James Willstrop as Doctor Frederick Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein
IN the words of lead actor James Willstrop, Mel Brooks’s bawdy, boisterous musical conversion of Young Frankenstein is “not subtle”. “It’s lovely to be doing something silly, full of innuendos and jokes that some people might hate but are just daft,” he says.
Willstrop carries that spirit – and all the lanky physicality that goes into being a 6ft 4inch former world squash number one-turned actor – into playing esteemed New York brain surgeon and professor Doctor Frederick Frankenstein. Pronounced “Fronk-en-steen,” the mop-haired doctor insists.
Billed as a “wickedly inspired re-imagining” of a teenage Mary Shelley’s 1818 gothic novel Frankenstein, Brooks’s comedy horror musical receives its northern premiere in Andrew Isherwood’s delightfully cheeky production.
Pick Me Up Theatre producer and designer Robert Readman had cast the show for its postponed run at the Grand Opera House last autumn: a delightful gift to Isherwood, whose own skills as a comedic actor find him bringing out the best in all those around him as Young Frankenstein is sparked into new life for this week’s run at the JoRo.
He even pops up in a doleful cameo as the blind Hermit, the Gene Hackman role from Brooks’s 1974 film, lamenting his loneliness in Please Bring Me Someone and bringing down the house in the slapstick nonsense of a farcical scene with Craig Kirby’s grunting Monster.
“It’s only one scene,” the woolly-haired Isherwood adlibs to the boisterous Pick Me Up supporters’ club in the stalls, breaking down theatre’s fourth wall as the anarchic Brooks would no doubt love.
In a nod to Young Frankenstein’s roots, the show opens with black-and-white screen credits, accompanied by thunder and lightning. One by one, we meet the colourful characters of Brooks’s horror-movie parody, a process that emphasises the individual strengths of Pick Me Up’s cast, each being given an introductory song to make their mark.
Willstrop had performed the opening The Brain as his audition piece and he immediately establishes the gawky boffin in Dr Frankenstein, always assertive but transmutable too, vowing not to follow in the deranged genius footsteps of his grandfather, Victor Von Frankenstein, on inheriting his Transylvanian castle and laboratory, only to later be enticed into matching his experiments in reanimating a corpse.
Fiancée Elizaeth will be left behind but not before Jennie Wogan-Wells has encapsulated her combination of spoilt ingenue naivety and needy, nasal New York attention-seeking in Please Don’t Touch Me.
Jack Hooper’s Igor, with his panda eyes, wraparound cloak and ever-moving hump, is the hunchbacked gothic sidekick to the manner born, definitely weird, even creepy, but a constant source of daft Transylvanian amusement too.
Who better to play eager-to-please, Scandinavian novice lab assistant Inga than Swedish-born Sanna Jeppsson. Fabulous, flirtatious, funny, no wonder the Doctor falls for her as soon as she invites him to Roll In The Hay.
The caricature European accents keep coming, none better than Helen “Bells” Spencer’s Frau Blucher, the mysterious housekeeper, whose every entry is interrupted by the neigh of a horse. Sternly seductive, severe of face, still infatuated by the late Victor Frankenstein, Spencer’s Frau delivers the show’s supreme vocal performance in He Vas My Boyfriend, with its echoes of Weimar Berlin cabaret nights, singing atop a chair.
Tom Riddolls’s Inspector Kemp is keeping his eye on Frankenstein’s activities, all the more so after Craig Kirby’s newly sparked Monster breaks free from the laboratory. An innocent abroad, Kirby’s baritone-voiced creature learns on the hoof, an outlet for typically broad humour from Brooks and co-writer Thomas Meehan as Wogan-Wells’s Elizabeth “connects” most enthusiastically with the Monster (in the manner of Bella Baxter’s “furious jumping” in Poor Things, but only heard, not seen).
Likewise, Irving Berlin’s borrowed dancefloor gem Puttin’ On The Ritz is transformed from Strictly Come Dancing-style showpiece to the Monster’s introduction to social niceties. This initiation is at once touching yet deliriously humorous too, a rare balancing act for Brooks that makes it all the better, even more so in the ever-excellent Kirby’s hands and feet as he gradually turns into Fred Astaire in Blue Skies.
This review has emphasised the gilded individual turns, but under Isherwood’s direction, the performances gel gleefully, the humour bursting out of the interactions, both physical and verbal.
The teamwork of Sam Steel’s Bertram Batram, Matthew Warry’s Felix and Kelly Stocker, Pearl Mollison, Ruby Salter, Freddie Heath and Ilana Weets, in the guise of students, horses, werewolves and angry villagers, adds to the comedic impact too.
Readman’s set design, with its science laboratory backdrop, and flamboyant costumes are as high quality as ever. Ilana Weets’s choreography is playful, sometimes character-driven, always exuberant; Sam Johnson’s nine-piece band relishes songs painted in bold, brazen colours.
Devotees of The Rocky Horror Show and Mel Brooks alike will savour “the sweet mystery of life” and the Transylvania Mania of Young Frankenstein.
Remaining performances: 7.30pm tonight; 2.30pm and 7.30pm tomorrow. Box office: 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Alex Schofield directing a rehearsal for Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Curtains. Picture: Mike Darley
IT’S curtain up for Curtains, the Kander & Ebb musical comedy whodunnit to be staged by the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in York from February 7 to 10.
After playing grouchy feed-store proprietor Horace Vandergelder in Hello, Dolly! last year and assistant-directing The Producers in 2018, Kiss Me Kate in 2019, Made In Dagenham in 2020 and Kipps (The Half A Sixpence Musical) in 2022, Alex Schofield steps up to direct a JRTC show for the first time.
“By the time I did Hello, Dolly!,I’d already pitched to direct Curtains, after we secured the rights in spring 2022,” says Alex, who works in human resources at York Minster. “Initially, we’d looked at doing it last September but that couldn’t happen, and it’s one of those situations where it still won’t feel real until the opening night as I’ve been planning it for so long.
