s villain Ivan Tobebooed and Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly in York Theatre Royal’s Aladdin. Picture: S R Taylor Photography
OUT with the old, in with the new, as the pantomimes season concludes and Charles Hutchinson’s 2025 diary starts to take shape.
Still time for pantomime: Aladdin, York Theatre Royal, until January 5 2025
LOOK out for CBeebies’ Evie Pickerill at the double, dashing between the Spirit of the Ring and the Genie of the Lamp in the fifth collaboration between Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and Evolution Productions script writer Paul Hendy.
Paul Hawkyard’s villain returns to York after a winter away doing panto in Dubai to renew his Theatre Royal double act with Robin Simpson’s dame, playing bad-lad Ivan Tobebooed to Simpson’s Dolly (not Widow Twankey, note). Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Samuel Wyn-Morris’s Beast and Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle in Beauty And The Beast at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Still time for pantomime part two: Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025
THE jokes are as cheesy as the French setting of the village of Camembert, brassier and fruitier too, in Jon Monie’s script, as George Ure directs the Grand Opera House pantomime for the first time.
Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer is a magically bouncy Fairy Bon Bon; Jennifer Caldwell delights as Belle; Samuel Wyn-Morris is a stentorian-voiced Beast/Prince; comedian Phil Reid’s Louis La Plonk and Leon Craig’s towering dame, Polly La Plonk lead the comic japes with gusto and Phil Atkinson sends up his French-accented dastardly hunk, Hugo Pompidou, to the max. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Marc Akinfolarin’s Pod Clock in The Borrowers at Hull Truck Theatre
“Perfect alternative to pantomime”: The Borrowers, Hull Truck Theatre, until January 4 2025
SET against a backdrop of Christmas in the East Riding of Yorkshire during the 1940s’ Blitz, artistic director Mark Babych’s enchanting production explores themes of adventure, friendship and the joy of love and togetherness in the tale of adventurous, spritely Borrower Arrietty Clock, who lives secretly under the floorboards of a country house.
Her small but perfectly formed family borrows from the humans above, but Arrietty longs for freedom and fresh air. However, the Borrowers have one simple rule: to remain hidden from the “human-beans”, especially bad-tempered housekeeper Mrs Driver and rebellious gardener Crampfurl. When an evacuee, a human boy from neighbouring Hull, arrives in the main house, Arrietty becomes curious… and starts making mistakes. Box office: 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.
The poster for Irie Vibes Sound System’s New Year’s Eve Party at The Crescent, York
New Year’s Eve Party: Irie Vibes Sound System, The Crescent, York, December 31, 8pm to 2am
IRIE Vibes Sound System bring the full rig and crew for a joyous night of reggae, roots, dancehall, dub and jungle to the closing hours of 2024 and beyond midnight. MC Sherlock Art will be on hosting duties, bringing the fire, while Lines Of Duty will be delivering their brand of dance music in Room 2, “manipulating long- playing micro-grooves for a full frequency audio experience”. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Professor Kettlestring: Launching a new attraction in York next month
First grand opening of the New Year: The Puzzling World Of Professor Kettlestring, Merchantgate, York, from January 10 2025
WELCOME to Matthew and Marianne Tritton-Hughes’s new attraction, The Puzzling World Of Professor Kettlestring, an immersive, educational world of more than 20 optical illusions, interactive exhibits and brain-bending challenges designed for curious minds of all ages.
Visitors can walk into the Professor’s sideways living room, disappear into his incognito chamber and discover a kitchen parlour where heads appear severed on platters. Box office: puzzlingworldyork.co.uk.
Jessica Steel: Performing at The Crescent in aid of Millie Wright’s Children’s Charity
Fundraiser of the month ahead: Lindow Man and Jessica Steel & Stuart Allan, The Crescent, York, January 11 2025, 7.30pm
ELECTRIFYING York soul, blues and rock’n’roll trio Lindow Man and York blues and soul singer Jessica Steel and guitarist Stuart Allan will play in aid of Millie Wright’s Children’s Charity.
