BOB Dylan will play Hull Bonus Arena on October 27 as one of nine British dates on his Rough And Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour 2021-2024.
Tickets go on sale at 10am today at ticketmaster.co.uk/event/36005CE8F066F6 as the Nobel Prize-winning American singer-songwriter announces his first UK itinerary since his Never Ending Tour dates in April and May 2017.
Dylan, who turned 81 on May 24, began his latest travels last December in Milwaukee and has since played 74 gigs showcasing his 39th studio album, June 2020’s chart-topping Rough And Rowdy Ways, his first set of original songs since 2012’s Tempest.
Dylan will open his British visit with four intimate nights at the London Palladium on October 19, 20, 23 and 24, before playing Cardiff Motorpoint Arena on October 26, Hull the next night, Nottingham Motorpoint Arena on October 28 and Glasgow Armadillo on October 30 and 31. Preceding European dates will run from October 25 to 17, taking in Oslo, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.
All Dylan’s 8pm shows are “non-phone events”, where audience members must put their phones into a Yondr bag, to be kept with them until after the concert. This is intended to deter audio and video recording, photography or the distractions of using a mobile device.
American dates so far have placed an emphasis on the Minnesota-born folk and rock veteran’s latest album, rather than a greatest hits set from a 60-year career that has brought him 125 million record sales and a 2001 Oscar for Best Original Song for Things Have Changed from the Wonder Boys soundtrack.
American dates so far have placed an emphasis on the Minnesota-born folk and rock veteran’s latest album rather than greatest hits from a 60-year career that has brought him 125 million record sales and a 2001 Oscar for Best Original Song for Things Have Changed from the Wonder Boys soundtrack.
The latest addition to those sales is a one-off: a new studio recording of Dylan’s 1962-penned protest song Blowin’ In The Wind that sold for £1.5 million at auction last Thursday at Christie’s, in London, where bidding lasted four minutes, matching the length of the record coincidentally, after a guide price of £600,000 to £1million.
The recording is presented on an Ionic Original disc, a form of technology that promises to deliver higher quality sound than vinyl and can be played on a conventional turntable by the way. The disc is made of aluminium, treated with a layer of nitrocellulose, coated with a sapphire and quartz gradient.
The recording was produced by musician T Bone Burnett in “one take, if I’m not mistaken”, working with Dylan, mandolin player Greg Leisz and bassist Don Was. “It felt holy. It always feels holy for me playing with Bob,” said Burnett, who described it as a “one-off piece of singular art, the equivalent of an oil painting”.
Dylan’s music can be heard live in York too in late-summer, at the Theatre Royal from September 6 to 10, in Conor McPherson’s bold reimagining of his songs “like you’ve never heard them before” in Girl From The North Country, a heart-breaking and universal story about family and love.
Writer-director McPherson’s double Olivier and Tony Award-winning West End and Broadway hit is set in 1934 in the heartland of America, where a group of wayward souls cross paths in a time-weathered guesthouse.
Standing at a turning point in their lives, they realise nothing is what it seems, but as they search for a future and hide from the past, they find themselves facing unspoken truths about the present.
Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performances and 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
A scene from Girl From The North Country, heading for York Theatre Royal in September, replete with Bob Dylan songs. Picture: Johan Persson
Jay Osmond: Enjoying the British theatre tour of The Osmonds: A New Musical. Picture: Aaron McCracken
JAY Osmond has wanted to tell the Utah musical family’s story for “such a long time”.
Hold your crazy horses! Here comes The Osmonds: A New Musical, whose 2022 tour visits the Grand Opera House, York, from August 2 to 6.
“The opportunity to create this beautiful musical, a sort of ‘living autobiography’, seemed the perfect way to do so,” says 67-year-old Jay, the Crazy Horses lead vocalist now retired from the family drum stool but very much the driving force behind a world-premiere British and Irish tour that runs from February to early December.
“I spent my whole life performing live – on stage, on TV specials, in arenas – so the buzz of live theatre felt like the perfect place for me. There were some difficult times in my life, and some big hurdles to overcome, and this musical will tell people things that will surprise them.
“But despite that trouble, when you look back and think of the fans, the music, the once-in-a-lifetime things we did, it’s joyful. I guess I want to do this now to try to spread a little bit of that joy.”
First, Jay penned his 2010 autobiography, Stages, charting a career that began at the age of two and a half. Now, he has provided the story for the Osmonds’ musical, a show with a book by Julian Bigg and director Shaun Kerrison and choreography and musical staging by Bill Deamer.
“I’ll know I’ve done a good job telling this story if I stand at the back of the theatre and see people waving their arms in the air, singing along and dancing in the aisles,” says Jay. “I just want people to be enjoying themselves. I guess that is in the Osmonds’ DNA.”
The Osmonds: A New Musical recounts the story of the brothers from Ogden, Utah, who began as The Osmond Brothers barbershop quartet, featuring Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay, and were later joined by sibling Donny and later still by “Little” Jimmy and sister Marie.
From their star residency on The Andy Williams Show from 1962 to 1969, when pushed into the limelight as children, to pop stars and Osmondmania from 1971 to 1975, to the arrival of The Donny & Marie Show, choreographed by Jay, from 1976 to 1979, The Osmonds lived a remarkable life.