“I became aware of the show just before the pandemic when Jason Manford was leading the touring company in 2019 and then transferred into the West End. It came more into my provenance when it was one of those productions that could be streamed during lockdown with donations to arts funding, and that’s when I first saw it.”
Whodunit? All the cast members are suspects in Kander & Ebb’s musical Curtains. Picture: Jennifer Jones
This 2007 American musical, with glorious songs by Kander & Ebb and a witty and charming book by Rupert Holmes, is set in 1959 at Boston’s Colonial Theatre, where the entire cast and crew are suspects in a plucky local detective’s investigation into why the leading lady of a new musical mysteriously dropped dead on stage.
“It’s a really funny show, sending up murder mysteries and theatre groups, so that’s all three of my boxes ticked: I love comedy, I love musical theatre and I love whodunits!” says Alex, who first directed a show, The Pirates Of Penzance, for the now-defunct Jorvik Gilbert & Sullivan Company seven years ago.
“I think people should be attracted to Curtains by Kander & Ebb’s involvement. It’ll have the appeal of a classic musical; it’s very fast paced and very funny, but it has loads of tension as well, with all these characters who have different motives for murder.”
Steven Jobson as Lieutenant Frank Cioffi in Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Curtains. Picture: Jennifer Jones
Scripted by Rupert Holmes, who was brought in after Peter Stone, the writer of the original concept and book, died in 2003, Curtains features a play within a play. A Western, cowboy accents and all, by the name of Robbin’ Hood.
“You think, ‘how extreme can I make it from real life?’, with the auditions needing to see if people could do both a generic American accent and Southwestern [American frontier] accent so that the audience can distinguish between characters in the play and characters in the play within the play,” says Alex.
Comedy is a key element in Curtains. “It doesn’t take itself seriously and in some ways it speaks more to the English sense of humour, in how it sends itself up, but what separates it from English humour is that what they say is much more direct, whereas in England, it’s all about what’s not being said!” says Alex.
Curtain call for a “show about theatre”
“Mind you, the director of the play within the play [Christopher Belling] is English and he’s very flamboyant, never holding back with his criticisms. I don’t think that if I took his approach there would be many people left in the company! I take a more compromising position.
“The director will be played by Ben Huntley, who’s been in our shows since Kiss Me Kate in smaller roles, so to give him this opportunity and see him shine in this principal role has been fantastic.”
Set up to raise funds for the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, JRTC has raised £23,000 from its productions so far, and once more proceeds will go the Haxby Road community theatre. “One of the advantages of this show, especially when we’re fundraising for the Rowntree Theatre, is that it’s a show about theatre, so we’ve made the theatre itself the set, with pretty minimal staging required for the play within the play,” says Alex.
Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Curtains, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 7 to 10, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in rehearsal for Curtains. Picture: Mike Darley
Jack Savoretti: First York appearance since 2017. Picture: Supplied
JACK Savoretti is to headline July 18’s triple bill at York Museum Gardens with support from special guests Foy Vance and York singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich.
London-born acoustic singer-songwriter Savoretti, 40, has released seven studio albums and one compilation, Songs From Different Times, since 2007.
Savoretti, whose exotic full name is Giovanni Edgar Charles Galletto-Savoretti, previously played York in an intimate gig at Fibbers on July 16 2017, when promoter Mr H, alias legendary York club boss Tim Hornsby, enthused: “He’s a class act, a modern-day troubadour, a thrilling performer, a giant.
“Our hero may have started as a lonely acoustic troubadour, relying on not much more than his songs and that careworn growl, but we’re now witnessing a gorgeous widescreen sweep, drawing on a rich Italian heritage, with Morricone-like flourishes and battlefield last stands.”
Storytelling Bangor bluesman Foy Vance
Such sentiments still stand, rubber-stamped by the chart accolade of Savoretti hitting number one with his past two studio albums, March 2019’s Singing To Strangers, recorded at Ennio Morricone’s studio in Rome, and June 2021’s Europiana, conceived in lockdowns at Jack’s Oxfordshire home. A deluxe edition, Europiana Encore, followed in 2022.
In an Instagram post last November, Savoretti revealed he was “in the studio, where we are putting the final touches to the new album”.
The title and release date details are yet to be announced but CharlesHutchPress’s early request for an interview elicited this response from Chelsea Bakewell, marketing manager for concert promoters Futuresound: “Jack’s team mentioned they are pausing on interview until the album is out so this isn’t something which can be facilitated at this moment in time I’m afraid.” Watch this space!
Northern Irish storytelling bluesman, survivor, rocker and folk hero Foy Vance, 49, will be returning to York for the first time since headlining York Barbican on his Signs Of Life tour in August 2022.
Now living in Tottenham, London, York singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich, 34, will release his fifth studio album, Some Things Break, next Friday on Dirty Hit Records, his regular home since becoming the label’s first signing at the age of 21 in 2011.
Composed over the past two years at locations across the globe, from London to Nashville, Washington to Stockholm, Some Things Break was produced by Grammy Award-winning Jimmy Hogarth and features collaborations with fellow songwriters Mikky Ekko, Jamie Squire and Jon Green.
Benjamin Francis Leftwich: New album to be released on February 9. Picture: Harry Pearson
The track listing will be: I’m Always Saying Sorry; Moon Landing Hoax; Break In The Weather; New York; Some Things Break; Spokane, Washington; God’s Best; A Love Like That; Only You and Don’t Give Up on The Light.
“Learning to hold onto certain things and let go of others, with as much grace as possible, I feel like I’m hiding less on this record,” says Leftwich. “Ultimately, I think it’s a record about a kind of slow acceptance that some things break and, for me, sometimes that’s necessary for healing.”
Singer, songwriter and guitarist Leftwich will open his eight-date spring tour at Leeds Brudenell Social Club on April 4, where he will be accompanied by The 1975’s Jamie Squire on piano. For tickets, head to: www.benjaminfrancisleftwich.com
Leftwich has played myriad concerts in York over the past 15 years, none more contrasting than an exclusive, intimate album launch gig for Gratitude at the 50-capacity FortyFive Vinyl Café, Micklegate, on March 15 2019, followed only a fortnight later by York Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe.