Based at Leeds General Infirmary, the charity is committed to addressing inequalities in hands-on charitable support for families looking after children with life-threatening conditions by working towards providing practical and emotional help to parents and carers via Family Support Workers. Pizzas from Curious Pizza Company will be available on the night. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Chris McCausland: Playing the Grand Opera House in 2025 and 2026
Comedy gig announcement of the week: Chris McCausland, Yonks!, Grand Opera House, York, February 3 2025 and May 17 2026
AFTER lifting the glitterball trophy as the ground-breaking first blind contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, Liverpool comedian Chris McCausland will return to his “day job” on his Yonks! tour, now to be extended into 2026.
Appearing on Sky Max over Christmas with fellow comic Lee Mack as sparring neighbours who must take on a gang of thieves in the festive film Bad Tidings, McCausland has added a second York date after selling out the first. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Public Service Broadcasting: Heading to York Barbican in March
Belated York debut announced: Public Service Broadcasting, York Barbican, March 27 2025, doors 7pm
AFTER 15 years of “teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future”, London archivist art rock pioneers Public Service Broadcasting will make their York Barbican debut next spring with a line-up of corduroy-clad J Willgoose Esq., drummer companion Wrigglesworth, flugelhorn player J F Abraham and Mr B, specialist in visuals and set design for live performances.
Last October’s fifth studio album, The Last Flight, was built around the ill-fated final flight of American aviator Amelia Earhart on July 2 1937, when she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first woman to fly around the world. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Casting a shadow: James Willstrop’s bullying bruiser Bill Sikes in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate
THE myriad delights of Christmas entertainment shine through Charles Hutchinson’s tips to vacate the festive fireside.
Dickens at Christmas, but not A Christmas Carol: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until December 30. 7.30pm performances on December 21, 27, 28 and 30, plus 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees. No performances on December 23 to 26
HELEN Spencer takes the director’s reins and plays Fagin in York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s staging of Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel, described as a “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist”.
Not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, it does feature musical arrangements by John Biddle to to complement Dickens’s tale of Oliver Twist being brought up in a workhouse, sold into an apprenticeship and recruited by Fagin’s band of pickpockets and thieves as he sinks into London’s grimy underworld in his search for a home, a family and love. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Harris Beattie andJonathan Hanks in Northern Ballet’s revival of A Christmas Carol at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Tristram Kenton
Christmas ballet of the week: Northern Ballet in A Christmas Carol, Leeds Grand Theatre, until January 4 2025
FIRST choreographed by Massimo Morricone and directed by Christopher Gable in 1992, Northern Ballet’s retired landmark production of A Christmas Carol is being revisited by director Federico Bonelli to the glee of longtime supporters and new audiences alike.
“Charles Dickens’s classic Victorian tale of redemption, with its message of human kindness and compassion, is something that resonates with us all, especially at this time of year,” says Bonelli. “Its iconic characters lend themselves so well to ballet”, complemented by Lez Brotherston’s colourful sets and costumes and Carl Davis’s festive score. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Holly Cassidy and Grace Hussey-Burd in a scene from Riding Lights Theatre Company’s winter show A Christmas Cracker. Picture: Tom Jackson
Alternative Nativity play of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in A Christmas Cracker, Friargate Theatre, York, today to Christmas Eve, 11am and 1.30pm each day; 6pm, first three days; 4pm, last day
IN Paul Birch’s first play as artistic director of Riding Lights, world-famous storyteller Ebenezer Sneezer is lost, with snow in her wellies and faithful canine companion Cracker full of strange ideas about Christmas.
When caught taking shelter in Mrs McGinty’s barn, she allows them to stay on the condition that Ebenezer brings her glad tidings with her stories. If so, a hot supper awaits. If not, exit pronto. Ebenezer must triumph over not only Mrs McGinty’s frozen heart but also Deadly, a dastardly donkey ready to kick comfort and joy out of his stable. Box office: 01904 613000 or ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.
The poster for The Snowman screenings with live orchestra at York Barbican
Christmas film & music event of the week: The Snowman with Live Orchestra, York Barbican, Sunday, 1pm and 4pm
CARROT Productions presents two screenings of Dianne Jackson and Jimmy T Murakami’s animated 1982 film with the accompaniment of a live orchestra of professional musicians.