They recorded chart-topping albums, sold out arenas and made record-breaking TV shows en route to 59 gold and platinum albums and 100 million record sales, but then one bad decision cost them everything, as the musical will highlight.
Jay’s musical pulls back the curtain to “reveal the real family behind all those Seventies’ hits”, One Bad Apple, Down By The Lazy River, Crazy Horses, Let Me In, Love Me For A Reason, (We’re) Having A Party, Puppy Love, Long Haired Lover From Liverpool, Paper Roses et al.
Parents George and Olive Osmond and all nine children, including older siblings Virl and Tom, feature in the family story. “The musical is written not only for those of our era, the Seventies, but for those who are curious about us, who know the music, but want to know about our story,” says Jay.
Love them for a reason: A scene from The Osmonds: A New Musical, the story of the family band from Utah, USA. Picture: Pamela Raith
“The show gives a wider specification of who the Osmonds were and are; why the Osmonds’ music is so much part of our lives; and it taps into different aspects of our songs, showing off a wider range of our music than just the hits. That was my goal: to appeal to a wider audience.”
Could an Osmonds’ musical have arrived sooner? “There were times when other members of the group thought about it, but we were doing other things,” says Jay.
“But when I wrote Stages, I was contacted by the producer, who said, ‘I always thought your family should do a musical. As the youngest one in the original group, you can say how you saw it; how the family dynamic worked; what some of the challenges were and how you overcame them’.”
Jay is delighted with how The Osmonds: A New Musical has taken shape. “I’m so thrilled with how the actors are performing. There are times to laugh; times to cry,” he says.
“We take the story back to Walt Disney and Andy Williams and Jerry Lewis, and we go back and forth between when we were kids and when we’re adults, starting in 1962 and ending in 2008.
“What we show is our uniqueness. If you make comparisons with the Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Jackson Five – where there was a rivalry – we were unique as a family band who played our instruments but were also clean cut. That made us stand out.
“I think what people will take away from this show is an appreciation of some of the challenges we faced, some of the obstacles we faced, and how we bonded together as a family through that. That was the highest point of our career: when we were at our lowest, we stuck together.”
Looking back to the brothers’ early days on The Andy Williams Show, Jay says: “The pressure was immense. Growing up in the public eye, the pressure was always on us to get it right. There was a feeling that we had to be perfect, and we had to work through that and smile through that. I address that heavily in the musical, showing that other side to the Osmonds that people didn’t know.”
Likewise, you may not know that Jay and his wife, Karen, “almost moved to York”. “We considered York and Chester logistically, but Chester was nearer to what we were seeking,” he says.
“We want to go to the Jorvik Viking Museum because my wife has Viking connections.”
The Osmonds: A New Musical, runs at Grand Opera House, York, from August 2 to 6; box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York. Also: Hull New Theatre, October 18 to 22, 01482 300306 or hulltheatres.co.uk.
Did you know?
JAY Osmond’s choreographic style for the Osmonds and Donny and Marie’s TV shows was influenced by his karate skills learned from personal instructor Chuck Norris.
Kevin Kennedy, right, in his groovy role as Sunset Strip bar owner Dennis Dupree in Rock Of Ages
NEWS JUST IN: Matt Terry will NOT be appearing in Rock Of Ages at the Grand Opera House, York, after all this autumn, but Kevin Kennedy definitely will be.
Contrary to the initial announcement, the X-Factor’s Terry becomes the ex-factor in this visit to York on tour, but who will be playing “Stacee” Jaxx in his stead? The answer is expected to be announced during next week. Watch this space.
CharlesHutchPress wrote on 12/07/2022:
CORONATION Street soap star Kevin Kennedy and The X-Factor’s 2016 winner, Matt Terry, will lead the Rock Of Ages cast at the Grand Opera House, York, on tour from September 27 to October 1.
Visiting York for the fourth time in less than eight years, this rocktastic West End, Broadway, Las Vegas and touring hit is a self-mocking, cheesy jukebox musical comedy built around the classic rock songs of the 1980s from the glam metal prime of Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Poison, Europe et al.
Here come Don’t Stop Believin’, We Built This City, The Final Countdown, Wanted Dead Or Alive, Here I Go Again, Can’t Fight This Feeling and I Want To Know What Love Is, played loud and proud by a live band to Ethan Popp’s OTT arrangements and orchestrations.
Matt Terry’s rock demigod “Stacee” Jaxx in Rock Of Ages
Audiences are invited to “leave it all behind and lose yourself in a city and a time where the dreams are as big as the hair and they really can come true in Chris D’Arienzo’s tongue-in-both-cheeks book.
Kennedy will reprise the role of Dennis Dupree, owner of the Bourbon Room, on Sunset Strip, where he invites Terry’s egotistical rock demigod, “Stacee” Jaxx, to play for the last time with his band Arsenal, back in the basement where they started, after announcing their break-up.
Dupree’s joint, meanwhile, is under threat of closure from joyless German developer Hertz Klinemann and his rebellious son Franz.
Kevin Kennedy: Actor, soap star and musician
Kennedy previously played laissez-faire Los Angeles dude Dupree at the Grand Opera House in April 2019, having earlier appeared there as Jimmy’s Da in Roddy Doyle’s The Commitments in February 2017.
