The art beat of YORKshire
NO time like the present to discover no-nonsense arts podcasters Graham Chalmers and Charles Hutchinson’s look back to the year of No Time To Die, Ralph Fiennes in York, Grayson Perry’s Pre-Therapy Years and Emma Rice’s Wuthering Heights.
For shooting from the hip with a quip, head to: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1187561/9817663
THE Academy of St Olave’s Winter Concert at St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York, on January 22 will feature Jacob George as soloist for Schumann’s Violin Concerto.
Jacob, the son of the York chamber orchestra’s musical director, Alan George, returns on solo duty after performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto in 2019.
As a teenager, he was principal second violin for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, topped off by three concerts at the BBC Proms.
Jacob has appeared as a soloist with several orchestras, including performances of Dvorak’s Romance with York Guildhall Orchestra and the Kabalevsky Violin Concerto with Sheffield University Symphony Orchestra. Outside music, he works as a senior planning officer in urban development management.
The Academy’s first concert since last September’s sold-out return will feature two works inspired by Italy: Schubert’s Overture in the Italian Style and Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony No. 4.
Musical director Alan George says: “We are looking forward to transporting our audience to sunnier Mediterranean climes with two Italian-inspired pieces, as well as welcoming Jacob back as soloist for the concerto.
“The Schumann Violin Concerto is a real curiosity, not performed for more than 80 years after it was composed, and still a relative rarity in the repertoire. It’s a wonderful piece, deeply affecting – dating from the end of his life, and well deserving of greater recognition: we hope to have another full house to sample its characteristic combination of sadness and joy.”
The 8pm concert is in aid of Musical Connections, a York charity that runs community choirs and weekly music groups in assorted care and community settings.
Tickets cost £15 (£5 for accompanied under-18s) at academyofstolaves.org.uk. Numbers are limited; book in advance to avoid disappointment. Check the academy website the week before the concert for any Covid-19 mitigation measures in place.
THE International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival is holding a three-day spectacular at Harrogate Royal Hall from January 7 to 9 to mark the New Year.
First up will be The Best Of Gilbert and Sullivan, Friday’s concert that asks the question: which is your favourite Gilbert and Sullivan opera? “There’s no need to decide when you can have a cavalcade of the very best of G&S, from the wonderfully familiar to the surprisingly unfamiliar, performed by the best G&S singers in the world,” says festival trustee Bernard Lockett.
The National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company (NGSOC), led by comic baritone Simon Butteriss and accompanied by the National Festival Orchestra, will be taking a whirlwind tour of the Savoy Operas, set in context by fascinating, historical, gossipy anecdotes that evoke the glitter and glamour of the 19th century Savoy Theatre.
Joining Butteriss on stage will be NGSOC stars Matthew Siveter, David Menezes and Amy Payne; the orchestra will be conducted by David Russell Hulme.
Enchantment awaits in The Magic Of Vienna New Year Gala Concert on Saturday. “Come on a magical journey through Vienna, the musical capital of the world, and celebrate the New Year in style,” says Bernard.
“Our annual gala concert will be an absolute treat, and what a fabulous Christmas present for that special person too. Enjoy a fantastic selection of the most beautiful pieces by Johann Strauss, Mozart, Lehar and more, brought to you by the renowned National Festival Orchestra, conducted by Aidan Faughey. Our soloists include international opera stars James Cleverton and Rebecca Bottone.”
The short winter season concludes with Charles Court Opera’s London production of G&S’s The Mikado, accompanied by the National Festival Orchestra, on Sunday night.
Behind closed doors at the British Consulate in the Japanese town of Titipu, the scheming, slippery Lord High Executioner is on the cusp of hatching one plot too far, with far-reaching, but humorous consequences for everyone involved, especially when the Mikado arrives.
“Containing such familiar songs as A Wandering Minstrel, I, Three Little Maids From School and I’ve Got A Little List, this punchy and hilarious satire promises to be a treat for operetta lovers and newcomers alike,” says Bernard.
Tickets for the 7.30pm performances are on sale on 01422 323352 or at gsfestivals.co.uk. Looking ahead, the 28th International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival will run at Harrogate Royal Hall from August 10 to 21, preceded by Buxton Opera House, Derbyshire, from July 30 to August 6. For more details, go to: gsfestivals.org.