Savoretti’s concert will be part of a four-night run of Futuresound promotions at York Museum Gardens. York’s revitalised Britpop survivors, Shed Seven, will ride in on a crest of a wave for sold-out 30th anniversary gigs on July 19 and 20, with The Libertines’ Peter Doherty in support, after topping the album charts for the first time with A Matter Of Time on January 12.
The fourth concert will be announced soon.
The poster for Jack Savoretti’s July 18 concert at York Museum Gardens
The Calendar Girls The Musical cast, appearing at the Grand Opera House, York, from next Tuesday to Saturday. Picture: Jack Merriman
LOOK out for York and North Yorkshire East Women’s Institute Federation members at February 6 to 10’s performances of Calendar Girls The Musical at the Grand Opera House, York.
Celebrating the storyline of a cancer charity fund-raising group of ordinary women from a small Yorkshire Women’s Institute, they will have leaflets and information on hand in the public areas of the Cumberland Street theatre, giving audience members the chance to ask about the groups.
Janice Whiteford, WI advisor for the North Yorkshire East Federation, says: “I think it’s marvellous that we’re able to highlight all the groups available in the area during the week at the Grand Opera House. There are lots of WI groups in the York and North Yorkshire East areas and we’d love to chat about the fun we have and encourage new people to join.”
Inspired by the true North Yorkshire story of the Calendar Girls at Rylstone Women’s Institute, who raised £5 million (and counting) for blood cancer research, the musical features songs by Take That’s Gary Barlow and a reimagined book by playwright Tim Firth.
What happens? Following the death to leukaemia of a much-loved husband, a group of ordinary women in a small Yorkshire Women’s Institute are prompted to do an extraordinary thing, whereupon they set about creating a nude calendar to raise money for charity.
However, upturning preconceptions is a dangerous business and none of thewomen are prepared for the emotional and personal ramifications they will face as the fabulous and funny calendar brings each woman unexpectedly into flower.
Who’s in the cast? Find out below. Picture: Jack Merriman
Calendar Girls The Musical brings together a touring cast of music, stage and television stars. Baring all in 2024 are Laurie Brett (EastEnders) as Annie; Liz Carney(The Full Monty, The Mousetrap) as Marie; Helen Pearson(Hollyoaks) as Celia; Samantha Seager (Coronation Street) as Chris; Maureen Nolan (The Nolans, Blood Brothers) as Ruth; Lyn Paul (The New Seekers, Blood Brothers) as Jessie and Honeysuckle Weeks (Foyle’s War) as Cora.
They are joined by Colin R Campbell as John, Andrew Tutonas Rod, alongsideJayne Ashley, Lucas August and Victoria Hayin the ensemble.
The tour is supporting Blood Cancer UK, the charity dedicated to funding research into all blood cancers, including leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma, as well as offering information and support to blood cancer patients.
Every performance continues to add to the millions already raised for Blood Cancer UK and prove that there is no such thing as an ordinary woman. During next week’s run, collections will take place at the Grand Opera House to increase awareness and raise additional funds.
Calendar Girls The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 6 to 10, 7.30pm nightly plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Calendar Girls: the (front and) back story
THE real-life Calendar Girls launched a global phenomenon: a million copycat calendars, a record-breaking film, a stage play and Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s musical, premiered at Leeds Grand Theatre in November-December 2015 under the original title of The Girls. The show coined the term “craughing”: the act of crying and laughing at the same time.
Jools Holland: Returning to York Barbican in December
BOOGIE WOOGIE pianist Jools Holland will make his annual trip to York Barbican with his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra on his autumn/winter 2024 tour.
Joining Jools on December 11 will be two special guests: Soft Cell and Marc & The Mambas singer Marc Almond and blues guitar prodigy Toby Lee.
Starting on October 31, the tour will take in 30 shows, including further Yorkshire gigs at Sheffield City Hall on November 23 and Leeds First Direct Arena on December 20. Tickets will go on sale on Friday (2/2/2024) at 10am at ticketmaster.co.uk.
Marc Almond: Special guest. Picture: Mike Owen
Holland last appeared at York Barbican on December 20 2023; Almond previously joined him on that stage in November 2018.
Guitarist Lee, described by Joe Bonamassa as a “future superstar of the blues”, first came to public attention aged ten when he posted a Get Well Soon jam for BB King that went viral with five million views in one week.
Since then, Lee has performed in West End productions, winning Olivier and UK Blues Awards and showcasing his skills in television and live performances around the world.
Blues guitarist Toby Lee
Once more, Holland’s autumn and winter shows will feature vocal solo spots for blues queen Ruby Turner, Louise Marshall and Sumudu Jayatilaka.
More immediately, Holland’s collaboration with Rod Stewart, Swing Fever, will be released on East West Records on February 23. Recorded with his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra at Jools’s Greenwich studio, this new partnership in swing revels in a 13-track salute to songs of the big band era.
The track listing will be: Lullaby Of Broadway; Oh Marie; Sentimental Journey; Pennies From Heaven; Night Train; Love Is The Sweetest Thing; Them There Eyes; Good Rockin’ Tonight; Ain’t Misbehavin’; Frankie And Johnny; Walkin’ My Baby Back Home; Almost Like Being In Love and Tennessee Waltz.
The cover artwork for Swing Fever, the February 23 album by Rod Stewart with Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra
The best things in life are free…or on offer: York Residents’ Festival 2024
TWO days of York celebrating all things York lead off Charles Hutchinson’s tips for cultural fulfilment, from Eighties’ nostalgia to a monster musical, a ghost story’s return to a singing French iconoclast.
York Residents’ Festival 2024, today and tomorrow
YORK Residents’ Festival returns this weekend with free entry or offers on more than 50 York attractions, restaurants, bars and retailers.