Best known for his Corrie soap role as floppy-fringed Curly Watts from 1983 to 2003, he was once in a band with The Smiths’ Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke and showcased his Present Kennedy solo album at Fibbers, in York, in July 2002.
Last time in York: Matt Terry, second from left, as Alex the lion in Dreamworks’ Madagascar The Musical at York Theatre Royal in 2019
Terry previously appeared in York in his stage musical debut, Dreamworks’ Madagascar The Musical, playing Alex the lion, king of all the animals in New York’s Central Park Zoo, at the Theatre Royal in February 2019.
He released his debut album, Trouble, in November 2017 and has been working on its follow-up, recording and writing in Miami, Los Angeles, Scandinavia and Spain, as well as fronting his own radio show on Capital FM and starring in Broadway’s Dr Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical on tour.
Tickets are on sale on 0844 871 7615 or at atgtickets.com/York.
Matt Terry: From The X-Factor to musical lead roles
BETH Orton will conclude her eight-date autumn tour at Leeds Brudenell Social Club on October 16, promoting her seventh studio album, Weather Alive.
Released on September 23, this eight-track set will be the Norfolk-born singer-songwriter’s debut for her new record label, Partisan Records, home to Fontaines D.C., Laura Marling, Idles and Fela Kuti.
The expansive, fractured title track is already out as a single, accompanied by a video directed by photographer/director Eliot Lee Hazel at Big Sur on the Californian coast.
Clocking in at just over seven minutes, Weather Alive is a dark, atmospheric reintroduction to BRIT Award winner Orton as she approaches the fourth decade of a career noted for genre-defying collaborations with Chemical Brothers, Andy Weatherall, Red Snapper, William Orbit, Bert Jansch, Terry Callier and Jim O’Rourke.
The artwork for Beth Orton’s Weather Alive
The new album, her first since 2016’s Kidsticks, finds Orton in front of the recording studio glass and behind it for the first time as both artiste and producer in her London home studio.
Weather Alive is not a wholly solo album, however. Orton left the studio door wedged open to welcome The Smile and Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, Mancunian jazz saxophonist, poet and activist Alabaster dePlume, multi-instrumentalist/composer Shahzad Ismaily and The Invisible’s bassist, Tom Herbert.
Written on a battered old piano Orton saved from Camden Market, Weather Alive collates memories and experiences spanning a lifetime, her storytelling, sonically experimental songs addressing struggles and healing.
This summer, Orton, 51, has been supporting Alanis Morissette on her British and European tour, playing the Leeds AO Arena on June 24, ahead of a series of festival appearances at Latitude, Southwold, on July 23, Beautiful Days, Devon, on August 19 and Open House, Bangor, on August 21.
Tickets for Leeds Brudenell Social Club are on sale at bethortonofficial.com.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Heading to the Grand Opera House, York
LADYSMITH Black Mambazo’s October 29 concert at the Grand Opera House, York, will mark Black History Month.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, they established themselves as the most successful singing group in South Africa, whereupon Paul Simon incorporated the group’s harmonies into his ground-breaking 1986 album Graceland: a landmark recording that was seminal in introducing world music to mainstream audiences.
A year later, the American singer-songwriter produced Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s first worldwide release, Shaka Zulu, winner of a Grammy Award in 1988 for Best Folk Recording.
Since then, the group has been awarded two more Grammy Awards for Raise Your Spirit Higher in 2004 and Ilembe in 2009 and has been nominated 15 times in all.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo also have recorded with Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton, Sarah McLachlan, Josh Groban, Emmylou Harris, Melissa Etheridge and Barnsley folk singer Kate Rusby.
Their film work includes an appearance in Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker video and Spike Lee’s Do It A Cappella. They have contributed to the soundtracks for Disney’s The Lion King Part II, Eddie Murphy’s Coming To America, Marlon Brando’s A Dry White Season, Sean Connery’s The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, James Earl Jones’s Cry The Beloved Country and Clint Eastwood’s Invictus.
The film documentary On Tip Toe: Gentle Steps To Freedom, the story of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, was nominated for an Academy Award.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo have appeared on Broadway, being nominated for Tony Awards and winning a Drama Desk Award, and they have featured in The Family Guy and the film Mean Girls.
In 2014 they released Always With Us, a tribute to the group’s matriarch, Nellie Shabalala, Joseph Shabalala’s wife, who passed away in 2002. For the album, they added their voices to Nellie’s songs she had recorded with her church choir in 2001.
Tickets are on sale at £26.50 on 0844 871 7615 or at atgtickets.com/York.
The NE Musicals York company members on board a CitySightseeing bus on a publicity drive for Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musical
NE Musicals York are into the final stages of rehearsals for Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musical.
Running at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from July 20 to 24, creative director Steve Tearle’s production will feature Finley Butler, Tom Henshaw and Tearle himself as three drag queens who take an epic journey from Sydney to Alice Springs across the Australian outback in their bus Priscilla.
The musical was preceded by Stephan Elliott’s 1994 film The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, starring Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce.
In making the journey to the stage, it revels in such songs as It’s Raining Men, Hot Stuff, MacArthur Park and I Will Survive.
Steve Tearle, Finley Butler and Tom Henshaw in rehearsal for their roles as three desert-crossing drag queens in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musicals
Director Steve says: “The journey is full of drama and dance routines but also so many laugh-out-loud moments. There’ll be costumes that have never been seen before in York and, of course, the star of the show, the Priscilla bus, which will take your breath away.”
