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
Something wicked this way comes: Rob Wolfe’s Macbeth and Oriana Charles’s Lady Macbeth in Dickens Theatre Company’s Macbeth, on tour at Grand Opera House, York
FROM textbook theatre for GCSE studies to an original pantomime, a finally finished symphony to orchestral ABC, a silent cinema season to a night of Nashville honky-tonk country, Charles Hutchinson has all manner of recommendations.
York debut of the week: Dickens Theatre Company: Revision On Tour, Grand Opera House, York, Macbeth, Monday, 7.30pm, and Tuesday, 1pm, 7.30pm; Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, Wednesday, 1pm, 7.30pm; Romeo & Juliet, Thursday, 1pm, 7.30pm
DICKENS Theatre Company, purveyors of exciting, educational and entertaining stage adaptations of literary classics and GCSE texts since 2015, make their York debut with three productions scripted and directed by Ryan Philpott.
A cast of seven presents Shakespeare’s bloodiest tragedy, Macbeth, narrated by the Porter, as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth make their perilous descent towards Hell; Robert Louis Stevenson’s Gothic horror story Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, set in the foggy, dimly lit streets of Victorian London, where an evil predator lurks, and Romeo & Juliet, breathing new life and wit into Shakespeare’s tragic tale of star-crossed lovers. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Rob Wolfe, as Dr Jekyll, and Felix Grainger, as Inspector Newcomen, in Dickens Theatre Company’s Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde at Grand Opera House, York
Pantomime of the week: Blue Light Theatre Company in Nithered!, Acomb Working Men’s Club, York, today, 1pm; Wednesday to Friday, 7.30pm
FORMED by York Ambulance Service staff, Blue Light Theatre Company’s family-friendly tenth anniversary production features an original pantomime script by Perri Ann Barley, with additional material by the dame, Steven Clark, directed by Craig Barley and choreographed by Devon Wells.
They are joined in the cast by Glen Gears, Brenda Riley, Simon Moore, Kevin Bowes, Kristian Barley and new members Aileen Stables and Audra Bryan, among others. Proceeds go to the Motor Neurone Disease Association (York) and York Against Cancer. Box office: 07933 329654 or bluelight-theatre.co.uk.
The (Riding) Hoods in Blue Light Theatre Company’s Nithered!: Kathryn Donley, left, Chelsea Hutchinson and Kalayna Barley
Classical concert of the week: Academy of St Olave’s, St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York, tonight, 8pm
THE “main event” of the Academy of St Olave’s second concert of their 2023-24 season will be Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony No. 8 in B minor, but in a finished version! Schubert famously completed only the first two movements, before setting the symphony aside (six years before his death in 1828).
The York chamber orchestra will be adding third and fourth movements compiled and composed by Schubert scholar Professor Brian Newbould, based on material left behind by the Austrian composer. Further works in a programme of late-Classical and early Romantic music will be Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 and Luigi Cherubini’s operatic overture Anacréon. Box office: academyofstolaves.org.uk or on the door.
Miles Kane: One Man Band at Leeds O2 Academy
Miles down the road: Miles Kane, Leeds O2 Academy, Thursday, 7pm
BIRKENHEAD guitarist and singer Miles Kane, former frontman of The Rascals and Alex Turner’s cohort in The Last Shadow Puppets, opens his January and February 2024 solo tour in Leeds. Expect the focus to fall on last August’s album, One Man Band, released on Modern Sky Records.
A deeply personal record, it found Kane reflecting on his journey as he returned to Liverpool, hooking up with Blossoms’ Tom Ogden, Circa Waves’ Keiran Shudall, Andy Burrow and regular writing partner Jamie Biles to record songs with longtime collaborator James Skelly, of The Coral, on production duties. Box office: mileskane.com.
Buster Keaton in Sherlock, Jr: Showing in the ReDiscover programme at City Screen Picturehouse
Time to rediscover: Buster Keaton season, City Screen Picturehouse, York, until February 9
CITY Screen Picturehouse is celebrating the silent cinema of Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton, the American actor, comedian and director whose graceful physical feats of stoical comedy were marked by a deadpan expression that brought him the nickname “The Great Stone Face”.
Friday’s screening of Steamboat Bill, Jr (U), wherein the effete son of a cantankerous riverboat captain joins his father’s crew, will be followed on February 2 by Sherlock, Jr (U), in which Keaton’s hapless film projectionist longs to be a detective. The season concludes on February 9 with The General (U), with its peerless chase scenes as Keaton’s plucky railway engineer pursues Union spies doggedly across enemy lines when they steal his locomotive. Box office: picturehouses.com.