For the weekend organised by Make It York, historical attractions such as York Minster, Jorvik Viking Centre, Clifford’s Tower, Fairfax House, Barley Hall, Merchant Adventurers’ Hall and Treasurer’s House will be opening their doors for free to residents across the weekend.
Residents can also take advantage of a free river cruise with City Cruises, free wizard golf at The Hole In Wand, in Coppergate Walk, and the first 100 visitors can visit for free at York’s Chocolate Story, King’s Square.
Offers at York eateries and restaurants include The Grand, Rio Brazilian Steakhouse York, Ambiente Tapas and Pearly Cow. Retail offers exclusive to residents are available at Avorium, York Gin, Love Cheese, Potions Cauldron and more besides.
For those preferring to explore by foot, offers and discounts apply to walking tours and outdoor activities. Mountain Goat will be taking residents off the beaten path to explore the beautiful Yorkshire countryside, while the family-friendly Wizard Walk of York promises to be spellbinding. Or why not learn to abseil and climb Brimham Rocks, at Brimham Moor Road, Summerbridge, Harrogate?
Step this way for The Wizard Walk of York
To take advantage of York Residents’ Festival offers, you must present a valid York Card, student card or identity card (e.g. driving licence or bus pass) that proves York residency by clearly stating ‘York’.
Make It York managing director Sarah Loftus says: ‘We’re delighted that we have so many York businesses providing fantastic offers for Residents’ Festival weekend. This is a great opportunity for residents to rediscover some of the brilliant attractions, retail and food offers on their doorstop.
“A huge thank-you to our Visit York members for coming together to provide so many brilliant offers; there’s something for everyone during this fun-packed weekend.”
Meanwhile, Ann Petherick is reopening Kentmere House Gallery, in Scarcroft Hill, York, for a new year of exhibitions in time to coincide with the second day of York Residents’ Festival: tomorrow, from 11am to 5pm.
On show are original works of York and Yorkshire by more than 50 professional artists, plus prints, books and cards exclusive to the gallery. The first full weekend opening in 2024 will be on February 3 and 4, 11am to 5pm. Admission is free.
For the full list of offers, and for booking information for York Residents’ Festival, visit visityork.org. Please note, some venues and activities require pre-booking.
Celia Crwys Finnigan and Laura Sillett: On song for The 80’s Movie Mixtape at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York
Nostalgic gig of the week: The 80’s Movie Mixtape, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm
THE 80’s Movie Mixtape is a truly independent theatre show showcasing West End singers and musicians from around London and Surrey in a new tribute to Eighties’ blockbuster movies and their electrifying soundtracks.
A band of six actor-musicians – Jamie Ross, lead vocals, keyboard; Celia Crwys Finnigan, lead vocals, keyboard, alto saxophone; Laura Sillett, lead vocals, keyboard, baritone saxophone; Dom Gee-Burch, lead guitar; Ed Hole, bass, and Luke Thornton, drums – combine songs from Footloose, Top Gun, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Dirty Dancing, Back To The Future, American Gigolo, Ghostbusters, Flashdance, Against All Odds and Electric Dreams with Eighties’ party anthems. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Percy: Performing at Navigators Art & Performance’s Basement Sessions 3 night of music, comedy, spoken word and poetry
On the move: Navigators Art & Performance, The Basement Sessions 3, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, February 23, 7.30pm
YORK creative collective Navigators Art & Performance is moving this weekend’s Basement Sessions 3 bill to next month. “Unfortunately, the Basement is ankle deep in flood water and we’re going to have to postpone the gig this Saturday,” says co-founder Richard Kitchen.
Taking part will be poet and actor Danae, from Mexico via York; “punk/jazz riot” Neo Borgia Trio, from the University of York Big Band; writer, poet, performer and multi-instrumentalist JT Welsch; comedian Will Glitch, from Norwich via Hull; left-field post-punk favourites Percy; acoustic duo The Jammingtons Experience and transatlantic guitar band Fat Spatula. Box office: https://bit.ly/nav-events-all.
English Teacher: Leeds band heading for York tomorrow
Independent Venue Week gig of the week: English Teacher, The Crescent, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
“LEEDS’ music scene is the best in the world,” proclaims Lily Fontaine, English Teacher’s vocalist, guitarist and synthesiser player, without a blink of hesitation. This weekend she heads to near-neighbour York with bassist Nicholas Eden, drummer Doug Frost and lead guitarist Lewis Whitling, who she first met at house parties while they all studied at Leeds College of Music (now Leeds Conservatoire).
After tinkering with projects of their own, they settled on playing together, developing their fusion of dream pop and post-punk noise. Coming next? Writing new songs “somewhere between Adele, Jockstrap and Fontaines D.C.”. Box office: for returns only, thecrescentyork.seetickets.com.
Mark Hawkins as The Actor, left, and Malcolm James as Arthur Kipps in The Woman In Black, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Douet
Haunting return of the week: The Woman In Black, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
STEPHEN Mallatratt’s stage adaptation of Scarborough author Susan Hill’s spine-chiller returns to York for the umpteenth time, directed as ever by Robin Herford. As he did at York Theatre Royal in November 2014, Malcolm James plays lawyer Arthur Kipps, who engages a sceptical young actor (Mark Hawkins) to help him tell his terrifying story and exorcise the fear that grips his soul. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Following the science: James Willstrop’s Dr Frederick Frankenstein in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Young Frankenstein. Picture: Jennifer Jones
Musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Young Frankenstein The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Wednesday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
WHEN the infamous Victor Frankenstein’s grandson, Dr Frederick Frankenstein (James Willstrop), inherits the family castle in Transylvania, will he be doomed to repeat the same mistakes in Mel Brooks’s musical adaptation of his 1974 monster horror-movie spoof?
