Beauty And The Beast Archives - charleshutchpress

February 6, 2025February 7, 2025

What’s On in Ryedale, York & beyond. Hutch’s List No. 5, from Gazette & Herald

*Untitled 7, by Neil Bunting, from Art Of Protest’s Outsider Inside York exhibition*

A DANDY giant, outsider art, drag bingo and Cuban rhythms light up Charles Hutchinson’s early February diary.

Exhibition of the week: Outsider Inside York – An Exhibition of Words and Pictures, Art of Protest Gallery, Walmgate, York, on show until February 16

OUTSIDER Inside York celebrates the diverse voices of five artists who have used creativity to reshape their lives and challenge the status quo, revealing art’s transformative power in overcoming adversity.

Taking part will be Boxxhead, alias York mixed-media artist Kevin McNulty; former British Army soldier and PTSD sufferer Kevin Devenport, who began painting as a form of self-expression while in prison for drug offences; Peter Stapleton, who discovered a gift for painting in oils after 22 years behind bars, and late neurodivergent artist and musician Neil Bunting, who died last year, having struggled with mental health issues and personal loss throughout his life and never exhibiting his work in his lifetime. Their works are complemented by poems by Geoff Beacon, whose latest collection, Foreboding, engages with activism and politics in York.

*Jennifer Jones’s Belle in Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Beauty And The Beast at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre*

Fairytale of the week: Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Disney’s Beauty And The Beast, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

THE Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company presents the timeless tale of Belle (Jennifer Jones), a young woman in a small provincial town, and the Beast (Adam Gill), a prince trapped under the spell of an enchantress. The Beast must learn to love and be loved in order to break the spell, but time is running out in this Disney musical adventure.

Further principal roles in Kathryn Lay’s cast go to Jim Paterson as Gaston; Tom Mennary, Lumiere; Paul Blenkiron, Maurice; Helen Barugh, Madame de la Grande Bouche; Heather Stead, Babette, and Anthony Gardner, Cogsworth. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

*Meet The Smartest Giant In Town in Little Angel Theatre’s show at the Grand Opera House, York*

Children’s show of the week: Little Angel Theatre in The Smartest Giant In Town, Grand Opera House, York, today, 10am and 1pm

GEORGE wishes he were not the scruffiest giant in town. When he sees a new shop selling giant-sized clothes, he adopts a new look: smart trousers, smart shirt, stripy tie, shiny shoes. Now he is the smartest giant in town…until he bumps into some animals that desperately need his help – and his clothes!

So runs Little Angel Theatre’s latest puppet-filled stage adaptation of a typically heart-warming Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler picture-book tale of friendship and helping those in need. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

*The poster artwork for Just Us & A Piano at Helmsley Arts Centre*

Fundraiser of the week: Just Us & A Piano, Songs From Musical Theatre Broadway and the West End, Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight and Friday, 7.30pm

JULIE Lomas and pianist Neil Bell bring together a grand piano and an ensemble of 1812 Theatre Company singers to celebrate the world of musical theatre to raise much-needed funds for Helmsley Arts Centre.

Songs from the Broadway classics of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers through to Cabaret, Wicked, My Fair Lady, Les Miserables, Hamilton and Andrew Lloyd Webber will be performed by Amy Gregory, Esme Schofield, Joe Gregory, Julie Lomas, Kristian Gregory, Natasha Jones, Oliver Clive and Phye Bell. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

*Beverley Beirne: Fronting her trio at The Old Paint Shop on Friday*

Jazz gig of the week: The Beverley Beirne Trio, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, Friday, 8pm

BEVERLEY Beirne sings songs of hope, passion, of living life to the full, of day dreaming, regret, love lost and love found and ultimately of dancing through the game and rhythm of life from Dream Dancer, long-listed for a Grammy Best Jazz Vocal Album.

Listen out for interpretations of David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, Let’s Face The Music And Dance and a bluesy take on The Clash’s Should I Stay Or Should I Go. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

*Drag diva turned Dragamama bingo caller Velma Celli*

Drag diva deluxe at the double: The Velma Celli Show, Impossible York Wonderbar, St Helen’s Square, York, Friday, doors 7pm, show time 8pm to 10pm; Dragamama Bingo, Wagamama, Goodramgate, York, February 13, doors 6.30pm

YORK international vocal drag diva Velma Celli, alias West End musical star Ian Stroughair, has won the Best Cabaret prize at Perth Fringeworld 2024 – again! – in Australia. On Friday, Velma returns to her regular York joint for a night of sassy song and saucy badinage. Box office: https://tinyurl.com/24s4yyjt.

Next Thursday, Velma turns bingo caller for an evening of camp comedy drag bingo fun and games in Dragamama Bingo at Japanese restaurant Wagamama. Eyes down for a full house and a feast of Velma cabaret from 7pm to 9pm. Box office: https://tinyurl.com/4hmukk69.

*York Latinos: Celebrating Cuban music and culture at The Milton Rooms, Malton*

Cuban celebration of the week: York Latinos, A Night of Latin Music and Dance, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

YORK Latinos pay homage to the traditional rhythms of their homelands while infusing them with contemporary flair in a celebration of Cuban music and culture featuring a dancer from Havana.

Specialising in a variety of Latin genres, they blend the vibrant beats of salsa and the soulful melodies of Cuban Son, complemented by Merengue, Bachata and Cumbia. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

*Chris Newman and* *Maire Ni Chathasaigh*

Folk gig of the week: Maire Ni Chathasaigh and Chris Newman, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

MULTIPLE award-winning, internationally renowned virtuoso harp and guitar duo Maire Ni Chathasaigh and Chris Newman return to Helmsley after playing to a full house there in December 2023.

County Cork harpist Chathasaigh and flat-picking guitarist, improviser, composer and record producer Newman have toured to 24 countries on five continents, playing venues ranging from village halls and town halls to palaces in Kyoto and Istanbul, from London’s Barbican to Cologne’s Philharmonia. Expect a fusion of traditional Irish music, hot jazz, bluegrass and baroque, spiced with new compositions and Newman’s subversive wit. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

February 3, 2025February 7, 2025

Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company to open Beauty And The Beast tomorrow

“*Belle is everything I wished I could be when I was growing up,” says Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company lead actress Jennifer Jones*

THE Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company will present Disney’s spin on the timeless tale of Belle, a young woman in a small provincial town, and the Beast, a prince trapped under the spell of an enchantress, at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from tomorrow to Saturday.