Dominic Halpin And The Hurricanes: Revelling in A Country Night In Nashville
Country shindig of the week: A Country Night In Nashville, Grand Opera House, York, Friday, 7.30pm
DOMINIC Halpin And The Hurricanes take a journey down country roads, visiting the songs of American stars both past and present as they recreate the atmosphere of a buzzing honky-tonk in downtown Nashville. The music of Johnny Cash, Alan Jackson, Dolly Parton, The Chicks, Willie Nelson and Kacey Musgraves, among others, will be showcased. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Martin Fry: Fronting the ABC Lexicon Of Love Orchestral Tour show at York Barbican
Gig of the week: ABC, Lexicon Of Love Orchestral Tour, York Barbican, January 27, doors, 7pm
MARTIN Fry leads ABC in an orchestral performance of their June 1982 chart-topping debut album The Lexicon Of Love, here coupled with further hits and favourites.
Fusing Motown soul with a steely Sheffield post-punk attitude, the album spawned the hits Tears Are Not Enough, Poison Arrow, The Look Of Love and All of My Heart,
now performed with the Southbank Sinfonia, conducted by longtime collaborator Anne Dudley, who orchestrated the original album sessions. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk or ticketmaster.co.uk.
Miles And The Chain Gang: New single and first gig of 2024
Miles on the doorstep: Miles And The Chain Gang, The Terrace, New Street, York, February 10, 8pm onwards, free entry
YORK band Miles And The Chain Gang precede their first gig of 2014 with the January 26 release of new single Raining Cats And Dogs, an Americana-tinged track that dates back 30 years.
“Everything takes time,” says songwriter and frontman Miles Salter. “The song started out at a jam session with my friends Dom Jukes and Syd Egan in the summer of 1994. It just came to me, as song ideas do.” Hearing the subsequent recording for the first time in years, Salter has decided to revisit the “very playful and tongue-in-cheek” country number with Egan on harmonica.
The poster artwork for The Basement Sessions 3, Navigators Art & Performance’s next event at City Screen Picturehouse, York, now taking place on February 23
YORK creative collective Navigators Art & Performance is moving Saturday’s Basement Sessions 3 at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, 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 Navigators Art co-founder Richard Kitchen. “We’re making plans for the show to go ahead on Friday, February 23.”
Billed as “Live, Local and Loud!”, the adventurous 7.30pm to 10.30pm bill combines new music, comedy, spoken word and poetry, with a few surprises up its sleeve.
Taking part will be the returning Danae, a spellbinding poet and actor from Mexico via York; Neo Borgia Trio, a ”punk/jazz riot” from the University of York Big Band, who wowed everyone in their Navigators debut; JT Welsch, writer, poet, performer and multi-instrumentalist, and Will Glitch, a young comedian from Norwich via Hull.
Left-field indie favourites Percy will be delivering dark and spiky post-punk. “Think Stranglers, Magazine, Gang Of Four, Idles and Fontaines DC,” says Richard.
On the bill too are The Jammingtons Experience with their tales and trials of two lives, sung to acoustic guitar and bass accompaniment, and Fat Spatula, whose transatlantic guitar racket comes with fat beats and greasy riffs.
“All performers are from York and the surrounding area and are chosen for a spirit of experimentality and community – and of course for being excellent!” says Richard. “It’s our last Basement Session for a while, featuring exciting local bands, new discoveries as well as familiar favourites, a fascinating emerging poet and some lively comedy. The Basement is small and our shows sell out, so book soon. Please note, some material may be unsuitable for young children.”
Call-out: Navigators Art seeks artists for GUNA: Views and Voices of Women
The February 23 event follows Navigators Art’s sold-out show at the Black Swan Inn on January 6 to “mark the ancient roots of Old Christmas and Twelfth Night”.
Looking ahead, “we’ll be doing an art exhibition and live performance for International Women’s Week in York during March and a Micklegate Art Trail for the University of York’s Festival of Ideas, as well as a sculpture and music/poetry night in honour of York-born poet WH Auden for York Civic Trust’s Trailblazers project in May/June,” says Richard.
Navigators Art & Performance, a fluid collective of York artists, writers, musicians and performers, have booked The Basement for March 23 for GUNA: Views and Voices Of Women, from 7.30pm to 10.30pm. “We’re seeking artists for this show and would be grateful for any recommendations,” says Richard, who can be contacted at richkitch99@hotmail.com.
This evening of music, spoken word and comedy exploring, celebrating and promoting the creativity of women will tie in with Navigators Art’s exhibition for York International Women’s Week in the City Screen café and upstairs gallery from March 10 to April 6.
