Music – Page 32 – charleshutchpress

September 18, 2024October 5, 2024

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond as poet John Hegley talks potatoes. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 34, from Gazette & Herald

*John Hegley: Two poetry peformances at Helmsley Literary Festival. Picture: Jackie di Stefano*

HELMSLEY Literary Festival leads off Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations to fill the cultural diary, joined by drag, folk and blues acts and an American coming-of-age classic.

Festival of the week highlight: Helmsley Literary Festival, Helmsley Arts Centre, John Hegley, New & Selected Potatoes, Saturday, 7pm to 8pm; I Am A Poetato, Sunday, 11am to 12 noon

POET, comic, singer, songwriter and spectacles wearer John Hegley heads to Helmsley with two shows, the first being his seriously funny, cleverly comic “best of golden oldies compilation with some new stuff” about love, family, France, art, the sea, dogs, dads, gods, taxidermy, carrots, glasses and…potatoes.

Second gig I Am A Poetato features An A-Z of Poems about People, Pets and other Creatures! Spelling it out for Helmsley, he promises Hedgehogs. Elephants. Laughing. Mandolin. Singing. Luton. Even a cardboard camel with moving parts. Yo! For full details of two days of talks, signings, readings, open mic and a quiz, with Hegley, Anne Fine, Joanne Harris, Harriet Constable and The Chase’s Paul Sinha, visit helmsleyarts.co.uk. Box office: 01439 771700.

*Bianca Del Rio: Discussing politics, pop culture and political correctness at York Barbican*

Drag show of the week: Bianca Del Rio, York Barbican, tonight, doors 7pm

COMEDY drag queen and RuPaul’s Drag Race champion Bianca Del Rio heads to York on her 11-date stand-up tour. Up for irreverent discussion will be politics, pop culture, political correctness, current events, cancel culture and everyday life, as observed through the eyes of a “clown in the gown”, who will be “coming out of my crypt and hitting the road again to remind everyone that I’m still dead inside”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

*Ryan Adams: Heading back to York Barbican on Friday*

Return of the week: Ryan Adams, Solo 2024, York Barbican, Friday, doors 7pm

NORTH Carolina singer-songwriter Ryan Adams returns to York Barbican next week after playing a very long, career-spanning set there with no stage lighting – only his own side lamps – in April last year. This time he will be marking the 20th anniversary of 2004’s Love Is Hell and tenth anniversary of 2014’s self-titled album, complemented by Adams classics and favourites. Adams, who visited the Grand Opera House in 2007 and 2011, will be performing on acoustic guitar and piano. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

*Harp & A Monkey: Songs of everyday life, love and remembrance at Kirk Theatre, Pickering*

Folk gig of the week: Friday Folk presents Harp & A Monkey, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm

GREATER Manchester song-and-storytelling trio Harp & A Monkey specialise in poignant, uplifting and melodic short stories, both original and traditional, about everyday life, love and remembrance. In a nutshell, the extraordinary ordinary, from cuckolded molecatchers and a lone English oak tree that grows at Gallipoli to care in the community, medieval pilgrims and Victorian bare-knuckle boxers.

This versatile collective of artists, animators, storytellers and multi-instrumentalists has undertaken bespoke songwriting for soundtrack, film and art projects for the likes of Sky Arts and the Department of Sport, Media and Culture. Fylingdales Folk Choir will perform too. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

*York actress Kate Hampson in the matriarchal role of Marmee in Little Women at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick*

Play of the week: Little Women, York Theatre Royal, Saturday to October 12

CREATIVE director Juliet Forster directs York Theatre Royal’s new production of Louisa May Alcott’s coming-of-age story of headstrong Jo March and her sisters Meg, Beth and Amy as they grow up in New England during the American Civil War.

Adapted by Anne-Marie Casey, the production features Freya Parks, from BBC1’s This Town, as Jo, Ainy Medina as Meg, Helen Chong as Amy and York actress Laura Soper as Beth. Kate Hampson returns to the Theatre Royal to play Marmee after leading the community cast in The Coppergate Woman. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

*Seedling, by Sarah Sharpe, on show in Leeds Fine Artists’ 150th anniversary show at Blossom Street Gallery*

Exhibition of the week: Leeds Fine Artists Celebrating 150 Years, Blossom Street Gallery, York, until October 31

LEEDS Fine Artists is celebrating its 150th anniversary with an exhibition at its regular York host, Blossom Street Gallery, featuring an inspirational collection of work demonstrating a wide range of styles and different media.

Taking part are: Sharron Astbury-Petit; Dawn Broughton; Jane Burgess; Mark Butler; Pete Donnelly; Alison Flowers; Roger Gardner; Margarita Godgelf; Dan Harnett; Peter Heaton; Nicholas Jagger; Michael Curgenven; Catherine Morris; Martin Pearson; Clare Phelan; Trevor Pittaway; Neil Pittaway; Annie Robinson; Annie Roche; Sarah Sharpe and John Sherwood. Opening hours: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10am to 4pm; Sundays, 10am to 3pm.

*Tim Peake: Exploring the evolution of space travel at York Barbican*

Travel show of the week: Tim Peake, Astronauts: The Quest To Explore Space, York Barbican, September 25, 7.30pm

BRITISH astronaut Tim Peake is among only 610 people to have travelled beyond Earth’s orbit. After multiple My Journey To Space tours of his own story, he makes a return voyage with his stellar new show, sharing the collected stories of fellow astronauts as he explores the evolution of space travel.

From the first forays into the vast potential of space in the 1950s and beyond, to the first human missions to Mars, Peake will traverse the final frontier with tales of the experience of spaceflight, living in weightlessness, the dangers and unexpected moments of humour and the years of training and psychological and physical pressures that an astronaut faces. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

*Lightning Threads: Showcasing their debut album, Off That Lonely Road, at Milton Rooms, Malton*

Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club, Lightning Threads, Milton Rooms, Malton, September 26, 8pm

SHEFFIELD blues-rock trio Lightning Threads are influenced by the great rock musicians of another time, drawing comparisons with The Black Keys, Gary Clark Jr, Cream and The Doors.

Tom Jane, guitar and vocals, Sam Burgum, bass and vocals, and Hugh Butler, drums and keyboards, have been nominated for Best Album in the 2024 Blues Awards for their November 2023 debut, Off That Lonely Road, recorded with Andrew Banfield, of Superfly Studios, and graced by Kelly Michaeli’s gospel vocals. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

September 17, 2024September 17, 2024

REVIEW: Steve Crowther’s verdict on York Chamber Music Festival, National Centre for Early Music, York, September 13

*Tim Lowe: York Chamber Music Festival artistic director and cellist*

THERE was much to admire in the performance of the opening Haydn’s String Quartet in C major Op 33, No. 3 (The Bird) and why wouldn’t there be: excellent players and one of Haydn’s finest Quartets.