If the Beast can learn to love and be loved, the curse will end and he will be transformed into his former self, but time is running out. Should the Beast not learn his lesson soon, however, he and his household will be doomed for all eternity.

“This ‘tale as old as time’ is filled with the classic songs that you know and love, so please ‘be our guest’ and join us for this family favourite,” says director Kathryn Lay, who is joined in the production team by musical director Martin Lay and choreographer Lorna Newby.

The cast comprises Jennifer Jones as Belle; Adam Gill as the Beast; Tom Menarry, Lumiere; Jen Payne, Mrs Potts; Anthony Gardner, Cogsworth; Heather Stead, Babette; Helen Barugh, Madame de la Grande Bouche; Jim Paterson, Gaston; Kit Stroud, Lefou; Paul Blenkiron, Maurice; Alex Schofield, Monsieur D’Arque, and Stan Richardson and Paige Sidebottom as Chip.

“Belle is everything I wished I could be when I was growing up,” says Jennifer Jones. “She’s confident in who she is and willing to stand up for herself, but also kind and incredibly loyal. There are actually quite a lot of similarities between Belle’s past and my own experiences (up until the ‘being imprisoned by a cursed beast’ part), so getting to channel that into the performance is a real privilege.”

What is Jennifer most looking forward to in the show? “I’m a sucker for a big ball gown. But honestly, my favourite part of any show is listening to the overture backstage with the whole company as we wait to go on. There’s absolutely nothing like it!”

*Jennifer Jones’s Belle and Adam Gill’s Beast*

Naming her favourite scene, she says: “Be Our Guest is such a delight! It’s the big song from Beauty And The Beast and it’s been so exciting to see it coming together and everyone giving it so much energy. I’m lucky that my character gets to watch it all, and the grin on my face is 100 per cent genuine.”

Looking forward to playing the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, Jennifer says: “To have a full theatre so easily available to you as an amateur performer is really special. I’ve performed in nearly every theatre in York, but the Joseph Rowntree Theatre feels like home.

“It’s really an amazing community asset, and it provides so many opportunities for literally anybody to get involved, even if they’ve never stepped foot in a theatre before.”

She loves the experience of rehearsing and performing. “For me, it’s all about the people you do shows with. Of course, it’s very nice to sing for an audience that is more appreciative than my cats are, but getting to spend several nights a week having fun in rehearsals with an excellent group of people with a shared sense of purpose and belonging is the most important thing for me.”

Adam Gill shares his first name of Adam with the Beast: ”Of course that 100 per cent proves that I was made to play this part!” he says. “He’s one of the most iconic Disney characters, easily the best Disney prince, and I love the way that he changes and grows throughout the show: it’s a story that has always resonated with me.”

Adam, who picks the musical number Gaston as his highlight, “even though I’m not in it!”, has fond memories aplenty of performing at the JoRo. “I love the warm, intimate atmosphere that surrounds it,” he says.

*Jim Paterson rehearsing his role as Gaston in Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s Beauty And The Beast*

“I love the escapism taking part in shows provides, watching brilliant people build confidence and grow into characters and trying to be the best performer I can.”

Jim Paterson has one reason above all others to look forward to playing Gaston. “This is the first show I’ve done that my eight-year-old daughter can actually come and see – and it’s special as we used to play with her Disney dolls a lot and I would often be Gaston getting into various scrapes trying to marry Belle!” he says.

Beauty And The Beast contains Jim’s favourite set of Disney songs. “I can’t wait for us to share the energy of the big chorus numbers like Belle, Be Our Guest and, of course, Gaston,” he says.

What does he enjoy most about performing at the JoRo? “It’s always a delight to step on the stage and see that beautiful auditorium, but what makes it special is the sense of camaraderie among the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company team, with everyone pitching in and supporting each other,” he says.

Summing up why he loves to perform, Jim says: “Someone once asked a writer why they wrote plays rather than novels and they replied, ‘because I like it when they applaud’. There’s something about spending weeks creating something as a team in rehearsal, then finally putting it in front of an audience and suddenly it’s an entirely different performance because of how their presence and reaction changes how it feels. It’s why live theatre is so special.”

Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company in Disney’s Beauty And The Beast, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 4 to 8, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

*“There are actually quite a lot of similarities between Belle’s past and my own experiences,” says Jennifer Jones*

Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company: the back story

FOUNDED in 2017, the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company is the JoRo theatre’s official in-house production company, established to help raise funds for the maintenance and development of the Haxby Road theatre, while entertaining audiences with innovative productions of both classic and contemporary musicals.

So far the company has raised more than £23,000 from such shows as The Producers (2018), Kiss Me Kate (2019), Hello, Dolly! (2023) and Curtains (2024).

January 17, 2025January 18, 2025

REVIEW: Harrogate Theatre’s 125th birthday party & Beauty And The Beast *****

*Harry Wyatt’s Madame Bellie Fillop, Michael Lambourne’s Baron Bon Bon, Tim Stedman’s Philippe Fillop and Anna Campkin’s Belle in Harrogate Theatre’s Beauty And The Beast*. *Picture: Karl Andre*

HARROGATE Theatre – or the Grand Opera House as it was first called – opened on January 13 1900, squeezing a capacity of 1,300 into Frank Tugwell’s design.

On Wednesday night, Harrogate Theatre marked its 125^th anniversary with the launch of a fundraising campaign for the symmetrical sum of £125,000 – although £1.25 million would surely be more welcome – at the 7pm pantomime performance of Beauty And The Beast, played to a capacity of 500.

“Everything is smaller now,” noted chief executive David Bown. Smaller-scale shows prevail; Victorian melodramas a thing of the past, like the theatre’s ghost, Alice. The days of 40 repertory shows a year are long gone too. Casts are down-sized. Even the theatre name is shorter!

