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More Things To Do in York and beyond: The Mirror Crack’d and other cracking ideas. Hutch’s List No. 100, from The Press

On the case: Susie Blake’s bandaged Miss Marple and Oliver Boot’s Detective Inspector Craddock in the Original Theatre Company’s production of The Mirror Crack’d. Picture: Ali Wright

COINCIDING with Miss Marple’s arrival, Charles Hutchinson  applies his investigative skills to to pick out the best prospects to see, whether usual or unusual.  

Mystery of the week: Original Theatre Company in Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2pm, Thursday; 2.30pm, Saturday

SUSIE Blake’s Miss Marple, Sophie Ward and Joe McFadden lead the cast in Rachel Wagstaff’s stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1962 psychological thriller, a story of revenge and the dark secrets that we all hide.

In the sleepy village of St Mary Mead, a new housing estate is making villagers curious and fearful. Even stranger, a rich American film star has bought the Manor House. Cue a vicious murder; cue Jane Marple defying a sprained ankle to unravel a web of lies, tragedy and danger. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

On the move: Dance time for the Barbara Taylor School of Dancing at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre

Every body dance: It’s Dance Time 2022, Barbara Taylor School of Dancing, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, today, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

IT’S Dance Time is “a festival arrangement of dance, infused together to arrange a variety of dance styles”, featuring the whole Barbara Taylor School of Dancing intake.

From tiny toes to fully grown, this song-and- dance parade through the years takes in Commercial Ballet, Tap, and Freestyle Jazz, finishing off with excerpts from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Bingham String Quartet: Playing the first Saturday evening concert of the new York Late Music season

Season launch of the week: York Late Music presents Jakob Fichert, today, 1pm, and Bingham String Quartet, today, 7.30pm, St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, York

ON the first weekend of its 2022-2023 season, York Late Music returns with its regular format of a lunchtime and evening concert. First up, pianist Jakob Fichert marks the 75th birthday of American composer John Adams by performing his works China Gates and American Berserk.

Later, the Bingham String Quartet play string quartets by Beethoven, Schnittke, LeFanu and Tippett, preceded by a talk at 6.45pm by Steve Bingham with a complimentary glass of wine or juice. Tickets: latemusic.org or on the door.

Graham Norton: Discussing his darkly comic new novel, Forever Home, at York Theatre Royal

Novel event of the week:  An Evening With Graham Norton, York Theatre Royal, Monday, 7.30pm

BBC broadcaster, Virgin Radio presenter and novelist Graham Norton is on a promotional tour for his new book, Forever Home, published this week by Coronet. Set in a small Irish town, it revolves around divorced teacher Carol, whose second chance of love brings her unexpected connection, a shared home and a sense of belonging in a darkly comic story of coping with life’s extraordinary challenges.

In conversation with author and presenter Konnie Huq, Norton will discuss the novel’s themes and how he creates his characters and atmospheric locations, share tales from his career and reveal what inspired him to pick up a pen and start writing, with room for audience questions too. Tickets update: sold out; for returns only, check yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Sax to the max: Jean Toussaint leads his quintet at the NCEM

Jazz gig of the week: Jean Toussaint Quintet, National Centre for Early Music, York, Wednesday, 7.30pm

SAXOPHONIST Jean Toussaint, who came to prominence in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1982, after his Berklee College of Music studies in Boston, has released 12 albums since moving to London in 1987.

His latest, Songs For Sisters Brothers And Others, reflects on the turbulent Covid-19 years. “The pandemic caused me to focus on the fragility of life and the fact we’re here one moment and gone the next,” he says of penning songs as a “tribute to my wonderful siblings while they were still around to enjoy it”.

Joining him in York will be Freddie Gavita, trumpet, Jonathan Gee, piano, Conor Murray, bass, and Shane Forbes, drums. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Feel like dancing? Leo Sayer steps out at York Barbican on Friday

The rearranged show must go on: Leo Sayer, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm

DELAYED by the pandemic, Leo Sayer’s York show now forms part of a 2022 tour to mark his 50th anniversary in pop.

Sayer, 74, who lives in Australia, is back on home soil with his not-so-one-man band to perform a setlist sure to feature  One Man Band, Thunder In My Heart, Moonlighting, I Can’t Stop Loving You, More Than I Can Say, Have You Ever Been In Love, When I Need You, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing and, yes, The Show Must Go On. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Buzzing: Maisie Adam heads home for Harrogate Theatre gig. Picture: Matt Crockett

Homecoming of the week: Maisie Adam: Buzzed, Harrogate Theatre, October 8, 8pm

BORN in Pannal and former head girl at St Aidan’s in Harrogate, anecdotal stand-up Maisie Adam heads home next Saturday on her first full-scale British tour to discuss relationships, house plants, her footballing aplomb, hopefully her beloved Leeds United and that haircut, the one to rival David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane for multiple choices across one barnet.

Adam played her first gig at the Ilkley Literature Festival in 2016 and won the nationwide So You Think You’re Funny? Competition in 2017. Now she pops up on Mock The Week and Have I Got News and co-hosts the podcast That’s A First. She also plays Leeds City Varieties on Friday. Box office: Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Digging the digital: The poster for Foto/Grafic’s Human After All digital-media exhibition at Fossgate Social and Micklegate Social

One exhibition, two locations: Foto/Grafic, Human After All, at Micklegate Social and Fossgate Social, York, today until November 27.

TWO sister bars that “show a bit of art every now and then championing local and innovative creativity” present Foto/Grafic’s group show from this weekend.

Human After All features digital-media artwork by young and early-career artists in celebration of their “leap from physical earthbound creations to the stratosphere of the unlimited digital toolbox”.

December Morning, by Judy Burnett

Exhibition launch of the week outside York: Judy Burnett, Time And Tide, Morten Gallery, High Street, Old Town, Bridlington, today until November 13; open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm

YORK artist Judy Burnett’s latest show of paintings and collages at Morten Gallery winds its way across the Wolds from the River Ouse in York to the sea.

Over time, water in all its forms has created the East Yorkshire landscape, firstly as a melting glacier at the end of the Ice Age, gouging out deep valleys and folds on its way down to the Vale of York.

The River Ouse then connects with other Yorkshire waterways to spill out into the North Sea at the mouth of the Humber and return on the tide to crash onto the cliffs of the Wolds coastline.

Judy lives by the Ouse in York, with a view from her studio window directly onto the riverbank, leading to the changing effects of light on moving water being an inspiration for her work. The colours and rhythms of the water alter with the weather, the time of day, the seasons and the frequent floods.

This interest in the luminosity and movement of water is also reflected in Judy’s many paintings of the Yorkshire coast, most particularly at Flamborough Head and Bridlington.

During the past year, she has made many trips across the Wolds, observing the rich tapestry of the countryside that links the river to the sea.