TIM Vine’s “unique tribute to a legend”, Plastic Elvis, shakes his hip and quivers his lip at Doncaster Dome on March 5 on the last night of his rearranged tour.
Please note, this is NOT a stand-up comedy show by the quick-quipping cracker of one-lines and pantomime regular but Vine’s tribute act to Elvis Presley.
First booked for May and June 2020, the 19-date tour was rescheduled for September 2021 to March 2022, including an October 5 date at Harrogate Theatre.
Billed as a “total sell-out at the Edinburgh festival” – more specifically, a one-off fully booked gig at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe – Vine invites you to “feel the electricity as Plastic Elvis hits the stage backed by his incredible five-piece The High Noon Band”.
“He’ll shake, he’ll smoulder, he’ll try and control his hair and in the end, he’ll break your heart,” the show blurb promises. “Sing along with some of the King’s greatest songs on a breathless night of rock’n’roll.”
“This is it. The moment has arrived,” says Vine, who plays Doncaster the day after his 55th birthday. “This isn’t a stand-up show, but a concert dedicated to my favourite performer. When I was 11 years old, I would stand in front of my bedroom mirror and mime to the whole of 1972’s Elvis: As Recorded At Madison Square Garden album. This is a tribute act that is 40 years in the making. Well, the waiting is over. It’s time to go public.”
Be warned, Vine’s show “may contain moves that even Plastic Elvis himself isn’t expecting”. Support comes from special guests John Archer as Big Buddy Holly and song-writing legend David Martin, who wrote four songs for Elvis, A Little Bit of Green Let’s Be Friends, Sweet Angeline and This Is The Story.
Martin has sold 26 million records around the world in a career spanning more than 40 years. His songwriting and production team with Chris Arnold and Geoff Morrow has worked up with Cliff Richard, Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black and David Essex, among others.
Tickets for Tim Vine Is Plastic Elvis’s 7pm show are on sale on 01302 370777 or at dclt.co.uk.
Tim Vine’s back story: Quips with everything
Born: Cheam, Sutton, March 4 1967.
Job description: English writer, actor, pantomime performer, comedian and presenter.
Best known for: One-liner jokes and his role from 2006 to 20212 as Lee Mack’s uptight, sensible best friend, Timothy Gladstone Adams, in 34 episodes of BBC One’s studio sitcom Not Going Out.
Stand-up DVDs: Time Vine Live, 2004; So I Said To This Bloke, 2008; Punslinger Live, 2010; Joke-amotive Live, 2011; Tim Timinee Tim Timinee Tim Tim To You, 2016; Sunset Milk Idiot, 2019.
Books: TheBiggest Ever Tim Vine Joke Book and The Tim Vine Bumper Book Of Silliness.
Awards: Winner of Best Joke at Edinburgh Fringe, twice.
TV shows: Not Going Out, BBC One; Tim Vine Travels Through Time, BBC One; hosting quiz show Football Genius, ITV; Taskmaster.
Radio: Hosts Tim Vine Chat Show on BBC Radio 4, interviewing audience members as he seeks to prove that not everyone has a story.
YouTube channel: Tim Vine Televisual (TVTV), regularly serving up nonsense.
Famous brother: Broadcaster Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2 and television show presenter, Strictly Ballroom Dancing alumnus and one-man cycling video vigilante.
AS U2 once sang, all is quiet on New Year’s Day, but Charles Hutchinson has his diary out to note down events for the months ahead.
Drive-in pantomime: Car Park Panto’s Horrible Christmas, Elvington Airfield, near York, tomorrow (Sunday,) 11am, 2pm and 5pm
BIRMINGHAM Stage Company’s Horrible Histories franchise teams up with Coalition Presents for Car Park Panto’s Horrible Christmas.
In writer-director Neal Foster’s adaptation of Terry Deary’s story, when Christmas comes under threat from a jolly man dressed in red, one young boy must save the day as a cast of eight sets off on a hair-raising adventure through the history of Christmas.