“This musical is one of the best I’ve ever directed; the soundtrack is one of the very best; anyone who sees this show will not be disappointed. With a cast of 30 and more than 300 costumes, this is not just a bus ride, it’s a two-hour rollercoaster of a ride.”
To publicise Priscilla’s desert bus journey ahead of the July 20 opening, the NE Musicals company hopped on board a CitySightseeing open-top bus for a trip around York.
Tickets for the 7.30pm evening shows and 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees are on sale at £15 to £18 on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
NE Musicals York cast members publicising next week’s run of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musical
Joe Spud (Matthew Hudson) , front, centre, seeks friends in David Walliams’ Billionaire Boy when he has too much of everything else. Picture: Mark Douet
MUSICALS, a children’s show, outdoor concerts, burlesque, baroque music and mystery bring contrasts aplenty to Charles Hutchinson’s diary.
Family show of the week: Birmingham Stage Company in David Walliams’ Billionaire Boy, Grand Opera House, York, July 14 to 17
JOE Spud is the richest boy in the country. At 12, he has his own sports car, two pet crocodiles and £100,000-a-week pocket money from his father Len’s radical loo roll fortune.
What Joe lacks, alas, after the family’s move to a palatial house is a friend, whereupon he decides to leave his posh school for a new start at the local comp. Things do not go as planned, however, leading to his young life becoming a rollercoaster as he tries to find what money cannot buy. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.
Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s night of heroes and villains at the JoRo
Musical stories of the week: Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company Does Heroes And Villains, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm
A HERO. A villain. A power struggle between good and bad. An epic Act 1 finale. Sound familiar? Tonight, director Ben Huntley and musical director Jess Douglas bring to life the story of every musical you have ever seen in an evening of musical theatre songs for plucky protagonists and dastardly villains from Wicked, Hamilton, Sweeney Todd, The Sound Of Music and many more.
Along the way, other key characters will help, or possibly hinder, these intrepid characters. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Elbow: Heading for Scarborough tonight
East Coast outdoor gig of the week: Elbow, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, tonight, gates, 6pm
PLAYING together since sixth-form college days in Bury in 1990 and taking the name Elbow since 1997, Guy Garvey’s band arrive in Scarborough on the back of releasing their ninth studio album, Flying Dream 1.
Fresh from last month’s Platinum Party at the Palace rendition of One Day Like This outside Buckingham Palace, Elbow head outdoors once more this weekend to perform Lippy Kids, My Sad Captains, Magnificent, New York Morning et al – and hopefully early gem Station Approach. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Bryan Adams: Quick return to the Yorkshire open air on Sunday
West Yorkshire open-air gig of the week: Bryan Adams, Harewood House, near Leeds, Sunday, gates, 6pm
CANADIAN rocker Bryan Adams plays his second outdoor show of the Yorkshire summer this weekend, following his July 1 appearance at Scarborough Open Air Theatre.
Adams, 61, will be showcasing his 15th studio album, So Happy It Hurts, and once more he will do Run To You, Cuts Like A Knife, Summer Of ’69, (Everything I Do) I Do It For You et al for you too. Box office: aegpresents.co.uk.
Simon Rodda in Heady Conduct Theatre’s Tiresias
Storytelling show of the week: Heady Conduct Theatre in Tiresias, Theatre At The Mill, Stillington, near York, Sunday, 7.30pm
HEADY Conduct Theatre’s short tour of their storytelling show of rejuvenated Greek myths and legends concludes at Stillington Mill this weekend, a long way from Tiresias’s previous performances pre-pandemic in New Zealand.
Co-artistic director Simon Rodda plays blind prophet Tiresias, who is given the gift to predict the future by Zeus, in a theatre piece about the extraordinary ability of humans to face adversity, often with mischief, humour and rebellion.
Rachel Barnes accompanies Rodda with singing and a live score on guitar and cello. Box office: atthemill.org.
Mikhail Lim’s Seymour is torn between Lauren Sheriston’s Audrey, left, and Emily Ramsden’s Audrey II in York Stage’s Little Shop Of Horrors
Anniversary of the week:York Stage in Little Shop Of Horrors, York Theatre Royal, July 14 to 23
YORK Stage make their York Theatre Royal debut with Nik Briggs’s 40th anniversary production of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s Fifties’ B-movie musical spoof.
Is there a way out of Skid Row, the New York ghetto where life is full of broken American dreams and dead ends? When flower shop assistant Seymour (Mikhail Lim) discovers a mysterious new plant with killer potential, hope may be on the horizon. So too fame, fortune and even romance with kind, sweet, delicate Audrey (Lauren Sheriston), but bloodthirsty Audrey II (Emily Ramsden) has other ideas. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The poster for An Evening Of Burlesque at York Barbican
Glitz with a twist: An Evening Of Burlesque, York Barbican, July 21, 7pm
BRITAIN’S longest-running Burlesque variety show is bigger than ever on its latest tour with its 21st century twist on an old-fashioned blend of stylish cabaret, comedy, music, circus and burlesque.
