West End stars Tobias Turley and Rachel Grundy to join Cinderella panto cast at Grand Opera House from December 6

Meet Prince Charming and Cinderella, Tobias Turley and Rachel Grundy, in UK Productions’ Cinderella at the Grand Opera House, York

WEST End performers Tobias Turley and Rachel Grundy are joining the pantomime cast for Cinderella at the Grand Opera House, York, from December 6 to January 4 2026.

Turley, breakout star of ITV’s Mamma Mia! I Have A Dream, will play Prince Charming, opposite musical theatre actress Grundy as Cinderella in the UK Productions show.

Somerset-born Turley rose to fame as the winner of the 2023 series, captivating audiences with his commanding vocal performances. Since then, he has lit up stages in Mamma Mia! The MusicalHeathers The MusicalHot Mess and West Side Story.

This winter he will bring his velvet voice and romantic flair to a festive performance that “promises to sweep audiences off their feet”. “I’m really looking forward to stepping into the role of Prince Charming in York this Christmas,” says Tobias. “It’s a fantastic story, and I can’t wait to be part of the fun and festive magic of panto season.”

Grundy’s musical theatre credits span the West End and major UK tours. Known for her vocal power and stage charm, she has played Janet in The Rocky Horror Show, Brooke in Legally Blonde: The Musical, and Dinah in Starlight Express.

Her Cinderella will bring a mix of modern sparkle and heartfelt storytelling to the classic fairytale heroine. “I’m over the moon to be playing Cinderella in York this Christmas!” says Rachel. “Panto season is always such a magical time, and it’s a dream come true to don the glass slippers in such a stunning city. I’ll be sweeping from the Shambles to the stage – and I can’t wait to bring some sparkle to the beautiful Grand Opera House!”

Josh Brown, venue director for the Grand Opera House York, says: “Tobias and Rachel come with strong West End credentials and will be a huge hit in York. We’re thrilled to welcome such exceptional talent to the Grand Opera House stage in what will be another hugely popular, show-stopping panto from UK Productions.”

Taking on the role of the Fairy Godmother will be musical theatre performer, singer and Coronation Street alumna Lisa George, who played Beth Tinker on the Weatherfield cobbles for a decade.

Jimmy Bryant’s Buttons, Lisa George’s Fairy Godmother and Luke Attwood’s Harmony Hard Up and Brandon Nicholson’s Melody Hard Up in Cinderella

Casting spells, commanding laughs and guiding the heroine on her journey to the ball, she will be equal parts maternal, magical and mischievous in a performance of grace, gusto and glitter.

Comedy performer Jimmy Bryant will bring buckets of warmth, cheek and infectious energy to Buttons. Stealing scenes (and shoes) will be the Ugly Sisters, played with outrageous flair, sky-high heels and industrial-strength hairspray by West End drag stars Luke Attwood and Brandon Nicholson.

Here comes a “double dose of diva energy, armed with cutting one-liners, scandalous shade and a wardrobe so fierce it should come with flashing lights and a fire hazard warning”.

They promise to wreak havoc with style and to sabotage the slipper with flair, delivering their Harmony and Melody Hard Up double act with “costume changes quicker than a royal scandal, insults wrapped in rhinestones and comedic timing so sharp it could slice through a pumpkin carriage”.

“Cinderella and Prince Charming better watch their backs,” warn Attwood and Nicholson. “Because this year, it’s not about finding the shoe, it’s about stealing the spotlight. We’ve got the looks, the legs and the lungs to belt a ballad from Bootham to Blackpool. York, darling, prepare yourselves…the real stars of the ball have arrived!”

At the heart of Cinderella will be a new script by Jon Monie, winner of Best Script at the Great British Pantomime Awards, whose writing combines snappy dialogue and set-pieces with nods to pantomime traditions, contemporary wit and magical storytelling.