At this Covid-secure experience, children and adults can jump up and down in their car seats and make as much noise as they like, tuning in to the live show on stage and screen. Box office: carparkparty.com.
Looking back, but not nostalgically: Shaparak Khorsandi, It Was The 90s!, Selby Town Hall, January 22, 8pm
SHAPARAK Khorsandi, the Iranian-born British stand-up comedian and author formerly known as Shappi, tackles the celebrated but maligned 1990s in her new show, It Was The 90s!.
Back then, she flew around London with hope in her heart, a tenner in her pocket and spare knickers in her handbag. “But how does the decade of binge drinking and walks of shame look now without snakebite and black-tinted specs?” asks Shaparak, 48.
“This is a show about how we ’90s kids are looking to young people to learn how to take care of ourselves, because if you survived the car crash of being a ’90s kid, then surely Things Can Only Get Better.” Box office: 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk.
Looking back, nostalgically: Round The Horne, Grand Opera House, York, January 27, 7.30pm
FROM the producers of The Goon Show and Hancock’s Half Hour tours comes another radio comedy classic, re-created live on stage by Apollo Stage Company.
Compiled and directed by Tim Astley from Barry Took and Marty Feldman’s scripts, this meticulous show takes a step back in time to the BBC’s Paris studios to re-play the recordings of the Sunday afternoon broadcasts of Kenneth Horne and his merry crew in mischievous mood.
Expect wordplay, camp caricatures and risqué innuendos, film spoofs and such favourite characters as Rambling Sid Rumpo, Charles and Fiona, J. Peasemold Gruntfuttock and Julia and Sandy. Box office: atgtickets.com/York.
Heart or head choice: Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Kipps, The New Half A Sixpence Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company, York, February 9 to 12, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
IN the coastal town of Folkestone, Arthur Kipps knows there is more to life than his demanding but unrewarding job as an apprentice draper.
When he suddenly inherits a fortune, Kipps is thrown into a world of upper-class soirées and strict rules of etiquette that he barely understands. Torn between the affections of the kind but proper Helen and childhood sweetheart Ann, Kipps must determine whether such a simple soul can find a place in high society.
Tickets for this fundraising show for the JoRo are on sale on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Strictly winner comes dancing: Giovanni Pernice: This Is Me, York Barbican, March 9, 7.30pm
GLITTER ball still gleaming, Giovanni Pernice will take to the road on his rescheduled tour after winning Strictly Come Dancing as the professional partner to ground-breaking deaf EastEnders actress Rose Ayling-Ellis.
The Italian dance stallion will be joined by his cast of professional dancers for This Is Me, his homage to the music and dances that have inspired Pernice’s career, from a competition dancer to being a mainstay of the gushing BBC show.
“Expect all of your favourite Ballroom and Latin dances and more,” says Giovanni. Tickets remain valid from the original date of June 11 2020. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Off to the East Coast part one: The Script, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 14
IRISH rock band The Script topped the album charts for a sixth time in October with their greatest hits collection Tales From The Script, matching the feats of Arctic Monkeys, Pink Floyd and Radiohead.
Those songs can be heard live next summer when lead vocalist and keyboardist Danny O’Donoghue, guitarist Mark Sheehan and drummer Glen Power return to Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the first time since June 2018.
Formed in Dublin in 2007, The Script have sold more than 30 million records, chalking up hits with We Cry, The Man Who Can’t Be Moved, For The First Time, Hall Of Fame and Superheroes. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Off to the East Coast part two: Jane McDonald and special guests, Yorkshire’s Platinum Jubilee Concert, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 4
WAKEFIELD singing star Jane McDonald will top the bill at next summer’s Scarborough celebration of Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. A host of special guests will be added.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be headlining this very special concert, and where better to be holding such a brilliant event than in Yorkshire,” she says. “Everyone knows I’m a proud Yorkshire lass, so it will be so thrilling to walk on to stage in Scarborough for these celebrations.” Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
The Great British Baker gets cooking: Paul Hollywood Live, Harrogate Convention Centre, October 23
GREAT British Bake Off judge, celebrity chef and cookbook author Paul Hollywood promises live demonstrations, baking tasks, sugar-coated secrets and special surprises in next autumn’s tour.
