Tag: Helen Bells Spencer

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REVIEW: Wharfemede Productions in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Sat ****

Nick Sephton’s Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm and Jason Weightman’s Fredrik Egerman duelling and duetting in Wharfemede Productions’ A Little Night Music. All pictures: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

“LET’S make romance emotionally devastating and funny,” Stephen Sondheim once said, and the New York lyricist and composer was never more playful than in his 1973 musical A Little Night Music.

Here it forms North Yorkshire company Wharfemede Productions’ third show since being formed by Helen “Bells” Spencer and Nick Sephton in autumn 2024.

“Few writers capture the glorious mess of love quite like Sondheim,” posits director Spencer in her programme director’s note, describing Sondheim’s savvy 1902 Swedish sexual shenanigans as elegant and biting, romantic and relentless, funny and quietly heartbreaking, often all at once, in its rumble-tumble of desire, regret, hope and desperate quest for happiness

James Pegg’s Henrik Egerman: As gloomy as his cello playing in A Little Night Music

Her production, eloquent, waspish of wit, balanced between light and weighty, captures all those qualities most fruitfully and fruitily. Precise in style and movement, her direction places equal emphasis on Hugh Wheler’s fizzing dialogue and Sondheim’s confessional, candid songs that call on quintet, trio, duet and solo performance in equal measure, steered with elan by musical director and Sondheim expect James Robert Ball, in charge of his eight-piece band (split between keys, strings and reeds).

Rooted in Ingmar Bergman’s film 1955 film Smiles Of A Summer Night, whose story of several couples’ interlinked romantic lives it mirrors so smartly, Sondheim’s ever-perceptive depiction of love being “rarely simple, frequently ill timed and deeply human” – to quote Spencer once more – is played out by the juiciest of casts, assembling the cream of York and Leeds stage talent (several having appeared alongside Spencer in Les Miserables at Leeds Grand Theatre last year).

They range from Maggie Smales, Theatre@41 trustee and esteemed York actress and director, as wheelchair-bound grande dame Madame Armfeldt, with her glut of putdowns in the curmudgeonly old-stick manner of her fellow Maggie, Dame Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey, to Libby Greenhill, A-level student in humanities and creative subjects, who impressed in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Fun Home last September and now plays granddaughter Fridrika with emotional frankness.

Maggie Smales’s grande dame, Madame Armfeldt

Libby Greenhill as Fredrika Armfeldt and director Helen “Bells” Spencer as her mother, Desiree Armfeldt, in A Little Night Music

Crucial to Spencer’s directorial impact is the prominence of the Liebeslieder Singers, alias The Quintet, omnipresent in white dresses and cream suits as they greet you at the top of the stairs, sell programmes, open Act One with the overlapping la-la-las of Night Waltz, then become a cross between a Greek chorus and Shakespeare’s mischief-making Puck, moving the principals into place as if in a dream or a pictorial tableau at the start of various scenes.

Under Rachel Merry’s slick choreography, they slip seamlessly between foreground and background as Mrs Nordstrom (Emma Burke), Mrs Anderson (Hannah Thomson), Mrs Segstrom (Merry herself), Mr Erlansson (Matthew Oglesby) and Mr Lindquist (Richard Pascoe), their harmony singing delighting in Remember? and the Act Two-opening The Sun Won’t Set, as well as when accompanying the principals in the plot-thickening and summarising A Weekend In The Country.

The sophisticated but Tabasco-saucy Scandi scandals of A Little Night Music are led by Spencer’s Desiree Armfeldt, the darling of the Swedish stage, bored by the chore of touring the same old plays but seeking satisfaction from married men, Nick Sephton’s pompous, blustering, time-keeping dragoon buffoon, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, forever up for a pistol duel, and middle-aged lawyer Fredrik Egerman (Jason Weightman), yet to consummate his marriage to 18-year-old, hair-obsessed Anne (Alexandra Mather) after 11 months but still desirous of old flame Desiree’s ample, bewitching charms.

Mind the age gap: Alexandra Mather’s 18-year-old Anne Egerman and Jason Weightman’s Fredrik Egerman, her husband, in A Little Night Music

Spencer’s programme note talks of A Little Night Music asking its performers to “live fully inside both comedy and pain”, a state crystalised in James Pegg’s Henrik Egerman, Fredrik’s troubled son, who is taking holy orders but is wholly smitten by his stepmother, Mather’s Anne, who chides his earnest outbursts as comical, the more he vexates.

Pegg’s outstanding, devastatingly honest performance recalls Konstantin Gavrilovich Treplev, the suicidal student in Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, and let’s hope the York debut of this Leeds actor and higher education professional service leader will lead to further roles here.

Katie Brier catches the eye in the rumbustiously fetching ‘downstairs” role of Petra, whether introducing Henrik to the birds and bees or romping with fellow servant Frid (Chris Gibson).