The nickname, The Bird, is derived from the early first violin chirping calls, acciaccaturas (very short, crisp notes), which convincingly transformed into haunting passages, sequences of very quiet, gently clashing suspensions.

The second movement Scherzo was, for the most part, hymn-like, the playing (on the lower strings) genuinely touching. The bird calling card did make an unexpected appearance in the central Trio section. Humorous and so Haydnesque.

The ‘authentic’ Adagio was effectively and poignantly delivered. The Rondo finale is ever-so-gently bonkers. Folk music, Hungarian gypsy energy, crazy batting of the theme between the violins and viola plus cello with the ending vanishing into a wisp of smoke.

But there were issues too. Intonation was not always dead centre – the high violin passage at the very opening and again in the Trio reappearance (second movement) with the two violins playing on their upper strings.

Sometimes the cello too wasn’t quite on pitch. But these were rare, and this is a technically demanding work with no places to hide. Another issue was balance.

Matters improved with the instrumental changing of the guard. The ever-excellent Tim Lowe’s (cello) insight and technical assurance was immediately self-evident in the following Tchaikovsky (String Quartet No.1 in D major, Op 11), but it was the introduction of Gary Pomeroy (viola) that seemed to be critical.

As the second half Dvořák clearly demonstrated, Simone van der Giessen is an excellent viola player, but in the Haydn the viola contributions were less prominent. Hence the balance issue, but why this was so I couldn’t honestly say.

*Viola player Gary Pomeroy. Picture: York Chamber Music Festival*

It is perhaps worth noting that Tchaikovsky’s D major Quartet is less technically demanding than the Haydn. It was still a terrific performance though.

The rising and falling chords of the opening Moderato have been likened to the playing of an accordion. For me, it created an image of a gorgeous sunrise. Well, each to their own.

The rich textures and contrapuntal dialogue were very well delivered, contributing to a highly enjoyable, generous (eight-nine minutes?) opening movement. The outstanding movement was the folk-inspired Andante cantabile. It is just so poignant, so beautiful. The balance, the shape and the playing were quite delightful. At times I thought the first violin sounded like a cor anglais or soprano saxophone.

The energetic peasant dance-like Scherzo was rhythmically tight, the accents crisply delivered and confident playing throughout.

Much the same could be said of the closing Allegro finale. The performance was tight, crisp, with a fine viola solo and a razor-sharp signing-off.

The second half belonged to Dvořák’s String Quintet in Eb Major, Op 97. The opening Allegro came across as a generous, giving performance. The reappearance of the main theme – fortissimo and in octaves was decidedly emphatic and the quiet sense of return, of coming full circle, was very effective.

As was the second movement Scherzo. The drumbeat rhythm is tapped out on the second viola whilst the real melodic focus belongs to the first viola (Dvořák was himself a viola player).

The musical soul of the work is in the third movement Larghetto, and that is precisely what came across. There were notably fine contributions from Gary Pomeroy (first viola), Tim Lowe (cello) and Ben Hancox (first violin) – intricate, ornamented pizzicato playing. The Rondo finale was full of zest whilst generating an infectious love for the music itself.

Review by Steve Crowther

September 17, 2024September 17, 2024

The Dream Syndicate’s Steve Wynn to present night of music and stories at Rise@Bluebird Bakery on Saturday

*“I don’t see this show as a stodgy reading or as a random selection of songs but, rather, a tiny play of sorts,” says Los Angelean musician and author Steve Wynn.* *Picture: Guy Kokken*

ON his first UK solo tour in more than a decade, The Dream Syndicate founder and leader Steve Wynn visits Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, on Saturday night.

The Paisley Underground legend will be promoting his first solo album since 2010, Make It Right (Fire Records), along with his new memoir, I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True (Jawbone Press), both released on August 30.

Wynn’s one-man show blends songs from and inspired by the book with a narrative structure of readings and storytelling. Expect evergreens and rarities from The Dream Syndicate’s 1980s’ catalogue, coupled with illuminating covers and reflective numbers from the new record, adding up to a show of a past revisited.

His debut book details the winding path from growing up as music fan and pre-teen bandleader in Los Angeles, through the formation and ultimate dissolution of The Dream Syndicate at the end of their first era in 1988.

Stops along the way make room for tales of cross-country Greyhound trips to track down Alex Chilton to wild, off-the-rails tours with U2 and R.E.M. and the epic heart-of-darkness making of his Californian indie-rock band’s controversial second album, Medicine Show, and plenty more.

The new album is a similarly reflective and intimately revealing collection, written and recorded in tandem with the writing of I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True, featuring contributions from R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, The Bangles’ Vicki Peterson, Psychic Temple’s Chris Schlarb, Serena Maneesh’s Emil Nikolaisen, The Baseball Project’s Linda Pitmon and a cast of dozens.

Wynn says: “I don’t see this show as a stodgy reading or as a random selection of songs but, rather, a tiny play of sorts, a way of giving a flesh-and-blood companion to the book. I’m looking for that magic place where, say, Lenny Bruce and Spalding Grey and Ray Davies and Bob Dylan and maybe Hedwig might meet in a dimly lit cabernet on the back streets of Hollywood. I’ve never done this kind of show before but if I can hit all those markers, I’ll be happy.”

Steve Wynn, I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True, A Night Of Songs And Stories, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, September 21, 7.30pm. Box office: Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise. Wynn will be selling and signing copies of I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True (book) and Make It Right (CD/LP) after the show. Further Yorkshire gig on Wynn’s eight-date tour at The Greystones, Sheffield, September 18, 8pm.

*The poster for Steve Wynn’s show at The Greystones, Sheffield*

Steve Wynn: the back story

Founder, singer and guitarist of The Dream Syndicate, revered 1980s’ Los Angeles indie-rock band. 1982 debut The Days Of Wine And Roses is regarded as cornerstone of indie/alternative rock scene.

Prolific solo career, touring the world and recording on regular basis and touring/performing in indie supergroup Gutterball, Danny And Dusty and The Baseball Project (also featuring R.E.M. founders Mike Mills and Peter Buck).

Wrote scores for two hit Norwegian TV shows, Dag and Exit.

His songs have been covered by Luna, Yo La Tengo and Concrete Blonde among others

Lives in New York City.

I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True in a nutshell:

A TALE of writing songs and playing in bands as a conduit to a world its author could once have barely imagine: a world of major labels, luxury tour buses and sold-out theatres, but also oneof alcohol, drugs and a low-level rock’n’roll Babylon. Ultimately, a tale of redemption, with music as a vehicle for artistic and personal transformation and transcendence.

Steve Wynn on Make It Right

*The artwork for Steve Wynn’s new album, Make It Right*

“I WROTE and recorded these songs in tandem with working on I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True, my memoir, which comes out on Jawbone Press the same week as Make It Right, my first solo album since 2010.