Visiting 18 cities and towns, including Harrogate (October 23) and Sheffield City Hall (November 1), Wallasey-born baker’s son Hollywood, 55, will work from a fully equipped on-stage kitchen, sharing his tricks of the trade. Tickets for a slice of Hollywood action are on sale at cuffeandtaylor.com.
THE Dirty Dancing In Concert world tour takes a leap into the arms of York Barbican on May 20 2022 as part of a 12-city British itinerary.
The live-to-film concert tour marks the 35th anniversary of Emile Ardolino’s 1987 American romantic drama dance film, starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray and written by Eleanor Bergstein.
Relive the timeless love story of Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman and dance instructor Johnny Castle at a Catskills resort’s summer camp as Lionsgate, GEA Live and Karl Sydow present Dirty Dancing on a full-size cinema screen with a band and singers performing the songs live on stage, in sync with the digitally remastered film.
Immediately after the screening, the band and singers will throw an encore party for the Barbican audience “that will surely take you back to the time of your life as you sing and dance along to your favourite Dirty Dancing songs”.
Set in the summer of 1963, Dirty Dancing charts the blossoming of Grey’s ‘Baby’ Houseman while on holiday with her family at the beautiful, outwardly placid Catskills resort of Kellerman’s.
Intrigued by the staff’s rebellious dance instructor, Swayze’s Johnny Castle, and newly aware of the vastly different lifestyle of those around her, ‘Baby’ finds herself learning to dance while having the time of her life and falling in love.
The film soundtrack generated two multi-platinum albums and multiple singles, topped off by the Academy Award-winning best original song, (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life, while Dirty Dancing grossed $213million worldwide from a $4.5million budget.
Tickets for May 20’s 6.30pm show are on sale at yorkbarbican.co.uk. The 2022 Dirty Dancing In Concert tour also visits Sheffield City Hall on May 17 and Hull Bonus Arena on May 22; tickets at sheffieldcityhall.co.uk and bonusarenahull.com.
To watch the trailer, head to: https://vimeo.com/648973936/0798d075f4
YORKSHIRE culture podcasters Graham Chalmers and Charles Hutchinson discuss the impact of Covid on the busiest time of the theatre year in Episode 70 of Two Big Egos In A Small Car.
Under discussion too are Don’t Look Up, Andy McKay’s follow-up film to The Big Short; filming The Witcher in Harrogate; farewell to the Uthink Piccadilly Pop-Up art studios in York, and World Party’s neglected forewarning of climate change decades ago.
To listen, head to: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1187561/9786685
IF you could put together one York double bill for Christmas, this would surely be the one.
Headliners, for art rock with a heart and anthemic choruses? The Howl & The Hum. Tick. Late addition, as party poppers, not party poopers? Bull. Tick. Definitely, not probably, “the greatest band in the world”, according to Sam Griffiths in his thanks, as if he were only here for the Beers, frontman Tom and festive sister Holly on keyboards.
History will record that both bands had the misfortune to release their big-label debut albums in the mire of lockdown: first, The Howl & The Hum’s presciently titled Human Contact on AWAL in May 2020; then Bull, snapped up by EMI after a decade’s toil, with their March 2021 invitation to Discover Effortless Living: a state denied us by the silent, stealthy creep of shape-shifting Covid.
This, however, was a night to reinforce just how much those contrasting albums have mattered in these inhibited times, prompting busy trading at the merchandise desk.
Bull entered, not quite like the proverbial bovine in the porcelain department, but certainly with bags of pent-up energy, Tom seemingly sporting a makeshift Santa white beard for the occasion (unless the lighting was playing tricks).
This was impromptu Bull, not only sister Holly for Christmas, but Jack Woods guesting on guitar and Joe Lancaster, on secondment from the New York Brass Band, on trumpet. Later, Tom would join in on trombone in a clash for top of the brass class.
Discover Effortless Living’s perfectly formed guitar pop nuggets featured prominently, from Eugene to Perfect Teeth to Disco Living – but not Green surprisingly – and Bull even stepped into Christmas territory with a delightfully messy but merry number that may or may not have been called I’m Coming Home For Christmas.