Entry to the exhibition is free and an official opening event will be held upstairs on March 11 from 6pm.
Tickets for The Basement Sessions 3 and GUNA: Views and Voices of Women can be booked through TicketSource via https://bit.ly/nav-events-all
The poster for the Academy of St Olave’s January 20 concert at St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York
THE Academy of St Olave’s second concert of their 2023-24 season will be a sublime night of late-Classical and early-Romantic music by Mozart, Schubert and Cherubini on Saturday.
The York chamber orchestra’s 8pm programme in St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York, will raise funds for the much-needed replacement of the church’s leaking St Giles Room roof.
The “main event” will be Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony No. 8 in B minor – but in a finished version! Schubert famously completed only the first two movements, and connoisseurs have long speculated over his intentions for the final two movements and his reasons for setting the symphony aside (six years before his death in 1828).
In addition to the two completed movements, the Academy will perform third and fourth movements compiled and composed by internationally renowned Schubert scholar Professor Brian Newbould, based on material left behind by the Austrian composer.
The Academy also will perform Mozart’s dramatic Symphony No. 25, sometimes known as the “Little G minor”. Composed in the Sturm und Drang style, the first movement, with its agitated syncopations, features in the opening credits of Peter Shaffer’s Oscar-winning film Amadeus.
Setting the scene will be the grand operatic overture Anacréon by Italian composer Luigi Cherubini, who was described as the greatest composer of his era by no less than Beethoven.
The orchestra will be directed by guest conductor John Bryan, who says: “I’m delighted to be working again with the excellent musicians of the Academy of St Olave’s in this wonderful programme. Brian Newbould’s completed version of Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony will be fascinating to perform, and our audience also have a delightful pairing of Classical works by Mozart and Cherubini to look forward to.”
Advance booking via academyofstolaves.org.uk is encouraged; any remaining tickets will be sold on the door.
The Never Ending Spring tour poster for Robert Plant’s Saving Grace
ROBERT Plant’s Saving Grace will play Harrogate Royal Hall on April 30 on their 15-date spring and summer tour.
The erstwhile Led Zeppelin singer and lyricist, now 75, will lead the folk, Americana and blues co-operative featuring Suzi Dian (vocals), Oli Jefferson (percussion), Tony Kelsey (mandolin, baritone, acoustic guitar, and Matt Worley (banjo, acoustic/baritone guitars, cuatro).
On the road from March 13 to July 24, Saving Grace’s Never Ending Spring itinerary will take in a second Yorkshire show at Sheffield City Hall on March 27. Tour tickets go on sale on Friday (19/1/2024) at 10am at gigsandtours.com and ticketmaster.co.uk; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; Sheffield, sheffieldcityhall.co.uk.
Premiered by Plant in February 2019 in a gig near the English-Welsh border, Saving Grace’s repertoire is “inspired by the dreamscape of the Welsh Marches”
Robert Plant and Suzi Dian up front performing with Saving Grace
Plant and co had been booked to headline the Platform Festival at The Old Station, Pocklington, in July 2020 until the pandemic intervened. They did, however, perform at the Grand Opera House, York, on April 16 2022.
Joining the 2024 tour, as he did on Saving Grace’s sold-out November 2023 travels, will be special guest Taylor McCall. The completely self-taught South Carolina be singer, songwriter and musician has garnered nearly 30 million plays to with his songs Jericho Rose, Quartermaster and Waccamaw Drive.
Building on his 2021 debut album Black Powder Soul, McCall’s follow-up, Mellow War, will be released on February 2.
Robert Plant’s Saving Grace will appear at the Royal Albert Hall, London, as part of Ovation – A Celebration of 24 Years of Gigs for Teenage Cancer Trust on March 24, alongside Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, Kelly Jones, Eddie Vedder and Paul Weller. Tickets are available at www.teenagecancertrust.org/gigs.
Making Mischief: Peter Pan Goes Wrong at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Pamela Raith
FROM Peter Pan mishaps to pantomime, rabbit obituaries to classic rock, prawn cocktail comedy to Eighties’ pop star nostalgia, Charles Hutchinson delights in all manner of arts events.
Theatrical calamity of the week…but in a good way: Mischief Theatre’s Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Leeds Grand Theatre, January 16 to 20, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees
FROM the mayhem-makers of The Play That Goes Wrong and the BBC television series The Goes Wrong Show comes Mischief Theatre’s riotous spin on a timeless classic in the West End hit Peter Pan Goes Wrong.