“With each chapter, I would get ideas for songs inspired by the deep dive into my past and vice versa. The reflections became intertwined after a while, a mutual commentary between literal and metaphorical ruminating.

“The songs here aren’t directly autobiographical although the album does start with Santa Monica, the city and boulevard where I was born, and concludes with Roosevelt Avenue, the main thoroughfare of the Queens neighbourhood in New York City that I call home today.

“You write what you know – even when you’re not aware it’s what you’re writing about at the time.

“If the book recounted a tale of trepidation and dread and questionable choices, then that tale would turn into a song of similar intent like What Were You Expecting. A step back for perspective and positivity, in turn, found its way into a song like You’re Halfway There.

“The cataclysmic ‘one big open drain’ of Simpler Than The Rain was resolved by the resolute ‘I’m just trying to make it right’ on the title track. A gauzy and melancholy where-did-it-go-wrong Southern California flashback on the Long Beach-inspired Cherry Avenue would steer me towards a steelier determination and reset on Making Good On My Promises.

“It was a dialogue between the memoirist and the musician, a one-man Q&A, a gentle volley in the tennis court of my mind. 40-love, game, set and match.

“As I’ve found the melodies and words to stir and simmer with the stories I told in the book, I’ve simultaneously brought friends and collaborators from my recent and distant past to help flesh them out on the record. The likes of Vicki Peterson, Mike Mills, Stephen McCarthy, Scott McCaughey, Jason Victor, Dennis Duck and Mark Walton and my wife Linda Pitmon are all in the book and – look! – there they are on the record as well!

“And much like life itself, new faces and hit-and-run collaborators would pass my radar during the sessions and provide new light as well. Chris Schlarb, from California dream pop ensemble Psychic Temple, added his cinematic touch; Emil Nikolaisen, of Norway psych-grunge combo Serena Maneesh, chimed in with his trademark sonic anarchy and then Eric “Roscoe” Ambel (Del Lords, Joan Jett) used his studio savvy producer chops to tie it all together at the end.

“It feels perfect and very appropriate that the book and record came out in the same week. Not that one is needed to understand the other. Hey, you can just put on Make It Right and use it as the catalyst to create your own life story, dig into your own past. It belongs to you now. Let it tell your own tale while I tell mine. We’re all just trying to make it right.”

Make It Right track listing:

1. Santa Monica. 2. Make It Right. 3. What Were You Expecting. 4. You’re Halfway There. 5. Making Good On My Promises. 6. Cherry Avenue. 7. Then Again. 8. Madly. 9. Simpler Than The Rain. 10. Roosevelt Avenue.

September 16, 2024September 16, 2024

REVIEW: York Stage in School Of Rock The Musical: The Next Generation, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday ****

*Finn East’s Dewey Finn: Reasserting his golden talent to amuse. All pictures: Felix Wahlberg*

AS the new school year settles its feet under the table, School Of Rock opens for alternative lessons in life: music to the ears of anyone who believes that education should add up to more than Rishi Sunak’s vision of compulsory Maths to the age of 18.

After John Godber’s Teechers and Willy Russell’s Our Day Out both espoused the value of looking outside the box to stimulate children’s minds and actions, a more innocent force does so in School Of Rock in the idiot-savant form of Dewey Finn (Finn East).

Kicked out of his band, this failed rock-god guitarist is now in danger of being booted out of best mate Ned Schneebly’s (James Robert Ball) flat for pushing his freeloading beyond the tolerance of Ned’s insufferable, controlling partner Patty Di Marco (a suitably shrill and shrewish Amy Barrett).

Down but not yet out, he pretends to be teacher Ned to take up a substitute teacher’s post at posh and proper prep school Horace Green, immediately jettisoning Maths, tests and gold stars for lessons in the history of rock. Heavy rock, hard rock, not the swiftly dismissed Taylor Swift and Kanye.

Dewey is committing identity fraud, but he has a rebellious charm, the cheeky big kid within him encouraging his young charges to express themselves, all the more so in the hands of Finn East, who may have shades of Jack Black (from Richard Linklater’s 2003 film) in his performance but bags of personality of his own making, built on his instinctive comic timing and irrepressible stage presence.

He just happens to be a cracking rock singer too, and these are big, big rock songs, challenging to sing in the compositions of Andrew Lloyd Webber, especially When I Climb To The Top Of Mount Rock.

Crucial too, in the guise of Dewey, is his interaction, his easy connection with the multitude of children that makes up the Next Generation of the title: led by the supremely talented young band of Charlie Jewison’s knee-slide guitarist Zack Mooneyham, Daniel Tomlin’s geeky keyboard wizard Lawrence Turner, Zack Denison’s all-action drummer Freddie Hamilton and Matilda Park’s ace “bass face” Katie Travis (Park having mastered bass in a matter of weeks).

Plenty of children’s roles add to the joy in Julian “Downton Abbey” Fellowes’ ebullient script (rooted in Mike White’s screenplay), from Theo Rae’s fashion-fixated Billy Sandford to Molly Thorne’s bossy Summer Hathaway and Eady Mensah’s shy Tomika, from Team Gibson (with performances being shared with Team Fender, the names referring to makes of guitar).

Adults tend to play second fiddle, except for Megan Waite’s operatic-voiced head teacher, Rosalie Mullins, so repressed and orderly until Dewey brings out the Stevie Nicks butterfly from her dowdy chrysalis, and Dewey’s flatmates, Barrett’s ever-exasperated Patty and Ball’s Ned, a bundle of nerdy nerves that craves release in reconnecting with his past. Look out too for late replacement Flo Poskitt’s comical cameos as Ms Sheinkopf and Mrs Sandford.

School Of Rock is described as “technically challenging”, partly on account of having two bands, not only the burgeoning young players but musical director Stephen Hackshaw’s band that plays in the theatre boxes, rather than the pit, at one point stepping forward to watch the young’uns in the climactic Battle of the Bands.

The first night is not without technical hitches in the sound balance, but these are ironed out quickly, and in every way this is a show with high production values, from Nik Briggs’s direction, bringing out such confident, expressive, energetic performances in his next generation, to Danielle Mullan-Hill in her rock choreography, peaking with Stick It To The Man.

Lighting designer Adam Moore and sound designer Ian Thomson evoke the atmosphere of a rock gig, the lighting rig absolutely looking the part, topped off by fireworks fizzing at the finale. Briggs’s set and costume design rock, and Phoebe Kilvington’s hair and make-up is the icing on the cake.

The accents are uniformly spot on too in this all-American celebration of music, friendship and the power of self-expression, where the young cast all deserves gold stars and Finn East reasserts his golden talent to amuse.