When we last gathered for a Howl & The Hum alternative carol concert in 2019, Sam Griffiths raided the Nativity Play cupboard for angel’s wings. This time, at 9.35pm precisely, he lit up the stage dressed as a decorated Christmas tree, giving him the shape of a block of Toblerone, but with the specs and cherubic look of a choir boy.
Sam revealed he had been in a grumpy mood before the gig, blaming his cat for persistently hiding, but as soon as he put on that shiny tree ready to come on stage with “these three idiots”, he felt much better.
One of the joys of Christmas is meeting up with old friends again, never more so than at this gig. “Ladies and gentlemen, Bradley Blackwell is back,” said Sam, to the biggest cheer of the night, and there he was, back among “the idiots” on bass after time away from the band.
The fab four was restored: Blackwell’s bass ballast; Griffiths, out front on rhythm guitar and ever more transcendent vocals as York’s answer to Thom Yorke; Conor Hirons, on eclectic guitar, and Jack Williams as “the clock at the back”, as Sam has called him, on drums.
Human Contact addresses the absence of such tactile relations, the withdrawal to liaising online, choosing the bedroom over the dancefloor. Yet here, at last, after the band’s livestreamed concert from York Minster in May, was life with the human touch, that togetherness restored.
Band and audience alike loved it, so many songs turning into singalongs, from “our greatest hit”, Godmanchester Chinese Bridge – played early rather than held back till the home straight – to Sweet Fading Silver; from The Only Boy Racer Left On The Island, now usurping ‘Bridge’ as the climax, to first encore Hostages.
Death and vulnerability, modern masculinity and mental health have come to the fore in Sam’s songwriting, but at least he could celebrate outliving the sentiment of last year’s 27. More poignant still was this year’s new recording, Thumbs Up, a confessional about “men not knowing how to talk to other men about important stuff”, so he wrote a song about it instead.
Nick Drake and Ian Curtis did not survive such candour in their songwriting; hopefully, in 2021, we can now both talk more freely and listen too.
“Thank you, I couldn’t think of a better end to a really weird year,” said Sam, before taking Hostages to new heights.
Christmas tree fancy-dress back on, he welcomed back Bull for a full team line-up for THE Christmas cover version, playing Kirsty to Tom’s Shane in a rumbustious rendition of The Pogues’ Fairytale Of New York, bolstered further by Tom’s accordion and Joe’s trumpet as the bells were ringing out for Christmas.
What could possibly spoil the memory of such a special York night and its Fairytale Of Old York finale? Being pinged on Sunday to say “you were in close contact with someone with Covid-19” on December 15. Happy Christmas, my a**e, I pray God it’s our last with this accursed plague causing such misery. Thankfully, the PCR test was negative.
Gary Barlow, The Dream Of Christmas (Polydor) *****
Wrapping: Where to begin! There’s a choice of the standard 11-track CD, a deluxe book version with 16 songs, a box set, a clear vinyl album, plus bundles including Barlow Christmas sweaters, bobble hats, baubles, cassettes and other merchandise. All are beautifully packaged, but the variety of options is a little baffling.
Gifts inside: All versions include a cocktail of Barlow originals and updates of Christmas classics, given a very pleasing Big Band makeover, including Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmas Time and Shakin’ Stevens’ Merry Christmas Everyone.
Sheridan Smith, The Puppini Sisters, Sheku and Aled Jones all make guest appearances. Seek out the deluxe version for I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm, I Believe In Father Christmas, In The Bleak Midwinter, The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year and The Christmas Sweater (also to be found on Michael Buble’s tenth anniversary set).
Style: Gary has embraced the Big Band sound with gusto. Think Strictly at Christmas, featuring the odd Rhumba, Cha Cha Cha and American Smooth, and you’re in the right territory
’Tis the reason to be jolly: If you like Strictly Come Dancing, love Gary Barlow and find Christmas the most wonderful time of the year, there is much to enjoy.
Scrooge moan: Had I known the deluxe version had the best tracks, I would have tracked it down immediately.
White Christmas? Surprisingly not.
Blue Christmas? No.Gary Barlow has a happy soul. Even a sad ballad is given a caring Barlow twist. Yes, this is decidedly a happy album.