Swedish actress Sanna Jeppsson’s Countess Charlotte Malcolm

As Desiree’s weekend invitation to her grand and glamorous country estate leads to much web-tangling amid partner swaps, new pairings, sudden seductions and second chances, Swedish-born Sanna Jeppsson comes to the fore as the dunderheaded Count’s exasperated wife, Countess Charlotte, making every ice-cold comic interjection count on renewed home turf.

Sondheim’s romping costume drama is filled with barbed wit, caustic bite and a delicious sense of Scandinavian desperation, topped off by sublime singing, from Weightman, Pegg and Mather’s complex Now/Later/Sooner to Weightman’s Fredrik in his insensitive You Must Meet My Wife duet with Spencer’s Desiree; Jeppsson and Mather’s jilted Every Day A Little Death to the sparring of Weightman and Sephton’s It Would Have Been Wonderful.

Brier maximises her moment in the spotlight in The Miller’s Son; Spencer tops everything with Send In The Clowns, all the more moving for tapping deep into Desiree’s desolation.

Make sure to enjoy Sondheim’s weekend in the country this week in Wharfemede’s combustible combination of courage, comedy, co-ordinated chaos and commitment.   

Wharfemede Productions, A Little Night Music, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm tonight, tomorrow and Friday; 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Rachel Merry’s Mrs Segstrom, left, Emma Burke’s Mrs Nordstrom, Hanna Thomson’s Mrs Anderssen and fellow member of The Quintet Matthew Oglesby’s Mr Erlansson in A Little Night Music

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Wharfemede Productions to waltz its way into Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at Theatre@41 from February 24 to 28

Sanna Jeppsson’s Countess Charlotte Malcolm, left, Jason Weightman’s Fredrick Egerman and Alexandra Mather’s Anne Egerman in Wharfemede Productions’ A Little Night Music

NORTH Yorkshire theatre company Wharfemede Productions follows up 2025’s Little Women and Musical Across The Multiverse revue with Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, next week.

Director and company co-founder Helen “Bells” Spencer says: “Sondheim has always been one of my favourite musical theatre writers. His work captures the full spectrum of the human experience; messy, beautiful and deeply relatable.

“What I find most inspiring is how his music doesn’t simply accompany the story; it drives it. Every note, rhythm and lyric reflects the emotional journey of the characters in a way that is both intricate and profoundly moving.”

Continuing to build its reputation for delivering high-quality, character-driven musical theatre, Wharfemede Productions brings together talent from across Yorkshire to present Sondheim’s witty, romantic and elegantly crafted 1973 musical.

Fan fare: Jason Weightman’s Fredrick Egerman and Alexandra Mather’s Anne Egerman in a scene from A Little Night Music

“Directing A Little Night Music has long been a dream of mine, and I’m thrilled to bring it to life with such an exceptional company,” says Bells, who will play Desiree Armfeldt, alongside Alexandra Mather as Anne Egerman, fresh from her outstanding Christmas performance as nightclub singer/evangelist Reno Sweeney in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Anything Goes.

In the company too will be Jason Weightman as Fredrick Egerman, James Pegg as Henrik Egerman,  Maggie Smales as Madame Armfeldt, Libby Greenhill as Fredrika Armfeldt, Nick Sephton as Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm and Sanna Jeppsson as Countess Charlotte Malcolm.

Completing the cast will be Katie Brier’s Petra, Chris Gibson’s Frid, soprano Emma Burke’s Mrs Nordstrom, soprano Hannah Thomson’s Mrs Anderssen, mezzo-soprano Rachel Merry’s Mrs Segstrom, tenor Matthew Oglesby’s Mr Erlansson and baritone Richard Pascoe’s Mr Lindquist.

“We’re drawing together an incredible mix of Yorkshire talent, particularly from York and Leeds, including actors I worked with in Les Miserables at Leeds Grand Theatre last year, and the chemistry within this cast is something truly special,” says Bells.

The Quintet in Wharfemede Productions’ A Little Night Music: Emma Burke, left, Richard Pascoe, Rachel Merry, Matthew Oglesby and Hannah Thomson. Picture: Matthew Warry

Joining her in the production team are musical director James Robert Ball, choreographer Rachel Merry and wardrobe mistress Suzanne Perkins. “It was so important to me to have a musical director who not only shares a passion for Sondheim’s music but also understands how to shape the dramatic journey alongside me,” says Bells.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be working with James, whose knowledge, enthusiasm and expertise in Sondheim’s work are second to none. A true Sondheim super-fan, academic and all-round expert, James is breathing such magic into this incredible score and as an assistant director.

“He is a joy to work with and has an extraordinary gift for bringing out the very best in the people around him, both musically and creatively.”

Set in turn-of-the-20th century Sweden, A Little Night Music explores the tangled web of love, desire and regret through Sondheim’s signature blend of sophistication, humour and hauntingly beautiful music, topped off by the timeless Send In The Clowns.

A directorial flash of inspiration for Helen “Bells” Spencer as she rehearses her role as Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music

“A Little Night Music is a lot of people’s favourite Sondheim work – and a lot of cast members have said that too,” says Bells.

“You introduced me to it when Opera North did it in Leeds,” recalls company co-founder Nick. “Yes, I made Nick go and see it!” rejoins Bells.