Expect glitz and glamour, fun and feathers, fan dancing and fabulous costumes, speciality artistes and cabaret turns, circus stars and comedians, World Guinness record holders and champagne showgirls. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
filoBarocco: Performing baroque music at Explore York libraries
Exploring music: Baroque Around The Books community tour of Explore York libraries, July 21 and 22. UPDATE: MINI-TOUR CANCELLED
MUSICAL group filoBarocco is undertaking a Baroque Around The Books mini-tour of three community libraries in a new National Centre for Early Music initiative with Explore York supported by Culture & Wellbeing York.
filoBarocco will be visiting Acomb Explore on July 21 at 11am, Tang Hall Explore, July 21, 3.30pm, and Clifton Explore, July 22, 11am. Tickets are free but must be pre-booked at eventbrite.com/cc/baroque-around-the-books-735039.
Lucy Worsley: Uncovering the mysteries behind Agatha Christie’s life
History meets mystery: An Evening With Lucy Worsley On Agatha Christie, York Theatre Royal, September 26, 7.30pm
THE Queen of History will investigate the Queen of Crime in an illustrated talk that delves into the life of such an elusive, enigmatic 20th century figure.
Why did Agatha Christie spend her career pretending that she was just an ordinary housewife, a retiring Edwardian lady of leisure, when clearly she wasn’t? Agatha went surfing in Hawaii, loved fast cars and was intrigued by psychology, the new science that helped her through mental illness.
Sharing her research of the storyteller’s personal letters and papers, writer, broadcaster, speaker and Historic Royal Palaces chief curator Lucy Worsley will uncover the real, revolutionary, thoroughly modern Christie. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Suddenly, Seymour: Mikhail Lim takes on the lead role in York Stage’s Little Shop Of Horrors
MIKHAIL Lim may have a long association with the York stage but he did not envisage being picked to play Seymour, the hapless Skid Row florist shop assistant, in York Stage’s 40th anniversary production of Little Shop Of Horrors.
“Seymour is not typically something I would think of being cast as,” he says, in the foyer of York Theatre Royal, where you will indeed be seeing more of his Seymour from July 14 to 23 in director-producer Nik Briggs’ show.
“A lot of the issues with my confidence comes from being an Asian actor, pitching against established white actors – and everyone thinks of Rick Moranis’s performance in the film, which people are so attracted to.
“But, coming to my take on Seymour, Nik saw something in it, and so did Stephen Hackshaw, the musical director.”
Hence Mikhail will be leading Briggs’s cast of 11 in York Stage’s Theatre Royal debut in Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s B-movie musical spoof about a bloodthirsty plant.
He cut his York theatrical teeth in John Cooper’s Stagecoach Youth Theatre, the Grand Opera House’s Stage Experience summer school and York Stage Musicals before studying drama at York St John, but his love of performing is rooted in his Filipino homeland in South East Asia.
“I went to train in the Repertory Philippines in Manila, where they put on theatre even though there’s no official arts programme in the Philippines,” he says. “Seeing all the things that’s going on with the arts over here now with funding cuts and school curriculum changes, it’s starting to feel like that again. Though I love the Philippines, but there’s a struggle for the arts there, I’m not going to lie.”
Mikhail was born to his mother’s second marriage with a nine-year gap to his sister and two older brothers (whose father had passed away). “My parents worked really hard for me to get here,” he says.
Plant shop trio: Mikhail Lim’s Seymour with Lauren Sheriston’s Audrey, left, and Emily Ramsden’s Audrey II in Little Shop Of Horrors
“It started with me going to the OB [Operation Brotherhood] Montesorri School in Manila, and then they put me in a private school, the Ateneo de Manila University grade school, where they were really prioritising my education at one of the Philippines’ best schools over feeding the family.
“You can imagine that going into the theatre might not have been their number one career choice for me! It was an all-boys school, with a sister school that we’d meet up with to do shows.
“So, I did Fiddler On The Roof in a Catholic school with lots of Filipinos who knew nothing about Judaism! The only thing I had going for me was that I had a Russian name! My mother named me after Mikhail Gorbachev, who she thought of as a hero.
“I was born in October 1991 in the year after the Cold War stopped and I had a birthmark on my forehead, just like Gorbachev! As a kid, I knew nothing about him, but later I read about him and thought, ‘OK, I’ll take it’!”
Mikhail’s mother wanted a change, a new opportunity for Mikhail, and so he moved to York with his parents at the age of 14. “My siblings were much older than me; they had their own lives by then and they wanted to stay in the Philippines, so it was just me and my mum and dad who came over,” he says. “Mum was a scientist with the Nestle Product Technology Centre and that’s why we came to York.”
Settling into Haxby was not easy. “Not at all,” he recalls. “English is my first language, but even speaking the same language meant nothing culturally, and you can imagine how it was back then, when York was not as welcoming as it is now. It was very jarring, like people assuming I didn’t know what snow was.
“I lasted a very short time at Joseph Rowntree School, then went to All Saints, and on to York College to do my A-levels. Not my first intended route, but I studied English Literature, Ancient History, Maths and Theatre, so at least Theatre was in there.
Moving on: Chef Mikhail Lim, centre, will be leaving Oshibi Korean Bistro, in Franklin’s Yard, on Saturdayafter four years in the kitchen. “It’s been a good run,” he says
“There was always this superiority complex in people who assumed you came from somewhere impoverished by comparison with York, though I was top of the class in Maths, but you just can’t prove anything on paper.”