Martin Dodd, of UK Productions, enthuses: “This year’s Cinderella is supercharged with energy, glamour and world-class talent. With stars of the West End and screen lighting up the stage, this production is bursting with magic, music and mayhem. From jaw-dropping vocals to laugh-out-loud comedy, it’s pantomime at its absolute finest, unmissable, unforgettable and undeniably spectacular!”

“Tickets are flying faster than Cinderella’s coach at midnight; don’t be the one left holding a pumpkin,” says Ryan Harper, head of marketing and communications. “Book now, or risk missing the most magical, side-splitting, show-stopping event in York this Christmas!”

For tickets, go to: atgtickets.com/york.

REVIEW: Dear Evan Hansen, having good days at Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday *****

Good day…or not? Ryan Kopel’s Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen

DEAR Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day, and here’s why. “Words Fail” may be Evan’s climactic song in this Nottingham Playhouse touring production of Benji Pasek, Justin Paul and Steven Levenson’s musical, but words will not fail this review’s  praise of the Olivier, Tony and Grammy Best Musical award winner.

Pasek and Paul were the Oscar-gilded composers of The Greatest Showman and La La Land, and nine years since its premiere, director Adam Penford re-imagines this similarly impactful work through a contemporary lens.

He does so with an “exciting mix of musical theatre legends and rising stars”: his stellar company being led by Ryan Kopel (from Newsies) as Evan Hansen, Lauren Conroy (Into The Woods)as Zoe Murphy, although she was absent on press night,  and West End luminary Alice Fearn (Wicked, Come From Away) as Evan’s mum, Heidi.

Kopel’s Evan is a friendless, bullied, 17-year-old American high school senior struggling with social anxiety and depression, who would like nothing more than to fit in and befriend Zoe Murphy (Tuesday understudy Lara Beth-Sas). Especially with his mother Heidi (Fearn) always being too busy with her nursing work and legal studies to see him,  and his father long absent.

Evan’s therapist (the never-seen Dr Sherman) asks him to write letters to himself – the Dear Evan Hansen letters of the title – as a therapeutic exercise to explore his feelings and boost his positivity when courage and words desert him in the presence of others.

“Dear Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day, and here’s why,” each letter should start. Except that for Evan, they either don’t start at all or when one finally does, today is going to be anything but a good day. That letter is snatched off him by fellow friendless school outsider, Zoe’s brother, Connor (Will Forgrave, understudying Killian Thomas Lefevre), Dear Evan Hansen’s riff on Heathers’ JD.

It will be the last words Connor ever reads, spoiler alert. When Connor’s parents (Helen Anker’s Cynthia and Richard Hurst’s baseball-loving American jock Larry) assume it to be his suicide note, Evan tries to explain otherwise, but words fail him, and so, trouble this way lies…

…And lies and lies again as the lies pile up, a form of self-preservation that utilises the writing skills of Puck-like family friend Jared Keinman’s (Tom Dickerson) to concoct past text messages from the outsiders’ “secret friendship”, along with the relentless drive of social media “ambulance chaser” Alana Beck (Vivian Panka) to set up a fundraising appeal to reopen the orchard where the two teens met.

In doing so, he deceives Connor’s parents and Zoe, as she starts to warm to him. The thing is, it’s not that simple. Yes, he is lying, but he is doing so to comfort them, to make them feel better, to build a full picture that puts the destructive, nihilistic Connor in a better light.

You should find yourself at Dear Evan Hansen this week

The other thing is, it’s not that simple either, because suddenly he has Zoe where he always wanted her to be, with him.  Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma! What would you have done in these circumstances?

Evan has an angel on one shoulder, but the heavier tug of the devil on the other, so how much does everything come down to him, or are Jared and Alana complicit too by seeing an opportunity to further their own popularity? Could the pre-occupied Heidi have done more to guide him?

Pasek and Paul’s wonderful songs and Leversen’s witty, sharp, probing dialogue addresses Evan’s rising predicament with admirable complexity. Not only his mother will tell him he is not a bad lad; chances are you will feel that way too, and the compassion that ultimately prevails does not seem unreasonable. Kindness wins out here; you wish it would more often in a world in such a rotten state.