Andrew Isherwood directs York company Pick Me Up Theatre as Frankenstein’s experiment yields both madcap success and monstrous consequences with the help and hindrance of hunchback henchman Igor (Jack Hooper), Scandinavian assistant Inga (Sanna Jeppsson), mysterious housekeeper Frau Blucher (Helen Spencer) and needy fiancee Elizabeth (Jennie Wogan-Wells). Box office: 01904 501395 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Guz Khan: York and Leeds gigs this winter
Comedy gig of the week: Guz Khan Live!, York Theatre Royal, Wednesday, 7.30pm
COVENTRY comedian, impressionist and actor Guz Khan is on his way to selling out York Theatre Royal after his February 25 gig at Leeds City Varieties already did so. Raised on a housing estate in Hillfields, he graduated from Coventry University and taught Humanities at Grace Academy in his home city before focusing on stand-up.
Khan, 38, is best known as the creator and star of the BBC Three comedy drama Man Like Mobeen, wherein he played a former Small Heath drug dealer now trying to live a good life as a Muslim. Box office: “Last tickets” on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Cantona Sings Eric: Maverick footballer-turned-musician returns to Leeds for April concert. Poster picture: supplied by Academy Music Group
Most unexpected Yorkshire gig announcement of the week: Eric Cantona, Cantona Sings Eric, Leeds O2 Academy, April 16, doors, 7pm
ERIC Cantona once told Leeds United fans from the balcony of Leeds Town Hall, “why I love you, I don’t know why, but I love you” as the 1992 league champions paraded the Division One trophy. Only 207 days later, he was gone…to bitterest rivals Manchester United. Never to be forgiven.
Now 57, the avant-garde French footballer, sardine philosopher, actor, English advert regular and painter “to the rhythm of jazz” is to return to the city. Not in one of those “An Evening With” shows full of nostalgic football chat but as Eric Cantona, singer and musician, performing solo, with piano and cello for company. Box office: academymusicgroup.com/o2academyleeds/events or ticketmaster.co.uk/eric-cantona-tickets.
David Hammond: Performing works by work by Erik Satie, Brian Eno, Federico Mompou, Howard Skempton, David Power and Derek O’Connell
Piano recital of the week: Late Music presents David Hammond, St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, York, Friday, 1pm
DAVID Hammond performs a crossover of ambient and classical solo piano music centred on work by Erik Satie, Brian Eno, Federico Mompou and Howard Skempton, with new works by David Power and Derek O’Connell in the first Late Music recital of 2024.
The full programme will be: Erik Satie, Gnossiennes 1-3; Harold Budd/Brian Eno, The Plateaux Of Mirror; Derek O’Connell, Je mesure le son (first performance); John White, Sonata 95; David Power, Seven Paces Of Stillness (first performance); Erik Satie, Pièces Froides: No.2 Danses de travers; Federico Mompou, Cants Mágics; Howard Skempton, Well, Well Cornelius; Howard Skempton, Rumba; Howard Skempton, Quavers; Budd/Eno/Power mash-up, Remembered, and Erik Satie, Gnossiennes 4-5. Tickets: £5, latemusic.org/david-hammond-piano-2/ or on the door.
In focus: Exhibition launch of the week: Pyramid Gallery, York, from 11am today
One of Linda Combi’s 52 Postcards, painted in 2023
FOUR exhibitions are opening simultaneously today at Pyramid Gallery: Gomery & Braganza, ceramics and painting; Linda Combi’s 52 Postcards; glassmaker Jo Kenny’s What Lies Beneath and Ringleaders’ contemporary handmade rings.
Di Gomery, Loretta Braganza, Linda Combi and Jo Kenny all will be attending the 11am to 2.30pm launch. “Come along to the opening and enjoy a glass of wine or soft drink with the artists,” says gallery owner and curator Terry Brett.
Di’s studio is at South Bank Studios, Southlands Methodist Church, in Bishopthorpe Road, York. Her paintings are lyrical responses to landscape, still life and the human form, painted primarily in oil on canvas or board, often large in scale. Her approach is one of playful energy with an underlying structure and solidity.
Di, who worked in the design industry for Courtaulds (England) and Jakob Schlaepfer couture fabric design (Switzerland), has exhibited previously at Pyramid Gallery, Partisan café, in Micklegate, York, HartLaw Solicitors, in Wetherby, Dean Clough Gallery, Halifax, and the Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield.
Paintings created specifically for this Pyramid exhibition explore edges and volume, make reference to other artists, and generally play with surface and colour combinations. Her artistic influences include the work of British and American women abstract expressionists.
Loretta was born in Mumbai, India, came to Great Britain in 1965 and lives and works in York. She began her practice as a ceramicist in 1990 via a career in dance, graphic arts, textile design and sculpture, as well as teaching drawing and painting at York College.
Loretta Braganza and Di Gomery
Her distinctive style comprising taut edges, clean lines and complex mark making swiftly earned her exhibitions and commissions, as well as awards from the Crafts Council and the Arts Council.
Artist and illustrator Linda Combi, raised in a California desert, now settled in York, returns to Pyramid Gallery, this time with 52 Postcards, a series of original collage paintings, print cards and booklets that reflect on migration.
“I was inspired to create 52 postcards around the theme of displacement,” she says. “I decided to create postcards as you’d typically send them when you’re on holiday to family and friends back home, but for refugees, they can have very different connotations. It’s grounded in the concept of refugees being in another place, writing a letter to home or to their former self.
“In many of my postcards I use birds as a symbol for people forced to flee. They’re innocent, and they’re on the move.”
Linda’s postcards are mixed media, primarily hand painted and printed papers, but also incorporating coloured pencil, pen, stickers and crayon.
“Refugees and other displaced people have to endure so much,” she says. “Everyone should support refugees – not only do they enrich society, but more than anything, it’s just basic kindness and human empathy to understand how frightening it must be to be to have to flee.”
Glassmaker Jo Kenny at work in her studio
Fifty per cent of Linda’s sale proceeds will go to UNHRC, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, and the Lemon Tree Trust, an organisation that works alongside displaced people to transform refugee camps through gardening.
Glassmaker Jo Kenny creates pieces at the furnace inspired by exploring the beaches at Whitby, where she now lives. Such a simple childhood pleasure revisited, she finds a contemplative quality in the act of poking around in rock pools. “I feel the joy and excitement of discovery under each pebble,” she says.