York Stage presents School Of Rock The Musical: The Next Generation, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

September 14, 2024October 5, 2024

More Things To Do in York & beyond when Beethoven project goes public for first time. Hutch’s List No. 38, from The Press, York

*York Beethoven Project: Reassembling today to workshop and play Symphony No. 3, Eroica*

A BIG orchestra, a psychedelic inflatable crab, veteran singers, a blues troubadour and a Spanish guitarist rub shoulders in Charles Hutchinson’s cultural diary.

Groundbreaking concert of the week: York Beethoven Project, An Evening of Revolutionary Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, today, 7.30pm

TODAY’S York Beethoven Project Come and Play workshop day climaxes with tonight’s performance of Beethoven’s No. 3 in Eb Major Op 55: Eroica in the project’s first pubic concert. The 40-piece orchestra will be the biggest ever to play the JoRo.

In addition, The White Rose Singers will be performing revolutionary musical theatre songs from Les Miserables, West Side Story, Carousel, James Robert Brown and more. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

*Artist Jason Wilsher-Mills at work in Peashom Park for his Jason Beside The Sea exhibition at Woodend Gallery, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew*

Exhibition launch of the week: Jason Wilsher-Mills: Jason Beside The Sea, Woodend Gallery, The Crescent, Scarborough, today until January 4 2025, Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm; Saturdays, 10am to 4pm.

LOOK out for a giant inflatable sculpture of a psychedelic crab and colourful digital wallpaper featuring a pair of lovers inspired by Scarborough’s Peasholm Park in Jason Wilsher-Mills’s larger-than-life exhibition, a colourful explosion of artwork characters that reveals the stories of his memories of childhood seaside holidays, 1970s’ working-class experience and disability.

Scarborough Triptych, a three-panel wallpaper of argonaut characters, includes the Manchester Argonaut, inspired by Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. Wilsher-Mills, a Yorkshire-based disabled artist, will give a gallery talk on October 12. Gallery entry is free.

*How long ago? Paul Carrack celebrates the 50th anniversary of his first hit at York Barbican. Picture: Nico Wills Cornbury*

Ace memoir of the week: Paul Carrack, How Long: 50th Anniversary Tour 2024, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

IN 1974, Sheffield musician Paul Carrack was in “fun London band” Ace when he wrote How Long, a song that would reach number three in the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart. Phil Collins named it among his top ten favourites in a 1981 issue of Smash Hits.

“‘How Long is probably the first song I wrote,” recalls Carrack, now 73. I wrote the song about a real situation, a situation that many people could relate to. Little did I know that it would become a classic and touch the hearts of so many.” His 50th anniversary tour takes a journey through his career, from his days with Ace, Squeeze and Mike + The Mechanics to his solo years. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

*David Essex: Career-spanning concert at York Barbican*

Rocking on: David Essex, York Barbican, September 17, doors 7pm

PLAISTOW singer, composer and actor David Essex, 77, plays York on his 20-date British tour, his first since 2022. His set list will span his entire repertoire, drawing on his 23 Top 30 hits and a career that has taken in playing Jesus in Godspell, Che in Evita, That’ll Be The Day, Silver Dream Machine and his own musicals Mutiny! And All The Fun Of The Fair.

The likes of Rock On, Lamplight, Hold Me Close, Gonna Make You A Star, A Winter’s Tale and Oh, What A Circus will surely feature. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

*Charlie Parr: Showcasing blues and folk songs of community and communing with nature at Pocklington Arts Centre*

Troubadour of the week: Charlie Parr, Pocklington Arts Centre, September 19, 8pm

RAISED in Austin, Texas, and now living in the Lake Superior port town of Duluth, folk troubadour and bluesman poet Charlie Parr has recorded 19 albums since 2002, this year releasing Little Sun, full of stories celebrating music, community, and communing with nature.

Taking to the road between shows, this American guitarist, songwriter, and interpreter of traditional music writes and rewrites songs as he plays, drawing on the sights and sounds around him, his lyrical craftsmanship echoing the songs of his working-class upbringing, notably Folkways legends Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

*Iago Banet: Fingerstyle acoustic guitarist plays solo in Helmsley. Picture: Sue Rainbow*

Guitarist of the week: Iago Banet, Helmsley Arts Centre, September 20, 8pm

IAGO Banet, “the Galician King of Acoustic Guitar” from northern Spain, visits Helmsley on the back of releasing his third album, the self-explanatory Tres, in 2023.

Featured on BCC Radio 2’s The Blues Show With Cerys Matthews, this solo fingerstyle acoustic guitarist has played such festivals as Brecon Jazz, Hellys International Guitar Festival and Aberjazz, displaying skill, complexity and versatility in his fusion of gypsy jazz, blues, Americana, country, Dixieland, swing, pop and folk. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

*Ryans Adams: Heading back to York Barbican*

Return of the week: Ryan Adams, Solo 2024, York Barbican, September 20, doors 7pm

*Setting up camp: Julian Clary extends his western-themed tour into 2025. Harrogate and York await*

Show announcement of the week: Julian Clary, A Fistful Of Clary, Harrogate Theatre, May 2 2025, 7.30pm; Grand Opera House, York, May 25 2025, 7.30pm

JULIAN Clary is extending his A Fistful Of Clary stand-up tour to next spring. “Oh no, do I have to do this?” he asks. “Rylan and I were going to go back-packing in Wales. Sigh.”

Yee-haw, The Man With No Shame is adding 28 dates, Harrogate and York among them. “Yes, it has a Western theme,” Clary confirms, setting up camp for his comedy. “It was only a matter of time before I eased myself into some chaps.” Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; York, atgtickets.com/york.

In Focus: Rehearsed reading of Alan Ayckbourn’s Father Of Invention, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Sunday, 3pm

*The Stephen Joseph Theatre artwork for Alan Ayckbourn’s Father Of Invention*

THE first ever public performance of the AI-futuristic Father Of Invention, written by Alan Ayckbourn in lockdown, will be given in a fundraising rehearsed reading at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough on Sunday (15/9/2024) at 3pm.

Ayckbourn directs a cast of Bill Champion, Paul Kemp and Frances Marshall from his 90^th play, Show & Tell, joined by Ayckbourn alumni Liza Goddard, Elizabeth Boag, Laurence Pears and Naomi Petersen. This will be the first time the Scarborough writer-director, 85, has heard the work read aloud.

“Take a look at their rollcall of Ayckbourn-written-and-directed shows – we reckon they’ve racked up an impressive 39 between them,” says SJT press officer Jeannie Swales. “We haven’t counted last year’s reading of Truth Will Out, only shows that had a full production either here at the SJT or at The Old Laundry Theatre, Bowness-on-Windermere, including Show & Tell. Mind you, that’s still not quite half of the Ayckbourn canon of 90!”

One of a handful of dramas penned by Ayckbourn in the creative cocoon of his Scarborough home during the pandemic, Father Of Invention takes its title from its central character of technology magnate Lord Onsett, who has passed away.