Raymond Briggs’s story of a young boy’s Christmas snowman magically coming to life for a journey to meet Santa Claus will be shown with The Snowman And The Snowdog at 1pm and The Bear, The Piano, The Dog And The Fiddle at 4pm. Each show includes a fun introduction to the orchestra and a visit from the Snowman himself. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Shed Seven’s Paul Banks and Rick Witter: Performing as an acoustic duo at Huntington Working Men’s Club in the last gigs of their 30th anniversary celebrations this weekend. Picture: David Harrison
Recommended but sold out already: Shed Seven’s Rick Witter and Paul Banks, Huntington Working Men’s Club, York, tonight and Sunday, doors 7pm
AFTER two number one albums in a year, summer shows in York Museum Gardens and their biggest ever tour, Shed Seven end their 30th anniversary celebrations back home in York, where lead singer Rick Witter and guitarist Paul Banks play a weekend of acoustic sets in the intimate setting of a working men’s club.
“We’re finishing the year in the village where Rick and I first met back in 1984, and where all of this began,” says Banks. “What a journey we’ve been on.” Sheds’ bassist Tom Gladwin serves up a DJ set too. Box office for returns only: store.shedseven.com.
Nun better: Freida Nipples hosts her Baps & Buns burlesque Christmas cabaret at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb
Feast your eyes on: Freida Nipples’ Baps & Buns Burlesque Christmas Cabaret, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, tonight, 8pm; doors open at 7pm
YORK’S queen of burlesque, Freida Nipples, presents drag, comedy and showgirls in her Baps & Buns Christmas Cabaret with festive good cheer after a joyous year of shows at Rise, Acomb’s answer to Paris’s Folies Bergère.
“Prepare yourself for an evening of debauchery and glamour in Acomb,” says Freida. “The big question is: are you ready for it?!” Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
Central Methodist Church: Hosting City Screen Picturehouse’s pop-up Christmas Cinema at Saint Saviourgate, York
Pop-up film event of the festive season: City Screen Picturehouse presents Christmas Cinema at Saint Saviourgate, The Great Hall, Central Methodist Church, St Saviourgate, York, until December 23
CITY Screen Picturehouse, York, has set up a pop-up screen at Central Methodist Church for the Christmas season. Dougal Wilson’s Paddington In Peru (PG) will be shown at 4pm on Sunday, followed by Jon Favreau’s Elf (PG) at 7pm and Monday screenings of Robert Zemeckis’s The Polar Express (U) at 4pm and Frank Capra’s season-closing 1946 chestnut It’s A Wonderful Life (U) at 7pm. Box office: picturehouses.com/YorkXmas.
Ronan Keating: Playing at York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend next summer. Picture: Supplied by York Racecourse
Outdoor gig announcement of the week: Ronan Keating, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, July 26
IRISH singer, charity campaigner and breakfast show host Ronan Keating will perform after the Saturday race card as the first act to be confirmed for next summer’s Music Showcase Weekend on Knavesmire. A further act will be announced for the evening meeting on July 25.
Keating, 47, has three decades of hits to call on, from Boyzone boy band days to his solo career, from Love Me For A Reason and When You Say Nothing At All to Life Is A Rollercoaster and If Tomorrow Never Comes. Olly Murs is confirmed already for the new 2025 race day of June 28. For race day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
Heart-warming Christmas classics with Karen and Richard Carpenter, revisited in 2024
Carpenters, Christmas Once More (A&M/Ume) ****
Wrapping: A nice new sleeve packages a compilation of much-loved classics. Search for the Gold Vinyl limited edition pressing.
Gifts inside: Carpenters fans already will be familiar with their Christmas Portrait album from 1978 and Karen’s posthumous collection, An Old Fashioned Christmas, from 1984. The best of these songs and the inclusion of Merry Christmas Darling, featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, are given a remix from Richard Carpenter.
Style: Karen and Richard Carpenter’s music is a timeless, classy staple.
’Tis the reason to be jolly: Christmas with the Carpenters is as traditional and as heart-warming as watching It’s A Wonderful Life.
Scrooge moan: Isn’t it tragic that we lost Karen so early.
White Christmas? Oh, there are lots of wintry references: Sleigh Ride, The First Snowfall and Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!
Blue Christmas? Of course there are sad songs on here! Far too many to list.
Stocking or shocking? Every home should have a Christmas Carpenters album. It’s the law!