As the hapless members of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society return to the stage, once more they must battle technical hitches, flying mishaps and cast disputes as they strive to present J M Barrie’s awfully big adventure, but will they ever make it to Neverland? Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
RIP Lee Scratch Perry from Bertt deBaldock’s book Good Rabbits Gone Volume Three
Book signing launch of the week: Bertt deBaldock’s Good Rabbits Gone Volume Three, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, January 16, 4.30pm to 7pm
PYRAMID Gallery owner, curator and artist Terry Brett launches his latest collection of cartoon rabbit portrait tributes to celebrities and remarkable individuals who have passed away in the 108-page book Good Rabbits Gone Volume Three.
The cartoons are drawn by Bertt deBaldock (Terry’s alias) at the time of the individual’s death and assembled with Terry’s tributes or memories of the person in a volume covering September 2021 to December 2022. The book is free but donations are invited in aid of Refugee Action York.
All in for Aladdin: The cast for Pickering Musical Society’s 2024 pantomime
Pantomime extra time: Pickering Musical Society in Aladdin, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, January 18 to 28, 7.15pm, except January 22; 2.15pm, January 20, 21, 27 and 28
PICKERING Musical Society has added two extra performances of Aladdin, now opening on January 18, rather than January 19, while a Sunday matinee on January 21 is a new addition too.
Director Luke Arnold’s cast includes Pickering panto favourites Marcus Burnside as Widow Twankey, Stephen Temple as simple son Wishee Washee, Danielle Long as principal boy Aladdin, Courtney Brown as principal girl Princess Lotus Blossom, Paula Paylor and Rachel Anderson as comedic double act Minnie Wong and Winnie Wong and John Brooks as the villainous Abanazar. Box office: 01751 474833 or thelittleboxoffice.com/kirktheatre.
The poster for One Night Of Classic Rock at the JoRo, York
New collaboration: The BJMC & Steve Coates Music Productions, One Night Of Classic Rock, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, January 20, 7.30pm
THE long-established BJMC (Bev Jones Music Company) is teaming up with new company Steve Coates Music Productions. Their first collaboration draws on Coates’s jukebox for a night of thunderous anthems from everyone’s favourite rock bands, such as AC/DC, Queen, Tina Turner, Status Quo, Eagles, Meat Loaf, Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac.
Guitarist Mickey Moran combines leading a six-piece band with joining Annabel Van Griethuysen, Clare Meadley, Jack Storey-Hunter, Chris Hagyard and Ruth McNeill as the show’s lead singers. Box office for returns only: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Olga Koch: Prawn Cocktail on the menu at Theatre@41, Monkgate
From Russia with love of comedy on Valentine’s Day: Olga Koch: Prawn Cocktail, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 14, 8pm
RUSSIAN-BORN Olga Koch turned 30, achieved a master’s degree, went on an adult gap year, suffered salmonella, lost herself, found herself and washed it all down with a delicious prawn cocktail. “Think less Eat Pray Love and more Shake Scream Cry,” she says, ahead of her return to Theatre@41 after previous visits with Homecoming in October 2021 and Just Friends in October 2022. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
B C Camplight: Playing The Crescent after releasing his break-up album The Last Rotation Of Earth
Gig announcement of the week: BC Camplight, presented by Please Please You & Brudenell Presents, The Crescent, York, March 15, 7.30pm
DOES a curse dictate that Brian ‘BC Camplight’ Christinzio cannot move forward without being knocked back? Or that the greatest material is born out of emotional trauma? While making his 2023 album, The Last Rotation Of Earth, Christinzio’s relationship with his fiancé crumbled after nine inseparable years.
This break-up amid long-term struggles with addiction and mental health led to an extraordinary album of heartbreak, “more cinematic, sophisticated and nuanced than anything” that New Jersey-born BC has done before. Hear the results in York. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Martin Kemp: Trading in his bass guitar for taking to the decks for a night of Eighties’ pop hits and dancing
Nostalgia on the horizon: Martin Kemp, The Ultimate Back To The 80’s DJ Set, York Barbican, March 29, doors, 7.30pm
SPANDAU Ballet bassist and EastEnders star Martin Kemp takes to the decks to spin “all the best of the hits” from the Eighties in an unstoppable singalong. Dig out your best Eighties’ attire, grab your dancing shoes and prepare to enjoy a night of pure Gold! Yes, fancy dress is encouraged, he advises.
“It’s amazing! People absolutely lose themselves, singing to every word,” Kemp told ITV’s Good Morning show. “It’s the most euphoric atmosphere I have ever been in, in my life!” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Benjamin Francis Leftwich: York singer-songwriter, now based in London, returns to Yorkshire to play Leeds. Picture: Harry Pearson
New year, new album, new tour: Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Leeds Brudenell Social Club, April 4, 7.30pm
YORK singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich follows up Dirty Hit Records’ February 9 release of his fifth album, Some Things Break, with a nine-date spring tour that opens in Leeds.