Most significantly, Bown mentioned the post-Covid cut in funding, necessitating the year of “fab and fun” fundraising events, introduced in the new season’s brochure distributed to mayoral party and panto punters alike in the 125^th anniversary party bags.

Nothing surely will be more “fab and fun” than Beauty And The Beast, a riotous French fancy of a pantomime enjoyed for a second time this season by CharlesHutchPress, who was left wondering why other theatres have closed their winter big earners already, one as early as December 28.

Written by David Bown, from an original idea by his late writing partner Phil Lowe, with additional material by Michael Lambourne, Marcus Romer and Tim Stedman, Beauty And The Beast is directed by Romer (who has programmed the 125th anniversary season too).

Once the pioneering force behind Pilot Theatre at York Theatre Royal and beyond, Romer brings a playful energy, zest for spectacle, awareness of the power of a knockout pop song old or new, a passion for storytelling and relish for high-tech panache to an outstanding show that still has five performances to go, as full of Parisian chic as Yorkshire humour.

He has a cracking production team too: from Morgan Brind’s vibrant set and costume designs, especially for Harry Wyatt’s flamboyant dame, Madame Bellie Fillop, to Charlie Brown’s superb sound; from Nick Lacey’s arrangements, all snap, crackle and pop, in his 21^st year as musical director, to Alexandra Stafford’s lighting design, at its best in Stedman and Lambourne’s ultraviolet-lit Highway To Hell scream of a motorcycle ride. To top it all, David Kar-Hing Lee’s choreography hits the groove throughout.

From Stedman’s filmed opening in airman’s goggles to Romer’s trademark closing film credits, Beauty And The Beast combines Romer tropes with his canny appreciation of the long-established cornerstones of a Harrogate Theatre pantomime.

Stedman is in his 24^th season as the helium-voiced, strawberry-cheeked, idiot-savant buffoon, as vital to the show’s flow and comic spark as Billy Pearce at Bradford Alhambra, and here the subject of an affectionate pre-show dig by Bown about his seemingly ageless programme headshot. He is as delightfully daft as ever as Philippe Fillop, and even the rest of the cast stands in admiration to applaud his piece de resistance: a Catherine wheel blur of sound and vision as he reprises what’s happened in the show so far.

Glory be, however, Stedman is not alone in warranting such applause. Romer has all his cast in superb form. Assistant director Lambourne, he of the booming voice and Edwardian beard, has switched from last year’s dark side to be the grandest of grand actors, even sending up himself for “understatement” as the thoroughly thespian cafe owner Baron Bon Bon. Make that tres bon. Harrogate is growing to love him as much as York Theatre Royal audiences did down the years.

After more than ten years as Sheringham Little Theatre’s dame, Harry Wyatt headed north to play Sarah the Cook in Dick Whittingham last winter and he is even more of a Wyatt riot here as another cook, Madame Bellie Fillop, so at ease in costume and comedy alike, and packing a vocal punch in his songs. He is indeed an eyeful in his Eiffel Tower attire.

Colin Kiyani’s Beast/Prince and Anna Campkin’s Belle are proper romantic leads; no song has more impact than Kiss From A Rose, sung so beautifully that it would surely have received a Seal of approval, justifying Romer’s long-held wish to use the vertiginous ballad in a stage show.

The Beast’s 360-degree rotating transformation scene – flying effects courtesy of Flying By Foy – is a spectacular denouement too; the scene truly moving as Romer gives due weight to the drama at the heart of this torrid fairytale.

Romer’s six-pack of stellar performances – backed up by an ensemble of dancers – is completed by another actress with “previous” with him: Joanne Sandi, whose Mona Lisa, the Sorceress and Parisian fashion designer, gives off vibes of Wicked and Beyonce too, albeit with a Texan swagger, outwardly incongruous and yet it works! Her rendition of Freedom, off Beyonce’s Lemonade, makes you go Wow.

Alongside Leeds Playhouse’s fabulous The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, this monster hit is the five-star show of CharlesHutchPress’s winter tour of the north. Make a note in your diary: Bown and Romer will be defying size confines once more next winter in Jack And The Beanstalk, wherein big, magical things grow from small. How apt!

Beauty And The Beast, Harrogate Theatre, 7pm tonight; 12 noon and 5pm, Saturday and Sunday. Box office: 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.

December 28, 2024December 28, 2024

Meet Samuel Wyn-Morris, the man behind The Beast in Grand Opera House pantomime Beauty And The Beast

*Samuel Wyn-Morris: Playing the Beast for the second year running, in York this winter after the Sunderland Empire last year. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick*

ENOUNTERING the tornado power and might of his voice in the role of The Beast in Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York, Samuel Wyn-Morris had a surprising admission to make.

“I never sang until I was 17,” says the Welshman from Llanelli. “There was a lad who was a tenor at my school and one day I heard him singing. I was more a rugby boy at the time. Until then I thought, ‘I’m not into music’, but when he didn’t hit his big note, I sang it and hit it!”

In that transformative moment, a career was born, but not without bumps in the road. “I horrified by mum and dad by applying to only one drama school, Guildford [School of Music and Drama], but I got in.

“Then after I graduated, I suffered an incredible loss of confidence. Two years of not working in theatre. Instead I was selling wine and I worked as a butcher too, but kept cutting myself. I gave myself an ultimatum: if I don’t get into Les Miserables, that’s it, it’s all over.”

Glory be, he did, landing three separate contracts with Cameron Mackintosh’s company over the next, Covid-interrupted five years, starting as the 2nd Cover for the role of Enjolras.

When the actor playing Enjolras caught Covid and the 1st Cover suffered a sinus infection, Samuel’s big moment came. “The cover hadn’t missed a show for something like seven years. As chance would have it, Cameron Mackintosh, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil [the writers] were all in the audience that night! “ Samuel would soon go on to play the role in his own right.

*Welsh actor and teacher Samuel Wyn-Morris*

Now that wonderful voice can be heard in York in a five-star performance in Beauty And The Beast. “It’s been a fantastic show to do,” he says. “My only previous experience of York was an unsuccessful date. She was from Scotland, I was from Wales, so we thought, ‘let’s meet in the middle’: York!

“We stayed at Grays Court. Lovely hotel. Very good bar, which is important to a Welshman! But it just didn’t work out.”