Her What Lies Beneath series encourages the viewer to “look a little deeper and maybe feel a little of that childlike excitement making their own discoveries”.
Awarded an Arts Council England grant, Jo was able to develop the series further in collaboration with Scottish master craftsman Gordon Taylor, who completed pieces with his cutting and polishing skills.
Jo splits her time between making and teaching. Her key themes are the effect of the passage of time, erosion, entropy, persistence of image and all things pertaining to the ocean.
Di Gomery and Loretta Braganza’s exhibition runs until March 11; Linda Combi’s 52 Postcards until March 9; Jo Kenny’s glass until March 7, at Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York. Gallery opening hours are:Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm; Saturdays, 10am to 5.30pm. The project can be viewed at Linda’s website, lindacombi.biz, from where purchases can be made too.
Following the science? James Willstrop as Dr Frederick Frankenstein, creator of the Creature in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Young Frankenstein. Picture: Jennifer Jones
YORK company Pick Me Up Theatre’s delayed northern premiere of Mel Brooks’s comedy horror musical Young Frankenstein opens at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre next Wednesday.
Unforeseen circumstances had forced the late postponement of last autumn’s run at the Grand Opera House, but rehearsals re-started in York in early December under the direction of Andrew Isherwood.
All the original principal cast chosen by Pick Me Up artistic director and designer Robert Readman was still available, not least former squash world number one James Willstrop in the lead role of mad scientist Dr Frederick Frankenstein, first played by Gene Wilder in Brooks’s 1974 horror-movie spoof of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein.
“You hear of other shows where it’s happened, but it was a really sad feeling when we couldn’t do it as were just about to start our run,” recalls James.
“I was feeling pretty depressed afterwards, thinking ‘this show isn’t going to happen’ – and when people ask, ‘how are you feeling?’, it’s unusual to have to explain to anyone as it’s not ‘real life’, but you do feel really deflated.
Pick Me Up Theatre principals in Young Frankenstein: back row, from left, James Willstrop’s Dr Frederick Frankenstein, Helen Spencer’s Frau Blucher and Jennie Wogan-Wells’s Elizabeth Benning; front row, Jack Hooper’s Igor and Sanna Jeppsson’s Inga. Picture: Jennifer Jones
“But then we got this text from Bells [production management assistant and actress Helen Spencer] asking, ‘Can you do these dates?’, as Robert said we could go ahead with a new run.”
Out went Pick Me Up’s planned production of Chicago at the JoRo, replaced by Young Frankenstein. Rehearsals have been a matter of “going again”. “We had the best part of a month off when the last thing I was thinking of doing was listening to the soundtrack!” says James.
“It’s been a case of getting into the scenes again, with the choreography kept largely the same. Andrew has been really great on the detail, which actors love, and that’s been good. He’s trusted our instincts and he’s been very alive to the comedy.”
James, who made his Pick Me Up debut as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound Of Music in December 2022, has enjoyed becoming acquainted with Brooks’s parody songs.
“Going into the audition, I didn’t know a lot about the show, but I love Pick Me Up and working with Robert, and I loved the opening number, The Brain, which I decided to learn for the audition.
James Willstrop: Men’s doubles squash gold medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, his fifth Games
“A week out from the audition, I hadn’t been sure about the show, but by the time I did the audition, I was thinking, ‘this part is great, I’ve got to do it’!
“The first few times, listening to the soundtrack, it took me a while to get a feel for the songs, but then you realise they’re just great, simple songs. I love the tunes, they have a vaudeville quality, and the humour is always there.”
James, now 40, had first performed in “serious dramas” before branching out into musicals, and last year found him heading to the Cornish coast to play deluded mystery novel writer Charles Considine in Ilkley Playhouse’s production of Noel Coward’s supernatural comedy Blithe Spirit at the Minack Theatre.
“Doing that humorous role, and being tall [James is 6ft 4ins], with all the physicality that goes with that, just seemed to link perfectly to then playing Frederick Frankenstein,” he says.
. “It’s not subtle but it’s a great comedy genre,” says James Willstrop of Mel Brooks’s humour. Picture: Jennifer Jones
In Brooks’s spoof, the grandson of infamous scientist Victor Frankenstein, Dr Frederick Frankenstein, has inherited his family’s castle estate in Transylvania. Aided and hindered by hunchbacked sidekick Igor, Scandinavian lab assistant Inga, stern German Frau Blucher and needy fiancée Elizabeth, he strives to fulfil his grandfather’s legacy by bringing a corpse back to life.
Cue comedy in the bold Brooks style. “It’s lovely to be doing something silly, full of innuendos and jokes that some people might hate but are just daft,” says James. “It’s not subtle but it’s a great comedy genre,”
James, whose father grew up in York, lives in Harrogate and now divides his time between coaching squash – and “still playing a bit” – at the Pontefract Squash and Leisure Club and performing on stage.
Coming next will be his role as recovering alcoholic Harry in Bingley Little Theatre’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Company at Bingley Arts Centre, West Yorkshire, from July 1 to 6.
Pick Me Up Theatre in Young Frankenstein, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, January 31 to February 32024, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk
HOW does Wikipedia describe ABC’s iconic, chart-topping 1982 debut album The Lexicon Of Love?
New pop. Pop. Sophisti-pop. New Wave. Disco. Dance-pop. Blue-eyed soul. Synth pop.
On Saturday at York Barbican, one word will suffice: orchestral. That night, as part of the Sheffield band’s now extended tour, Martin Fry and co will be joined by the Southbank Sinfonia, conducted by longtime collaborator Anne Dudley, who played such a key role along with producer Trevor Horn on the original recording sessions.
They will perform the million-selling album in its entirely, complemented by further ABC hits such as the two-hour set-opening When Smokey Sings, Be Near Me and The Night You Murdered Love.
Fry, now 65, first dusted off his trademark lamé suit for a one-off orchestral performance of The Lexicon Of Love at the Royal Albert Hall, but such was the reaction that a 2009 tour ensued, and 15 years later, the Fry-Dudley partnership is off on the road again.