First up is Ben’s new single, New York, a song that came from a writing session with labelmate Matty Healy, from The 1975. Healy asked his permission to perform it at a one-off show, opening for Phoebe Bridgers in 2021, and now comes Ben’s version. Box office: brudenellsocialclub.seetickets.com.
In Focus: Blue Light Theatre Company’s pantomime, Nithered!, Acomb Working Men’s Club, Acomb, January 18 to 26
The Three Pigs in Blue Light Theatre Company’s Nithered!: Simon Moore, left, Kevin Bowes and Kristian Barley
BLUE Light Theatre Company’s tenth anniversary pantomime, Nithered!, is a frosty fairytale adventure by regular writer Perri Ann Barley to match the wintry weather in York.
Formed by Yorkshire Ambulance Service staff, they performed their debut pantomime in 2013. “It was supposed to be a ‘one-off’ production to raise funds for a colleague who had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease but was so successful that it’s still going to this day, and we’ve even branched out into performing plays too,” says Nithered! director Craig Barley.
“Since that first panto, more than £22,000 has been raised for our chosen charities: the Motor Neurone Disease Association (York) and York Against Cancer. Extra performances have been added over the years to accommodate more people, due to our shows’ ever-growing popularity, and there’s also a waiting list for people wanting to join the cast.
Acomb Working Men’s Club has housed the show since 2013. “It’s been our home for so long as they gave us the space for free for so many years, so we could maximise our charitable donations,” says Craig.
“We can seat 200 and offer use of the bar, meaning a relaxed performance which has received so much good feedback. New audience members are pleasantly surprised when they arrive and see the size, layout and the room all dressed up accordingly – putting them immediately at ease and into the panto spirit.”
All ten pantomimes have utilised the same production team: co-producers Perri and Craig, alongside choreographer Devon Wells and stage manager Dave Holiday. “Between us, so much has been achieved on the tiny stage at Acomb Working Men’s Club, from magic carpets to levitating witches!” says Craig.
The (Riding) Hoods in Nithered!: Kathryn Donley, left, Chelsea Hutchinson and Kalayna Barley
The cast still consists of Yorkshire Ambulance staff along with other talented performers from in and around York.
“We like to do things a little differently, creating a brand-new storyline every year, among other things,” says Craig. “But at the same time adding some traditional elements, such as the Dame, played by Steven Clark, who writes additional script material too, and the villain, Glen Gears, who has been with the company since the very beginning. Both of them are very much audience favourites.”
Introducing the storyline in Nithered!, Craig says: “The usually bright and happy village has been shrouded in a permanent frost by the evil Snow Queen (played by Perri Ann Barley), who has enlisted the Big Bad Wolf’ (Glen Gears) to govern the land on her behalf and to keep the population down.
“Mother Goose (Brenda Riley) and the villagers are struggling to cope with the never-ending winter and, with the Wolf around, they are living in constant fear for their safety. Things take a dramatic turn when one of the Three Pigs (Simon Moore, Kevin Bowes, Kristian Barley) is kidnapped by the Wolf.”
Whereupon the villagers decide to take matters into their own hands and head out on a very risky rescue mission. They enlist the help of the Fairy Godmother (Steven Clark), who finds herself in a face-off with the Snow Queen herself, but who will prove to be the most powerful?
“Will the villagers overcome the Big Bad Wolf? Will the everlasting winter come to an end? To find out, come join us and step right into the weird but wonderful world of Nithered!,” says Craig.
The Three Bears in Blue Light Theatre Company’s pantomime: Linden Horwood, left, Harry Martin and Richard Rogers
The cast also features Richard Rogers, Linden Horwood, Julie Shrimpton, Nicky Moore, Pat Mortimer, Zoe Paylor, Chelsea Hutchinson, Kalayna Barley, Kathryn Donley and Harry Martin, plus new members Aileen Stables and Audra Bryan.
“With this being our tenth anniversary, the team have really gone all out to give the audience an amazing experience and cannot wait for everyone to see it.”
Looking ahead, this summer Blue Light will present Murder At Reptilian Park, a new comedy murder mystery by Perri Ann Barley, to be staged in conjunction with the Galtres Centre in Easingwold. “It will run there from June 20 to 22, including a Saturday matinee, bringing us a whole new audience and new challenges,” says Craig. Tickets will be on sale soon on 01347 822472 or at galtrescentre.org.uk.