Her sketches are completed on-site in varying weather conditions. Back in the studio, they are developed in a range of media, utilising hand-printed collage paper and paint. The aim is to keep all the mark-making fresh and spontaneous, to echo the power of the elements at the time of observation.

 A Meet The Artist event will be held on October 22, from 1pm to 3pm, when “you are welcome to join us for a glass of wine and to enjoy the 30 pieces of work, together with Judy’s sketchbooks on display,” says gallery owner Jenny Morten.

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Punk expressionist Tom Wilson empties kitchen for first exhibition in ten years. Sale proceeds will go to the people of Ukraine

“My art looks like an explosion,” says York artist Tom Wilson

PROMPTED by his friends’ urges  “to do something” with all that artwork filling his small York bungalow, Tom Wilson is to hold his first exhibition in ten years in aid of the people of Ukraine.

From 10.30am to 6.30pm tomorrow (15/9/2022) and Friday, myriad riots of colour by artist, playwright, theatre director and tutor Tom will be on display and for sale at St Bede’s, 21 Blossom Street, York, with free admission.

“I wish to thank the very kind and supportive staff at St Bede’s Pastoral Centre and the Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre,” says Tom. “They’ve been so accommodating. Just wonderful!

“There’ll be food and drinks available for all the visitors we’re expecting, and for those who’ll be disappointed they can’t make the exhibition, there’s still an opportunity to browse the work and purchase paintings online at https://north.art/directory/artist/tom-wilson/.”

In the frame: York artist Tom Wilson with two of his artworks

Originally from Salford, polymath Tom has lived in York for more than 16 years and started painting in 1996 after the loss of a good friend to cancer while living in Roehampton.

“I found it a comforting therapy and a kind of a healing activity,” says Tom, who has held three previous shows, the last one taking place in 2012 at the Friends’ Meeting House, in Friargate, to raise funds for the Haiti Earthquake Foundation.

“Starting to paint helped me to process losing this friend, who died very quickly, at only 50 years old. I did this painting, The Night Form, which was like an apparition, or typically what a kid would think of. Adults can think of things that are scary, but children’s minds go to places where there’s no structure, it’s just endless, so their experience is darker.

“But once you articulate something, get it on to a page or a canvas, it becomes less terrifying. More manageable. That’s how I felt.”

Embroiled, by Tom Wilson

Linking his painting past to his present, The Night Form will be on show at St Bede’s among the newer works.

“After living in London for more than 20 years, York gives me incredible peace of mind,” he says. Peace of mind that leads to Tom’s artistic expression both as an artist and playwright, as witnessed in August last year when council chaos and Covid clashed in his timely anarchic farce The Local Authority, presented by the Naloxone Theatre Ensemble at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

He is delighted to be mounting his first exhibition in a decade. “At least if I sell one or two paintings, I’ll be able to find my way in and out of the kitchen without risking life and limb,” says Tom, who is disabled and lives alone with his cat, Pendle. “I’m hoping to sell enough to make a difference by sending proceeds to support the people of Ukraine.

“It’ll definitely help with clearing out my bungalow. I got a new shed but filled that up within a day; I was going to try to use it as studio but that never came off! So I just use whatever space I’ve got, the kitchen mainly, but it’s not ideal. Unless you’re moving work on, there’s no point doing new work as it just clutters the place up.”

The poster for Tom Wilson’s anarchic farce, The Local Authority, premiered at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, in August 2021

His dynamic abstract artwork is influenced by Kandinsky, Max Earnst, Otto Dix, Outsider art, German Expressionism and Rayonism (Russian Expressionism). “Rayonism was like a punk movement, breaking away, to try to paint ‘rays of light’, and I took my ideas from their freedom from convention.

“However, it’s also important to find your own voice and your own style,” he says, after being excited and motivated by seeing multiple visceral and dramatic pieces of art.

“I tend to use lots or orange and green in my work, and I think it’s all about the volume, not as in ‘amount’, but as in ‘turning up the amp’, like Jimi Hendrix did with his guitar, so the volume goes up.”

To achieve that Hendrix hum in his art, Tom favours painting on black boards, applying orange, Irish green and turquoise, mystical colours that “conjure up a feeling of vibrations”.

“There’s a lot of happy accidents with my stuff,” says Tom Wilson

“I’ve been using Sennelier crayons, oil crayons rather than wax ones, that are very soft, almost like lipstick, and not easy to work with. Picasso first commissioned them; they were made just for him, when he was struggling to find exactly what he wanted.

“A studio said to him, ‘you tell us what you want, we’ll make it for you’, and if it was good enough for Pablo Picasso, then it’ll do for me!”

Describing his artistic style, Tom says: “There’s a lot of happy accidents with my stuff. Some of it is manipulated experiments, like putting paint on one canvas, then putting another canvas on top of that and then pulling them apart like layers of skin.

“Sometimes it’s about ‘unlearning’ something that you loved or remembered in a painting and just going for it.”

“It’s all about the volume, not as in ‘amount’, but as in ‘turning up the amp’, like Jimi Hendrix did with his guitar,” says Tom Wilson of his painting style

In a moment of sudden candour, Tom says: “I can’t paint! My art looks like an explosion. I’ll be honest, I think I’m a chancer, not a natural-born painter. I can’t even draw. I’ll draw a dog and it looks like a dinosaur…an angry dog!

“But it’s important to have that freedom. Art isn’t a competition; it’s the way you articulate something. That’s the essence of creativity.

“Painting is like a voyage of discovery for me. Maybe other artists start with a painting they loved, maybe a seascape, but I’ll start without a plan. I’ll start with a mood, then make a shape, maybe a curve, and start following it, like jazz musicians improvising. It’s about the vibe, just as it is with jazz.

“Again, rather like music, I can do ten paintings to arrive at the one I want, so those ten paintings are like a rehearsal to get to where I need to be. You don’t show people the departure point; you show them the arrival.”

“I start with a mood, then make a shape, maybe a curve, and start following it, like jazz musicians improvising,” says Tom Wilson

He makes a further comparison with the jazz world. “Ask Ornette Coleman or Thelonious Monk what they’re going to play, and they’d say, ‘I don’t know’ and then start playing. It’s the same with one of my paintings,” says Tom.

“On top of that, I think it’s about expressing an anarchic humour, like John Lennon, Salvador Dali, Picasso.

“What happens is you go into an inner-child mentality, almost like writing with the opposite hand, and you find an area to explore and then the adult takes over to say, ‘right, we’ll take it this final point’.”

Tom loves applying boldness in his work; he can go four days without painting then suddenly have a flurry of six in two days, rampant with all those orange and green outbursts, and even applying Tippex, but not to correct faults! “No, it’s because it’s always ultra-white, almost like false teeth, whereas white paint can go grey,” he clarifies.

A profusion of orange, green and turquoise bursts out of a Tom Wilson artwork

The challenge with each painting is “knowing when to stop, that cut-off point”. “That’s one of those lessons I’m still learning. Don’t keep going back to it. Don’t be the ‘Tinker Man’, like Claudio Ranieri!” says Tom.