“Lord Onsett was an entrepreneur who made billions from the rapid acceleration of Artificial Intelligence,” says Sir Alan. “His company introduced the now ubiquitous Artificial Sentient Lifeforms, which carry out vast swathes of jobs for humanity from cleaning to security.

“His family are gathered to discuss how his enormous estate will be divided but as ever with Lord Onsett, there are a few surprises in store…”

Leading the gaggle of familiar faces will be “our old friend” Liza Goddard, who has appeared in Ayckbourn premieres of If I Were You, Snake In The Grass, Life & Beth, Communicating Doors, Life Of Riley and The Divide.

The omnipresent Bill Champion has roles in Comic Potential, Haunting Julia, GamePlan, FlatSpin, RolePlay, A Chorus Of Disapproval, Intimate Exchanges, Woman In Mind, Absurd Person Singular, Surprises, Arrivals & Departures, Farcicals, Henceforward…, No Knowing, By Jeeves, Season’s Greetings, The Girl Next Door, Welcome To The Family and now Show & Tell to his name.

Paul Kemp has made his mark in This Is Where We Came In, Drowning on Dry Land, Private Fears In Public Places, The Champion Of Paribanou, Woman In Mind, My Wonderful Day and The Divide, this summer adding Show & Tell to that list.

York actress Frances Marshall has appeared in premieres of A Brief History Of Women, Joking Apart, Season’s Greetings, Family Album and Truth Will Out; Elizabeth Boag in Arrivals & Departures, Farcicals, Roundelay, Confusions, Hero’s Welcome, The Divide, Family Album and Truth Will Out; Naomi Petersen in By Jeeves, Joking Apart, Better Off Dead, Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present, Haunting Julia, The Girl Next Door, Constant Companions and Truth Will Out.

All money raised from the rehearsed reading will go towards the SJT’s New Work Fund, helping the theatre to present new work on its two stages and to nurture new talent.

Ticket availability is “limited”. Hurry, hurry, to book on 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

September 13, 2024September 13, 2024

REVIEW: Paul Rhodes’s verdict on China Crisis, The Crescent, York, September 6

*Eddie Lundon, left, and Gary Daly of China Crisis: “Fashioning a twist on essentially a greatest hits setlist”*

SEEING a singer or band live should be different to listening to their recordings. China Crisis, who enjoyed sustained mid-tier success in the 1980s, are a fine example.

At The Crescent, they managed to fashion a twist on essentially a greatest hits setlist. They did so primarily by performing as a trio, comprising original Kirkby brothers in arms Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon and their musical impresario, Jack Hymer, whose keyboards subtly reinvented their layered sound.

*It’s the way he tells’em: Gary Daly’s “comic stand-up pizazz”*

This was pure China Crisis, keeping the worst pale white funk at bay. No saxophone, bass or drums, but they weren’t missed, thanks to Hymer’s cinematic keys.

No review of a China Crisis concert fails to mention Daly’s comic stand-up pizazz. He was hilarious from start to finish: anecdotes about their time at the top, jokes or “oh no missus” Frankie Howerd facial expressions, all nailed.

*Jack Hymer: “His keyboards subtly reinvented China Crisis’s layered sound”*

Even Lundon on guitar, who must have heard it all, was laughing too. With a comic’s command of the audience, Daly could have talked all night, and probably would, but he needed to get home. It added so much to the performance, making it a full grin of music, comedy and memories.

Opener Callum Spencer also put in the effort. Playing solo without his band, he really sold his from-the-heart songs. If this particularly audience were too mature to dance with him in the dark, you sense his moment may well come.

*Callum Spencer: “From-the-heart songs”*

China Crisis are playfully spinning out their autumn as a band in style. Their melodies stand up beyond a certain nostalgia for lop-sided fringes and Cheggers Plays Pop. Their halcyon days were of a different time, but with Daly commentating, you can appreciate just how much they were influenced by what was going on around them.

Daly’s chameleon voice sometimes reflects those influences (George Michael and David Byrne receiving a namecheck) but reveals enough of himself for us to care. This was the band that Steely Dan’s Walter Becker famously loved so much that he signed on to produce them – and you get the fresh artistry of the arrangements (Daly at one point finger-conducting a lovely bit on It’s Never Too Late, but never ramming it home).

Over two leisurely sets, 18 songs were played out, to the visible pleasure of all present. There were many standouts (mostly in the second set, “the ones you know” according to Daly) with a deliciously purple patch running through Arizona Sky to Wishful Thinking, their finest hour.

Another wonderful Crescent night thanks to promoters Please Please You.

Review by Paul Rhodes. Pictures by Paul Rhodes and Carl Letman.

*Gary Daly: “Chameleon voice sometimes reflects his influences but reveals enough of himself for us to care”*

September 13, 2024September 13, 2024

York Beethoven Project to play its first public concert at Joseph Rowntree Theatre in Eroica performance on Saturday

*John Atkin: Conducting the York Beethoven Project orchestra on Saturday, the largest ever to perform at the Josepoh Rowntree Theatre*

AFTER the success of Symphonies No. 1 and No. 2, the York Beethoven Project is going even bigger for No. 3 in Eb Major Op 55: Eroica in An Evening of Revolutionary Music tomorrow at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York.

“The project is a year old and in that time we have accommodated 84 musicians, averaging 54 at each event, with 40 this weekend: the largest ever orchestra at the Rowntree Theatre,” says organiser John Atkin.

“In fact, No. 3 is so popular that we’ll also be holding a one-day Eroica workshop for another 50 musicians on September 28 at St Barnabas Church, York, to accommodate those who could not fit onto the Rowntree Theatre stage.”

Devised and managed by White Rose Theatre, Saturday’s concert will be the third in the series of nine, performing Beethoven’s symphonies in order, and will be the first one to be open to the public.

In addition, the White Rose Singers will be joined by conductor Atkin’s musical theatre band to present revolutionary musical theatre songs from Les Miserables, West Side Story, Carousel, James Robert Brown and more.

Looking ahead, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in Bb Major Op 60 will be performed on February 8 2025 at York Music Education, Millthorpe School main hall, York; Symphony No. 5 in C minor Op 67, June 28 2025, at St Mary the Virgin, Hemingbrough, and Symphony No. 6 in F Major Op 68 (Pastorale), September 27 2025, venue to be confirmed.

These will all be one-day Come and Play workshops with a performance from 4pm. Music will be distributed electronically in advance. Registration will open six months in advance. “If you would like to play with us in the future, please get in touch by emailing yorkbeethovenproject@gmail.com,” says John.

Saturday’s programme

Act One: Somewhere (from West Side Story; Bernstein and Sondheim), Company/Cathy Atkin; You’ll Never Walk Alone (from Carousel; Rogers & Hammerstein), Company; Symphony No. 3 in Eb Major Op 55 (Eroica; Beethoven), York Beethoven Project Orchestra.