“Perri masterfully crafts our unique pantos, giving audiences new and interesting storylines featuring some familiar characters, which take them away from some of the other tired classic panto stories to give our audiences an experience like no other, ” says Craig. “That’s why so many return year after year.
“Perri is now working with London Playwrights [a resource for emerging playwrights] as she branches out to try and make her passion for writing a career. Not only this, but she’s also in talks with another professional theatre in Yorkshire, but more about that later.”
Blue Light Theatre Company in Nithered!, Acomb Working Men’s Club, Front Street, Acomb, York, January 18, 19, 24, 25 and 26, 7.30pm; January 20, 1pm matinee. Tickets: £12 adults, £10 concessions, £8 children. Box office: 07933 329654 or bluelight-theatre.co.uk. All proceeds go to Motor Neurone Disease Association York and York Against Cancer.
The poster artwork for Blue Light Theatre Company’s 2024 pantomime, Nithered!
Shed Seven’s Tim Wills, left, Paul Banks, Rick Witter, Rob ‘Maxi’ Maxfield and Tom Gladwin announce hitting number one for the first time in a post on X
SHED Seven have become the first York band to top the album charts, 30 years since their Change Giver debut surfed in on the crest of the Britpop wave.
A Matter Of Time, released last Friday on their new home of Cooking Vinyl, has hit the chart peak after a concerted campaign that began last autumn with pre-sale packages and has continued with myriad versions of the album on vinyl, CD, cassette and digital download packages, accompanied by an on-going ten-venue tour of record stores for meet & greet and signing sessions and stripped-back performances.
Outselling Lewis Capaldi and Taylor Swift over the past seven days, the Sheds celebrated the success of their sixth studio album by posting on X (Twitter) in the past hour: “We’ve waited 30 years for this announcement, but the stars have finally aligned, and we’re thrilled to announce that our album ‘A Matter Of Time’ is number one on the official UK album charts!”
The Sheds have secured their place in offical UK chart history by becoming the British rock group with the longest gap between their debut release and first number one album: a total of 29 years and three months from September 5 1994’s Change Giver to January 5 2024’s A Matter Of Time.
Shed Seven notched 15 Top 40 hits between 1994 and 2003, while their albums A Maximum High (1996), Let It Ride (1998), Going For Gold: The Greatest Hits (1999) and Instant Pleasures (2017) all made the Top Ten.
A Matter Of Time, the Sheds’ first studio release in six years, also was the best-selling album of the week in British independent record shops.
The poster artwork for One Night Of Classic Rock at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York
THE BJMC [Bev Jones Music Company] is going into partnership with the newly formed Steve Coates Music Productions. First up will be January 20’s performance of One Night Of Classic Rock at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York.
“Steve is entering York’s amateur music scene with a sell-out show,” says delighted BJMC producer Lesley Jones. “The show has a waiting list for return tickets, such is its popularity. I think Steve simply came up with a brand new idea and it’s worked!”
Lesley first met Steve six years ago. “He’s not a music theatre fan, but after going to a show he said, ‘why can’t I do a rock show from my jukebox?’. After a few drinks he says I convinced him he could and the rest is history,” she says. “The next show is in the diary already and Steve is now contacting other venues in other towns.”
Billed as a “one-of-a-kind production designed for true rock fans, featuring a passionate cast of singers and six-piece band, all paying tribute to their favourite rock heroes”, the 7.30pm show combines “an impressive sound and light show with thunderous anthems from everyone’s favourite rock bands”.
“Get ready to have your mind blown with the familiar classic riffs everyone remembers,” says Lesley. “The sound will be phenomenal with perfect harmonies, solid rock accompaniment and fabulous vocals.
For those about to rock: BJMC cast members in rehearsal
“All the songs are taken from Steve’s own jukebox – a real original – that includes AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Meat Loaf, Tina Turner, Status Quo, Queen, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, The Who, plus many more.”
The One Night Of Classic Rock band will be led by Mickey Moran, joined by fellow guitarists Eddie Oktay Stock and Liam Stevenson, keyboard player James Rodgers, saxophonist Sam Lightwing and drummer Jez Smith.
Moran will be among the lead vocalists too, alongside York Opera singer and dietician Annabel Van Griethuysen, Clare Meadley, Jack Storey-Hunter and Chris Hagyard, restored to full health after illness forced the last-minute cancellation of the BJMC’s Guy And Dolls last October.
The sixth principal vocalist will be former York Light Opera Company leading lady Ruth McNeil, who is a “massive rock performer” in her home city of Nottingham.