As for size, in the absence of a studio, in the confines of his kitchen, he tends to use A3 or A4. “But I’d love to be like Rothko, lobbing paint around a big studio!”

In the meantime, Tom’s rather more compact jazzy paintings at St Bede’s will be priced from £60 to £400. “But for those who can’t afford some of the artwork, there’s an alternative way to support the plight of the people in the Ukraine, by buying one of the T-shirts on sale,” he says. “They feature images of my art and very fine they look too.”

The banner for Tom Wilson’s exhibition at St Bede’s, York
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More Things To Do in York and beyond in the rave new world of bingo and festivals à gogo. List No. 96, courtesy of The Press

Wynne Evans: Vocal power amid the Pomp and Circumstance at tonight’s Castle Howard Proms

FROM Proms fireworks to rave bingo, prog-rock veterans to village-green art, Charles Hutchinson seeks variety for the diary.  

Pomp and circumstance concert of the week: Castle Howard Proms, Castle Howard, near York, this evening; gates open at 5pm 

OPERA star, insurance advert institution beyond compare and BBC Radio Wales presenter Wynne Evans returns to the Castle Howard Proms this weekend.

West End singer Marisha Wallace will be his fellow soloist at tonight’s classical concert, where the London Gala Orchestra will be conducted by Stephen Bell. Expect picnics, Prom classics, songs from the musicals, flag-waving favourites, a Spitfire flyover, laser displays and a firework finale. Box office: lphconcertsandevents.co.uk/events/castle-howard-proms-2022.

Life of Bryan: Roxy Magic pay tribute to the Ferry man

Tribute show of the week: Roxy Magic, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm

AHEAD of reunited art-rock legends Roxy Music playing Glasgow, Manchester and London in October on their 50th anniversary tour, here comes Roxy Magic’s tribute in York.

Led by Bryan Ferry doppelganger Kevin Hackett since 2004, the show lovingly recreates four decades of Roxy music, from art-school retro-futurism, to classic standards via sophisticated, adult-oriented rock. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Abba Symphonic: All the hits, with a bigger band, at Castle Howard

Does your mother know this is happening? Abba Symphonic, Castle Howard, near York, Sunday; gates open at 5pm

ROB Fowler and Sharon Sexton will be among the star performers from the West End production of Mamma Mia! at Sunday’s Abba Symphonic concert.

They will be backed by a full rock band, together with the Heart of England Orchestra, in a greatest hits concert conducted by Grammy Award winner Steve Sidwell. Irish singer-songwriter, performer, raconteur Jack Lukeman will be the support act. Again, take a picnic. Box office: lphconcertsandevents.co.uk/events/abba-symphonic-castle-howard/.

Sam Lee: Not-so-ordinary folk amid the chamber music programme at Welburn Manor. Picture: Andre Pattenden

Folk event of the week: Sam Lee, Songlines, at North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, Welburn Manor marquee, near Kirkbymoorside, Monday, 7pm

FOLK pioneer Sam Lee brings a new perspective to this summer’s North York Moors Chamber Music Festival when performing his Songlines set on Monday.

The festival is built around world-class classical musicians, performing repertoire on the theme of Soundscapes. This year, however, singer, song collector and conservationist Lee and his band will be broadening the focus after he met festival director Jamie Walton at the new Ayriel Studios, in Westerdale, near Whitby, late last year. Box office: 07722 038990 or northyorkmoorsfestival.com.

Spot the difference: The 1975 replace Rage Against The Machine as Leeds Festival headliners. Picture: Samuel Bradley

Last big gathering of the summer: Leeds Festival, Bramham Park, near Wetherby, August 26 to 28

OUT go Friday’s American headliners Rage Against The Machine (leg injury to frontman Zack de la Rocha), Italy’s 2021 Eurovision winners, Maneskin, and American rapper Jack Harlow (both preferring to play at MTV’s Video Music Awards ceremony in America instead). In come English indie combo The 1975, for their first gig in two years, and pop star Charli XCX on Friday and London rapper AJ Tracey on the Sunday.

Friday offers Halsey, Run The Jewels and Bastille; Saturday,  Dave, Megan Thee Stallion, Little Simz, Glass Animals and Joy Crookes; Sunday, Arctic Monkeys, Bring Me Horizons, Wolf Alice and Fontaines DC. Box office: leedsfestival.com.

Re-building Colosseum: Prog-rockers parade their latest line-up at The Crescent

Re-formed legends of the week: Colosseum, The Crescent, York, August 27; doors, 7.30pm

PROG rock giants Colosseum have reunited, fronted by legendary lead singer Chris “Out Of Time” Farlowe, who is joined by fellow long-time members Clem Clempson, on lead guitar, and Mark Clarke, on bass and vocals.

In the line-up too will be new recruits Nick Steed, keyboards, Kim Nishikawara, saxophones, and Malcolm Mortimore, drums, in a gig staged by TV’s Over, York promoters with a flair for the retro.

Colosseum date back to, if not Roman times, but still long-ago 1969, when debut album Those Who Are About To Die Salute You established their compound of rock, jazz and classical music. Box office: thecrescent.com.

Taking shape: Making pots at Fangfest in Fangfoss

Art, not Dracula: Fangfest, Fangfoss Festival of Practical Arts, Fangfoss, near Pocklington, September 3 and 4, 10am to 4pm

MORE than 20 jewellery designers, potters, glass artists, sculptors, felters, handbag makers, painters, photographers, illustrators, printmakers, candle makers, willow weavers and wood carvers are taking part in Fangfest on its return after a pandemic-enforced two-year hiatus.

Look out too for Forest Craft and Play’s drop-in craft activities; acoustic musicians; archery; classic cars; a scarecrow trail and the St Martin’s Church flower festival with the theme of Our Queen. Admission to this outdoor event is free.

John Bramwell: Heading to Ellerton Priory next month. Picture: Ian Percival

If you book for one low-key gig, make it: John Bramwell, Ellerton Priory, near York, September 24; doors, 7pm

FROM the team behind shows by Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys and The Beta Band’s Steve Mason in Stockton on the Forest Village Hall comes a “super-intimate” gig by I Am Kloot’s John Bramwell.

Ellerton Priory, should you be wondering, is the Parish Church of St Mary, a beautiful, small, 16th century church in the East Riding village of Ellerton, between York, Selby and Pocklington. Tickets are on sale via thecrescentyork.com.

Rave on! Welcome to the new age of bingo in Bongo’s Bingo at York Barbican

House music with a difference: Bongo’s Bingo, York Barbican, October 8; doors, 6pm; last entry, 7:30pm; first game of bingo, 8pm

MAKING its York debut this autumn in the shadow of the demolished Mecca Bingo, Bongo’s Bingo “rejuvenates a quintessentially quaint British pastime with an immersive live show featuring rave rounds, nostalgia-soaked revelry, dance-offs, audience participation and crazy prizes in a night of pure and unadulterated escapism”.