“I really wanted to do this show, because I think it’s one of Sondheim’s most accessible musicals. It’s more classical in style, taking its inspiration from Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik. The very clever thing about it, and the very unusual thing too, is that apart from a few bars, it’s written in triple time (3/4 time), which is very rare, particularly in musicals.

“The show is made up predominantly of triangles of love interests, and therefore it reflects those tangled trios in the musical structure, while also reflecting wealthy family life and their servants at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century in Sweden.”

Maggie Smales’s Madame Armfeldt makes her point to Libby Greenhill’s Fredrika Armfeldt

Crucial to the structure too is Sondheim’s use of The Quintet, alias the Liebeslieder Singers, here comprising Burke, Merry, Thomson, Oglesby and Pascoe. “They act like a Greek chorus, and they’ve been represented in very different ways in various versions of the show, but I was really clear when I started that I wanted them to do more than just come on and do their pieces,” says Bells.

“I was really keen for them to be more integral to the plot and the structure, so I wanted them to feel they were part of the decision-making about who The Quintet were. Right at the beginning, I gave them materials about Greek choruses and how they worked in theatre.

“I also researched Swedish folklore, in particular Freya, the goddess of love, beauty, fertility and sex. We then had a few rehearsals where the quintet decided who they should be, and while not wanting to spoil it for anyone, I can say that essentially they’re the driving force of our show. They’re  in control; they can change things as an agent of fate, an agent of Freya.”

Bells continues: “They are in no way an ensemble. They are exceptional, doing the most difficult singing in the show, and they’re so on top of it. It’s so good to have such a strong quintet, and I’m really excited for audiences to see what we’ve done with the concept.

James Weightman’s Fredrick Egerman, left, and James Pegg’s Henrik Egerman raising eyebrows as well as glasses in A Little Night Music

“When the quintet is on stage, the lighting will be set for night-time, very ethereal, so it’ll be mysterious and nocturnal, and we will go in and out of that state, depending on the scene.”

Looking forward to a waltzing week ahead, Bells concludes: “Promising emotional depth, musical excellence and ensemble storytelling, Wharfemede Productions invites audiences to experience an evening of charm, laughter and lyrical brilliance, further cementing its place as one of Yorkshire’s most exciting rising theatre companies.”

Wharfemede Productions presents A Little Night Music, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Wharfemede Productions: back story

CO-FOUNDED in 2024 by Helen “Bells” Spencer, chief artistic director, and Nick Sephton, chief operating officer, the company is dedicated to bringing high-quality musical productions and events to Yorkshire, with respect and openness at the heart of their artistic philosophy.

After gaining a Drama degree from Manchester University, Bells co-founded and company-managed Envision Theatre Company, and now Wharfemede marks a return to those roots. Drawing on decades of logistics, managerial and computing experience, Nick uses these skills in Wharfemede’s work, combined with his love for music and theatre.

Wharfemede Productions’ poster for A Little Night Music at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

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REVIEW: MARMiTE Theatre in The Vicar Of Dibley, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight to Saturday ****

Always time for chocolate: Nicki Clay’s Geraldine Granger in MARMiTE Theatre’s The Vicar Of Dibley. Picture: Paul Miles

MARMiTE Theatre’s entire run of The Vicar Of Dibley sold out before opening night. What an achievement for this new York company – and how enviously any number of village churches must look at the full congregation.

New company, yes, but one steeped in names familiar to followers of the York theatre scene, from director Martyn Hunter to Nicki Clay, a third generation York performer with more than 50 shows in 26 years to her name.

Here she is on doubly Dibley duty, having played the Reverend Geraldine Granger in May for the Monday Players in Escrick.

Joining her in Hunter’s company are Florence Poskitt, Neil Foster, Mike Hickman, Adam Sowter, Jeanette Hunter and Helen “Bells” Spencer, all regulars on York’s boards, and Glynn Mills, whose absence of a cast profile in the programme made him a man of mystery to your reviewer.

Who will fill that empty seat? Dibley Parish Council awaits the arrival of the new incumbent in The Vicar Of Dibley. Present are Mark Simmonds’s Owen Newitt, left, Neil Foster’s Hugo Horton, Glynn Mills’s David Horton, Mike Hickman’s Frank Pickle, Jeanette Hunter’s Letitia Cropley and Adam Sowter’s Jim Trott. Picture: Paul Miles

Research enquiries revealed he had been connected with theatre for 62 years, attending Central School of Speech & Drama, working in repertory theatre, the West End and on UK tours, and doing voiceovers and cabaret too. All that experience shows in a performance full of fire and ire, putdowns and intolerance as council chairman David Horton.

Rich Musk and Martyn Hunter’s set design accommodatesGeraldine’s cosy sitting room cum office with desk and typewriter alongside the tables and chairs of Dibley Parish Hall, permanently laid out for the next meeting.

Above is a screen, on which Ian Gower and Paul Carpenter’s cherry-picking of the best of Richard Curtis and Paul Carpenter’s first two television series opens with the familiar Dibley faces walking through the churchyard. Scene titles, Later, Later Still, Later That Evening, and such like, denote time of day and the change from one day to the next.