Reviewed byIan Sime
Jennifer Hudson: She comes bearing gifts of Gospel power
Jennifer Hudson, The Gift Of Love (Interscope) *****
Wrapping: Lucky ones will opt for the red vinyl version of Ms Hudson’s fourth studio LP. However, the bland, uninspiring artwork does not do justice to a superlative collection of Old School Gospel.
Gifts inside: Four brand-new songs and ten standard covers or traditional carols all given JHUD’s unique Gospel twist.
Style: The roots of this deep Gospel collection come from the Church. Slight deviations into Big Band (Winter Wonderland) and jazz (Almost Christmas, featuring The Common) showcase a most spiritual Yuletide collection.
’Tis the reason to be jolly: Although Jennifer Hudson has proved to be an incredibly versatile vocal talen,t adept at covering many a genre, this album visits the foundations of her talent. Few can carry off Go Tell It On The Mountain like this diva.
Scrooge moan: The download version includes tracks missing from the physical collection.
White Christmas? Winter Wonderland and Jingle Bells receive a make-over. However, mostly this collection is deeply Spiritual, without a flake of snow or glitter.
Blue Christmas? There is a time and a place for The Gift Of Love, which features Carol Of The Bells, O Holy Night, Christmas Song and a Deep Southern take on Auld Lang Syne. Although a deeper shade of blue than Wham or Shakin’ Stevens, this is an album to savour in many a future Christmas.
Stocking or shocking? This is my Christmas album of choice in 2025. However, not everyone likes their Christmas fare so raw or unsweetened. Choose the recipient wisely.
Reviewed by Ian Sime
Ben Folds: Heading home for Christmas
Ben Folds, Sleigher (New West Records) ****
Wrapping: Bespectacled Ben walking his dog through a moon-lit, snow-dusted cityscape at midnight on Christmas Eve. Same skyline and houses, but no sign of Ben, as the sun rises on Christmas Day morning on the back sleeve. Inside, all the credits, including Amanda Stephan for “Laughing” on track #8. No lyrics or writer’s notes, however.
Gifts inside: Seven originals, including a brace of instrumentals, by North Carolina-born, piano-playing, indie pop songwriter Ben Folds, 58, on his first holiday album and sixth studio set, complemented by titivated covers of Robert Wells and Mel Tormé’s 1945 chestnut The Christmas Song (slow and whisky warm), Burt Bacharach’s chocolate-rich 1962 easy-listener The Bell That Couldn’t Jingle and jazz pianist Seger Ellis’s 1955 novelty number You Don’t Have To Be A Santa Claus, the playful album closer.
Style: Imagine the vintage crooning Christmas chops of Andy Williams crossed with Vince Guaraldi Trio’s 1965 masterpiece A Charlie Brown Christmas, replete with jingling bells, twinkling piano, swelling strings and Bacharach flourishes. Romantic too on the duet We Could Have This, sung with Christmas Eve anticipation with co-writer Lindsey Kraft.
’Tis the reason to be jolly: Christmas Time Rhyme could have been penned by The Beach Boys, harmonies et al.
Scrooge moan: At 2.36am, on Sunday, May 26 2024, Folds decided he needed one more song to complete the album, calling on ChatGPT to write Christmas lyrics in “the parlance of today”. The robotic nonsense of Xmas Aye Aye suggests he should have gone to bed instead.
White Christmas? No sign of that weather forecast of a festive favourite, but instant classic Sleepwalking Through Christmas demands the Michael Bublé cover treatment.
Blue Christmas? Folds’ opening instrumental, Little Drummer Bolero, could not be bluer. Likewise the sanguine reflections of Maurice And Me, songwriting on a par with Neil Sedaka or Randy Newman, on an album that adroitly balances festive cheer and cheese with the season’s melancholia as Folds charts the passing years, the hopes and fears, the mounting memories and losses, of Christmas past, present and AI future.
Stocking or shocking? Shocking album title but Ben Folds stocks Sleigher with four new Christmas corkers that suggest he is a gift to festive songwriting.
NCEM Platform Artists: Intesa, A Merry Conceit, Bedern Hall, Bedern, York, December 15
IT is rare, even under the umbrella of Early Music, to encounter a concert as wide-ranging as this. Intesa, who are Lucine Musaelian and Nathan Giorgetti and combine playing bass viols with singing, roamed as far back as 5th-century Armenia while including a 21st-century piece by Musaelian herself in this mid-morning recital.