Act Two: Willkommen (from Cabaret; Kandor and Ebb), Company/Pascha; A New World (from Songs for a New World; Jason Robert Brown), Emma Dickinson, Robert Davies, Alexa Chaplin, Richard Bayton, Company; Take Me To The World (from Evening Primrose; Sondheim), Neil Wood; Send In The Clowns (from A Little Night Music; Sondheim), Robert Davies; He’s My Boy (from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie; Sells & McRae), Emma Dickinson; The Boy From (from The Mad Show; Rogers & Hammerstein), Pascha Turnbull; Hopelessly Devoted to You (from Grease; Jacobs & Casey), Alexa Chaplin; Say No To This (from Hamilton; Miranda), Claire Ainsworth and Matthew Ainsworth; Why? (from Tick, Tick… Boom!; Larson), Richard Bayton, and Les Miserable Medley, Company.

Sopranos: Rachel Anderson, Helen Barugh, Emma Dickinson, Liz Gardner and Joy Warner. Altos: Claire Ainsworth, Cathy Atkin, Alexa Chaplin, Emily Rockliff and Pascha Turnbull. Tenors: Matthew Ainsworth and Richard Bayton. Basses: Robert Davies, Anthony Gardner and Neil Wood.

Saturday’s orchestra

First Violins: Louise Watson (leader), Jane Halnan, Susan Hibbert, Anna Howard, Sally Kingsley, John List, Robert Morris and Helen Taylor. Second violins: Nigel Ball, Nicola Dawson, Sue Lawrence, Tanya Pawson, Gordon Taylor, Dorothy Wilson and Emily Wilson. Violas: Joanna Ainsley, Elizabeth Inglis, Amanda Kirby, Francis Loftus, Mary Luker and Sarah Reece.

Cellos: Jenny Fortmann, Michael Lindsay, Margaret Moorhouse and Judith Spindler. Double bass: Rosie Morris and Christian Topman. Flutes: Clare Haskell and Julie Harris. Oboes: John Hayward and Rosie Lynch. Clarinets: Morgan Hollis and Jonathan Sage. Bassoons: Deborah Welch and Simon Whalley. Horns: Oliver Balm, Janette Norris, Mike Palako and Mike Reeder. Trumpets: Andrew Dalby, Cameron McArthur and Paul McArthur. Timpani: Tony Norris.

Conductor: John Atkin.

Musical Theatre Band:

Keyboards: John Atkin, Nigel Ball, Gill Boler; reeds: Morgan Hollis, Jonathan Sage; trumpet: Cameron McArthur; trombone: Martin Farmery; guitars: Paul McArthur; bass: Christian Topman; percussion: Andy Jennings.

White Rose Theatre presents York Beethoven Project, An Evening of Revolutionary Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, September 14, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

September 13, 2024September 13, 2024

Finn East heads back to school to play Dewey Finn in York Stage’s School Of Rock

*Finn East’s Dewey Finn and Eady Mensah’s Tomika rehearsing for York Stage’s School Of Rock: The Next Generation*

AS the new school term begins, what perfect timing for York Stage to open School Of Rock: The Next Generation at the Grand Opera House, York, today.

“It really is the perfect show to start September,” says director of operations Kevin Coundon. “There will be no back-to-school blues for those going to the School of Rock.”

Produced and directed by Nik Briggs, the riotous musical is based on the 2003 film, re-booted with a book by Julian Fellowes, lyrics by Glenn Slater and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Finn East, an actor noted as much for his comic craft as his musical chops, takes “the Jack Black role” of Dewey Finn, a failed rock musician desperate for money, who chances his arm by faking his credentials to be a substitute teacher at a stuffy American prep school.

Jettisoning Math(s) in favour of propelling his students to become the most awesome rock band ever, will he be found out by the parents and headmistress, leaving Dewey to face the music?

“I’d say it’s the biggest role I’ve played, popularity wise, though the biggest stage part I’ve played was Bill Snibson, the cheeky Cockney geezer, in Me And My Girl for Pick Me Up Theatre [Grand Opera House, May 2019],” says Finn.

*Finn East (Dewey Finn) and Megan Waite (Principal Rosalie Mullins) in rehearsal for School Of Rock: The Next Generation*

“But Dewey is definitely a challenging part for me that’s more well known and draws more attention. I’ve had lots of compliments about getting it, and I’m pleased that everyone is on my side for it.

“There isn’t too much pressure that goes with it, but there is the pressure, I guess, that people see me as a ‘bit of a Jack Black’, but I’m not too worried about doing my own thing, though I naturally fall into his style.”

Finn did not go to last November’s York premiere of School Of Rock by York Light Youth, but he has seen the Paramount film. “But not for a while, though I have it in my DVD collection. That one is in the ‘Director’ section under Richard Linklater as I’m quite the film buff!

“When I studied musical theatre at York College, we went to the West End musical at the Gillian Lynne Theatre – and I loved it!

“I don’t know anyone who’d be as brave as Dewey to do what effectively is identity fraud, but there is a lot in the show’s message that school can bring a lot more out of you by letting you grow instead of squeezing children into a machine.”

Looking back to his schooldays at Warter, near Pocklington, Finn says: “I was very academic to begin with but social at the same time, even at primary school. I was pretty much the school clown: a bit of a comedian, but I always focused on my work too.”

*For those about to rock: York Stage’s young musicians in School Of Rock: The Next Generation*

He first picked up a guitar – Dewey Finn’s instrument – at the age of five. “I played fingerstyle blues stuff, but I didn’t practise loads, though I did go to lessons, but then I really picked it up in my teens, when I started hanging out with my friend Will Dreyfus, playing with him at open-mic nights at Plonkers and Sotano,” says Finn.

“My guitar playing is all right. I play with a plectrum now. I’m more a chords player, when I’m singing. I’ve never been much of a guitar soloist, which you might find out at the end of Act Two!

“It’s very different playing guitar in this show, as I’ve never really had a band before. Now it’s my band with a bunch of kids, and that’s different from playing in pubs – and I’m also performing in character.”

Joining Finn’s Dewey in the band will be Charlie Jewison’s guitarist Zack, Daniel Tomlin’s keyboard player Lawrence, Matilda Park’s bassist Katie and Zach Denison’s drummer Freddie.

“We didn’t play together until maybe a month into rehearsals and then had quite a few pure band rehearsals,” says Finn, who is full of admiration for his young cohorts. “Matilda only picked up the bass after rehearsals began, having previously played other string instruments, getting tuition from Georgia Chapman.

“The guitarist, Charlie, from Leeds, already has his own band. School Of Rock is the first time he’s done a show like this, but he’s used to playing guitar live on stage.

