Tag: Leeds Grand Theatre

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Dianne & Vito to star in Burn The Floor’s new show Red Hot And Ready at York Barbican and Leeds Grand Theatre in July

The poster for Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola’s Red Hot And Ready, presented by Burn The Floor at York Barbican and Leeds Grand Theatre in July

STRICTLY Come Dancing’s stellar professional dancers, 2024 winner Dianne Buswell and 2024 runner-up Vito Coppola, will head to York Barbican on July 6 on their Red Hot And Ready tour.

Created by Jason Gilkison, the new show will dance its way round the UK in June and July, visiting 30 venues including Leeds Grand Theatre on July 18 and 19.


The tour will be presented by Burn The Floor in the international company’s return to the UK as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations. 


Billed as “a dynamic new dance show with a difference”, Red Hot And Ready brings together Buswell, Coppola and a cast of multi-disciplined Burn The Floor dancers from around the world, accompanied by vocalists and a band.


Red Hot And Ready will be “the ultimate high-voltage dance extravaganza, exploding with jaw-dropping choreography, heart-pounding music and breathtaking moves, from seriously sexy to irresistibly charming, and celebrating the pure joy of dance”. 

Buswell has been a two-time finalist during her seven Strictly years, winning the 2024 Glitter Ball trophy with comedian Chris McCausland and is noted for her fun, quirky personality, dynamic dance style and flaming red locks.

Coppola, the 2023 winner with actress Ellie Leach and 2024 runner-up with actress Sarah Hadland, has become a favourite with audiences in his two Strictly years, marked by both his terpsichorean flair and cheeky humour. 

Buswell says: “I am truly excited to be going on tour with our magnificent new show with the most phenomenal partner, Vito, and to sharing the love and the energy as we dance for you.” 

Coppola says: “I can’t wait to be on tour with the amazing, beautiful, vibrant Dianne Buswell. It’s going to be Red, it’s going to be Hot, and we are going to be super Ready to bring to you so much joy and smiles and happiness.” 

Show creator and choreographer Jason Gilkison says: “I am feeling blessed to be coming home to Burn The Floor and creating a new show for the first time in ten years. To have Dianne and Vito leading this dynamic cast really guarantees an unforgettable experience for our audience.”

Burn The Floor is credited widely with kick-starting the modern ballroom dance revolution following its 1999 world premiere in Bournemouth. The explosive show was ahead of its time in combining the art and tradition of ballroom with rock’n’roll technology. 


Heading into its in 26th year, Burn The Floor has revolutionised ballroom style on stages around the world with its mesmerising choreography, ground-breaking moves, dazzling costumes and sets and infectious, rebellious energy.

 
Italian-born Coppola began dancing at seven and is a three-time World Championship finalist and a European Cup winner. Buswell, former Australian Open champion and four-time Amateur Australian Open finalist,  joined Burn The Floor in 2007.


Choreographer and BAFTA award recipient Gilkison’s involvement with Burn The Floor began as lead dancer in 1999. He took up the role of choreographer and artistic director in 2001, leading the show on several world tours and visiting more than 40 countries, including a box office-smashing season on Broadway in 2009/2010, followed by a West End season in London.

He became creative director for Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One) and is a judge and choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance in Australia and the USA.

Over the years, Gilkison has choreographed for Cher, Celine Dion, Robbie Williams, Andrea Bocelli, Kylie Minogue, Take That, Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett and many more.

Dianne Buswell & Vito Coppola in Red Hot And Ready, York Barbican, July 6, 7.30pm; Leeds Grand Theatre, July 18, 7.30pm, and July 19, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

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Abbie Budden dives into the dangerous liaisons of Cruel Intentions in her debut tour at Grand Opera House from tonight

Abbie Budden as Annette Hargrove in Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical. Picture: Pamela Raith

ABBIE Budden is surrounded by an entirely new cast as she reprises her role of Annette Hargrove in the 2025 tour of Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical, playing the Grand Opera House, York, from tonight to Saturday.

Last year, Abbie made her professional bow aged 20  in the London premiere of Jordan Ross, Lindsey Rosin and Roger Kumble’s New York musical, based on Kumble’s too-cool-for-school  1999 film.

“I’m the only returning cast member from that show at The Other Palace Theatre in Victoria, and it’s been really lovely to revisit it, bringing new elements to it,” says Abbie, who is working again with director Jonathan O’Boyle and choreographer Gary Lloyd.