To either side of the screen on the mezzanine level is a neon-lit cross; on one occasion up there, Clay’s Geraldine tells one of her shaggy dog tales to Poskitt’s Alice Tinker, the ditzy church verger, but the lighting puts a distracting shadow slash across the vicar’s face from the barrier railing. Hopefully that can be eradicated.

In perfect harmony: Rachel Higgs, Helen “Bells” Spencer, Henrietta Linnemann and Cat Foster on choral duty in MARMiTE Theatre’s The Vicar Of Dibley. Picture: Paul Miles

On more than one occasion, the York vocal harmony group The Hollywood Sisters (“Bells” Spencer, Cat Foster, Henrietta Linnemann and Rachel Higgs) transform themselves into The Holy Sisters to sing hymns in beatific Songs Of Praise manner. Wholly in harmony with the play’s multitude of formal meetings and informal chats, their inclusion is typical of Hunter’s good directorial judgements that see the sitcom flow of short scenes sustain momentum with a twinkle in the eye throughout.

The play opens with Mills’s grouchy parish council chairman David Horton hosting the meeting where the new vicar will make a first appearance. In attendance are his awfully nice son Hugo (Neil Foster); the stickler-for-accuracy minute-noting parish clerk Frank Pickle (Mike Hickman); knitting-on-her-knee Letitia Cropley (Jeanette Hunter) , creator of endless inedible cakes and sandwiches, and no-no-no-no-yes man Jim Trott (a gurning Adam Sowter, left arm in a sling, presumably not for extra comic effect?!).

Dashing in and out with bodily ablution problems that he loves to describe is blunt dairy farmer Owen Newitt (Mark Simmonds, York’s busiest actor of the moment as he follows his Macheath in York Opera’s The Beggar’s Opera with Dibley, only a month to go to Pick Me Up Theatre’s Anything Goes).

 Enter the new vicar, very definitely not a man as irascible chairman Horton expects, but Clay’s Geraldine Granger, drawing attention to her ample bust (matched by her even more ample supplies of chocolate). Whereupon Clay performs in the French style, mirroring the speech rhythms, facial expressions and mannerisms of Dawn’s sitcom vicar but with her own panache.

Nicki Clay’s Geraldine Granger looks on as Neil Foster’s Hugo Horton and Florence Poskitt’s Alice Tinker kiss at last in MARMiTE Theatre’s The Vicar Of Dibley. Picture: Paul Miles

Clay’s Geraldine is a delight throughout, at once reverent yet irreverent, and her scenes with Poskitt’s ever-slow-off-the-mark, exasperating Alice are a particular joy.

Poskitt, a supremely expressive physical comedian, wins hearts too in her love-struck, tongue-tied bonding with Foster’s equally awkward, inhibited Hugo. Their kissing clench that stretches from Act One finale into Act Two opener is one of the comic highpoints, not least from the nimble-footed input of Clay’s Geraldine, breaking down the fourth wall to play to the audience in providing a running commentary on what’s going on.

Hickman’s Pickle, Jeanette Hunter’s Letitia, Sowter’s Trott and especially Simmonds’s brusque Owen all have their moments too in MARMiTE Theatre’s debut that you will surely love, not hate. Don’t swear if you are too late for a ticket; Hunter and co have plans to do further Dibley village capers.

MARMiTE Theatre in The Vicar Of Dibley, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, November 11 to 15, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk. All profits will be donated to Comic Relief.

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REVIEW: Wharfemede Productions in Musicals Across The Multiverse, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York ****

Emma Burke’s wartime nurse performing Anthem, from Chess

“THE show’s concept is playful, radical too, and has the potential to be rolled out again,” predicted your reviewer, when encountering June 2023’s “out of this world” Musicals In The Multiverse.

Sure enough, here comes the bigger, bolder sequel, still with a “big cast, bags of energy and enthusiasm, and a fun idea for a show”, still with Helen “Bells” Spencer as director and Matthew Clare in charge of the remarkable musical arrangements as songs are freed from the chains of their usual presentation.

The company and venue has changed, from the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company and art deco Joseph Rowntree Theatre to Spencer and Nick Sephton’s Wetherby-based Wharfemede Productions and black-box Theatre@41, Monkgate.

The show title has replaced ‘In’ with the broader-sounding ‘Across’ to reflect an even more expansive multiverse: alternative worlds where musical favourites and newer works are turned on their head, taking on a new life with a change of gender, era, key or musical style, as musical director James Ball and his band, out of view behind curtains but worthy of a standing ovation in their own right, deliver Matthew Clare’s diverse, dazzling arrangements with such brio.

Nick Sephton and Helen “Bells” Spencer’s tender rendition of I Don’t Need A Roof

Attending Monday night’s dress rehearsal, the technical rough edges with the projection would be ironed out by tonight’s opening  show, and likewise Bells Spencer was keeping herself busy in taking notes, and even adjusting actors’ stage positions mid-number to achieve the right balance. Choreographer Connie Howcroft, when not performing, kept an eye on the big numbers too.