“When we first did it in 2009, it was a novel idea, and we spent a lot of time getting the arrangements right, not a band with an orchestra in the background but a full show,” he recalls.
Anne beavered away on the orchestral charts, filling two suitcases for the 36 members of the Southbank Sinfonia. “It’s cast of thousands on stage, more than 40 people, for these shows,” says Fry.
What a contrast with the peace and quiet of his location for this Zoom interview (on January 11). “I’m in Barbados. It’s 8.30 in the morning over here,” he says. “In the Tropics, I get up every day at about five or six. It’s really nice! Running on the beach each day.”
The cover artwork for ABC’s 1982 debut album The Lexicon Of Love
Soon he would be heading to London for the tour rehearsals with Dudley and the orchestra, but Fry spends “quite a lot of time” in Barbados, as well as going to Miami and “being in Yorkshire quite often”.
Yorkshire was where it all started for Stockport-born Martin Fry and ABC, the band that grew out of his original group, Vice Versa, in Sheffield in 1980. “I think a lot of it came from the double dejection of knowing there were no outlets unless you were a footballer or a hairdresser. It was a very depressed area,” he says.
The result was a debut that was both velvet and steel, fuelled by the romantic longing of Motown soul and a post-punk attitude that chimed with the South Yorkshire industrial decline and strife of the time.
“We were from an experimental background, rehearsing in an old steelworks building, where I cleaned out the building for [Sheffield band] Clock DVA, but we wanted to make a record where we’d compete on an international level.”
Fry and ABC were driven by a “combination of ambition and experimentation”. The look, the suits, came from “jumble sales where widows took their husbands’ clothes”, evoking B-movie films stars, while the sound was driven by the dancefloor and the possibilities brought on by technology changing all the time.
“I loved Pere Ubu and Joy Division, but we wanted to make music that was more polished, like Gamble & Huff and Motown, mirroring what was happening in the car plants, producing something every day.”
Living in Sheffield’s Hyde Park flats [later demolished in 1992-93], Fry did not want to patronise anyone by writing “Coronation Street dramas” in song, but instead he would showcase the counterpoint: the nightlife.
“Going to Pennys; the people that would go into Sheffield city centre in zoot suits. Very aspirational. Looking incredible,” he says. “It was that romance we were capturing – and the idea that we might one day play Las Vegas.” A dream that would indeed come true.
Martin Fry with Anne Dudley and the Southbank Sinfonia
Released on June 2 1982 and topping the charts a week later, The Lexicon Of Love and its quartet of single, Tears Are Not Enough, Poison Arrow, The Look Of Love and All Of My Heart, felt like pop perfection from the city of Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA and The Human League.
How could ABC and the king of the clever couplet follow it up? “We didn’t want to Xerox it but go off in a different direction with Beauty Stab and How To Be A Zillionaire,” says Fry. “But The Lexicon Of Love has never felt like a burden…no, it’s a blessing.”
He continues to write songs. “It was great to do The Lexicon Of Love II; all new songs. That came out of playing on the road with the orchestra,” he says. “It’s just therapeutic when you stumble across something good in a song.”
The thrill of “creating a new moment” still delights him as Younger Now, Older Then joins the list. “I’m too stubborn for writing songs to become a grind,” he says.
On Saturday, York can enjoy The Lexicon Of Love once more, not only the sharp suits and sharper words of Fry, but also the orchestral arrangements of Anne Dudley.
That skill was first exhibited when producer Trevor Horn wanted to do more than merely replicate strings on synthesisers on the recording sessions. Dudley was ostensibly there to embellish the keyboards, but such was her precocious talent, she said, ‘let me come up with some string arrangements’.”
“I think they were the first ever ones she did,” says an admiring Fry. Strings reattached, those songs bloom anew this weekend.
ABC: The Lexicon Of Love Orchestral Tour, York Barbican, Saturday, doors, 7pm. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.
A Way With Media’s promotional picture for the launch of Martin Fry’s memoir A Lexicon Of Life
MARTIN Fry will perform ABC hits and share personal stories from more than four decades in the music industry in his ABC – An Intimate Evening With Martin FryTour.
Yorkshire dates will be at King’s Hall, Ilkley, on November 21 2024 (box office: bradford-theatres.co.uk); Dewsbury Town Hall, May 8 2025 (creativekirklees.com); Scarborough Spa on Saturday, May 10 2025 (scarboroughspa.co.uk); Northallerton Forum, May 11 2025 (forumnorthallerton.org.uk); Harrogate Theatre, May 21 2025 (harrogatetheatre.co.uk) and Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, May 23 2025 (leedsheritagetheatres.com).
“I have been very lucky in my career to have played venues around the world from massive arenas in the States to Sheffield Town Hall in my hometown, where we marked 40 years of The Lexicon of Love,” says Fry. “However, this tour really is something a bit different; an opportunity for stripped-back music and conversation with my fans. It will be really special, I can’t wait.”
Fry will be promoting his upcoming autobiography, A Lexicon Of Life, now available for pre-order in two formats ahead of its summer publication. The first is a signed, numbered edition of 2,500 with an exclusive CD featuring newly recorded acoustic versions of ABC hits and two new tracks .
The second, a deluxe edition, is limited to 350 signed and numbered copies, including the autobiography, hand-bound in the gold Savile Row fabric used for Fry’s iconic jackets, an exclusive gold vinyl record featuring Fry’s new acoustic versions and a rare bonus CD of ABC’s Traffic album.
The featured songs will be Tears Are Not Enough; Ten Below Zero; Poison Arrow; The Look Of Love; When Smokey Sings; How To Be A Millionaire; Never Get To Be The King; All Of My Heart; Be Near Me and The Luckiest Man Alive.
James: Playing Leeds First Direct Arena in June. Picture: Paul Dixon
JAMES will release their 18th studio album, Yummy, on April 12 on Virgin Music ahead of playing Leeds First Direct Arena on June 8.