This time, romance in York is confined to the Grand Opera House stage as The Beast falls for pantomime debutante Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle. “I played The Beast last year at the Sunderland Empire in my first ever pantomime. Same show, different songs, different director too, Paul Boyd, and the theatre was huge: 2.000 seats!

“I got the call for York in July and I thought ‘why not’?! Theatre work had been quite dry for me this year, with producers being tentative about putting on shows.”

Samuel works as a supply teacher in London, teaching History and Religious Education to Key Stage 3 pupils in Years 7 to 9 when not performing in musical theatre.

Now it has been his turn to learn once more: lines for his role as The Prince/The Beast. “It’s different from Les Miserables, where you have four weeks in the rehearsal room and then go on stage,” he says. “For this pantomime, to get to grips with it was a challenge. It’s so, so quick in the rehearsals and so easy to get lost!”

*Samuel Wyn-Morris’s The Beast and Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle in Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick*

Director George Ure had his cast running the full show by the end of the first week in the rehearsal room. “Know your lines on day one,” advises Samuel. “And you have to put so much energy into it from the word go.

“That’s not to say that’s not the case with Les Miserables or Titanic [the musical that Samuel toured to China], but from the start in panto it’s go-go-go. Twelve shows in a week is the maximum. You have to deal with the tiredness and exhaustion from all the energy you spend.”

Not that he is complaining. He loves pantomime. “There are elements of stand-up comedy, romance, drag with the dame, big songs and wonderful choreography. I’ve got a more classical voice, Jennifer has more of a pop voice, so it’s a pick’n’mix that works really well.”

Before taking on the role of The Beast for the first time, Samuel had a conversation with his director for Titanic. “I said, ‘what do I do in the show? I’m not funny’. He said, ‘you’re not meant to be’! All UK Productions pantomimes are story driven, and this show [written by Jon Monie] is a good example of that.

“I like the freedom that panto brings, as opposed to the demands of Les Miserables, which hammers your voice. Playing Enjolras is one of the hardest roles you can do. With pantomime, you can bring more physicality to it, you can play around with the pace – and working with Jennifer has been a joy.”

UK Productions present Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

December 28, 2024December 28, 2024

What’s On in Ryedale, York & beyond when Wonderland dazzles into the New Year. Hutch’s List No. 47, from Gazette & Herald

*Born to pun: Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly in Aladdin at York Theatre Royal. Picture: S R Taylor Photography*

PANTOMIMES, theatrical family adventures and a Wonderland experience are still delighting in 2024 as Charles Hutchinson also looks ahead to 2025.

Still time for pantomime: Aladdin, York Theatre Royal, until January 5 2025

LOOK out for CBeebies’ Evie Pickerill at the double, dashing between the Spirit of the Ring and the Genie of the Lamp in the fifth collaboration between Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and Evolution Productions script writer Paul Hendy.

Paul Hawkyard’s villain returns to York after a winter away doing panto in Dubai to renew his Theatre Royal double act with Robin Simpson’s dame, playing bad-lad Ivan Tobebooed to Simpson’s Dolly (not Widow Twankey, note). Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

*In the frame: Phil Atkinson’s bodacious baddie, Hugo Pompidou, in UK Productions’ Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick*

Still time for pantomime part two: Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025

THE jokes are as cheesy as the French setting of the village of Camembert, brassier and fruitier too in Jon Monie’s script, as George Ure directs the Grand Opera House pantomime for the first time.

Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer is a magically bouncy Fairy Bon Bon; Jennifer Caldwell delights as Belle; Samuel Wyn-Morris is a stentorian-voiced Beast/Prince; comedian Phil Reid’s Louis La Plonk and Leon Craig’s towering dame, Polly La Plonk lead the comic japes with gusto and Phil Atkinson sends up his French-accented dastardly hunk, Hugo Pompidou, to the max. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

*Bea Clancy’s Harrietty Clock and Marc Akinfolarin’s Pod Clock in The Borrowers at Hull Truck Theatre*

“Perfect alternative to pantomime”: The Borrowers, Hull Truck Theatre, until January 4 2025

SET against a backdrop of Christmas in the East Riding of Yorkshire during the 1940s’ Blitz, artistic director Mark Babych’s enchanting production explores themes of adventure, friendship and the joy of love and togetherness in the tale of adventurous, spritely Borrower Arrietty Clock, who lives secretly under the floorboards of a country house.

Her small but perfectly formed family borrows from the humans above, but Arrietty longs for freedom and fresh air. However, the Borrowers have one simple rule: to remain hidden from the “human-beans”, especially bad-tempered housekeeper Mrs Driver and rebellious gardener Crampfurl. When an evacuee, a human boy from neighbouring Hull, arrives in the main house, Arrietty becomes curious… and starts making mistakes. Box office: 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.

*Checks and stripes: Alice’s Christmas Wonderland at Castle Howard. Picture: Charlotte Graham*

Madder than the Mad Hatter if you don’t see: Alice’s Christmas Wonderland, Castle Howard, near Malton, until January 5 2025

FALL down the rabbit hall into “an experience like no other”: Lewis Carroll’s Alice in her Christmas Wonderland at Castle Howard, where the CLW Event Design creative team, headed by Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Adrian Lillie, has worked on the spectacular project since January.

The stately home has been transformed into an immersive Christmas experience, dressed in set pieces, decorations and floristry, coupled with projections, lighting and sound by Leeds theatre company imitating the dog. Box office: castlehoward.co.uk.

*Casting a shadow: James Willstrop’s villainous bruiser, Bill Sikes, in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York*

Dickens of a good show: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm on December 28 and 30, plus 2.30pm, December 28 and 29

HELEN Spencer takes the director’s reins and plays Fagin in York company Pick Me Up Theatre’s staging of Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel, described as a “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist”.