Musicals Across The Universe sits inside an end-on set design, usually bare to enable use of the full stage, even the stairway, with the occasional addition of chairs too, while projections, whether of a blur of Fake News or images of wartime Poland, accompany assorted numbers. Costume changes are frequent, sometimes amusing, often witty, always striking.

Act One opens with the full company finding its voice in Facade, a number from Jekyll And Hyde that is the essence of putting on a front, but with the truth still bursting through. As Long As He Needs Me, Nancy’s troublesome song from Oliver!, becomes more mournful, less desperate, in Jai Rowley’s interpretation.

The Place Where The Lost Things Go, from Mary Poppins Returns, is transformed into a children’s song, all the more moving in Matthew Warry’s performance, supported by Laertes Singhateh and Emelia Charlton-Matthews.

Lauren Charlton-Matthews: Outstanding rendition of Dear Bill from Operation Mincemeat. Picture: Simon Trow

Anthem, from Chess, takes on a Jazz Age air in Emma Burke’s rendition; Lauren Charlton-Matthews chose Dear Bill, from the Grand Opera House-bound Operation Mincement for her solo number, duly delivering the show’s best storytelling singing. 

Go The Distance/Defying Gravity, from Hercules/Wicked, vie for centre stage in a mash-up for David Copley-Martin, Emily Hardy, Naomi Mothersille and Zander Fick; partners Spencer and Sephton bring tender romance to Big Fish’s I Don’t Need A Roof and Tess Ellis revels in the stark solo spotlight in Miss Saigon’s Why God? Why?

Two Act One favourites follow in quick succession, first Rosy Rowley’s lonesome Mr Cellophane, from Chicago, her face marked by a painted tear, accompanied by the Dance Core in white masks with crimson lips and matching dark tears.

Listen, from Dreamgirls, branches out from dialogue to Jai Rowley expressing himself in British Sign Language, learned expressly for this performance, to be interpreted in song by James Ball as Matthew Warry takes over on piano.

Exchanging sign language: James Ball, left, and Jai Rowley in Listen

After the men-in-black smooth chops of When She Loved Me, from Toy Story, you will go potty for Connie Howcroft’s polka-dotty reinvention of Friend Like Me from Aladdin, with her Dance Core in tow.

Mickey Moran, outstanding in the 2023 show, comes to the fore in Act Two’s opening Queen Medley from We Will Rock You, both on lead vocals as bravura as Freddie Mercury and on guitar too. The show must go on, and indeed does with Naomi Mothersille leading Make Them Hear You from Ragtime.

Richard Bayton and James Ball address songs to each other as gay lovers on the path to separation, first in Bayton’s confessional Just Not Now, from I Love You Because, then Ball, wrought with tragedian drama in Abba’s The Winner Takes It All, from Mamma Mia!, the show’s outstanding solo turn.

It’s Never That Easy/I’ve Been Here Before, from Closer Than Ever, find Spencer, Howcroft, Emily Hardy and Naomi Mothersille in harmony; Tess Ellis, in cream, stands out from the crowd in the heartfelt Someone Like You, from Jekyll & Hyde, and Ben Holeyman does likewise in Gypsy’s Don’t Rain On My Parade. Take note of Kirsty Barnes, notebook in hand, in Santa Fe, from Newsies.

Life is a Cabaret for Zander Fick, surrounded by the Dance Core in Musicals Across The Multiverse. Picture: Simon Trow

Zander Fick, fresh from playing drag star Loco Chanel in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, dons fishnets, shiny red Latex top and matching high heels and lipstick, to darken Sally Bowles’s Cabaret, from Cabaret, into being more in keeping with the Emcee.

Bayton and Ellis, Holeyman and Barnes play two couples in declamatory tandem in the mash-up of Million Dreams and How Far I’ll Go from The Greatest Showman and Moana, and mother and child partnerships, Spencer and Singtaheh, Rowley times two and Charlton-Matthews a deux, express the bond movingly in Mamma Mia’s Slipping Through My Fingers. Abbie Law savours the last solo showcase in Shouldn’t I Be Less In Love With You, from I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.

The full company assembles for Blame It On The Boogie, from MJ The Musical, a celebratory finale led flamboyantly by Rosy Rowley and Mickey Moran that has everyone dancing to the Multiverse max.

Wharfemede Productions present Musicals Across The Multiverse, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 10 to 13, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Rosy Rowley. front, left, and Mickey Moran, front, right, lead the outbreak of dancing in Blame It On The Boogie, the finale to Musicals Across The Multiverse

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Wharfemede Productions team up with Black Sheep Theatre Productions for debut show The Last Five Years at NCEM

Helen “Bells” Spencer’s Cathy Hiatt and Chris Mooney’s Jamie Wellerstein in The Last Five Years, opening at the NCEM on Thursday. Picture: Simon Trow

CO-FOUNDERS Helen “Bells” Spencer and Nick Sephton are launching Wharfemede Productions by staging Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years in association with fellow York company Black Sheep Theatre Productions.