All the while, his acting and singing talent was nurtured with Stagecoach, Stage Experience and York Stage. “In most places, I definitely feel like theatre is more of a home,” he says. “That said, I’ve always gaslit myself think I was the weird, out-of-place kid, because I was, but then I realised it wasn’t just me who had this problem. Teenagers are vicious.
“But I’ve come to love York and living here. I think you notice it more when you go to other cities and you realise just how beautiful York is and how respectful people are to each other – though I’m aware acting can require you to move around, maybe train in London.”
After completing his York St John theatre studies in 2014, Mikhail trained as a chef, specialising in desserts, latterly working at Oshibi Korean Bistro & BBQ, in Franklin’s Yard, Fossgate, after the unfortunate timing of opening his own specialist café in Franklin’s Yard a month before the first Covid lockdown.
“In a way, lockdown was a blessing, allowing me to think about what I really wanted to do, because I’d been working continually, When Nik [Briggs] messaged me to ask me to do Songs From The Settee online, that opened up things again for me to do theatre again.”
Cue his stage return in Little Shop Of Horrors. “I’m now hoping to save up to do an MA in musical theatre,” he says. “I’ve stopped and started and trained so much already, but getting that piece of paper, an MA, is how to get connections in the theatre world.”
York Stage in Little Shop Of Horrors, York Theatre Royal, 7.30pm, July 14, 16, 18 to 23; 4pm and 8pm, July 15; 2.30pm, July 16 and 23. Box office:01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Christina Bianco: Playing LV at last almost a decade after Jim Cartwright’s vow to “make it happen”
YORK has been on New Yorker Christina Bianco’s bucket list of British cities to visit for “the longest time”.
Glory be for the American actress, supreme impressionist and YouTube sensation, she will be at York Theatre Royal all this week, playing reclusive songbird LV in Jim Cartwright’s deeply dark comedy-drama The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice.
“I’m going to be all over that city, taking a million photos,” she vows. “Apologies to the locals of York for my camera being out and my blocking traffic in the streets! It’s one of those places, which, coming from America, you don’t believe is real. It looks like something out of Harry Potter! So yes, to finally be in York is truly amazing.”
Ahead of this week’s run, Christina already had a sneak preview of York in the company of co-star Ian Kelsey, who took her on a guided tour of his home city last month, taking in York Minster, the Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate street sign, a pub and the Theatre Royal stage.
From bucket list to wish list as Christina realises a long-held ambition to play LV. “When I was young growing up in New York, I always did impressions and loved singing many genres of music,” she says. “My parents tell me I had a natural instinct for mimicry, especially when it came to Judy Garland in The Wizard Of Oz.
Christina Bianco acquainting herself with York. Picture: Ant Robling
“For some reason, I always gravitated toward British culture, television, films and comedy, watching the video of Four Weddings And A Funeral when I was little, and later Monty Python, and there was something about the British sensibility that I just loved.
“One of my favourite things in the world to watch was Absolutely Fabulous. I especially loved Jane Horrocks in it, and I love how your comedies have such broad characters but deal with serious subjects. Something hit me about the difference with American comedies.”
Later, Christina’s father saw a review of York director Mark Hearld’s 1998 film adaptation of Cartwright’s play, Little Voice, starring the aforementioned Horrocks. “Given LV’s love for Judy and all the diva impressions, he said we had to see it. I was blown away by Jane Horrocks’ performance and, of course, by the story itself. I became a little obsessed with it!” she says.
First, Christina brought her talent for mimicry to the fore in Forbidden Broadway off-Broadway in 2008. “I was doing impressions in public for the first time and gratefully being well reviewed for doing so,” she recalls.
“It put me on the map as an impressionist, and over the next few years I pushed myself to try more and more impressions and to eventually build my own show – both because I was enjoying it and because I realised there was an audience for this sort of act. It was around this time I posted some impressions videos on YouTube and they started racking up some views.”
Ian Kelsey introduces Christina Bianco to York Theatre Royal on his guided tour of his home city. Picture: Ant Robling
Move the story forward to the summer of 2012, when Christina saw a notice that Little Voice was to go on a British tour, directed by Cartwright himself. “I’d never seen the show on stage before, so my husband and I planned a six-day trip to London…with my ulterior motive being to take a train to Guildford to see the show!” she says.
“My managers at the time suggested ‘Why don’t you write to Jim, introduce yourself and tell him how much you love the show?’.”
Cartwright duly wrote back to say “I’ve just watched your stuff online. You’re fabulous! Come to the stage door and we’ll chat”. “I ended up sitting down with Jim and talking about the show for quite some time,” says Christina.
“We stayed in touch and soon after, when some of my YouTube videos went viral and I had a run of sold-out shows at the Hippodrome, Jim came and said ‘we have to make LV happen for you’! That was in 2013. So, as you can see, doing this show has been a very long journey! Now, to finally get to do it, on this grand scale, with this incredible cast, is just thrilling.”
How come it still took so long to “make LV happen” after Cartwright’s vow? “We definitely have to rule out two years of Covid, of course, but the first reason was that I met him just as he was directing a big production of his play, so I knew I’d have to wait four or five years for another big production,” says Christina.
Christina Bianco’s LV performing her repertoire of diva impersonations at Mr Boo’s Club. Picture: Pamela Raith
“Then I was attached to a production that Jim gave his blessing to that was supposed to go to Broadway, but that didn’t happen after going through three different directors – but that’s the story of showbiz.