The programme was devised to show the coming of light to a dark and wintry world and had an appropriately religious flavour. Armenia became the first officially Christian state in AD 301, when its king was converted. Its largely musical liturgy depends on eight basic modes (octoechos), considerably pre-dating Gregorian chant, which were reformed in the 12th century by St Nerses IV, who was nicknamed “Shnorhali” (Gracious).
So it was fascinating to begin with one of Shnorhali’s own pieces, Aravot Luso (O Morning Of Light), which involved hypnotic drone under sinuous soprano. It was quite a stretch to Morley’s duet madrigal Miraculous Love’s Wounding immediately afterwards, although we needed to hear a little more from Giorgetti’s light tenor.
Lucine Musaelian: Fiery melismas
Two more traditional Armenian songs proved catchy, especially when jazzed up with plucked viols, as in Shogher jan, which marks the return of friends along with the cool weather. They were preceded by the superb Maria, Dolce Maria by Francesca Caccini, the first woman known to have composed operas, where Musaelian’s fiery melismas – bunches of notes to a single syllable – added considerable intensity.
At the centre of it all lay a touching Canzonetta Spirituale by Tarquinio Merula, an extended rocking lullaby over a bass ostinato that presages the Christ-child’s ultimate fate. That still left Dowland’s timeless lute song Time Stands Still, one viol simulating a lute, and two gamba duets by Tobias Hume, where Intesa’s virtuosity really had a chance to blossom.
Muselian’s love-song to her own poetry, Morning Light, was gracefully dusted with both syncopation and viol harmonics, the latter a first in my experience.
Finally, Intesa took us to Wales, with All Through The Night. We had traversed eight countries and 16 centuries, a tasting menu if ever there were. Tasty too.
The Howl & The Hum’s singular voice, Sam Griffiths. Picture: Stewart Baxter
TONIGHT will be the last time The Howl And The Hum frontman and sublime songwriter Sam Griffiths plays The Crescent in York before packing his bags on Thursday to start a new life in London.
Latterly living in Leeds, but with his band rooted in the York scene since 2017, Sam is to take up a post teaching guitar at a primary school and will live in Walthamstow, home to Europe’s longest street market, by the way.
He hinted at the move south during The Howl & The Hum’s divine set at their traditional Christmas gig at The Crescent last night, a tease greeted with jovial Yorkshire jeers, and then confirmed his exit in conversation with CharlesHutchPress post-show, still dressed as a King from the band’s Nativity play attire for their 17-song set.
Sam will play an intimate, seated solo set under The Howl & The Hum moniker tonight when Diehard Christmas, one of several Scrooge-spirited withering wintry missives he has composed, will definitely feature.
CharlesHutchPress, reviewing elsewhere earlier in the evening, caught the second half of last night’s set, after support spots by Seafarers’ Scottish songwriter and saxophonist Matthew Herd and Leeds musician Marnie Glum.
Herd’s sax and keys have become integral to Griffiths’ new line-up of The Howl And The Hum, also featuring Sam’s Leeds flatmate Naomi McLeod on bass, Dave Hamblett on drums and Arun Thavasothy on guitar.
His King’s crown removed after Echo, Griffiths went into solo mode on guitar for No Calories In Cocaine, Sunny Christmas – written on a cocktail of spite and drink, he said – and Hostages, a trilogy of blissed release from pain marked by a stillness and grace in performance that has come to mark his magnetic stage craft, laced with disarming wit and charm between songs.
Griffiths’s fellow Kings and the Virgin Mary (or maybe Naomi was an angel?) returned for a glorious home run of Sweet Fading Silver, Hall Of Fame, second album title track Same Mistake Twice and debut single Godmanchester Chinese Bridge, still arguably the most beautiful song ever written in York.
Herd’s saxophone grows on you, the more it caresses each Griffiths search for beauty in nature or forensic coroner’s inquest into relationship fallouts or navigation through the vulnerabilities of a wasted night.
But that’s the thing with Sam Griffiths: he keeps surpassing that early peak, whether Dirt or first encore The Only Boy Racer Left On The Island, He has even found the perfect finale in the communal balm of the “Everything will be alright’ closing refrain to Everything Is Not On Fire.
After more than 12 years, this eloquent, exquisitely poetic University of York alumnus is returning south, but with the promise of Christmas reunions at The Crescent for years to come.