Looking for a full house, promoter Jonny Bongo says: “We’ve been waiting to come to York for a long time, so this is really special for us. We’ve heard the locals are really up for a party, so this is going to be a lot of fun.”

Magic and music, mischief and mayhem combine in this bingo rave experience. Box office: bongosbingo.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when a circus of dreams and cricket skipper pitch up. List No. 95, courtesy of The Press

Rootsy rockin’ psychedelia: The Slambovian Circus Of Dreams at The Crescent

THIS is the holiday season, but not everyone is away, as Charles Hutchinson keeps one eye on August attractions, the other on autumn additions.

Woodstock vibe of the week: The Slambovian Circus Of Dreams, supported by Stan, The Crescent, York, Wednesday (17/8/2022), doors, 7.15pm

THE Slambovian Circus Of Dreams, purveyors of rootsy rockin’ psychedelia from Sleepy Hollow, New York, stretch the borders of Americana folk rock with their fantastic stories and performances.

Often described as “the Hillbilly Pink Floyd”, they visit The Crescent for the first time in support of their sixth album, A Very Unusual Head, released last January. Elements of Bob Dylan, David Bowie, The Incredible String Band, Syd Barrett and The Waterboys flavour their psychedelic sound. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

York River Art Market: Arts and crafts by the riverside this weekend

Art event of the weekend: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk, by Lendal Bridge, River Ouse, York, today (13/8/2022) and tomorrow (14/8/2022), 10am to 5.30pm

YORK River Art Market’s seventh summer season is heading for a sunny finale by the Ouse as York’s answer to the Parisian Left Bank welcomes up to 30 artists and makers on both days this weekend. This open-air market provides the chance to browse and buy directly from those showcasing their creative wares along the riverside railings; entry is free.

Look out for paintings, prints, jewellery, textiles, glass work and ceramics. Among today’s artists will be regular participant Richard Smith with his Point Paper Art; tomorrow, Here Be Monsteras ceramicist Kayti Peschki and Cuban artist Leo Morey, who moved to York in 2018.

Phil Toms and his band: Performing Tubular Bells note for note at the JoRo

Tribute show of the week: Tubular Bells Live! with Phil Toms, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight (13/8/2022), 7.30pm

PHIL Toms and his 12-piece band perform music from Mike Oldfield’s landmark 1973 record Tubular Bells – the one that launched Richard Branson’s Virgin Records label – complemented by highlights from his 50-year career, such as Moonlight Shadow, To France and Guilty.

Enjoy selections from Oldfield’s instrumental albums too, including Ommadawn, Return To Ommadawn, Islands, The Songs Of Distant Earth and Tubular Bells 2 and 3. Ticket update: limited availability on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

The poster for Mychael Barratt’s print exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, York

AS part of Pyramid Gallery’s 40th anniversary celebrations, curator Terry Brett made his regular trip to the Clink Press duo Mychael Barratt and Trevor Price’s studio, near Rotherhithe, London, returning north in a car filled with Barratt’s Beyond Bruegel and Price’s Bottles, Pots, Dots series of original prints. All works are for sale.

Fully Fest: Live music galore at The Fulford Arms

York festival of the week: Fully Fest 2022, The Fulford Arms, Fulford Road, York, August 20, 2pm (doors) to 11pm

THE Fully Fest welcomes Captain Starlet, The Rosemaries, Everything After Midnight, Tommyrot, City Snakes, The Rosettas, The Wreck Liners, Percy, Heartsink and Pat Butcher for a full-on day and night of live music at the Fulford Arms. Box office: thefulfordarms.com.

Derren Brown: “Remembering what’s important” in Showman at Leeds Grand Theatre

Mind games of the month: Derren Brown: Showman, Leeds Grand Theatre, August 23 to 27, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

DERREN Brown, master of mind control and psychological illusion, is on tour with his first new theatre show in six years, Showman, in the wake of his Broadway debut.

The content remains a closely guarded secret, but Brown says: “The heart of the show is about remembering what’s important. Like how the very things that we find most isolating in life – our fears and difficulties – actually connect us. Framed with what I think will be some extraordinary demonstrations of my voodoo.” Box office: leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Gretchen Peters: Sharing stories and songs at Leeds City Varieties

Americana gig of the month: Gretchen Peters, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, August 29, 7.30pm

2022 marks the 25th anniversary of Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Gretchen Peters first setting foot on a British stage. To honour this landmark, she returns this month with long-time musical partner and special guest Kim Richey in tow. 

Coinciding with the August 19 release of her live album The Show: Live From The UK – recorded in 2019 with a Scottish female string quartet – Peters will be sharing stories and songs from her early touring days in the UK, complemented by favourites from later works. Box office: leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Aggers & Cook: An evening of cricket chat with the correspondent and the captain

Cricketing double act: An Evening With Aggers & Cook, Grand Opera House, York, October 3, 7.30pm

BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew teams up with former England captain, record run-scorer, Test Match Special summariser and farmer Sir Alastair Cook for a night of willow-on-leather chat in in aid of the Professional Cricketers’ Association.

Aggers, who has partnered Sir Geoffrey Boycott, Phil Tufnell and Michael Vaughan in past chat shows, will encourage Cook to lift the lid on life in the England dressing room. Audience members can tweet the pair with questions for the second half. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.

Hitting their stride: John Smith and Katherine Priddy will tour together for the first time this autumn

Autumn fruitfulness at the double: John Smith & Katherine Priddy, Selby Town Hall, November 3, 8pm

SONGWRITERS John Smith and Katherine Priddy will hit the road together for the first time in a November collaboration after a fortuitous encounter in a Kansas City hotel lobby earlier this year.

Since then, Devonian Smith and Birmingham-born Priddy have been testing the musical waters together in a galvanising new venture set to bloom on tour, when they will perform a mix of their own original songs. Box office: selbytownhall.co.uk.

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Joseph Rowntree Theatre fills autumn and winter diary with musicals, dance and panto

The Wild Murphys enjoy the pub songs of One Night In Dublin on September 29

TICKETS go on sale today for the Joseph Rowntree Theatre’s autumn and winter season of musicals, dance performances, pantomime and one-night shows.

Theatre trustee and volunteer director Barbara Boyce says: “Everyone loves a musical show and we have a great selection to delight you this season. I’m thrilled to see such incredible talent performing on our beloved stage.

“We’re proud to showcase such a wonderful array of talented performers and to bring joy to theatregoers. We hope the people of York and the surrounding areas will enjoy our new season of shows, with stories of adventure, drama and song.”

After a pandemic-enforced two-year wait, York Light Youth’s production of Fame will go ahead at last from October 26 to 29.  Set in 1980s’ New York, the show follows the highs and lows of High School for the Performing Arts students, sharing their struggles, triumphs and often tempestuous relationships with each other and their teachers.