The backing singers will be Adele Barlow, Alison Laver, Linsey Dawn, Rosie King, James Noble and Sam Lightwing, when not on his saxophone.
Annabel Van Griethuysen: Switching from opera to classic rock
Looking ahead, the BJMC’s partnership with Steve Coates will lead to performance programmes spanning a variety of music genres, from West End musicals to opera, jazz to cabaret, as well as this month’s newcomer: rock.
“Steve has also offered to produce our Les Miserables Youth Edition next January, which I’m looking forward to staging as a one-off youth production, open to all young singers in the North Yorkshire area, with no financial commitments required,” says Lesley.
The next BJMC classic rock night is booked for January 11 2025 at 7.30pm at the JoRo. “As this month’s show is holding a waiting list for any return tickets, maybe next January we’ll do a matinee as well or two nights,” says Lesley.
“Steve says that with the level of interest we’ve had, we must definitely consider extra dates. It’s a shame to have a list of disappointed potential audience members. However, he hopes to stage another show mid-year in another venue elsewhere in Yorkshire.” Watch this space.
As for January 20, ticketholders should “dig out those leathers and boots, grab a glass of beer or wine, and let’s rock the aisles,” says Lesley.
BMS York presents Lumas Winds, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, January 5
LUMAS Winds opened their programme with a confident performance of Mozart’s Magic Flute Overture. There are no hiding places in this music; technique is very much on the line and the crisply articulated playing throughout was both brave as well as admirable. Enjoyable too.
David Matthews’ Three Woodwind Studies, a set of personal, intimate portraits, was a delight. A Song For Emma (solo flute), with its charming melodic ebb and flow, was beautifully judged by Beth Stone.
Chris Vettraino’s performance of A Birthday Song (oboe) was both haunting and hypnotic. A Study For Sam (solo clarinet) was a first performance and proved to be a quirky, fun-filled gem.
Mozart’s Divertimento in F is an early work written in 1775. To be sure, it is more of a window into what was to come, but impressive nonetheless. The writing was full of confidence with each instrument given a share of the spoils. The playing was wonderful, the balance impeccable.
Sally Beamish’s The Naming Of Birds proved to be an evocative set of character pieces; very imaginative and quite unlike anything I have heard before. Each of these five demanding movements had five soloists evoking the call of each bird – partridge (horn), lapwing (oboe) and so forth.
I did find the actual live recorded introductions a tad contrived and frankly unnecessary, but it was a very engaging work and very well performed. However, not for the first time when listening to Ms Beamish’s music, the work left me impressed rather than moved.
Actually, I felt the same about Malcom Arnold’s Three Shanties. Impressive performances, impressive writing but …well, it put a smile on my face. Sally Beamish’s arrangement of Mozart’s Adagio for Glass Harmonica was an entirely musical affair. The sound was so seductive with the cor anglais replacing the oboe “to give a warm, dark quality to the quintet”. Which it did. How inspired.
Unlike Anton Reicha’s Two Andantes and an Adagio. The music was pretty forgettable, in fact I’ve forgotten it already, but the performance certainly wasn’t. Delightful.
Lumas Winds ended this splendid concert with the best work in the programme – apart from the Mozart, obviously – in Elizabeth Maconchy’s terrific Wind Quintet. It was so well written by a composer so clearly still at the top of their game. She was in her mid-seventies.
An opening Allegro of quirky urgency and unsettling metrical changes; the poco Lento more expressive, weaving contrapuntal lines underpinned by a dotted rhythm throughout; the third movement, Vivo, with a bit of a musical spat between clarinet and bassoon; the Andante opening with a short clarinet and horn duo, inviting in the other instruments to the party and the closing Rondo with each soloist having their say and the cute snap ending.
The players were at one with the technical and musical demands. The performance was illuminating.
Black’n’White the Zebra and Hiran Abeysekera (Pi) in Life Of Pi, bound for Leeds Grand Theatre from Wednesday. Picture: Johan Persson
DRAMAS, circus, musical theatre, rock’n’roll, sorrowful folk, one more pantomime and the return of forest concerts attract Charles Hutchinson’s attention.
Theatre event of the week: Life Of Pi, Leeds Grand Theatre, January 10 to 13; 2pm and 7pm, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday; 7.30pm, Friday
WINNER of five Olivier Awards, not least Best Play, the West End spectacle Life Of Pi is heading north on its debut British tour with its combination of jaw-dropping visuals, magic and puppetry.