Recalling Joshua Jenkins’s remarkable performance as neuro-divergent schoolboy Christopher Boone in the National Theatre’s The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time – although Christopher was incapable of lying – Ryan Kopel gives the outstanding lead performance of the year in a touring musical. So much pent-up energy, so much inner turmoil, expressed in movement, expression, vocal mannerisms and angelic, pure singing voice.

Beth-Sas’s Zoe is part rose, part thorn; Fearn brings West End star quality to Heidi, especially in her devastating showdown with Evan and her rendition of So Big/So Small, but Forgrave’s Connor could be darker (to match LeFevre’s haunting, gothic presence at Leeds Grand Theatre last November).

Dickerson amuses as scene-stealing prankster Jared, while Panka’s Alana is as persistent as a bee trying to escape from a window. You absolutely connect with Anker and Hurst’s struggling parents too.

Michael Bradley’s band are on top form, especially the beautiful strings, in a score of powerful, emotive, melodic song after song from the heart, topped by Waving Through A Window and You Will Be Found.

Top marks too to Penford’s exhilarating, emotionally-layered direction; Carrie-Anne Ingrouille’s brisk, punchy choreography to rival her work in SIX The Musical;  Morgan Large’s set (and costume) design, with its use of sliding, see-through doors, and the state-of-the-art video design by Ravi Deepres, complemented by Tom Marshall’s cacophonous sound design.

Do not miss this Generation Z musical with far wider appeal.

Dear Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day, and here’s why. You are going to book tickets NOW for a 7.30pm evening performance, tonight until Saturday, or 2.30pm matinee on Friday or Saturday. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

‘Together we can help shape a future where young men feel empowered, understood and supported,’ says Menfulness chief exec Jack Woodhams as York charity visits GOH

Menfulness team members meet the Dear Evan Hansen cast, including Ryan Kopel (Evan Hansen), centre, on the Grand Opera House stage

THIS week’s run of Dear Evan Hansen at the Grand Opera House offers opportunities to discuss often stigmatised issues such as mental health, loneliness and identity, especially among young people.

On Tuesday, the theatre’s nominated charity, Menfulness, visited the Cumberland Street venue, being on hand for members of the audience to talk with if they had any questions.  

Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of a teenager with a social anxiety disorder that inhibits his ability to connect with his peers. The York wellbeing and suicide prevention charity, dedicated to supporting men’s mental health, is campaigning to support young men as they navigate adulthood in the complex world of 2025. 

The charity has received numerous requests to deliver workshops focusing on masculinity, choices and the challenges faced by this age group.

Menfulness chief executive officer Jack Woodhams says: We believe we can make a significant and lasting impact through tailored workshops and reflective journals. These new projects will be co-produced with young men, ensuring their voices and experiences shape the content. 

The Menfulness team with Grand Opera House venue director Josh Brown, second from left, theatre manager Kat Moir and University of York research fellow Emma Standley, who is helping to co-ordinate the campaign

“The sessions will be designed to be delivered in school settings, fostering open conversation, emotional awareness and positive decision making.  Together we can help shape a future where young men feel empowered, understood and supported.”

Grand Opera House venue director Josh Brown says: We’re really proud to support Menfulness as our nominated charity for 2025, and Dear Evan Hansen is a fitting collaboration for raising awareness of the important work they do.  

“Dear Evan Hansen is about mental health struggles in the modern world, and the importance of community and support to finding self-acceptance; work that Menfulness recognises and does great work to help people with. 

“QR codes will be around the building, which visitors can scan to find out more about Menfulness, access support, or kindly donate. Mental health charities such as Menfulness are very much needed in the world, and we are delighted to help spread the word of the fantastic work they do.”