Complex issues such as prejudice, drug abuse and sexual exploitation are tackled as the young performers experience the realities of striving for a career and chasing fame in showbiz.

York Stage’s York premiere of Broadway hit Bring It On The Musical will invite audiences to channel their inner cheerleader in this highly energetic musical adaptation of Peyton Reed’s 2000 film starring Kirsten Dunst.

Back flipping into York from November 2 to 5, the story of the challenges and surprising bonds forged through the thrill of extreme competition is told by Tony Award winners Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q) and Tom Kitt (Grease: Live).

York School of Dance and Drama in a double bill of Survivors and Cinderella on October 22

NE Musicals York will follow up their summer show Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musical by serving up Oliver! from October 16 to 19 and 22 to 26. Based on Charles Dickens’s story of crime, poverty, friendship and fate, Lionel Bart’s musical is set on the darkest streets of London, where young, orphaned Oliver has to navigate an underworld of theft and violence as he searches for a home, a family, and – most importantly – for love.

Written as ever by Howard Ella, Rowntree Players’ rollicking romp of a pantomime, Babes In The Wood, will enjoy a Christmas run from December 3 to 10 (no show on December 5). Expect the usual festive cocktail of slapstick comedy, drama, adventure, song, dance and cheeky gags aplenty.

The Victoria Rooke School of Dance and Drama will present The Nutcracker Story on September 24; Wyrley Music and Promotions will celebrate the hits of Billy Fury and Cliff Richard in Billy Meets Cliff on September 25; Irish band The Wild Murphys will return to the JoRo with One Night In Dublin, revelling in Galway Girl, Tell Me Ma, Dirty Old Town, The Irish Rover, Brown Eyed Girl and Seven Drunken Nights on September 29.

October will open with It’s Dance Time 2022, Barbara Taylor School of Dancing’s festival of song and dance, climaxing with excerpts from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!, on October 1.

The UK Ultimate Physiques fitness, physique and bodybuilding competition is booked in for October 9, when athletes will seek to qualify for that month’s 2022 UKUP British finals.

Vibe With Perform will showcase versatile dance, acting and singing talent from Emma Bassett’s school on October 15; JoRo regular Steve Cassidy & Friends will return with more rock, country and classic ballads on October 16, and York School of Dance and Drama will present two performances for the price of one in Survivors and Cinderella on October 22.

21st Century Abba: the old hits combined with the latest technology on December 18

Survivors is a new choreodrama designed to help children to overcome major trauma experienced during the pandemic in a story of learning to survive when a boarding school collapses. Innovative dance and American tap will feature. Cinderella will follow with all the fun and pathos of British pantomime. 

Christmas Showtime with Don Pears & Company will feature the vocal talents of Singphonia in a selection of warming seasonal favourites, from solos and duets to trios and ensemble numbers, on December 11.

The Shepherd Group Brass Band’s Christmas Concert on December 16 and 17 will bring together myriad musicians, from their Brass Roots beginners through to their championship section Senior Band, playing Christmas and winter music with plenty of audience participation.

21st Century Abba will re-create the super-Swedes’ greatest hits for a new generation, using the latest technology, combined with that unforgettable sense of Seventies and Eighties’ fashion, in this Wyrley Music & Promotions tribute show on December 18.

Confirmed for 2023 already is A Gala Night Of Musical Theatre to blow away the post-Christmas blues, hosted by White Rose Theatre on January 14 with contributions from the Katie Ventress School of Dance, York Musical Theatre Company and guest soloists.

Under the musical direction of John Atkin, songs from Les Miserables, Jesus Christ Superstar, Anything Goes and plenty more favourite shows will feature in this fundraiser for the JoRo’s Raise the Roof campaign. 

For full show details, performance times and tickets, including special offers, head to josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on. Tickets can be booked on 01904 501935 too.

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Beat that! The Shakers celebrate Sixties’ Liverpool sound in This Is Merseybeat musical at Joseph Rowntree Theatre

The Shakers: The band fronting the Liverpool musical This Is Merseybeat, featuring York musician Kevin Benson on bass

BEAT City Productions’ nostalgic Liverpool musical This Is Merseybeat heads back to the 1960s at at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, on August 6.

This vibrant celebration of all things Merseybeat features the Cavern Club’s resident Merseybeat combo since 2006, The Shakers, whose line-up includes York resident Kevin Benson on bass and vocals.

Every weekend he travels over the Pennines for their regular Shakin’ Sunday slot at the world-famous Liverpool club, in addition to playing their many other gigs around Britain and abroad.

This Is Merseybeat was devised, written and produced by Liverpool musician, actor and The Shakers founder Tony O’Keefe, building momentum around the North West since its Southport debut in 2018 until the pandemic intervened.

Billed as “Merseyside’s foremost beat combo around today”, The Shakers have shared a stage with Liverpool legends The Searchers and the late Gerry Marsden, as well as backing Sixties’ stars Tommy Roe, Chris Montez and Elvis Presley’s guitarist, James Burton, and performing with Hamburg legend Tony Sheridan at the Lennon Remembered concert at the Liverpool Echo Arena.

Add to that list such Merseybeat alumni as The Searchers’ Mike Pender; The Merseybeats’ Billy Kinsley; The Hollies’ Terry Sylvester; The Swinging Blue Jeans’ Ray Ennis; The Mojos’ Nick Crouch; the late Undertakers frontman Geoff Nugent; The Big Three’s Brian Griffiths; Kingsize Taylor; Karl Terry; Beryl Marsden and Lee Curtis.

For This Is Merseybeat, they will be joined by guest artists Neil Ainsby as Gerry Marsden and Sophie Irene, stepping in at short notice to cover the Cilla Black role. Liverpool actor Paul Codman will be the host.

The poster for This Is Merseybeat’s visit to the Joseph Rowntree Theatre on August 6

“It’s very much a celebration, not only of Liverpool but also of the man who was the architect of the Merseybeat boom, Brian Epstein,” says Tony O’Keefe. “Uniquely, every song in the show was performed by a Liverpool Sixties’ artist and showcases the city’s world-beating musical heritage like no other touring production today.”

Here is Tony’s synopsis of the show. “It’s 1962 and there’s a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on in a backstreet beat cellar in Liverpool called the Cavern Club. This is Merseybeat, the Sixties’ sound of Liverpool, from the depths of Number 10, Mathew Street.

“The ‘Beat Boom’ starts here and during the next two years ‘Merseymania’ rules the world! You will hear the big Mersey Sound hits, classic Cavern stompers and a shot of rhythm & blues, with just a little rock’n’roll on the side, just for good measure, from The Beatles, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Searchers, Cilla Black, The Swinging Blue Jeans, The Merseybeats, The Big Three and many more. It’s the beat that’s hard to beat!”