*Guitar face-off: James Robert Ball (Ned Schneebly) and Finn East (Dewey Finn) duelling in School Of Rock rehearsals*

“Our musical director Shack [Stephen Hackshaw] had already done School Of Rock at his school, and when we needed a drummer, he asked the parents of the boy who’d played drums in that show, Zach, if he could do our show and they said ‘yes’. He’s really talented.

“It’s quite a challenge, with ‘real’ school just started again and having to travel over here to rehearse and perform, but you can really tell Charlie and Zach just love playing their instruments.”

Both Matilda and keyboardist Dan Tomlin were in York Stage’s April production of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, as was Finn. “Even during the rehearsals, Dan was always on the piano, getting kids to sing with him,” he says. “He’s so much fun, and he loves getting into character too.”

York Stage is giving these children, along with the young ensemble, the chance to express themselves artistically, much to Finn’s delight. “I would say the kids that Dewey teaches are so talented at music and yet that’s brushed aside as a hobby because parents want them to be accountants or in a dull, high-paid job,” he says.

“At first the kids don’t understand why they’d want to play music when there are ‘more important’ things to do, but they grow to love it, to be hooked on it.”

*The poster for Twilight Robbery, in which Finn East appeared in a double act with Josh Benson*

Finn knows that feeling. “The first theatre show I did was Oliver!, playing one of Fagin’s gang, for York Light Opera Company, and I loved being on stage,” he says.

He acquired an agent at the age of 18 “for a while” after he performed in Joseph McNiece’s heist musical comedy Twilight Robbery for the Scaena Theatre Company and The Boff Ensemble at The Barn Theatre, Oxted, in Surrey in February 2018.

“I did that production after I’d done The Wizard Of Oz with Pick Me Up Theatre, when Joe [McNiece] played The Tin Man. He’d just finished a course in playwriting and directing and he’d written Twilight Robbery with Matthew Spalding, who composed the music.

“He asked me to do the show – he’s from Surrey, so that’s why we did it there – and I played a double act with [York actor] Josh Benson, my very good friend, which was great fun.”

Roll on to 2024, as Finn contemplates his future. “I’m still thinking about training to get some ‘proper credentials’,” he says. “As much as I love theatre, film interests me the most, though you don’t get to experience that immediate audience reaction you do in theatres. Film is what I love watching and what I’d love to be involved in.”

York Stage presents School Of Rock: The Next Generation, Grand Opera House, York, September 13 to 21; Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; Saturdays, 2.30pm; Sunday, 4pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Copyright of The Press, York

Who’s in the York Stage cast and production team for School Of Rock?

Cast:

Dewey Finn – Finn East
Principal Rosalie Mullins – Megan Waite
Ned Schneebly – James Robert Ball
Patti DiMarco – Amy Barrett

The adult company is completed by Florence Poskitt, Matthew Clarke, Stuart Hutchinson, Jess Burgess, Ashley Ginter, Julie Fisher, Cyanne Unamba Oparah, Phil Charles Green, Declan Childs, Oliver Lawery, Theo Ryder, Kalina O’Brien and Evie Latham.

Dewey’s Band, performing live every show:

Zack (guitarist) – Charlie Jewison
Lawrence (keys) – Daniel Tomlin
Katie (bass) – Matilda Park
Freddie (drums) – Zach Denison

Plus two teams of ten students.

Production team:

Director/Producer – Nik Briggs
Musical director – Stephen Hackshaw
Choreographer – Danielle Mullan-Hill

September 11, 2024September 11, 2024

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond when musical theatre goes back to school. Hutch’s List No. 33, from Gazette & Herald

*Finn East’s Dewey Finn and Eady Mensah’s Tomika in rehearsal for York Stage’s School Of Rock: The Next Generation*

FOR those about to rock, or celebrate jazz greats, or glory in Henry V, Charles Hutchinson stacks up reasons to head out and about.

Musical of the week: York Stage in School Of Rock: The Next Generation, Grand Opera House, York, September 13 to 21, 7.30pm, except September 15 and 16; 2.30pm, September 14 and 21; 4pm, September 15

YORK Stage is ready to rock in the riotous musical based on the 2003 Jack Black film, re-booted with a book by Julian Fellowes, lyrics by Glenn Slater and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Failed rock musician Dewey Finn (Finn East), desperate for money, chances his arm by faking it as a substitute teacher at a stuffy American prep school, jettisoning Math(s) in favour of propelling his students to become the most awesome rock band ever. Will he be found out by the parents and headmistress, leaving Dewey to face the music? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

*Artistic director and cellist Tim Lowe: Running his 11th York Chamber Music Festival next week*

Festival of the week: York Chamber Music Festival, various venues, September 13 to 15

FOR its 11th season, York Chamber Music Festival artistic director and cellist Tim Lowe is bringing together pianist Andrew Brownell, violinists Ben Hancox and Magnus Johnston, viola players Gary Pomeroy and Simone van der Giessen, cellist Marie Bitlloch and flautist Sam Coles.

The centenary of French composer Gabriel Fauré’s death will be marked prominently in the five concerts. For the full programme and tickets, go to: ycmf.co.uk.

*Ronnie Scott’s All Stars: Presenting Ronnie Scott’s Soho Songbook at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Shawn Pearce*

Jazz gig of the week: Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club Presents The Ronnie Scott’s Soho Songbook, York Theatre Royal, September 13, 7.30pm

RONNIE Scott’s Jazz Club returns to York Theatre Royal with a new collection of music, narration and projected archive images and rare footage, celebrating Ronnie Scott’s Soho Songbook.

Hosted and performed by the award-winning Ronnie Scott’s All Stars, led by musical director James Pearson, the show offers a glimpse into the London club’s storied world with its litany of legendary jazz players and vocalists. Box office for returns only: 01904 623568.

*Paul Carrack: Celebrating 50 years since his first hit, Ace’s How Long, at York Barbican. Picture: Nico Wills Cornbury*

Ace memoir of the week: Paul Carrack, How Long: 50th Anniversary Tour 2024, York Barbican, September 14, 7.30pm

IN 1974, Sheffield musician Paul Carrack was in “fun London band” Ace when he penned How Long, a song that would reach number three in the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart. Phil Collins named it among his top ten favourites in a 1981 issue of Smash Hits.

“How Long is probably the first song I wrote,” recalls Carrack, now 73. “I wrote the song about a real situation, a situation that many people could relate to. Little did I know that it would become a classic and touch the hearts of so many.” His 50th anniversary tour takes a journey through his career, from his days with Ace, Squeeze and Mike + The Mechanics to his solo years. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

*Alchemy Live: In Dire Straits in Helmsley*

Tribute gig of the week: Alchemy Live, A Tribute To Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits, Helmsley Arts Centre, September 14, 8pm

FORMED in 2022 by frontman Martin Ledger, Yorkshire band Alchemy Live bring together a group of professional players and friends that shares a common love of the music of Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits.