Not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, it does feature John Biddle’s musical arrangements to complement Dickens’s fable of Oliver Twist being born in a workhouse, sold into an apprenticeship and recruited by Fagin’s band of pickpockets and thieves as he sinks into London’s grimy underworld on his search for a home, a family and love. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

*Party invitation: The poster for Irie Vibes Sound System’s New Year’s Eve Party at The Crescent, York*

New Year’s Eve Party: Irie Vibes Sound System, The Crescent, York, December 31, 8pm to 2am

IRIE Vibes Sound System bring the full rig and crew for a joyous night of reggae, roots, dancehall, dub and jungle to the closing hours of 2024 and beyond midnight. MC Sherlock Art will be on hosting duties, bringing the fire, while Lines Of Duty will be delivering their brand of dance music in Room 2, “manipulating long- playing micro-grooves for a full frequency audio experience”. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Music talk to note: The Arts Society, Helmsley presents Christmas In Bach’s Leipzig: The Christmas Oratorio of 1734/5, Helmsley Arts Centre, January 6 2025, 7.30pm

IN his illustrated talk, commentator, broadcaster, performer and lecturer Sandy Burnett explores how Johann Sebastian Bach brings the Christmas story alive in his Weihnachtsoratorium or Christmas Oratorio, written for Lutheran congregations in 1730s Leipzig.

An overview of Bach’s life and achievement precedes a close look at this magnificent work, where the German composer draws on various forms, ranging from recitative, arioso, aria, chorale and instrumental sinfonia through to full-blown choruses infused with the joyous spirit of the dance. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

*Malton & Norton Musical Theatre’s poster for January’s production of Jack And The Beanstalk*

First big show of the New Year at Milton Rooms, Malton: Malton & Norton Musical Theatre in Jack & The Beanstalk, January 18 to 25. Performances: January 18, 1pm and 5.15pm; January 19, 2pm; January 21 to 24, 7.15pm; January 25, 1pm and 5.15pm

MALTON & Norton Musical Theatre pantomime stars promise a family-friendly giant adventure packed with laughs, toe-tapping songs and plenty of audience participation.

Jack, his brave mother and their quirky friends will face off against the towering giant in a magical world full of comedy and surprises in an enchanting tale of bravery and beanstalks. Box office: 07833 759263 or yourboxoffice.co.uk.

December 28, 2024December 28, 2024

More Things To Do in York and beyond when brain-bending puzzle attraction opens. Hutch’s List No. 53, from The Press

*Paul Hawkyard’s villain Ivan Tobebooed and Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly in York Theatre Royal’s Aladdin. Picture: S R Taylor Photography*

OUT with the old, in with the new, as the pantomimes season concludes and Charles Hutchinson’s 2025 diary starts to take shape.

Still time for pantomime: Aladdin, York Theatre Royal, until January 5 2025

*Samuel Wyn-Morris’s Beast and Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle in Beauty And The Beast at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick*

Still time for pantomime part two: Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025

THE jokes are as cheesy as the French setting of the village of Camembert, brassier and fruitier too, in Jon Monie’s script, as George Ure directs the Grand Opera House pantomime for the first time.

*Marc Akinfolarin’s Pod Clock in The Borrowers at Hull Truck Theatre*

“Perfect alternative to pantomime”: The Borrowers, Hull Truck Theatre, until January 4 2025

*The poster for Irie Vibes Sound System’s New Year’s Eve Party at The Crescent, York*

New Year’s Eve Party: Irie Vibes Sound System, The Crescent, York, December 31, 8pm to 2am

*Professor Kettlestring: Launching a new attraction in York next month*

First grand opening of the New Year: The Puzzling World Of Professor Kettlestring, Merchantgate, York, from January 10 2025

WELCOME to Matthew and Marianne Tritton-Hughes’s new attraction, The Puzzling World Of Professor Kettlestring, an immersive, educational world of more than 20 optical illusions, interactive exhibits and brain-bending challenges designed for curious minds of all ages.

Visitors can walk into the Professor’s sideways living room, disappear into his incognito chamber and discover a kitchen parlour where heads appear severed on platters. Box office: puzzlingworldyork.co.uk.

*Jessica Steel: Performing at The Crescent in aid of Millie Wright’s Children’s Charity*

Fundraiser of the month ahead: Lindow Man and Jessica Steel & Stuart Allan, The Crescent, York, January 11 2025, 7.30pm

ELECTRIFYING York soul, blues and rock’n’roll trio Lindow Man and York blues and soul singer Jessica Steel and guitarist Stuart Allan will play in aid of Millie Wright’s Children’s Charity.

Based at Leeds General Infirmary, the charity is committed to addressing inequalities in hands-on charitable support for families looking after children with life-threatening conditions by working towards providing practical and emotional help to parents and carers via Family Support Workers. Pizzas from Curious Pizza Company will be available on the night. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

*Chris McCausland: Playing the Grand Opera House in 2025 and 2026*

Comedy gig announcement of the week: Chris McCausland, Yonks!, Grand Opera House, York, February 3 2025 and May 17 2026

AFTER lifting the glitterball trophy as the ground-breaking first blind contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, Liverpool comedian Chris McCausland will return to his “day job” on his Yonks! tour, now to be extended into 2026.

Appearing on Sky Max over Christmas with fellow comic Lee Mack as sparring neighbours who must take on a gang of thieves in the festive film Bad Tidings, McCausland has added a second York date after selling out the first. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

*Public Service Broadcasting: Heading to York Barbican in March*

Belated York debut announced: Public Service Broadcasting, York Barbican, March 27 2025, doors 7pm

AFTER 15 years of “teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future”, London archivist art rock pioneers Public Service Broadcasting will make their York Barbican debut next spring with a line-up of corduroy-clad J Willgoose Esq., drummer companion Wrigglesworth, flugelhorn player J F Abraham and Mr B, specialist in visuals and set design for live performances.

Last October’s fifth studio album, The Last Flight, was built around the ill-fated final flight of American aviator Amelia Earhart on July 2 1937, when she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first woman to fly around the world. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

December 19, 2024December 19, 2024

George Ure is so happy to be directing panto in ‘favourite city’ of York as Beauty And The Beast plays Grand Opera House

*George Ure: Director of Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York*

GEORGE Ure has returned to a York rehearsal room for the first time since 2012 to direct the Grand Opera House pantomime Beauty And The Beast.