Tony continues: “Merseybeat was the bedrock of the ‘Swinging Sixties’ and the key that opened the door for the British Beat Boom in 1963 and the worldwide British Invasion of 1964 with The Beatles leading the way.

“As our story unfolds, you will experience the birth of the beat in the Cavern Club right up to the ‘Merseymania’ hit parade years, when Liverpool established its formidable status as top of the pops!”

Next Saturday’s audience is invited to “experience the ‘Benzedrine beat’ up close and personal, in all its savage glory, with Liverpool’s premier beat merchants, The Shakers, as this fab beat combo perform the hits, misses, B-sides and lost classics from the golden age of Merseybeat with a passion and energy not seen since the heady days of the Sixties’ beat boom”.

“Our ethos is based around the early Sixties when beat music was at its most exciting, so don’t expect anything past 1965,” says Tony.

Tickets for this 7.30pm show are on sale at £18 on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

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REVIEW: NE Musicals York’s Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musical ****

Feathered finery: Tom Henshaw’s Adam/Felicia, left, Steve Tearle’s Bernadette and Finley Butler’s Tick/Mitzi in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musical

NE Musicals York in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Sunday, 7.30pm nightly plus 2.30pm matinees, Saturday and Sunday. Box office: 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk

YOU must have seen the lipstick-pink banners plastered all over town, pronouncing NE Musicals York’s hotter-than-July production of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert.

“With a cast of 30 and more than 300 costumes, this is not just a bus ride, it’s a two-hour rollercoaster of a ride,” promises creative director and producer Steve Tearle, his beard shaved off to play veteran drag queen Bernadette Bassenger, the Terence Stamp role in Stephan Elliott’s 1994 film that gave rise to this musical spin-off.

Stamp famously gave transgender Bernadette an apples-and-pears Cockney accent despite the setting of the Australian Outback. Blonde-wigged North Easterner Tearle goes for Aussie, although he is sometimes closer to Newcastle-upon-Tyne than Newcastle, New South Wales, but he carries off Bernadette’s regal disdain with such aplomb in his swaggering strut that it matters not a jot.

What’s more, in the tradition of Berwick Kaler’s pantomime dame, Tearle is never averse to ad-libbing, breaking down the fourth wall to comment on one line he dislikes having to say and later pleading to borrow his co-star’s wig to cover his shaven head when he had left off his hairpiece in a rushed costume change, duly bringing the house down.

No misunderstanding: Definitely Jack Hambleton’s Miss Understanding

Both moments in Wednesday’s opening night were very much in keeping with NE Musicals York’s determination for everyone – cast and audience alike – to have a fun, fabulous time, whether being taken by the hand to join in a country dance in the aisles or being a lucky recipient of a gift bag containing a pink ping-pong ball and Ginger Nuts biscuits in a nod to one of the show’s most memorable lines.

Tearle’s direction has gone for spectacle, glamour, flamboyance, drama, boldness and pride, rather than technical perfection, especially in the singing, and is rewarded with performances full of vitality and emotional clout and bags of ballsy humour too.

Big number after big number, from It’s Raining Men to I Love The Night Life, I Will Survive to Hot Stuff, MacArthur Park to the Finally finale, are exuberantly choreographed by Ellie Roberts, and the drag costumes grow ever louder and prouder.

Elliott and co-writer Allan Scott’s musical retains the film’s fearless humanity, frank, fruity humour and fabulous feathered finery while adding a Kylie medley for Tom Henshaw’s Felicia and so many dancefloor fillers.

Show time for Finley Butler’s Tick/Mitzi, Tom Henshaw’s Adam/Felicia and Steve Tearle’s Bernadette

Yet for all that peacock parade and the novelty of a bus on stage, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert is all the better for wearing its heart on its sleeve in its tale of the tiffs and the tantrums, the tears and the fears, the triumphs and the terrors as the three drag queens, Tearle’s waspish Bernadette, Henshaw’s reckless young Adam/Felicia Jollygoodfellow and Finley Butler’s Tick/Mitzi, journey from Sydney to Alice Springs across the Oz outback for Tick to meet Benji (Matthew Musk), the son he has always found excuses never to be with.

Subtlety is not to the fore in Priscilla, but both the script and Tearle’s direction provide just enough, not least in Bernadette’s burgeoning bond with mechanic Bob (James O’Neill) and Tick’s reunion with wife Marion (Melissa Boyd).

Ali Butler-Hind is a scream as Cynthia, Bob’s mail-order bride with her ping pong ball-firing party trick to M’s Pop Muzik. Perri-Ann Barley, Aileen Stables and Julie Blackburn’s Divas, Jack Hambleton’s Miss Understanding and the ensemble relish every scene.

Scott Phillips’s orchestra glistens as brightly as his attire in this Tearle twirl of a dazzling show that parks the bus so much more positively than Jose Mourinho ever did.

By Charles Hutchinson

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when money isn’t everything and friends mean more. List No. 90, from The Press

Joe Spud (Matthew Hudson) , front, centre, seeks friends in David Walliams’ Billionaire Boy when he has too much of everything else. Picture: Mark Douet

MUSICALS, a children’s show, outdoor concerts, burlesque, baroque music and mystery bring contrasts aplenty to Charles Hutchinson’s diary.

Family show of the week: Birmingham Stage Company in David Walliams’ Billionaire Boy, Grand Opera House, York, July 14 to 17

JOE Spud is the richest boy in the country. At 12, he has his own sports car, two pet crocodiles and £100,000-a-week pocket money from his father Len’s radical loo roll fortune.

What Joe lacks, alas, after the family’s move to a palatial house is a friend, whereupon he decides to leave his posh school for a new start at the local comp. Things do not go as planned, however, leading to his young life becoming a rollercoaster as he tries to find what money cannot buy. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.

Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s night of heroes and villains at the JoRo

Musical stories of the week: Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company Does Heroes And Villains, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm

A HERO. A villain. A power struggle between good and bad. An epic Act 1 finale. Sound familiar? Tonight, director Ben Huntley and musical director Jess Douglas bring to life the story of every musical you have ever seen in an evening of musical theatre songs for plucky protagonists and dastardly villains from Wicked, Hamilton, Sweeney Todd, The Sound Of Music and many more. 

Along the way, other key characters will help, or possibly hinder, these intrepid characters. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Elbow: Heading for Scarborough tonight

East Coast outdoor gig of the week: Elbow, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, tonight, gates, 6pm

PLAYING together since sixth-form college days in Bury in 1990 and taking the name Elbow since 1997, Guy Garvey’s band arrive in Scarborough on the back of releasing their ninth studio album, Flying Dream 1.