In the meantime, thank you, Sam, for so many Miserable Disco nights. It’s been emotional, as Vinnie once said. May The Howl & The Hum prosper, wherever the path leads you next.
Helen Spencer’s Fagin in Pick Me Up Theatre’s production of Deborah McAndrew’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
THE myriad delights of Christmas entertainment shine through Charles Hutchinson’s tips to vacate the festive fireside.
Dickens at Christmas, but not A Christmas Carol: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until December 30. 7.30pm performances on December 18 to 21, 27, 28 and 30, plus 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees. No performances on December 23 to 26
HELEN Spencer takes the director’s reins and plays Fagin in York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s staging of Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel, described as a “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist”.
Not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, it does feature musical arrangements by John Biddle to to complement Dickens’s tale of Oliver Twist being brought up in a workhouse, sold into an apprenticeship and recruited by Fagin’s band of pickpockets and thieves as he sinks into London’s grimy underworld in his search for a home, a family and love. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Northern Ballet in A Christmas Carol: Festive favourite makes its return to Leeds Grand Theatre
Christmas ballet of the week: Northern Ballet in A Christmas Carol, Leeds Grand Theatre, until January 4 2025
FIRST choreographed by Massimo Morricone and directed by Christopher Gable in 1992, Northern Ballet’s retired landmark production of A Christmas Carol is being revisited by director Federico Bonelli to the glee of longtime supporters and new audiences alike.
“Charles Dickens’s classic Victorian tale of redemption, with its message of human kindness and compassion, is something that resonates with us all, especially at this time of year,” says Bonelli. “Its iconic characters lend themselves so well to ballet”, complemented by Lez Brotherston’s colourful sets and costumes and Carl Davis’s festive score. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
The poster for HAC Around The Tree, the last show of 2024 at Helmsley Arts Centre
Festive celebration of the week: HAC Around The Tree, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow, 7.30pm
JOIN the Helmsley Arts Centre Singers, 1812 Theatre Company, 1812 Youth Theatre, Ryedale Writers and invited guests for an evening of theatre, music, poetry and prose around the Christmas tree. The bar will be serving mulled wine and mince pies to spark up the festive spirit in Helmsley Arts Centre’s last event of 2024. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Step Into Christmas: Festive hit after festive hit at York Barbican
Christmas songs galore: Step Into Christmas, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm
THIS feel-good Christmas show brings all the magic of the season to musical life with favourite festive songs, from All I Want For Christmas Is You, Last Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock, Stay Another Day and Let It Snow to White Christmas, Do They Know It’s Christmas, A Winter’s Tale and Merry Xmas Everybody. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Chapter House Choir: Choral music old and new in the Nave of York Minster
Carol concert of the week: Chapter House Choir, Carols By Candlelight, York Minster Nave, Friday, 7.30pm, doors 6.45pm
THE Chapter House Choir, directed by musical director Benjamin Morris, combine with the Chapter House Youth Choir, directed by Charlie Gower-Smith, for this ever-popular candle-lit concert, first performed in 1965 and now held in the Nave. In addition to traditional choral music old and new, festive music will be played by the chamber choir’s Handbell Ringers. For returned tickets only, check yorkminster.org/whats-on/event/carols-by-candlelight/or contact 01904 557256.
Gary Stewart: Presenting tributes to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Paul Simon’s Graceland at York Barbican
Tribute gig of the week: Gary Stewart presents Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Paul Simon’s Graceland, York Barbican, Friday, 8pm
SCOTTISH-BORN Easingwold musician Gary Stewart presents Weetwood Mac and his Graceland band in a celebration of two career-defining works, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, from 1977, and Paul Simon’s Graceland, from 1986. “With combined sales of more than 50 million worldwide, both albums have stood the test of time and are cherished to this day,” says Stewart.