“I was last here to play Tom, one of the pilots in The Guinea Pig Club, the play by Susan Watkins, the wife of neurosurgeon Professor Sid Watkins, about the Second World War pilots who became the “guinea pig club” for pioneering plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe,” says the Scotsman, recalling artistic director Damian Cruden’s premiere at York Theatre Royal in October that year.

The Guinea Pig Club, by the way, was set up as an exclusive club for Battle of Britain pilots with extensive burns injuries who had been operated on by Sir Archibald. “We all stayed in touch with the Guinea Pig Club and got invited to their Christmas party,” recalls George.

“Fiona [Fiona Dolman, who played Sister O’Donnell] stayed the best of friends with one or two of the families.”

Born In Airdrie, 13 miles from Glasgow, George moved south in 2005 to study at Mountview [Academy of Theatre Arts]. “I’ve been based in London for nearly 20 years now, but York is my favourite place in the UK outside of Scotland, it really is,” he says of a city that has drawn him here for the joy of a “romantic weekend with my other half”.

“I love this city; it is a bit of me now, so when UK Productions asked me to do this pantomime, they didn’t have to ask me twice. I was contacted in the summertime by Anthony Williams, the executive pantomime director, who manages all 11 of their pantomimes.

*Phil Atkinson’s villainous Hugo Pompidou performing his mash-up of Work Of Art and Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? in Beauty And The Beast. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick*

“We were reconnecting after not seeing each other for many years. He asked me what I was up to and I said I was looking for a show to direct. We discussed my ideas and I’ve been on the project since August.”

George brings directorial experience aplenty to staging Beauty And The Beast. “I’ve been working in drama schools for a long time: I’ve just finished a ten-year run at Urdang Academy, and I’m now working with one of my graduates, Hattie Dibb, who’s in the ensemble here after playing my leading lady in her leaving musical, Anne Pornick in Kipps.”

George has performed in panto on several occasions. “I played Peter Pan twice, once at Milton Keynes Theatre, then at New Wimbledon Theatre in 2015 [with Marcus Brigstocks as Captain Hook and Verne Troyer as Lofty the Pirate], and then I did Jack And The Beanstalk, back in Scotland at Perth Theatre, where I was Angus.” Angus, who is he? “Jack’s brother, the ‘dafty’. It was a brilliant show!”

George was raised on Scottish pantomimes. “I used to go to the King’s Theatre, Glasgow, where Gerard Kelly played the ‘Silly Billy’ role for 20 years. Stanley Baxter was a legend there too, and Elaine C Smith is still doing the show there after so many years [playing Mrs Smee in Peter Pan this winter],” he says.

“My aunt’s brother, Edward O’Toole, was the stage manager there for more than 20 years and he used to get us in to watch the preview, and my dad did a bit of shift work there at Christmas.”

George loves panto. “It’s such a cliché to say it’s a child’s first experience of theatre, but it’s true, and panto doesn’t have to be naff! I believe that if you can find the balance of humour and heart, it has the power to speak to everyone. At some point in the show it will touch everyone – and it has to have really good storytelling too.”

Directing a commercial pantomime is a flat-out experience, ‘hothousing’ a show in less than a fortnight. “I started on the Monday and ran the full show by Saturday morning; the next Monday was the tech day with a producer’s run, followed by notes, and then we flew over to the theatre to work towards opening on Saturday that week [December 7],” says George.

*Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle and Samuel Wyn-Morris’s Beast in a pas de deux in Beauty And The Beast. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick*

“I’m a meticulous planner. Working in a drama school, you get used to tight schedules, so I had to plan ahead with a wish list for every department, and I’m happy to say that we were ahead of the game after the first week of rehearsals.”

George first met up with choreographer Alex Codd and musical director Arlene McNaught in September. “We talked through everyone’s music choices. I’m a collaborator; I don’t think there should be a dictator; I’m a team person as you can only succeed like that – though fundamentally I did have some strong feelings on what the music should be as I didn’t want it to be just chart hits.

“Beauty And The Beast is all about the plot, and the music should match that, and not just become an excuse to change lyrics of a pop hit to make it work.

“We’ve gone for pop music from many decades, from Carole King to Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off in a mash-up with Chappell Roan’s Hot To Go!; Lovin’ Spoonful’s Do You Believe In Magic for Fairy Bon Bon to Meat Loaf’s I’d Do Anything For Love (But I won’t Do That), plus songs from Wicked and Les Miserables.

“We also have Work Of Art from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie mashed up with Rod Stewart’s Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? for the baddie, Phil Atkinson’s Hugo Pompidou, who’s really like an anti-baddie because he’s so funny.

“The music was really important to me because it has to serve the plot and you have to have the balance right, and thankfully the producers were very welcoming of all my nonsense!”

Beauty And The Beast runs at Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

December 13, 2024December 14, 2024

REVIEW: Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 ***1/2

*Magical performance: Dani Harmer’s Fairy Bon Bon* *in Beauty And The Beast at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick*

SUDDENLY there are more similarities between the Grand Opera House and York Theatre Royal shows than at any time in more than three decades of reviewing York’s professional pantomimes. They even share their closing date.

Dowager dame Berwick Kaler is performing at neither theatre after hanging up his boots (except on The Archers!); both theatres have a sustained relationship with a commercial partner, Martin Dodd and UK Productions for a third year at the GOH, writer-producer Paul Hendy and Evolution Productions for a fifth season at the Theatre Royal.

Both writers, Jon Monie for Beauty And The Beast and Hendy for Aladdin, are Great British Pantomime Award winners. Both theatres have confirmed their return next year for the already announced Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.

*In the frame: Phil Atkinson’s Hugo Pompidou giving it large in Beauty And The Beast. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick*

Once upon a time, the Grand Opera House was considered to be the pantomime for younger audiences, the Theatre Royal playing to devotees of Dame Berwick’s unique panto brio and banter with David Leonard, Martin Barrass and Suzy Cooper. Now, both shows put children’s entertainment to the fore.

Just as Evolution heralded a new broom at the Theatre Royal in 2020-2021, now UK Productions are bringing a new face to the Grand Opera House show, or more to the point, new faces, faces with abundant West End and TV credits. They have bonded in the hothouse of less than a fortnight’s rehearsals with ebullient, ultra-efficient Scottish director George Ure in central York.