Produced by Leo Abrahams, the album will be available in CD, 2CD deluxe, vinyl, colour vinyl (marbled red) retail exclusive, colour vinyl (marbled orange) and D2C Exclusive formats.
Yummy’s track list will be: Is This Love; Life Is A F***ing Miracle; Better With You; Stay; Shadow Of A Giant; Way Over Your Head; Mobile God; Our World; Rogue; Hey; Butterfly and Folks.
The 2CD deluxe edition of Yummmy adds Pudding, a second disc of demos produced by the Manchester band’s four songwriters: Anyone But You; Close Enough; Mine To Lose; Activist Song; Won’t Be The Same; Tell Me Something; Poolewe Day 1 Jam 4; Arpen Charp; Deliver The Dawn; Something Of A Pleasure; Walk Tall and 50s Out Takes.
Boston Spa-born frontman Tim Booth says of Pudding’s 12 tracks: “Most of them contain the original music and vocals created in the initial jams – which is why many of them don’t have lyrics.
Studio Fury’s cover design for James’s album Yummy
“These are the tracks that didn’t make it to the next stage, where we would take them to all the band members to contribute and I would work on the lyrics before recording the final versions with a producer.
“We always make more demos than we use before recording an album, and we usually jam over 100 songs before choosing which to develop. It’s our way of keeping our quality high. These may be sketches of songs, but we could hear their potential, how they would develop with further work. James have always loved making B-sides as a way to hone creativity. Maybe view these as the B-sides for the album Yummy.”
Lead single Is This Love is out now. Featuring artwork by Studio Fury, who art-directed the campaign for the latest Rolling Stones album, Hackney Diamonds, the song is described as a “complex dissection of love in all its forms” as singer Booth pores over the pain, heat, battle, distance, fear, release and endurance of this emotion, in pursuit of its point and purpose.
Or as he puts it: “Love as a bomb, a Tsunami that rolls over our life as we cling to the wreckage of our peace of mind”.
James will be joined by special guests Razorlight on a tour that will climax with their debut show at the 20,000-capacity London O2 Arena on June 15. Tour tickets are available at tix.to/James24, gigsandtours.com and ticketmaster.co.uk.
Studio Fury’s artwork for James’s new single Is This Love
Booth, Jim Glennie and Saul Davies, from James, will perform with Joe Duddell and an orchestra at Music Feeds Live: A Concert To Fight Food Poverty in aid of the Trussell Trust at Manchester O2 Apollo on February 27. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.
In celebration of their 40th anniversary, James were honoured at the 2023 Ivor Novello Awards, receiving the PRS Music Icon Award in a year when they were joined by an orchestra and gospel choir on the James Lasted tour that visited York Barbican on April 28.
Last June’s orchestral double album Be Opened By The Wonderful reached number three in the UK official chart. Throughout the summer, James headlined multiple UK and European festivals, culminating in two shows backed by full orchestra and choir at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens, Greece, and a special guest headline slot at Latitude Festival, Henham Park, Suffolk.
After 2016’s Girl At The End Of The World, 2018’s Living In Extraordinary Timesand 2021’s All The Colours Of You, Yummy continues a run of albums addressing American politics, AI technology and conspiracy theorists, all the while facing down mortality with an unbeaten smile and striving for love in a world spinning catastrophically out of control.
In the band’s 2024 line-up are: Tim Booth, Jim Glennie, Saul Davies, Adrian Oxaal, David Baynton-Power, Mark Hunter, Andy Diagram, Chloe Alper and Deborah Knox-Hewson.
Folk musician Sam Lee at Stonehenge. Picture: Andre Pattenden
FOLK renovator Sam Lee will showcase his fourth studio album, songdreaming, on a 17-date tour with Yorkshire gigs at Hebden Bridge Trades Club on March 17, Crookes Social Club, Sheffield, on March 20 and Old Woollen, Farsley, on March 24.
Released on March 15 on Cooking Vinyl, songdreaming represents the latest stage in the development of Londoner Lee’s music, from its roots in curating ancient song to a new way of imagining and performing reworked old songs, making them relevant for a modern audience.
The follow-up to 2020’s Old Wow was recorded throughout 2023, when Lee continued his work with producer Bernard Butler and long-term collaborator, arranger, and composer James Keay in creating an album rich in musicality and invention.
songdreaming may be built on the backbone of double bass, percussion, and violin but is infused with pan-global instrumentation, taking in the Arabic Qanun, Swedish Nyckelharpa, small pipes and more.
Across the ten tracks, Lee delivers an album that ranges from more immediately identifiable acoustic songs to drone soundscapes through to the electric guitar and gospel choir-propelled lead single Meeting Is A Pleasant Place, featuring the recording debut of transgender London choir Trans Voices.
The cover artwork for Sam Lee’s new album, songdreaming
songdreaming incorporates the balladry of Sweet Girl McRee alongside the gospel tinges of Leaves Of Life, while also housing the whiteout noise of Bushes And Briars, a song that details Lee’s rage at the treatment and condition of the natural world.
In taking songs directly related to the nature of the British Isles, he continues to reinvent and contemporise a tradition of communion with the land through song. He duly characterises songdreaming as: “A mosaic of the emotions felt in my time outdoors, that artistically emerge in reflective moments when I’m permitted to recount and articulate the complexity of all I witness and thus feel responsible for”.
Taking an “evocative journey through the complex emotions created for Sam by his engagement with nature and his deep-felt affinity for it”, the album draws on sources as diverse as the sacred music of European and global mystic traditions, the work of neo-classical contemporary composers and the simple effectiveness of a well-delivered vocal melody.
Summing up his connection with nature in song, Lee says: “Those people who are and were singing the old songs here at home were also looking after the land. When we stop singing to the land, the land stops singing back.”
Tour tickets are on sale samleesong.co.uk. songdreaming will be released on Cooking Vinyl on March 15 on vinyl, CD and digital download. Pre-order link: https://SLee.lnk.to/songdreamingPR