The American musical two-hander will be staged at the National Centre for Early Music, York, from Thursday to Saturday this week.

Formed by chief artistic director, musical actress and psychiatrist Helen and chief operating officer, musical actor and former Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company chair Nick, the innovative new company takes its name from their home in Thorp Arch.

After their fruitful involvement in the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company, not least in fund-raising for the JoRo, their new venture Wharfemede Productions will focus mainly on character-driven musical theatre pieces and use Helen’s expertise to establish a culture of learning and development as part of the rehearsal process.

Wharfemede Productions chief operating officer Nick Sephton and chief artistic director Helen Spencer at the September company launch in the Wharfemede garden

“Having gained a Drama degree from Manchester University and then co-founded and company managed Envision Theatre Company, this is a return to my roots,” says Helen, who has bags of experience as a professional and amateur performer, vocal coach and company manager.

Supporting and organising the company will be Nick’s role. “With decades of logistics, managerial and computing experience, I’m excited to be founding a company that uses these skills, combined with my love for music and theatre,” he says.

For The Last Five Years, Wharfemede and Black Sheep have brought together a formidable core creative team of Helen, as director, and Black Sheep founder and good friend Matthew Clare, as musical director, complemented throughout the rehearsal process by Susannah Tresilian, a professional director and journalist from London, as guest director, and Tom Guest, from Manchester, as vocal coach.

Premiered at Chicago’s Northlight Theatre in 2001 and then produced Off-Broadway in March 2002, The Last Five Years tells the emotive story of two New Yorkers, rising novelist Jamie Wellerstein and struggling actress Cathy Hiatt, who fall in and out of love over the course of five years.

Helen Spencer and Chris Mooney working with guest director Susannah Tresilian, right, in the rehearsal room. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

Using an unconventional structure, American pop-rock musical theatre composer, lyricist and playwright Jason Robert Brown presents the story in reverse from Cathy’s point of view, first revealing the end of their tumultuous relationship.

Meanwhile, Jamie tells the story chronologically from when the couple first met. The pair only cross paths once, in the middle of the show, where they are seen together before they continue on their respective timelines.

Clare’s seven-piece band combines with Helen Spencer’s Cathy and Harrogate teacher Chris Mooney’s Jamie in a to-and-fro evening of frank storytelling and gorgeous music.

 “I have loved this play for many years and in fact was cast as Cathy some years ago but unfortunately the show never went ahead,” says Helen. “I’m absolutely delighted to be finally getting the chance to sing all of these fantastic songs. Even better, I get to watch and listen to Chris, who is so unbelievably talented, playing Jamie.

The poster for Black Sheep Theatre Productions and Wharfemede Productions’ collaborative production of The Last Five Years

“Chris and I worked together on Falsettos[Black Sheep Theatre Productions, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, August 2023] and found we had great chemistry and connection on stage.

“Having talked with Matthew about producing The Last Five Years for a while, all the pieces finally aligned. I’m genuinely giddy with excitement! It’s such a cleverly written show, with wonderful music that will be brought to life by Matthew and his band.”

Helen continues: “With it just being a two hander, it’s intense, intimate and a wonderful challenge. There’s nowhere to hide for us as performers but also for the audience as well. I think I’m better known on the York circuit for portraying brash comedy characters, so it will be nice to tackle something very different. I can’t wait to share this phenomenal show with an audience.”

Calling himself “truly a sucker for a sung-through musical”, Chris says: “The Last Five Years has been on the bucket list for a while now, so accepting the opportunity was a no-brainer. The piece itself challenges audiences with songs centred around difficult concepts that we don’t often see in musicals, with no real protagonist to root for.

Guest director Susannah Tresilian, vocal coach Tom Guest, centre, and musical director Matthew Clare in the rehearsal room for The Last Five Years. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

“They simply get to experience the beauty and the challenges that can happen as two people in love grow together. The songs are a real joy to perform, and it’s been an enjoyable challenge to try to best convey Jamie’s perspective in the show. What’s been a real highlight is getting to bear witness to the professional that is Bells Spencer tackling Cathy and truly making the part her own. I can’t wait to open it all up to the audience now!”

Musical director Matthew Clare describes The Last Five Years as a “beautiful show that
highlights just how much can be achieved by a cast of two phenomenal individuals”. “In this
way, it is the ultimate challenge for a performer – to be perfect, with no room to hide or any
escape from the audience’s sight, for the entirety of a show,” he says.

“I’ve loved working with Bells before as both a member of my previous casts (Jekyll & Hyde (2022), Elegies For Angels, Punks, And Raging Queens (2023), Falsettos (2023) and For The Love Of Animation (2023)) and on production teams or as the director, such as for Musicals In The Multiverse (2023).

“Chris is a phenomenal performer that I have worked with on multiple rounds of Jesus Christ Superstar (2019, 2022) and Falsettos (2023).”