“Littered with gossip and controversy, Rumours and Graceland elevated their artists to new heights of popularity, inspiring the popular music canon for decades to come. This evening celebrates a time of artistic discovery and re-creates the excitement of the era, with these seminal albums lovingly interpreted by some of today’s finest touring musicians.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Mike Newall: Laidback storytelling at York Barbican
Comedy gig of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Christmas Special, York Barbican, featuring Mike Newall, Friday, 8pm
MANCUNIAN Mike Newall, who appeared on Britain’s Got Talent, takes top billing on with his laidback storytelling, Swiss clock timing and tack-sharp turn of phrase. “He’s like your best, most humorous friend – only funnier,” says promoter and master of ceremonies Damion Larkin. Two support acts feature too. Box office: lolcomedyclubs.co.uk or yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Holly Cassidy with the puppet of Cracker in A Christmas Cracker at Friargate Theatre, York. Picture: Tom Jackson
Alternative Nativity play of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in A Christmas Cracker, Friargate Theatre, York, December 21 to 24, 11am and 1.30pm each day; 6pm, first three days; 4pm, last day
IN Paul Birch’s first play as artistic director of Riding Lights, world-famous storyteller Ebenezer Sneezer is lost, with snow in her wellies and faithful canine companion Cracker full of strange ideas about Christmas.
When caught taking shelter in Mrs McGinty’s barn, she allows them to stay on the condition that Ebenezer brings her glad tidings with her stories. If so, a hot supper awaits. If not, exit pronto. Ebenezer must triumph over not only Mrs McGinty’s frozen heart but also Deadly, a dastardly donkey ready to kick comfort and joy out of his stable. Box office: 01904 613000 or ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.
The Snowman: Two screenings with a live orchestra at York Barbican
Christmas film event of the week: The Snowman with Live Orchestra, York Barbican, Sunday, 1pm and 4pm
CARROT Productions presents two screenings of Dianne Jackson and Jimmy T Murakami’s animated 1982 film with the accompaniment of a live orchestra of professional musicians.
Raymond Briggs’s story of a young boy’s Christmas snowman magically coming to life for a journey to meet Santa Claus will be shown with The Snowman And The Snowdog at 1pm and The Bear, The Piano, The Dog And The Fiddle at 4pm. Each show includes a fun introduction to the orchestra and a visit from the Snowman himself. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
ART Sung, created by pianist Elizabeth Mucha, is a variable group that unites song and narrative.
In this incarnation, they were two singers, two pianists, a dancer and a videographer, all focused on the life of Edith Sitwell, Behind Her Façade – who can lay claim to be Scarborough’s most famous daughter.
Young William Walton – “Willy” as she called him – knew the Sitwell family better than most, having encountered them at Oxford and lodged with them in London for more than a decade.
His decision to set Edith’s Façade poems thrust him onto the musical map; its success can be said to have benefited her equally. Neither looked back thereafter and, by the time of her death in 1964, she had become the grande dame of English poetry.
Art Sung made numbers from Façade the backbone of its exploration of Sitwell’s life, with mezzo Lucy Stevens inhabiting the role to her fingertips, dressed all in black, including gloves and turban-style hat.
Realism was enhanced with the very curtain used in the work’s 1923 premiere, from behind which she had projected her poetry through a megaphone. James Symonds contrived a video backdrop here with animated sketches intensifying her reminiscences.
During a potpourri of some 30 items, other composers had a welcome look-in. There was a surprising song from Michael Head, The King O China’s Daughter’ and two Ned Rorem settings of Sitwell too.
Two settings of Olivia Diamond’s Sitwell-related poetry by Hayley Jenkins made an impact, the one with exciting speech-song, the other involving tenor Michael Gibson in a solemn line, which he controlled smoothly.
He also offered an all-too-brief extract from Still Falls The Rain, Sitwell’s meditation on the raids of 1940, which Britten set as his Canticle III. It deserved more, but since this was mainly a frolic it may not have seemed to fit.
An opportunity was certainly missed to look into The Heart Of The Matter, a Sitwell programme devised especially for the Aldeburgh Festival in 1956, with Britten’s music.
Three extracts from Satie’s ballet Parade, played with considerable panache by pianists Elizabeth Mucha and Nigel Foster, either or both of whom were present throughout the evening, offered an opportunity for dancer Roxani Eleni Garefalaki to evoke the spirit that led to the Roaring Twenties. She reappeared in a fragment from West Side Story, recalling Sitwell’s visit to the USA.
A Joseph Horovitz setting of Out, Out Damned Spot (Macbeth) near the end accurately encapsulated the mixture of enthusiasm and derangement that Stevens had so vividly painted in this wide-ranging programme.