Fresh from last month’s Platinum Party at the Palace rendition of One Day Like This outside Buckingham Palace, Elbow head outdoors once more this weekend to perform Lippy Kids, My Sad Captains, Magnificent, New York Morning et al – and hopefully early gem Station Approach. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Bryan Adams: Quick return to the Yorkshire open air on Sunday

West Yorkshire open-air gig of the week: Bryan Adams, Harewood House, near Leeds, Sunday, gates, 6pm

CANADIAN rocker Bryan Adams plays his second outdoor show of the Yorkshire summer this weekend, following his July 1 appearance at Scarborough Open Air Theatre.

Adams, 61, will be showcasing his 15th studio album, So Happy It Hurts, and once more he will do Run To You, Cuts Like A Knife, Summer Of ’69, (Everything I Do) I Do It For You et al for you too. Box office: aegpresents.co.uk.

Simon Rodda in Heady Conduct Theatre’s Tiresias

Storytelling show of the week: Heady Conduct Theatre in Tiresias, Theatre At The Mill, Stillington, near York, Sunday, 7.30pm

HEADY Conduct Theatre’s short tour of their storytelling show of rejuvenated Greek myths and legends concludes at Stillington Mill this weekend, a long way from Tiresias’s previous performances pre-pandemic in New Zealand.

Co-artistic director Simon Rodda plays blind prophet Tiresias, who is given the gift to predict the future by Zeus, in a theatre piece about the extraordinary ability of humans to face adversity, often with mischief, humour and rebellion.

Rachel Barnes accompanies Rodda with singing and a live score on guitar and cello. Box office: atthemill.org.

Mikhail Lim’s Seymour is torn between Lauren Sheriston’s Audrey, left, and Emily Ramsden’s Audrey II in York Stage’s Little Shop Of Horrors

Anniversary of the week: York Stage in Little Shop Of Horrors, York Theatre Royal, July 14 to 23

YORK Stage make their York Theatre Royal debut with Nik Briggs’s 40th anniversary production of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s Fifties’ B-movie musical spoof.

Is there a way out of Skid Row, the New York ghetto where life is full of broken American dreams and dead ends? When flower shop assistant Seymour (Mikhail Lim) discovers a mysterious new plant with killer potential, hope may be on the horizon. So too fame, fortune and even romance with kind, sweet, delicate Audrey (Lauren Sheriston), but bloodthirsty Audrey II (Emily Ramsden) has other ideas. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

The poster for An Evening Of Burlesque at York Barbican

Glitz with a twist: An Evening Of Burlesque, York Barbican, July 21, 7pm

BRITAIN’S longest-running Burlesque variety show is bigger than ever on its latest tour with its 21st century twist on an old-fashioned blend of stylish cabaret, comedy, music, circus and burlesque.

Expect glitz and glamour, fun and feathers, fan dancing and fabulous costumes, speciality artistes and cabaret turns, circus stars and comedians, World Guinness record holders and champagne showgirls. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

filoBarocco: Performing baroque music at Explore York libraries

Exploring music: Baroque Around The Books community tour of Explore York libraries, July 21 and 22. UPDATE: MINI-TOUR CANCELLED

MUSICAL group filoBarocco is undertaking a Baroque Around The Books mini-tour of three community libraries in a new National Centre for Early Music initiative with Explore York supported by Culture & Wellbeing York.

filoBarocco will be visiting Acomb Explore on July 21 at 11am, Tang Hall Explore, July 21, 3.30pm, and Clifton Explore, July 22, 11am. Tickets are free but must be pre-booked at eventbrite.com/cc/baroque-around-the-books-735039.

Lucy Worsley: Uncovering the mysteries behind Agatha Christie’s life

History meets mystery: An Evening With Lucy Worsley On Agatha Christie, York Theatre Royal, September 26, 7.30pm

THE Queen of History will investigate the Queen of Crime in an illustrated talk that delves into the life of such an elusive, enigmatic 20th century figure.

Why did Agatha Christie spend her career pretending that she was just an ordinary housewife, a retiring Edwardian lady of leisure, when clearly she wasn’t? Agatha went surfing in Hawaii, loved fast cars and was intrigued by psychology, the new science that helped her through mental illness. 

Sharing her research of the storyteller’s personal letters and papers, writer, broadcaster, speaker and Historic Royal Palaces chief curator Lucy Worsley will uncover the real, revolutionary, thoroughly modern Christie. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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REVIEW: Jekyll & Hyde The Musical, York Musical Theatre Company

Steven Jobson’s Edward Hyde and Nicola Holliday’s Lucy Harris

York Musical Theatre Company in Jekyll & Hyde The Musical, York Musical Theatre Company, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, 7.30pm tonight; 2.30pm and 7.30pm tomorrow. Box office: 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

ON the only previous time CharlesHutchPress encountered Leslie Bricusse and Frank Wildhorn’s Broadway musical, at Leeds Grand Theatre in July 2011, this was his verdict.

“In a nutshell, it is a very good performance of a not particularly good musical adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella that has but one memorable song, This Is The Moment,” he wrote, before concluding: “A deliciously wicked way to spend tonight or tomorrow awaits you”.

Eleven years on, This Is The Moment continues to stand out, but once more, Jekyll & Hyde The Musical’s story of love, betrayal and murder hits the mark in performance, this time under the gothic-inspired direction of Matthew Clare.

The aforementioned 2011 touring production relied on the handsome pop star chops of Marti Pellow in the dual role of upstanding, if obsessive Dr Henry Jekyll and his vengeful, sadistic, chemically altered alter ego, Mr Edward Hyde.  

Director Matthew Clare

Clare goes with freelance actor, singer and voice actor Steven Jobson, whose love of performing was triggered by witnessing The Phantom Of The Opera at the age of 14, another show that ventures deep into the dark side.

Jobson can certainly act; he sings Jekyll & Hyde’s difficult, impassioned, narrative-driven songs adroitly too, and you can hear why he is a voice actor as he switches between the urbane, educated, tenor airs of the romantic scientist Jekyll and the guttural bass growl of Hyde, ably retaining the distinction in song.

In one early moment, his agitated singing voice for Hyde becomes muffled in the sound mix, but let’s put that down to this being the first night.

Jobson is equally convincing in his physical transformations, never straying into Hammer Horror melodrama. His monstrous madman always lurks within, those inner demons brought to the surface by reckless scientific brio as much as by his experiments.

Alexandra Mather vowed to make Jekyll’s trusting, unknowing fiancée, Emma Carew, more three-dimensional than on the page, and she delivers on that promise in her characterisation, while her pure, operatic voice wholly suits the score.

Nick Sephton’s Sir Danvers Carew

Director Clare has decided to split the role of love-struck but fearful prostitute Lucy Harris between York musical theatre regular and radio presenter Claire Pulpher (next performance, Saturday matinee) and Scarborough professional Nicola Holliday in her YMTC debut. Holliday was on duty on Wednesday, growing into her performance the more she sang, conveying both Lucy’s untrusting, self-protective nature and quest for love.

Strong support comes from Anthon Gardner’s lawyer John Utterson and Nick Sephton’s Sir Danvers Carew, and the ensemble relishes Bring On The Men, choreographed sassily by Hannah Wakelam.