The result is a slick show full of rousing singing, highly proficient ensemble scenes, a relish for the power of storytelling and bags of comedy set-pieces. Watching the 10.30am Thursday matinee surrounded by primary schoolchildren found double entendres sailing over young heads like a Joe Root reverse ramp, but this is surely the sauciest mainstream pantomime York has ever seen.

*Shall we dance? Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle and Samuel Wyn-Morris’s Beast in Beauty And The Beast. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick*

Not a blue panto in the post-watershed Jim Davidson style, I stress, but certainly closer to the knuckle, tongue pushed further into cheeks than even Dame Berwick’s fruitier latter-day shows in his Theatre Royal pomp.

The prime source of the sauce is Leon Craig, a towering presence of a highly experienced dame, all 6ft 7 of her Polly La Plonk in boots and high-rise wigs, who owns the York stage from the off, full of lip and lip gloss, camp cheek and dress dazzle.

Craig is a musical theatre specialist and his singing duly hits the heights here. Playing the Beast’s cook, his dame is both supportive and disruptive, as the role dictates, and his bond with the show’s clown, comedian Phil Reid as his son Louis La Plonk, sparks slapstick aplenty.

*Clowning around: Phil Reid’s Louis La Plonk*. *Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick*

Reid, quick on his feet and in the head, works a treat with the children, all keen to be in his gang, not least the three picked out to join him stage for Choo Choo Wa, this show’s variation on the traditional song-sheet number that has everyone off their feet joining in.

The star on the show poster – as she is quick to remind us in her rap battle with Phil Atkinson’s villainous hunk Hugo Pompidou – is Tracy Beaker’s Dani Harmer, who previously appeared in Beauty And The Beast at York Barbican in 2015. She was Beauty in that Easter panto; now she is a no-nonsense Fairy Bon Bon, with a love-a-duck London accent and platform shoes, always game for a laugh, especially in that rap scrap.

Atkinson’s Hugo Pompidou, Craig’s match in double entendres, sends up his vainglorious villain with an ‘Allo ‘Allo! French accent and a keenness to show off his pecs at every opportunity.

*Ooh…you are Eiffel: The towering Leon Craig’s dame, Polly La Plonk. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick*

Jennifer Caldwell first caught the eye at the Grand Opera House as Anne Boleyn, the peachiest role in Six The Musical. Her rather more conservative but equally resolute Belle is both a knock-out singer and thoroughly lovely foil to all the silliness around her, both in her scenes with her impoverished artist father Clement (David Alcock) and especially with Samuel Wyn-Morris’s stentorian-voiced Beast.

Wyn-Morris gives the show’s five-star performance, his singing rich and thunderous, his characterisation full of depth not usually to be found in pantomime. His scenes with Caldwell’s Belle are worthy of a proper, grown-up, serious romantic drama.

Ure’s assured direction is complemented by Alex Codd’s choreography, with room aplenty for an ensemble of Villagers and children’s teams from Dance Expression School of Dance and Lisa Marie Performing Arts, who are sharing performances. Musical director Arlene McNaught leads her three-piece orchestra with snap and crackle in the pop tunes.

*Beauty And The Beast director George Ure*

This is a polished pantomime whose one failing is that it could be playing anywhere in the country. It does not have enough acknowledgement of York and Yorkshire, with only perfunctory mentions of Wetwang and Ripon and a dig at Leeds United’s FA Cup incompetence.

The best pantos dip into a city’s culture, but if that is a missed opportunity, the show does make the most of its Camembert setting, oozing in cheesy gags, French references and unforgettable Tricolour pants for Atkinson’s pompous Pompidou.

UK Productions present Beauty And The Beast, Grand Opera House, York, until January 5 2025. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

*David Alcock’s Clement and Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle in Beauty And The Beast. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick*

December 11, 2024December 11, 2024

What will be next year’s pantomimes at Grand Opera House & York Theatre Royal?

*Invitation to the ball: Grand Opera House announces Cinderella for next winter*

TICKETS will go on sale at noon on Friday for next year’s Grand Opera House pantomime in York. The Cumberland Street theatre will present Cinderella from December 6 2025 to January 4 2026 in its fourth collaboration with UK Productions.

As with this winter’s panto, Beauty And The Beast, the show will feature a script by Jon Monie, winner of Best Script at the 2019 Great British Pantomime Awards.

Promising side-splitting comedy, lavish settings and adorable miniature ponies, Cinderella will be “more fun than you can shake a pumpkin at”. Star casting is to be announced but “expect stars from the West End and screen”.

Laura McMillan, the Grand Opera House theatre director, says: “As we open the spectacular Beauty And The Beast, we’re delighted that UK Productions will be returning next year with the most beloved of pantomimes of all time, Cinderella. I’m sure adults and children alike will be spellbound by this magical new show.”

UK Productions producer Martin Dodd says: “Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without pantomime, and pantomime wouldn’t be pantomime without Cinderella. We are delighted to be presenting this fabulous story at York’s beautiful Grand Opera House, building on the success of this year’s musical pantomime, Beauty And The Beast.”

To take advantage of early bird ticket savings, book by Saturday, February 1 2025 to save £8 per ticket on select performances and seats.

Beauty And The Beast will run until January 5 2025 with a West End cast featuring CBBC’s BAFTA award-winning Dani Harmer, from Tracy Beaker and Strictly Come Dancing, as Fairy Bon Bon; dame Leon Craig, from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, as Polly La Plonk, Jennifer Caldwell, from SIX The Musical, as Belle, and Samuel Wyn-Morris, from Les Misérables, as The Prince. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

*York Theatre Royal’s promotional poster for dame Robin Simpson’s return in Sleeping Beauty in 2025*

ROBIN Simpson will return for his sixth season as the dame in York Theatre Royal’s pantomime for 2025-26, Sleeping Beauty, billed as “an enchanting tale of adventure, fun and spellbinding magic for the whole family”.

Co-produced with regular partners Evolution Productions, the show will run from December 2 2025 to January 4 2026, with “stunning costumes, gorgeous sets, dazzling special effects and all the spectacular magic of a York Theatre Royal pantomime”.

