Darren Walsh: Puns by the punnet load at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
A PLETHORA of puns, a dysfunctional American family musical, an alien invasion in film and theatre and a bakery burlesque night confirm variety is the spice of Charles Hutchinson’s arts life.
Comedy show like no other, bar pun: Darren Walsh: Do You Like Puns?, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm
WITNESS a pun Goliath in person when Darren Walsh brings his 8ft frame to York for his Do You Like Puns? show. Noted for his Jokes On The Street series on social media, he combines sound effects, videos, one-liners and improvised jokes spun off audience suggestions. “Book now, li is two short,” he says. Think about it. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Catrin Mai Edwards’ Martha, left, Estella Evans’ Mary Lennox and Dexter Pulling’s Colin in The Secret Garden The Musical at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Marc Brenner
Actor-musician show of the week: The Secret Garden The Musical, York Theatre Royal, until April 4
TONY Award-winning director John Doyle, artistic director of York Theatre Royal from 1993 to 1997, returns to pastures past in more ways than one to present his actor-musician staging of Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman’s Broadway musical account of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s story of love, loss, healing and hope, set on Yorkshire moorland in 1906.
Newly orphaned, Mary Lennox is sent to live with her widowed uncle at the secluded Misselthwaite Manor, a house in habited by memories and spirits from the past. On discovering her Aunt Lily’s neglected garden, she vows to breathe new life into its mysterious stasis as she learns the restorative magic of nature. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Budapest Café Orchestra: Fronted by Christian Garrick at Helmsley Arts Centre
Snappiest attire of the week: Christian Garrick & The Budapest Café Orchestra, Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight, 7.30pm
CHRISTIAN Garrick (violin, darbuka), Murray Grainger (accordion), Kelly Cantlon (double bass) and Adrian Zolotuhin (guitar, saz, balalaika, domra) team up in this refreshingly unconventional and snappily attired boutique orchestra. Playing gypsy and folk-flavoured music in a unique and surprising way, The Budapest Café Orchestra combine Balkan and Russian traditional music with artful distillations of Romantic masterworks and soaring Gaelic folk anthems.
Established by British composer Garrick in 2009, BCO have 16 albums to their name, marked by an “astonishing soundscape and aural alchemy” characteristic of larger ensembles, evoking Tzigane fiddle maestros, Budapest café life and gypsy campfires. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
This charming man: Nigel Havers is ready to talk at the Grand Opera House. Picture: Matt Crockett
Laughter, nostalgia and charm equals: Nigel Havers Talking B*ll*cks, Grand Opera House, York, March 23, 7.30pm
LET esteemed actor and self-deprecating raconteur Nigel Havers introduce his touring talk show. “Join me, a stage, and a lifetime of gloriously ridiculous stories to share with you. You’ll get the full Havers experience: charm, wit, and absolutely no running in slow motion.
“Of course, there’ll be behind-the-scenes gossip, tales of triumph (and disaster), moments of sheer madness, and a fair bit of talking b*ll*cks. And just when you think you’ve got me figured out, I might surprise you.” Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Dale Vaughan, left, Ryan Richardson, Monica Frost, Niamh Rose, Fergus Green and Matthew Warry, at the back, in rehearsal for Pick Me Up Theatre’s Next To Normal
American musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Next To Normal, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 25 to April 4, 7.30pm except March 29 and 30; 2.30pm matinees, March 28 and 29, April 4
ANDREW Isherwood directs York company Pick Me Up Theatre in Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt’s Tony Award-winning musical exploration of family and illness, loss and grief as a suburban American household copes with crisis and mental illness.
Dad is an architect; Mom rushes to pack lunches and pour cereal; their daughter and son are bright, wise-cracking teens but their lives are anything but normal, because Mom has been battling manic depression for 16 years.Next To Normal presents their story with love, sympathy and heart. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Mike Wozniak: Coming off The Bench to perform twice at the Grand Opera House, York
Sit-down stand-up of the week: Mike Wozniak: The Bench, Grand Opera House, York, March 25 and September 12, 7.30pm
THE Bench is the new stand-up tour show from Mike Wozniak, wherein in a story about a bench will be prominent. Previous experience of or strong opinions about benches are not required. Let Wozniak worry about that.
This Oxford-born comedian, writer, actor and former medical doctor portrays Brian in Channel 4 sitcom Man Down, is part of the team that makes Small Scenes for BBC Radio 4 and co-presents the Three Bean Salad podcast with Henry Paker and Benjamin Partridge. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Gorillaz: Bringing The Mountain to Leeds next Wednesday
Yorkshire gig of the week: Gorillaz, supported by Trueno, Leeds First Direct Bank Arena, March 25, 7.30pm; doors 6pm
DAMON Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s BRIT and Grammy-winning British band showcase their chart-topping ninth studio album in Leeds after two warm-up shows at Bradford Live. Spanning 15 songs that embody the collaborative Gorillaz ethos, The Mountain creates a “playlist for a party on the border between this world and whatever happens next, exploring the journey of life and the thrill of existence”. Box office: gorillaz.com.
Bonnie Baddoo, Gareth Cassidy, Amy Dunn and Morgan Bailey in Imitating The Dog’s War Of The Worlds. Picture: Ed Waring
All’s Wells that ends in the worst nightmares of the week: Imitating The Dog in War Of The Worlds, Leeds Playhouse, March 25 to 28, 7.45pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
FOUR performers enter the stage and construct an epic road movie before your eyes in Imitating The Dog’s re-invention of H G Wells’s apocalyptic tale of alien invasion and the unfolding destruction of everything we hold dear as extraterrestrial life-forms land from the skies.
Using miniature environments, model worlds, camera tricks and projection, the ever-audacious Leeds company mixes the live and the recorded, the animate and the inanimate to ask “What would you do if order broke down? What would you do to survive? How far would you go to protect your own?” Box office: 0113 213 7700 or leedsplayhouse.org.uk
Vitamin String Quartet: Eroding boundaries between classical, dance, hip-hop and pop at Grand Opera House, York
Billie Eilish, Bridgerton & Beyond concert of the week: Vitamin String Quartet, Grand Opera House, York, March 27, 7.30pm
ERASING the boundaries between classical, dance, hip-hop and pop, Vitamin String Quartet perform renditions of everything from Billie Eilish to BTS, Taylor Swift to The Weeknd and Danny Elfman to Daft Punk. Formed in 1999, this Los Angeles group comprises Tom Lea, viola, Wynton Grant and Rachel Grace, violins, and Derek Stein, cello. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Freida Nipples: Baps & Buns burlesque on board a baguette at Rise@Bluebird Bakery
Cabaret of the week: Freida Nipples presents Baps & Buns Burlesque, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, March 27, 8pm, doors 7pm
YORK’S queen of burlesque, Freida Nipples, swaps teas for tease as she turns the bakery cafe into a cabaret joint for a night of fun, frolics and freedom of expression in all shapes and sizes.
On the fabulously zesty menu will be Donna Divine, Ezme Pump, Callum Robshaw and Freida herself, hosted by Harvey Rose. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