Alchemy Live are “all about the music, no lookalike competitions here”, re-creating the Dire Straits sound as accurately as possible. Every guitar solo is taken from a specific show and reproduced note for note. “Close your eyes and you’re right there, at the Hammersmith Odeon back in 1983,” says Ledger. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Book event of the week: Kemps Presents Dan Jones, Henry V: The Astonishing Rise Of England’s Greatest Warrior King, Milton Rooms, Malton, September 17, 7.30pm

HISTORIAN, television presenter, journalist, podcaster and author Dan Jones says he has been waiting to write Henry V’s biography for many years on account of Agincourt victor Henry being considered as the pinnacle and paragon of medieval kingship, both his own time and for centuries thereafter.

Jones will discuss “one of the most intriguing characters in all medieval history, but one of the hardest to pin down” and sign copies of the book post-discussion. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Troubadour of the week: Charlie Parr, Pocklington Arts Centre, September 19, 8pm

Taking to the road between shows, this American guitarist, songwriter, and interpreter of traditional music writes and rewrites songs as he plays, drawing on the sights and sounds around him, his lyrical craftsmanship echoing the works of his working-class upbringing, notably Folkways legends Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Guitarist of the week: Iago Banet, Helmsley Arts Centre, September 20, 8pm

IAGO Banet, “the Galician King of Acoustic Guitar” from northern Spain, visits Helmsley on the back of releasing his third album, the self-explanatory Tres, in 2023.

September 7, 2024September 7, 2024

More Things To Do in York and beyond as Monet’s Water Lily-Pond bids farewell. Hutch’s List No. 37, from The Press, York

*Anna Hibiscus’ Song: Theatrical story of self-discovery from Nigeria at York Theatre Royal*

FROM African storytelling to Milton Jones’s puns, Will Young’s joyous pop to Dewey Finn’s teaching methods, Charles Hutchinson finds reasons to smile.

Children’s show of the week: Utopia Theatre and Sheffield Theatres present Anna Hibiscus’ Song, York Theatre Royal, today, 11am and 2pm

THIS is the story of a young African girl named Anna Hibiscus, who lives in Ibadan, Nigeria, where she is so filled with happiness that she feels like she might float away. The more she talks to her family about it, the more her happiness grows. The only thing to do is…sing!

Told through music, dance, puppetry and traditional African storytelling, this theatrical story of self-discovery is adapted for the stage by director Mojisola Kareem from the book by Atinuke and Lauren Tobia. Suitable for children aged three upwards and their grown-ups. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

*The Water-Lily Pond, oil on canvas, by Claude Monet, 1899, on show at York Art Gallery until tomorrow. Copyright: National Gallery*

Last chance to see: National Treasures: Monet In York: The Water-Lily Pond, York Art Gallery, in bloom until tomorrow (8/9/2024), 10am to 5pm

SUNDAY or bust. This weekend brings to an end the National Gallery’s bicentenary celebrations in tandem with York Art Gallery after close to 70,000 people took up the chance to feel the radiance of French Impressionist painter Claude Monet’s 1899 work, The Water-Lily Pond, the centrepiece and trigger point of this special anniversary exhibition.

On show too are loans from regional and national institutions alongside York Art Gallery collection works and a large-scale commission by contemporary artist Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Una Sinfonia. Monet’s canvas is explored in the context of 19th-century French open-air painting, pictures by his early mentors and the Japanese prints that transformed his practice and beloved gardens in Giverny. Hurry, hurry to book tickets at yorkartgallery.org.uk.

*Milton Jones: Not short of shirts for his Ha!Milton tour*

Comedy gig of the week: Milton Jones, Ha!Milton, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm

THIS is not a musical. Milton Jones is tone deaf and has no sense of rhythm, he admits, but at least he doesn’t make a song and dance about it. Instead, he has more important things to discuss. Things like giraffes…and there’s a bit about tomatoes.

The shock-haired, loud-shirted master of the one-liner promises a whole new show of daftness. “You know it makes sense,” he says. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

*Will Young: Showcasing Light It Up’s joyous pop at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Jamie Noise*

Pop gig of the week: Will Young, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

MARKING the August 9 release of his Light It Up album, Will Young is embarking on his most intimate tour yet, an up-close-and-personal evening of acoustic performances, stories and conversation across 50 dates.

The ten tracks are a return to embracing joyous unashamed pop music for Young, who has teamed up with Scandinavian pop production/writing duo pHD, as well as reuniting with Groove Armada’s Andy Cato and long-term writing partners Jim and Mima Elliot, for “the go-to pop album for a dance, for a cry and for a celebration”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

*Simon Russell Beale: Shakespeare actor, now starring as Ser Simon Strong in House Of The Dragon, will be in conversation at York Theatre Royal on Tuesday night*

Theatre chat: An Evening With Simon Russell Beale, York Theatre Royal, September 10, 7.30pm

WAS Shakespeare an instinctive “conservative” or, rather, gently subversive? How collaborative was he? Did he add a line to Hamlet to accommodate his ageing and increasingly chubby principal actor Richard Burbage? Did he suffer from insomnia and experience sexual jealousy?

In An Evening With Simon Russell Beale, in conversation with a special guest, the Olivier Award-winning actor will share his experiences of “approaching and living with some of Shakespeare’s most famous characters”, from his school-play days as Desdemona in Othello to title roles in Hamlet and Macbeth. Expect anecdotes of Sam Mendes, Nick Hytner, Stephen Sondheim and Lauren Bacall too. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

*Ruth Berkoff in The Beauty Of Being Herd, her debut show “for anyone who’s ever found it hard to fit in”. Picture: Alex Kenyon*

Sheep and cheerful: Ruth Berkoff: The Beauty Of Being Herd, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 12, and Terrington Village Hall, near Malton, September 28, both 7.30pm

HAVE you ever felt like an outsider? Hannah has. Her solution? She has decided to live as a sheep. “But don’t worry, she’s thought it all through. She’s even got a raincoat. And she’d love to tell you all about it at her Big Goodbye Party. Everyone is invited,” says Leeds writer-performer Ruth Berkoff, introducing her hour of comedy, original songs, heartfelt sharing and even a rave.

“Whether you’re shy, neurodivergent, have accidentally put your foot in it or simply had to spend time with people that weren’t ‘your people’, this is a show for anyone who’s ever found it hard to fit in.” Box office: York, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk; Terrington, terringtonvillagehall.co.uk.

YORK Stage is ready to rock in the riotous musical based on the 2003 Jack Black film, re-booted with a book by Julian Fellowes, lyrics by Glenn Slater and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Festival of the week: York Chamber Music Festival, various venues, September 13 to 15

The centenary of French composer Gabriel Fauré’s death will be marked prominently in the five concerts. For the full programme and tickets, go to: ycmf.co.uk.