“Then, the really tricky thing is that in the UK ‘Little Voice’ is so loved and some people say it’s overdone, being done by regional theatres and colleges as well, so the wait went on.”
Nevertheless, Christina was undaunted in her pursuit of adding LV to her CV, and once producer Katy Lipson attained the rights to the play, she promptly contacted the American actress, having seen her vocal impressions in concert. “She said, ‘I want to work with you; what would you like to do? Come up with a couple of ideas’. I said I’d love to do LV before I can’t do it.”
Sure enough, despite a further delay, Christina’s LV has arrived “when I’m still not too long in the tooth” at 40. “When Jane Horrocks first did it, she was in her late-20s, and in the movie, she was in her 30s. LV is not in her teens; she’s emotionally regressed, staying in the emotional state of a child.”
Christina’s diva impersonations on LV’s bedroom floor and the northern club stage are drawn specifically from the vinyl record collection of LV’s late father. “Everyone probably expects me to come out and do Celine Dion but it’s not the right time period,” she says.
“I don’t like confrontation,” says Christina Bianco, who shares that characteristic with the reclusive LV in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice. Here Bianco’s LV keeps her distance from Ian Kelsey’s Ray Say and Shobna Gulati’s Mari Hoff. Picture: Pamela Raith
“What I will be doing, though, is attempting Cilla Black for the first time in my life. Everybody I impersonate in the show will be of the classic musical era LV’s father loved: Judy Garland, Edith Piaf, Shirley Bassey…”.
When adding a new diva to her repertoire, how does she master the voice? “It depends on the particular vocalist but typically I immerse myself with them for a couple of days. I listen to lots of their music before I watch any video footage of them.
“I like to get the essence of their voice first. Then I study their physicality in more detail. I try to take on as many mannerisms, characteristics and facial expressions as I can. Thank goodness everyone’s liking my Cilla; everyone’s clapping; no-one’s booing! I did have the fear of God put into me about singing You’re My World just right, but I made a point of knowing that she’d been told to sing it with a mid-Atlantic accent, which I’m doing.”
Christina’s biggest challenge is playing an introvert. “It’s very funny timing for me, with my last part being Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, who’s the polar opposite of LV. Fanny couldn’t help attracting attention, whereas LV is happy to fade into the background,” she says.
“Everyone says Fanny Brice is one of the most challenging roles of all time, and I don’t disagree. You never leave the stage except to change costume; you sing 12 songs, laugh, cry, dance and do physical comedy – the list goes on!
Pyjama drama: Christina Bianco’s LV singing in her bedroom. Picture: Pamela Raith
“But I can safely say I’m more nervous about doing Little Voice because I’m not an introvert. There’s the part of me that needs the platform to perform, though [away from the stage] I can be quite shy and I don’t like to stand out, so I’ve channelled that side of me. I don’t like confrontation too, and that part of me hasn’t changed with age.
“What many people wouldn’t know about me is that I’m an only child who’s happy to be alone, and if there’s no ideal platform for me to be on stage, if someone asks me to stand in front of a microphone I’ll shrink.”
Christina fully memorised the script before entering the rehearsal room. “I wanted to be as comfortable with the text as possible, in order to be fully comfortable performing it in a Northern accent,” she reasons.
“Sure, I’m good at accents but it’s a very different thing when you’re doing an accent in the place where that accent actually comes from. I’m not doing this show in New York. I’m doing a Lancashire accent for people in the north. That’s very intimidating!”
For that reason, she did consult a voice coach. “People have this assumption that if you’re good at vocal impressions, you’ll be good at accents too, but it’s so important that you’re comfortable in the accent. It’s either right or wrong, an accent, whereas an impression is an interpretation, and that’s different.
Christina Bianco and Ian Kelsey set out from York Theatre Royal on Ian’s guided tour. Picture: Ant Robling
“I worked with a voice coach on Zoom over lockdown to get the Oldham/Manchester accent, and as Katy Lipson is from Manchester, she’d let me know if I was getting it wrong!”
Christina notes how American and British audiences differ. “I think Americans kind of watch you, leaning back, giving off an ‘entertain me’ vibe. I feel a British audience leans forward a bit more. They come into you and your world. Both are great and I’m not trying to insult my home country but I do feel British audiences are a little more appreciative.
“On the other side of that, Americans are much more likely to leap to their feet at the end of the show! Over here you can give the best performance of your life and the audience cheers like crazy but they don’t always leap to their feet.
“It’ll be interesting to see the reaction to this play. It won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy but I personally don’t see it as a traditional comedy. I see it as a true drama that happens to have a lot of comedic moments – and I know Jim and our director, Bronagh Lagan, are really looking to bring out the heart at the centre of it. How people are imperfect, make mistakes and have rises and falls – but they persevere.
“Fear of ‘starting over’ is a big theme in the show and I think we can say we’re all having to start over now in many ways. On both sides of the pond, and all over the world. It’s very timely.”
“York is one of those places, which, coming from America, you don’t believe is real,” says Christina Bianco, here standing outside York Art Gallery. Picture: Ant Robling
Summing up why Cartwright’s play has resonated with audiences through 30 years, Christina says: “First of all, I think this play is a true love letter to the UK. It celebrates so many great British artists and their music.