Stocking or shocking? Everyone knows someone who likes Gary Barlow. It’s universal. What’s more, this will still sound good 20 years from now.
Ian Sime
Norah Jones, I Dream Of Christmas (Blue Note Records) ****
Wrapping: Norah pictured outside the Christmas season, wearing a red dress and holding a star against a cityscape. Slim pickings inside, simply detailing the musicians and credits for each of the 13 songs.
Gifts inside: A mix of originals and evergreens, elegantly produced in Jones’s distinctive jazz pop purr. A deluxe edition comes with three extra numbers including Last Month Of The Year and I’ll Be Home For Christmas.
Style: Steady yourselves, it’s languid, it’s jazzy and it’s classy. Very much in the fashion of the records Tony Bennett and Doris Day used to make, back in the day.
’Tis the reason to be jolly: Seemingly effortlessly evokes a mood of relaxed festive nostalgia. Jones’s originals show a real affinity for the genre (Elton take note) and stand unassumed alongside perennials. Perfect if you are warming St Bernards by a dancing fire or have people round for a work meeting with wine and cheese.
Scrooge moan: It’s impossible to dislike but equally difficult to love. Jones’s music has to be served up in the background while something else, more interesting, takes place. Listen too closely and you’ll soon be nodding. Scrooge like, the three extra tracks on the expensive edition have more life and interest than the rest, belatedly but brilliantly bringing in soul and gospel.
White Christmas? Centre stage, and Jones sings it beautifully. For once, a Bing cover that is worth hearing, upbeat and swinging. The brushed drums and upright bass provide the only frame needed to accompany her jaunty piano.
Blue Christmas? Blue Christmas is present and correct, relocated to the Crescent City. Like the rest, this track is even in mood and tone. As a whole, at 42 minutes, this album of old-fashioned length is balm to soothe away present-day worries.
Stocking or shocking? Strong album if you are seeking a very specific mood, or you entertain a lot. Since its release for Thanksgiving, millions of plays have accumulated on Spotify. Fans have been waiting a long time for a full-length Christmas album from Jones, and despite a prolific 2021, still yearn for more.
Paul Rhodes
Lucinda Williams, Have Yourself A Rockin’ Little Christmas (Thirty Tigers) ***
Wrapping: Pastiche of vintage Christmas album sleeves, with holly decorations and Lucinda and her Gretsch guitar pictured before having herself a rockin’ little Christmas. Jukebox-style song titles on the back. Credits in festive green and recording session snapshots inside.
Gifts inside: This is Volume 5 of Lu’s Jukebox, Lucinda’s In Studio Concert Series, her 2021 covers’ collections taking in Tom Petty, Southern Soul, Dylan, Sixties’ country classics and The Rolling Stones, each with a sleeve matching the iconography of the subject. This one brings the blues, swingin’ jazz, southern soul and country template to Merle Haggard (If We Make It Through December), Irving Berlin (I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm), Charles M Brown (Merry Christmas Baby), Mack Rice (Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin) and Willie Dixon (Little Red Rooster, with the lyrics given a Christmas reboot).
Style: If Shane and Kirsty’s name-calling lovers had continued scoring points through the New York night. Or if Quentin Tarantino had put together a Christmas soundtrack. Or if you had the Boxing Day hangover and stonking headache every Groundhog Christmas Day, you might not make it through December. Rockin’, croakin’ Lucinda sounds like she’s been to one helluva party.
’Tis the reason to be jolly: To have yourself a merry little Christmas, with the emphasis on the merry, just add Lucinda’s heady winter warmer.
Scrooge moan: You may well have the Boxing Day hangover by the time you come out the other end of these dozen Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight) encounters.
White Christmas? No, but Lucinda changes “The dogs begin to bark” to “The snow begins to fall” in Little Red Rooster. Oh, and “Snowball fighting, it’s so exciting!”, she exclaims at one point.
Blue Christmas? Oh yes, as blue as those veins in the Christmas Day Stilton.
Stocking or shocking? Just the gift for the Little Red Rooster who needs driving home for Christmas.