Helen “Bells” Spencer and Chris Mooney rehearsing for The Last Five Years. Picture: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

Assessing their performing skills, Matthew says: “Bells brings a robust and exciting vision to her projects with the most delightful working attitude. She’s amazing at leading any project; in particular, one like this, which requires an ability that is second to none and a dedication to match.

“Bells and Chris both have that. Their grasp of the characters and the nuances that they’re
able to bring to this show will set it apart from almost anything else this year in York. It’s
set to be incredible, with some of the best performers York has to offer, as well as seven of the best musicians! A labour of love, bursting with talent and emotion that one no-one should miss out on!”

Guest director Susannah Tresilian adds: “Interesting love stories never follow an obvious path, but the way the stories of Cathy and Jamie intertwine is so unusual that it really does stand out. It’s been huge fun to work with Bells and Chris on their timelines as they navigate who said what when and who is saying what when now!

“Plus, Bells, Tom and I first met when studying Drama at university, and spent many happy years making theatre all across Europe together, and it is pure joy to be able to collaborate again here on this!”

The logo for Helen “Bells” Spencer and Nick Sephton’s new company, Wharfemede Productions

Vocal coach Tom Guest enthuses: “I’ve always loved the beautiful score by Jason Robert Brown. It’s great to sing, with brilliant, emotionally intelligent lyrics. The ingenious structure makes this story of Cathy and Jamie’s marriage even more engaging, and even more heart-breaking.

“The solo songs are nuanced and energetic and are a fantastic showcase for the actors. Then when their two timelines join for the central duet, it’s just delicious! Ah, those harmonies…

“I’m so excited to be able to work with these two talented musical theatre performers, and especially to be doing it alongside my faves from uni days, Bells and Susannah, is
going to be perfect!”

The poster for Wharfemede Productions’ production of Little Women, The Broadway Musical next February

Coming next from Wharfemede Productions will be Little Women, The Broadway Musical, based on Louisa May Alcott’s American coming-of-age novel, with book by Allan Knee, music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein. Tickets for the February 18 to 22 2025 run at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

In the cast will be Catherine Foster as Meg March; Connie Howcroft as Jo; Rachel Higgs, Beth; Tess Ellis, Amy; Helen “Bells” Spencer, Marmee; Rosy Rowley, Aunt March; Steven Jobson, Lawrie; Nick Sephton, Professor Bhaer; Andrew Roberts, Mr Brooke, and Chris Gibson, Mr Lawrence.

The creative team comprises: Helen “Bells” Spencer, director; Rosy Rowley and Henrietta Linnemann, assistant directors; Matthew Clare, musical director, and Rachel Higgs, choreographer.

Wharfemede Productions in collaboration with Black Sheep Theatre Productions present The Last Five Years, National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, October 17 to 19, 7.45pm. Box office: www.ticketsource.co.uk/wharfemede-productions-ltd.

Wharfemede Productions: the top team

Helen “Bells” Spencer

Helen “Bells” Spencer, chief artistic director

HELEN studied Drama at Manchester University and was then company manager of Envision Theatre Company from 2002-2010. She has performed and vocal coached all around the UK and in Europe over the past 20 years.

Highlights include: 2002 & 2004 UK/Italy tours of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! (Woman 2), Little Voice (Little Voice), Manchester Dance House, Audrey in Little Shop Of Horrors, Barley Corn Jack (Beatrice) Manchester and Edinburgh Fringe (Best Actress Award 2002 MIFTAs).

Helen then had a period away from the stage, having qualified as a doctor and also started a family.

Since returning to musical theatre in 2019, her York credits include: We Remember Sondheim (director/performer), Young Frankenstein (Frau Blucher), Falsettos (Dr Charlotte), Musicals In the Multiverse (director/co-creator), Elegies For Angels, Punks And Raging Queens (various), Hello, Dolly! (Dolly Levi), The Sound Of Music (Mother Abbess), Wicked Origins (Ursula & Gelinda), Kipps: Half A Sixpence (Mrs Walsingham), For The Love Of Animation (various), Jekyll & Hyde (Lady Beaconsfield), Hooray For Hollywood (various) and Made In Dagenham (Beryl).

Nick Sephton

Nick Sephton, chief operating officer

NICK holds an Engineering Doctorate in Large Scale Complex Systems from the University of York, having won multiple Best Paper awards for his published works. Subsequently
worked as software architect at University of York Digital Creativity Lab.

Nick has extensive experience in leadership and event logistics roles, having worked as both a senior technical architect and lead developer. He also has experience in roles such as UK Community Leader for WPN Judge Program, Magic Tournament Floor Rules
Manager for WPN Judge Program and chair of Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company.

Having been a keen singer for some time, Nick’s first named role was as the Sergeant of
Police in Pirates Of Penzance. Since become a regular in the York theatre scene.

Credits include: Fester Addams (The Addams Family), Lord Chancellor (Iolanthe), Rudolph Reisenweber (Hello Dolly!), Sir Danvers Carew (Jekyll & Hyde), Mr Shalford (Kipps: Half A Sixpence), Captain Corcoran (HMS Pinafore), Eddie O’Grady (Made in Dagenham), Sir Marmaduke (The Sorcerer), Colonel Calverly (Patience), Strephon (Iolanthe) and Escamilio (Cover – Carmen).