The show will be written by Evolution producer Paul Hendy and directed by Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster, the team behind Aladdin this winter, Jack And The Beanstalk in 2023, All New Adventures Of Peter Pan in 2022, Cinderella in 2021 and the community-touring Travelling Pantomime in Covid-shadowed 2020.

Forster says: “We’ve been delighted to see so many people returning year after year to enjoy the magic of a York Theatre Royal pantomime. We are so proud of the quality of the pantos we make and can’t wait to continue our panto adventures with Sleeping Beauty. It’s so brilliant to have Robin on board again too to bring the hilarity and fun as our dame!”

Hendy says: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be working with the fabulous team at York Theatre Royal again for our spectacular production of Sleeping Beauty. We are delighted Robin will be returning as our wonderful dame, and we can’t wait to share with you more exciting casting news in the New Year!”

Simpson enthuses: “I am overjoyed to be playing the dame in next year’s Sleeping Beauty. I love the York audiences and it’s such a special place to perform every year at Christmas time. I’m looking forward to all the high jinks the dame will get up to in Sleeping Beauty!”

Tickets are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Early birds who book before the end of March 2025 can benefit from a price freeze on ticket prices, with options ranging from £15 to £43.50.

Family ticket discounts can be booked for £90 (for three including at least one child) and £120 (for four including at least one child.) Schools discounts are available when booking via the St Leonard’s Place box office.

YTR Members receive an extra ten per cent off up to four tickets. For details of how to join YTR Membership, visit yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or contact the box office.

December 5, 2024December 5, 2024

Magic in the air as Dani Harmer plays Fairy Bon Bon on panto return to York in Beauty And The Beast at Grand Opera House

*Dani Harmer as Fairy Bon Bon on the Grand Opera House stage in Beauty And The Beast. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick*

BAFTA award-winning Dani Harmer will appear in Beauty And The Beast for a second time on a York stage from Saturday.

Best known for playing the title role in the CBBC series Tracy Beaker and its sequel Tracy Beaker Returns, from the age of 13, and later My Mum Tracy Beaker in 2021, Harmer will wave her wand as Fairy Bon Bon in UK Productions’ third pantomime season at the Grand Opera House.

In March 2015, she had played Beauty in two performance of the Easter pantomime at York Barbican, where she had taken the title role in Cinderella in December 2012, when she had to miss two shows that clashed with her commitments competing in BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing that season.

In the “craziest fortnight of my life”, Dani had to combine rehearsing each morning at the Barbican and spending each afternoon and evening at the University of York, practising routines with partner Vincent Simone, first for the semi-final, then three for the final: a tango, jive and show dance (Bohemian Rhapsody). “It’s been the best thing I have ever done,” she said at the time.

“I’m super excited to be back in my favourite panto of all time, Beauty And The Beast, which I’d be happy to do each year!” says Bracknell-born Dani, who appeared in the same role at Mansfield Palace Theatre last winter.

*Beauty And The Beast principals and ensemble in rehearsals at Central Methodist Church, including Dani Harmer, second from right, back row*

“For those that don’t know, I have always been completely obsessed with this story, so it’s a real joy for me to be bringing it to life on stage. And I adore playing the loveable and slightly bonkers Fairy Bon Bon, so cannot wait to put on my wings once more.

“And it’s even more exciting to be coming to the gorgeous city of York! I’m very, very happy to be here. I can’t think of a better place to be spending the Christmas period. So, bring on the Yorkshire puddings.”

Dani has a long history of performing in pantomime. “My first panto was when I was six, as a juvenile. I’m 35 now,” she says. “I went to theatre school from the age of six. It didn’t put me off! Most of what I learnt was on the job.

“I grew up on camera. Your teenage years can be your most difficult, but all my teenage days were spent on camera [filming Tracy Beaker] – and I’m very grateful that social media was not around then. I don’t know if I’d still be an actor now if it had been.”

Now she is waving her wand as Fairy Bon Bon for the second year running. “Playing Fairy, you can take the role two ways. You can be a Fairy Godmother, like a mother figure to a princess, or you can go the more non-traditional fairy route, where I’m loud and energetic and not quite sure what’s going to come out of my mouth!

*Dani Harmer as Beauty in Beauty And The Beast at York Barbican in 2015*

“So you can expect the unexpected with this show. You get the story but there are also twists and turns you won’t expect.”

The script comes from the pen of 2019 Great British Pantomime Award winner Jon Monie. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with him a few times,” says Dani. “He was my Buttons when I was Cinderella – I just adore that man.”

Dani will forever be associated with Tracy Beaker, the childhood role she resumed as an adult in My Mum Tracy Beaker. “We were one of the first shows to go back into the studio after the pandemic, having been postponed,” she recalls.

“Playing Tracy again was like wearing a nice, comfy pair of slippers. I loved playing her. I’m a fan, like everyone else, where I’m desperate to see where she goes next!”

What first made Tracy so popular, Dani? “I think she just came around at a good time when TV was male dominated and comedy was male dominated, where we grew up with the Chuckle Brothers – I was a fan – but along came this female-led series, just when Grange Hill had finished,” she says.

*Beauty And The Beast cast members Phil Reid, Dani Harmer, Leon Craig and Phil Atkinson pose by Clifford’s Tower. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick*

“I was 13 years old and Jacqueline Wilson’s stories were just magical. You always found something to relate to – and the way the BBC adapted stories, they just nailed it in the scripts. It might make me feel old now but I love the stories and there’s a lot to be said for nostalgia.”

Dani recalls an eye-opening role that brought her to Yorkshire in 2013 to play timid, naive but maybe not-so-innocent Janet Weiss in The Rocky Horror Show in 2013 at Leeds Grand Theatre. “She really does go through a transition, doesn’t she!” she says.

“It was such a joy to do because it couldn’t have been further from anything I’d done before, going from being a teenage lass on a TV show to being in my underwear on stage with a transvestite scientist seducing me!

“The producers took a leap of faith with me and my fans loved it! Rocky Horror fans will stick with you so I was really thankful that they loved it as they’ll tell you when they don’t rate you!”

UK Productions presents Beauty And The Beast at Grand Opera House, York, from December 7 to January 5 2025. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.