Charles Hutchinson
Michael Buble, Christmas, 10th Anniversary Edition (Reprise) *****
Wrapping: Again, be careful of what you are looking for. Deluxe and anniversary versions have been released every year since 2011, on so many different formats, that it makes the marketing for Paul McCartney’s III and ABBA’s Voyage look understated. There are deluxe box versions, a multitude of coloured vinyl sets and the special two-disc version unique to 2021.
Gifts inside: This year’s set includes Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow, collaborations with Rod Stewart, The Puppini Sisters and Naturally 7 and a brand new song, The Christmas Sweater, which also features on Gary Barlow’s Christmas set.
Style: Along with Mariah Carey’s collection, Merry Christmas, the original Buble Christmas album set the benchmark by which all modern festive albums are judged. Buble’s impeccable presentation and delivery is nothing short of perfection.
’Tis the reason to be jolly: The Christmas Sweater is a new classic. Expect to hear this song every December for the rest of our lives.
Scrooge moan: In common with Mr Gary Barlow’s set, it is confusing to devotees to identify which version is the best value for money.
White Christmas? Of course! Shania Twain sings on the original 2011 set; Michael sings a solo version on the second disc.
Blue Christmas? Mostly happy. Any album that includes Buble’s renditions of Mariah’s All I Want For Christmas Is You, Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town and Santa Baby is invested in making people happy.
Stocking or shocking? Chances are that everyone interested in Michael Buble already owns this album. 14 million homes have a copy, and the songs are always on the radio. Why not opt for Gary Barlow instead, aimed at exactly the same audience.
Ian Sime
Hiss Golden Messenger, O Come All Ye Faithful (Merge Records) ****
Wrapping: Peace be with you twice over: a dove on the red front, a peace symbol on the green back. Inside, a sepia photo montage of MC Taylor and his myriad guest players, among them Buddy Miller (electric guitar), Matt Douglas (saxophone and flute) and Nathaniel Rateliff (singing).
Gifts inside: Three MC Taylor originals (Hung Fire, Grace and By The Lights Of St. Stephen); Taylor re-made lonesome hymns (O Come All Ye Faithful, Joy To The World, Silent Night) and canny covers (Spiritualized’s Shine A Light, Woody Guthrie’s Hanukkah Dance and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s set-closing As Long As I Can See The Light).
Style: When MC Taylor went shopping for wrapping paper during Covid-ruined Christmas 2020, he found the jolly piped music incongruous in the bleak circumstances. Cue a country blues album of sombre reflection, downbeat but beautiful too, weathered, watchful, even weary, but spiritually uplifting.
’Tis the reason to be jolly: Up there with Tracey Thorn’s Tinsel And Lights, Glasvegas’s A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss) and Aidan Moffat and R M Hubbert’s Ghost Stories For Christmas as a truthful antidote to enforced jollification, full of wonder and hope for a guiding light but alive to the season’s propensity for heightened sadness and loneliness too.
Scrooge moan: Not even the gorgeous By The Lights Of St. Stephen will ever greet MC Taylor in the shopping malls of home-town Durham, North Carolina.
White Christmas? No. Dream on.
Blue Christmas? Blue is the dominant mood here, all except Hanukkah Dance.
Stocking or shocking? Burst the Buble bubble. Take a punt instead on pleasing the Scrooge in your life with these golden messages in song.
Charles Hutchinson
GIVEN the ever-changing Omicron briefings, Charles Hutchinson has a rubber as well as a pencil in his hand as he highlights what to see now and further ahead.
Still time for pantomime unless Omicron measures intervene part one: Dick Turpin Rides Again, Grand Opera House, York, until January 9
BACK on stage for the first time since February 2 2019, grand dame Berwick Kaler reunites with long-standing partners in panto Martin Barrass, David Leonard, Suzy Cooper and A J Powell.
After his crosstown switch to the Grand Opera House, Kaler steps out of retirement to write, direct and lead his first show for Crossroads Pantomimes, playing Dotty Donut, with Daniel Conway as the company’s new face in the Essex lad title role amid the familiar Kaler traditions. Look out for the flying horse. Box office: atgtickets.com/York.
Still time for pantomime but only after a week in self-isolation: Cinderella, York Theatre Royal, ending on January 2 2022
COVID has struck three cast members and understudies too, leading to the decision to cancel performances of Cinderella from today until December 30.