John Atkin’s band is in good order throughout, steering the path between big balladry in the Lloyd Webber mode and a sly wickedness more in keeping with Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street.

Costumes and wigs serve the primary role in evoking the Victorian era; the plain set design, by comparison, is a modern construction of metal stairways and a mezzanine level, more in keeping with a pop concert, but the use of blue lighting to denote Jekyll and red for Hyde is effective.  Everyone stands, no-one sits, such is the restless, unrelenting, unnerving progression from Jekyll to hellish Hyde.

Director Clare had called Jekyll & Hyde a “niche musical”, but he has successfully brought it out of the shadows, and in Steven Jobson he has found just the man for the job.

Review by Charles Hutchinson

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when not only the Mouse will play in all weathers. List No. 83, courtesy of The Press

Behind you! Behind you: Will The Gruffalo pounce on Mouse in Tall Stories’ The Gruffalo?

POLITICS, the weather, monsters, Sixties and Eighties’ favourites, comedy songs and a north eastern tornado all are talking points for Charles Hutchinson for the week ahead.

Children’s show of the week: Tall Stories in The Gruffalo, Grand Opera House, York, today, 1pm and 3pm; tomorrow, 11am and 2pm

JOIN Mouse on a daring adventure through the deep, dark wood in Tall Stories’ magical, musical, monstrous adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s picture book, suitable for children aged three upwards.

Searching for hazelnuts, Mouse meets cunning Fox, eccentric old Owl and high-spirited Snake. Will the story of the terrifying Gruffalo save Mouse from becoming dinner for these hungry woodland creatures? After all, there is no such thing as a Gruffalo – or is there? Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.

True or false: Is Tony Hadley playing York Barbican on Sunday? True!

Eighties’ nostalgia of the week: Tony Hadley, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm

I KNOW this much is true: smooth London crooner Tony Hadley is celebrating 40 years in the music business with a 2022 tour that focuses on both his Spandau Ballet and solo years.

Once at the forefront of the New Romantic pop movement, Islington-born Hadley, 61, is the velvet voice of hits such as True, Gold, Chant No. 1, Instinction and Paint Me Down and solo numbers Lost In Your Love and Tonight Belongs To Us. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Up and at’em, Fladam: York musical comedy duo Florence Poskitt and Adam Sowter

Comedy songs of the week: Fladam & Friends, Let’s Do It Again!, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, today at 2.30pm and 7.30pm

YORK musical comedy duo Fladam, alias Florence Poskitt and piano-playing partner Adam Sowter, vowed to return after last year’s Hootenanny, and return they will this weekend. But can they really “do it again?”, they ask. Is a sequel ever as good?

Mixing comic classics from Victoria Wood with fabulous Fladam originals, plus a sneak peak of this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe debut, this new show will “either be the Empire Strikes Back of musical comedy sequels or another case of Grease 2”. Tickets to find out which one: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Always take a brolly with you just in case: Mikron Theatre Company’s James Mclean, left, Hannah Bainbridge, Alice McKenna and Thomas Cotran on tour in Lindsay Rodden’s all-weathers play, Red Sky At Night. Picture: Liz Baker

Whatever the weather, nothing stops Mikron Theatre Company in Red Sky At Night, Scarcroft Allotments, York, Sunday, 2pm

HAYLEY’S sunny, beloved dad was the nation’s favourite weatherman. Now, she is following in his footsteps, joining the ranks of the forecasting fraternity, or at least local shoestring teatime telly.

When the pressure drops and dark clouds gather, Hayley melts faster than a lonely snowflake. She may be the future’s forecast, but will anyone listen in Lindsay Rodden’s premiere, toured by Marsden company Mikron’s 50th anniversary troupe of James Mclean, Hannah Bainbridge, Alice McKenna and Thomas Cotran. No tickets are required; a Pay What You Feel collection will be taken after the show.

Stop Stop Start: The Hollies’ rearranged 60th anniversary tour will arrive at York Barbican on Monday

Sixties’ nostalgia of the week: The Hollies, 60th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, Monday, 7.30pm

MOVED from September 2021, with tickets still valid, this 60th anniversary celebration of the Manchester band features a line-up of two original members, drummer Bobby Elliott and lead guitarist Tony Hicks, joined by lead singer Peter Howarth, bassist Ray Stiles, keyboardist Ian Parker and rhythm guitarist Steve Lauri.

Expect He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, I Can’t Let Go, Just One Look, Bus Stop, I’m Alive, Carrie Anne, On A Carousel, Jennifer Eccles, Sorry Suzanne, The Air That I Breathe and more besides. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Giving an earful: Bettrys Jones’s Ellen Wilkinson MP, left, has a word with Laura Evelyn’s British Communist activist Isabel Brown in Red Ellen

A bit of politics of the week: Northern Stage in Red Ellen, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2pm, Thursday; 2.30pm, Saturday

CAROLINE Bird’s new play turns the overdue spotlight on “Mighty Atom” Ellen Wilkinson, the crusading Labour MP cast forever on the right side of history, but the wrong side of life.

Caught between revolutionary and parliamentary politics, Ellen fights with an unstoppable, reckless energy for a better world, whether battling to save Jewish refugees in Nazi Germany; leading 200 workers on the Jarrow Crusade; serving in Churchill’s war cabinet or becoming the first female Minister for Education. Yet somehow she still finds herself on the outside looking in.​ Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Steven Jobson, as Jekyll/Hyde, and Nicola Holliday, as Lucy Harris, in York Musical Theatre Company’s photocall for Jekyll & Hyde The Musical at York Castle Museum

Musical of the week: York Musical Theatre Company in Jekyll & Hyde The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Wednesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2.30pm, Saturday matinee

BE immersed in the myth and mystery of London’s fog-bound streets where love, betrayal and murder lurk at every chilling twist and turn in Matthew Clare’s production of Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse’s musical adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s epic struggle between good and evil.

Steven Jobson plays the dual role of Dr Henry Jekyll and Mr Edward Hyde in the evocative tale of two men – one, a doctor, passionate and romantic; the other, a terrifying madman – and two women – one, beautiful and trusting; the other, beautiful and trusting only herself– both women in love with the same man and both unaware of his dark secret. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Coastal call: Sam Fender kicks off the 2022 season at Scarborough Open Air Theatre

Award winner of the week: Sam Fender, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, May 27, gates open at 6pm

WINNER earlier this week of the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically for his Seventeen Going Under single, North Shields singer-songwriter Sam Fender opens the 2022 Scarborough Open Air Theatre summer season next Friday.

Already Fender, 28, has the 2022 Brit Award for Best British Alternative/Rock Act in his bag as he heads down the coast to perform his frank, intensely personal, high-octane songs from 2019’s Hypersonic Missiles and 2021’s Seventeen Going Under. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.