“But the story itself is something everybody can relate to, regardless of whether or not they know the music in the play. The idea that no matter how difficult things get, you can still persevere and rise from the ashes. And I think that’s exactly the message we need after the last two years.
“It’s a story about not being afraid to try something different and starting again. We’ve all been through something together that has changed us, just as the characters in the play do.”
Christina hopes audiences will embrace her as an American performer, taking on such an iconic British character. “I’d like to think that I’ve earned some stripes working in the UK quite a bit already, so maybe that will help,” she says. “And I’ve actually just become a resident, along with my husband and our dog Jeff Vader. We all live here now [on a three-year visa in London], so you’re stuck with me!”
Jeff Vader, Christina? “I named the dog after an Eddie Izzard joke,” she reveals of a surrealist shaggy- dog story that took in the Death Star, a cafeteria, Lego, and yes, Jeff Vader.
The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice, starring Christina Bianco, Shobna Gulati and Ian Kelsey, runs at York Theatre Royal until July 9, 7.30pm, plus 2pm, Thursday and 2.30pm, Saturday. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Shobna Gulati, Christina Bianco and Ian Kelsey in the tour poster for the Glass Half Full Productions tour of The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice
Lauren Sheriston’s Audrey, left, Mikhail Lim’s Seymour and Emily Ramsden’s Audrey II in York Stage’s Little Shop Of Horrors at York Theatre Royal
YORK Stage will mark the 40th anniversary of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s B-movie musical spoof Little Shop of Horrors with Nik Briggs’s summer production.
The July 14 to 23 run will mark the York company’s debut at York Theatre Royal in a show with musical direction by Stephen Hackshaw (Sister Act, Shrek, Rock of Ages, Ghost, 9-5 The Musical) and choreography by York pantomime favourite Danielle Mullan-Hill.
From the duo behind Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Beauty And The Beast and Aladdin, lyricist Ashman and composer Menken’s horror comedy rock musical is based on a Roger Corman thriller from the 1960s that featured a young Jack Nicholson.
From off-Broadway beginnings in 1982, it was turned into a film in 1986 starring Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Steve Martin and Bill Murray with its story of hapless Skid Row florist shop worker Seymour, who raises a plant that feeds on human blood and flesh.
Going green…and blue: Lauren Sheriston’s Audrey
Mikhail Lim will play Seymour, having performed in many York shows, latterly starring as Sweaty Eddie in Sister Actand Dennie in Rock Of Agesat the Grand Opera House.
Lauren Sheriston, who made her York debut in the same year as Mikhail, will play Audrey after multiple appearances in York Stage shows as Molly in Ghost; a Diva in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert; Sherrie in Rock Of Ages and Rizzo in Grease at the Grand Opera House. She has made TV appearances in Emmerdale and Eternal Law too.
Emily Ramsden will be voicing Audrey II, the blood-thirsty plant, in a break with the ever-expanding role usually being voiced by a man. Emily has played Dragon in Shrek The Musical and Nancy inOliver! for York Stage and has performed across the world on cruise ships and maintained a busy career as a vocalist for function bands in the UK.
Hannah Shaw will make her York Stage debut as Crystal, joined in the trio of Urchins by Lucy Churchill as Chiffon and Cyanne Unamba-Oparah as Ronette. Cyanne has just returned home from various engagements in Europe and previously played Mama Bear in York Stage’s Shrek The Musical.
Emily Ramsden’s Audrey II settles in among the plants in Little Shop Of Horrors
Darren Lumby’s York Stage debut as the Orin follows performances as Gomez in The Addams Family Musical and as the Prince in Into the Woods at the Grand Opera House. James Robert Ball returns to the stage after various contracts as a musical director to make his York Stage bow as Mr Mushnik.
York Stage favourites Jack Hooper, Katie Melia and Danny Western will make up the ensemble as well as controlling the puppetry for Audrey II.
After directing such shows as Calendar Girls The Musical, Elf, Steel Magnolias, Rock Of Ages, Ghost and Sister Act for York Stage, Nik says: “I’m so thrilled to be directing and producing Little Shop Of Horrors at the fabulous York Theatre Royal.
“It’s the first time York Stage has brought a show to this beautiful theatre and we can’t wait to share what we’ve been creating with our audiences. We have a tremendously talented cast who have been creating stunning work; I’m really excited to be bringing another brilliant show to the city for all to enjoy.
“We have a tremendously talented cast who have been creating stunning work,” says York Stage director and producer Nik Briggs
“Exploring this piece in the rehearsal room with the creative team and cast has been a thrilling task. Being 40 years old, the world in which we present the show has changed drastically to the one in which it was originally created, so we’ve been making sure we create a bold new production that honours the original while keeping it fresh for a new audience. It’s been a lot of fun! We aim to give audiences a night to remember.”
Joining Briggs, Hackshaw and Mullan-Hill in the production team are lighting designer Adam Moore, sound designer Joel Suter and hair & make-up specialist Phoebe Kilvington.
Performance times will be 7.30pm on July 14, 16 and 18 to 23; 2.30pm, July 16 and 23; 4pm and 8pm, July 15. Tickets cost £15 upwards on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Cyanne Unamba-Oparah as Ronette, one of the Urchins in Little Shop Of Horrors