Fingers crossed, you can still enjoy Evolution Productions writer Paul Hendy and York Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster’s panto custom-built for 21st century audiences.
Targeted at drawing in children with magical storytelling, silliness aplenty and pop songs, Cinderella has a thoroughly modern cast, ranging from CBeebies’ Andy Day as Dandini to Faye Campbell as Cinders and ventriloquist Max Fulham as Buttons, with his Monkey on hand for cheekiness.
Robin Simpson and Paul Hawkyard’s riotous step-sisters Manky and Mardy and puns galore add to the fun. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Buy now before her prices go up! Julia Borodina, Into The Light, Blossom Street Gallery, York, until January 31
JULIA Borodina will be competing in Sky’ Arts’ 2022 Landscape Artist of the Year, set for screening in January and February. Perfect timing for her York exhibition, Into The Light, on show until the end of next month.
THE Christmas tree of the season: Christmas In Narnia at Castle Howard, near York, until January 2
CASTLE Howard has topped past peaks by installing a 28ft spruce tree from Scotland in the Great Hall as part of the Christmas In Narnia displays and decorations.
“We believe that this is the largest real indoor Christmas tree in the country, standing around eight feet higher than the impressive tree normally installed in Buckingham Palace,” says the Hon Nicholas Howard, guardian of Castle Howard.
“It’s certainly the largest we have had, both in terms of height and width at the base, which has a huge footprint in the Great Hall – but thankfully leaves a gap on either side for visitors to walk right around it.” Tickets for Christmas In Narnia must be booked before arrival at castlehoward.co.uk.
Choirs galore: York Community Choir Festival, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 27 to March 5 2022
EIGHT shows, different every night, will be the format for this choral celebration of how and why people come together to make music and have fun.
At least four choirs will be on stage in every concert in a festival featuring show tunes, pop and folk songs, world music, classical music, gospel songs, close harmonies, blues and jazz.
From primary-school choirs through to teenage, young adult and adult choirs, the choral configurations span male groups, female groups and mixed-voice choirs. Proceeds will go to the JoRo theatre from ticket sales on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
If you see one sage and rage singer-songwriter next year, make it: David Ford, Interesting Times Tour 22, Pocklington Arts Centre, March 10 2022, 8pm
EASTBOURNE troubadour David Ford will return to the road with an album of songs documenting the tumultuous year that was 2020.
May You Live In Interesting Times, his sixth studio set, charts the rise of Covid alongside the decline of President Trump. Recorded at home during various stages of lockdown, the album captures the moment with Ford’s trademark emotional eloquence and dark irony.
After the imposed hiatus times three (and maybe four, wait and see), the new incarnation of Ford’s innovative, incendiary live show promises to demonstrate just what happens when you shut such a creative force in a room for two years. Box office: 01759 301547 or at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Amid the winter uncertainty, look to next summer’s knight to remember: Sir Tom Jones at Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 26 2022
SIR Tom Jones will complete a hattrick of Scarborough Open Air Theatre concerts after his 2015 and 2017 gigs with his July return.
In April, the Welsh wonder released his 41st studio album, the chart-topping Surrounded By Time, featuring the singles Talking Reality Television Blues, No Hole in My Head, One More Cup of Coffee and Pop Star.
Sir Tom, 81, will play a second outdoor Yorkshire concert in 2022, at The Piece Hall, Halifax, on July 10. Box office for both shows: ticketmaster.co.uk.
Deep in the bleak midwinter, think of days out on the Yorkshire coast part two: Elbow, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 9 2022
MAKE Elbow room in your diary to join Guy Garvey, Craig Potter, Mark Potter and Pete Turner on the East Coast in July.
Formed in 1997 in Bury, Greater Manchester, BBC 6 Music Sunday afternoon presenter Garvey and co chalked up their seventh top ten album in 2021 with Flying Dream 1.
Released on November 19, Elbow’s ninth studio album was written remotely in home studios before the lifelong friends met up at the empty Brighton Theatre Royal to perfect, perform, and record the songs. Box office: ticketmaster.co.uk.