When not on stage, Nick is a keen double bass player and enjoys playing board games.

Guests and hosts at the September 14 launch party for Wharfemede Productions
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Pick Me Up Theatre to perform Stephen Sondheim shows at the double at Theatre@41, Monkgate in March and April

Sam Hird: Singing Sondheim with Pick Me Up Theatre

ROYAL College of Music student Sam Hird returns home to York to join his father Mark Hird in the Pick Me Up Theatre company for Sondheim We Remember at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from March 27 to 30.

Taking part too in this celebration of New York composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim will be director Helen ‘Bells’ Spencer, Susannah Baines, Emma Louise Dickinson, Alexandra Mather, Florence Poskitt, Andrew Roberts, Catherine Foster, Nick Sephton and Matthew Warry.

Planned originally for 2020 before Covid intervened – and Sondheim’s death on November 26 2021 at the age of 91 – Pick Me Up’s show features music from his Broadway shows, film scores and TV specials. Tickets for the 7.30pm evening shows and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Pick Me Up Theatre’s company of singers for Sondheim We Remember

Pick Me Up will make a swift return to Theatre@41 with a second Sondheim show, his 1984 musical collaboration with playwright and director James Lapine, Sunday In The Park With George, from April 5 to 13.

Inspired by Georges Seurat’s pointillist painting Sunday Afternoon On The Island Of La Grande Jatte, the musical follows Seurat (played by Adam Price) in the months leading up to the completion of that famous work.

Seurat alienates the French bourgeoisie, spurns his fellow artists and neglects his lover Dot (Natalie Walker), not realising that his actions will reverberate over the next 100 years.

Performances will start at 7.30pm on April 5, 6 and 9 to 13, plus 2.30pm on April 6, 7 and 13. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Picture pose: Pick Me Up Theatre’s Emma-Louise Dickinson, as Celeste, adds to the scene in Georges Seurat’s painting Sunday Afternoon On The Island Of La Grande Jatte, the inspiration for Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical Sunday In The Park With George
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Hooray for the Hollywood Sisters as they raise funds for York Mind at Friday concert with musical friends at Theatre@41

The Hollywood Sisters: Cat Foster, left, Rachel Higgs, Helen ‘Bells’ Spencer and Henrietta Linnemann

THE Hollywood Sisters will be joined by friends for a night of musical cabaret in aid of York Mind at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, on Friday at 7.30pm.

The luscious close harmonies of the Hollywood Sisters will be complemented by guest appearances from “the finest talent York has to offer”: The Rusty Pegs, Jennie Wogan-Wells, Richard Bayton, Nicola Holliday, Matthew Clare, Connie Howcroft, John Haigh and Mark Lovell.

“Expect an evening of music, song and sprinkle of festive cheer to kick off December,” says Hollywood Sister Helen ‘Bells’ Spencer. “All profits from the evening will go to mental health charity York Mind.”

Richard Bayton, left, and John Haigh: Guest singers at the Hollywood Sisters And Friends charity concert

The Hollywood Sisters, Cat Foster, Henrietta Linnemann, Rachel Higgs and Bells, met in 2020 when they were cast together in York Musical Theatre Company’s Hooray For Hollywood, Paul Laidlaw’s nostalgic, whirlwind journey through the sounds of a bygone era from the MGM, Warner Bros, RKO and Universal studios, staged that November at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

“We instantly forged a special bond and after the show finished, we kept in close contact,” says Bells. “Many meet-ups over tea and cake later, the Hollywood Sisters were devised.

“In honour of the show we met on, and because we all have a shared love of vintage glamour, we kept the Hollywood part of our name and style as a group. Now we’re delighted to be welcoming back John Haigh and Richard Bayton, who were also in Hooray For Hollywood. We can’t wait to all be singing together again!

“Added to these crooners, we couldn’t be more thrilled to have guest appearances from three phenomenal female vocalists, Jennie, Connie and Nicola, and we’ll all be accompanied by the brilliant Rusty Pegs, Matthew Clare on piano and Mark Lovell on double bass.”

“We instantly forged a special bond,” says Helen ‘Bells’ Spencer, left, one that led to the Hollywood Sisters’ formation

Friday promises a relaxed cabaret-style event with the bar open throughout. “There’ll be music from across genres but always featuring gorgeous harmonies and a few festive numbers to get December started with some cheer!” says Bells.

“We also have a raffle with some amazing prizes to be won: £100 meal voucher, Tea for Two in Malton, art prints, Prosecco and much more. If you can’t make the gig but would like to buy a raffle ticket to support York Mind, please head to our just giving page and leave your email address.”

https://www.justgiving.com/page/hollywoodsisters-1700920962362?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%2Fhollywoodsisters-1700920962362&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=pfp-share

“Due to popular demand, we’ve added a few extra tickets, so grab them before they’re gone,” advises Bells. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The poster artwork for Hollywood Sisters And Friends at Theatre@41, Monkgate on Friday night