Dear Evan Hansen  is a poignant coming-of-age story with themes of social anxiety, loneliness and grief, but also connection, support, self-acceptance and, above all, hope. Menfulness promotes support for young people, highlighting the message that they are not alone. A message that  Evan ultimately comes to understand when he tells himself: Today is going to be a good day, because today at least you’re you. And that’s enough.”.

Menfulness team with Josh Brown (Venue Director), Kat Moir (Theatre Manager) and Emma Standley (Research Fellow at the University of York who is helping to co-ordinate the campaign)

Buttons up for laughs at Grand Opera House as Jimmy Bryant confirmed for Cinderella from December 6 to January 4

Jimmy Bryant: Second signing for Grand Opera House pantomime Cinderella

FROM immersive Peaky Blinders to pantomime pratfalls in York, Jimmy Bryant will be shining as Buttons in Cinderella at the Grand Opera House this winter.

He joins Coronation Street star Lisa George’s Fairy Godmother in the UK Productions cast, bringing his mischief, warmth and comic instincts for the unexpected to his kind-hearted role.

Actor, comic performer and host Jimmy – or James Bryant as his Peaky Blinders: The Rise profile called him when he played Al Capone – has appeared as Herr Kutte in Jack And The Beanstalk (Cheltenham Playhouse); Costard in Love’s Labour’s Lost (Cockpit Theatre); Cockfosters (Southwark Playhouse); the British tour of In The Dead Of The Night  and Dr Who: Time Fracture (BBC/Immersive Everywhere).

Ever the opportunist happy to do “some very odd work”, he has performed with the Australian electronic band Pendulum on tour and even served as a fake vicar at a real wedding: testament to his gift for live performance and irreverent humour.

Bryant also played Donnie in The Immersive Wolf Of Wall Street (Stratton Oakmont Productions) and his film credits include Morris in Pinky! (ESA Films) and Robbed The The Movie, written and directed by Bryant himself.

Lisa George: On wand-waving duty as Fairy Godmother in Cinderella

“Previously I’ve been Velcro and Zips, so now I’m absolutely buzzing to be playing Buttons in Cinderella at the Grand Opera House, York,” says Jimmy. “Expect belly laughs, bad jokes (all mine), and a lot of unrequited love for Cinders.

“Tickets are selling faster than I can zip up my tunic, so what are you waiting for? Grab yours now before they come undone faster than a dodgy popper in a quick change.” 

As with 2024-2025’s Beauty And The Beast, Cinderella will be written by Great British Pantomime Awards Best Script winner Jon Monie, winner, promising comic invention, fast-paced dialogue and affectionate nods to classic panto traditions, from slapstick set-pieces to heart-tugging moments of magic and the transformation scene.

Jimmy Bryant: Actor, comic performer and immersive theatre enthusiast

UK Productions’ pantomimes are marked byWest End-quality visual and musical spectacle, utilising “glittering costumes, high-energy dance routines, intricate lighting design and jaw-dropping stage effects designed to dazzle children and adults alike”.

UK Productions’ producer Martin Dodd says: “We are absolutely delighted to be bringing Cinderella to York this Christmas. At UK Productions, we take pride in staging pantomimes that combine traditional storytelling with top-tier production values, and this year’s show will be one of our most magical yet.

“Jimmy Bryant is a brilliant comic talent with an extraordinary rapport with audiences. He brings warmth, mischief and a huge heart to the role of Buttons. Alongside a first-class creative team and Jon Monie’s award-winning script, Cinderella will be a spectacular, heartfelt and hilarious show that families will talk about long after the curtain comes down.”

Grand Opera House venue director Josh Brown says: “We can’t wait to welcome Jimmy to the Grand Opera House with guaranteed fun in the role of Buttons. It will be another hugely popular musical panto, and we’re looking forward to seeing you all at the ball.” 

Cinderella runs at Grand Opera House, York, from December 6 to January 4 2026. Box office: atgtickets.com/york. Early booking is advised. 



Previously he’s been Velcro and Zips, so now he’s looking forward to the challenge of Buttons!