Adapted from Yann Martel’s 15 million-selling, 2002 Man Booker Prize-winning fantasy novel, Life Of Pi finds Pi stranded on a lifeboat with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Royal Bengal tiger. Time is against them, nature is harsh, who will survive on this epic journey of endurance and hope. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
The poster for Meat Loaf By Candlelight at Grand Opera House, York
Tribute show of the week: Meat Loaf By Candlelight, Grand Opera House, York, January 12, 7.30pm
STARS of the original West End and international productions of Bat Out Of Hell will be accompanied by a rock band in a tribute to Texan rock-operatic singer and actor Meat Loaf “as you have never heard before”.
On the Meat Loaf menu will be I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That), Bat Out Of Hell, Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad, Dead Ringer For Love, You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth, Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through et al. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Cirque: Combining musical theatre bangers and circus skills at York Barbican
Move over PT Barnum and Hugh Jackman: Cirque: The Greatest Show, York Barbican, January 13, 2pm and 6pm
CIRQUE: The Greatest Show combines West End and Broadway musical theatre showstoppers with spectacular circus skills, ranging from aerialists and contortionists to thrilling feats of agility and flair.
West End performers join with mesmerising circus acts in the all-star cast for an enchanting variety show that vows to “charm and astonish in equal measure”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Peter Panto: The PQA York pantomime at the JoRo Theatre
Still time to squeeze in another pantomime: PQA York in Peter Panto, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, January 14, 7.30pm
PETER Panto, the high-flying PQA Pantomime, features the talented young performers of the Pauline Quirke Academy York’s Friday Academy.
Join Peter Pan as he flies off on a new adventure for one night only in a show featuring “stunning visuals, gorgeous music and barrel-loads of laughter on a swashbuckling journey to Neverland unlike any before”. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Showaddywaddy’s 50th anniversary tour, taking in Grand Opera House, York
Hey, rock and roll nostalgia: Showaddywaddy 50th Anniversary Tour, Grand Opera House, York, January 19, 7.30pm
FORMED in Leicester in 1973, Showaddywaddy like to call themselves “the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world”. Their 50th anniversary travels rock’n’roll on into 2024 with a line-up featuring only one original member, drummer Romeo Challenger, aged 73.
Dave Bartram, the singer on such hits as Hey Rock And Roll, Under The Moon Of Love, Three Steps To Heaven, When, Blue Moon and Pretty Little Angel Eyes, now manages the band, having performed his last gig in Ilkley in 2011. Andy Pelos takes lead vocals. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Angeline Morrison: Performing songs of sorrow at the NCEM, York
Leaping ahead: Angeline Morrison, National Centre for Early Music, York, February 29, 7.30pm
SEEKING to make the most of the extra day in this Leap Year? Why not discover why the Guardian picked Angeline Morrison’s The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs Of Black British Experience (Topic Records) as the number one folk album of 2022.
Birmingham-born, Cornwall-based folk singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Morrison explores traditional song with reverence, love and curiosity, a handmade sonic aesthetic and a feeling for the stories of ordinary human lives. York singer-songwriter Holly Taymar supports. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Paul French: Soon to play Major role in Separate Tables at York Theatre Royal Studio
Classic play of the season: York Settlement Community Players in Separate Tables, York Theatre Royal Studio, February 8 to 17, 7.45pm except Sunday and Monday, plus 2pm Saturday matinees
AFTER directing four Russian plays by Chekhov, Helen Wilson turns her attention to Separate Tables, two very English Terence Rattigan tales of love and loss, set in a shabby Bournemouth hotel in the 1950s.
Guests, both permanent and transient, sit on separate tables, a formality that underlines the loneliness of these characters in a play about class, secrets and repressed emotions. Chris Meadley, Paul French, Marie-Louise Feeley, Caroline Greenwood and Linda Fletcher lead the Settlement cast. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Bryan Adams: Canadian rocker will play Dalby Forest on June 21
Going down to the woods again at last: Forest Live concerts, Dalby Forest, near Pickering, June 21 and 22; gates open at 4pm
FOREST Live concerts are to return to Dalby Forest for the first time since Paul Weller and Jess Glynne’s shows in June 2019. Covid put paid to 2020, since when three more silent summers have passed in the woods, but the hiatus will come to an end after Forestry England’s announcement of two outdoor gigs for 2024.
Bryan Adams, forever associated with (Everything I Do) I Do It For You’s 16-week chart-topping run from the 1991 film soundtrack to the forest tale of Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, will play on June 21. Nile Rodgers & CHIC will be supported by Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Deco on June 22. Ellis-Bextor previously guested at Erasure’s Dalby date in 2011. Box office: forestlive.com.
Nile Rodgers: Good times ahead at Dalby Forest on June 22 in the company of CHIC