“The London run flew by and I just didn’t feel I’d finished with it after those five months, so it’s been liberating to come back for three weeks of rehearsals before we opened at Windsor Theatre Royal last Thursday. “

Why was it ‘unfinished business’, Abbie? “It’s always on reflection that you think ‘there is so much more I could have done’, and I’m now finding so many new moments for Annette, bouncing off new members of the cast. 

“But I had an amazing time in London, and as last year was my professional debut, it felt so special to me, and I now come back to the show having had more experiences since then. I did Title Of Show, at Phoenix Arts Theatre and Southwark Playhouse, which was a very different show: a musical about two people writing a musical.

“It was a very meta piece of theatre with a cast of four, the writers and two friends, based on a real story. That was a lot of fun to do, as was playing Jill in my first pantomime  in Jack And The Beanstalk at Ipswich Regent Theatre, and now Cruel Intentions feels like a new challenge again.”

Inspired by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Cruel Intentions is rooted in a cruel bet where Kathryn Merteuil (Nic Myers) goads step-brother Sebastian Valmont (Will Callan) into attempting to seduce Annette Hargrove, the headmaster’s virtuous daughter at their exclusive Manhattan high school. 

Weaving a web of secrets and temptation, their crusade wreaks havoc but soon the co-conspirators become entangled in their own web of deception and unexpected romance with explosive results. 

Abbie Budden in her debut professional role as Annette Hargrove in last year’s London production of Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical. Picture: Pamela Raith

What a debut role and debut show for Abbie. “I didn’t train at drama college,” she reveals. “I jumped straight into the industry last year at the age of 20. Now I’m 21, and I feel they have really nurtured me. It was exciting but terrifying last year, but now I can be playful with the role with full confidence.

“Last year I learnt so much about myself, just how capable I am – and eight shows a week is tough for anyone.”

After landing such a role on the London stage when so young, Abbie found imposter syndrome kicking in. “But I think that is something that never goes away in this industry: that constant need to prove yourself,” she says. “It’s a feeling that you really have to try to switch off.  Be confident that you’re meant to be here. You just have to remind yourself that you were chosen for a reason.”

Although Abbie has not studied for a drama degree, “as soon as I could, I was wearing dancing shows, from the age of three, growing up in Horsham in West Sussex” she says. “I loved the drama department at my school, Tanbridge House School, and did sessions twice a week and lots of productions at Showdown Theatre Arts, where I found my passion for the arts.

“I did an exchange programme to Baltimore, going to New York too, and that felt like a step into performing that couldn’t have come at a better time before jumping into professional theatre last year.”

Abbie confesses that she had not seen the film until the audition. “The moment I watched it, I loved it. I remember gasping and squealing at how outrageous it was – and chaotic too! The plot really keeps you guessing and Roger Kumble’s script is so cutting. I instantly connected with Annette, knowing it was so right for me as a role,” she says

“Though it’s strongly a 1990s’ film – and placing it in Upper East Side, New York, makes it even more iconic – its themes are still almost painfully relevant.

“Our version plays it slightly different to the film, still taking inspiration from those iconic characters, but I’ve really found my own Annette, where she matches Sebastian at his game. There’s no time where she’s weak or is a victim of Sebastian.

“The Gwen Stefani song that Annette sings, Just A Girl, is telling the world that she yearns to be more than innocent, to be rebellious. She definitely does have a lot of control throughout, and doesn’t lose that; it’s her self-control that she struggles with, showing vulnerability with that.”

The show poster for Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical, playing Grand Opera House, York, Leeds Grand Theatre and Hull New Theatre

As the show title indicates, Cruel Intentions is  packed with 1990s’ pop gold dust, from Stefani, Britney Spears, Boyz II Men and Christina Aguilera to TLC, R.E.M., Ace Of Base, Natalie Imbruglia and The Verve.

“I almost wish all the songs were in the film because they suit the story so well, and what separates this show from other jukebox musicals is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously,” says Abbie.

What is her favourite number? “Torn. The Natalie Imbruglia song. It’s an absolute banger. If I ever went out to a karaoke night, that would be my number one choice – and it’s a real turning point in the show, where she doesn’t know where she will go from there,” she says.

Abbie also sings Lovefool, the one from the swimming pool scene; Counting Crows’ Colorblind – “a gorgeous moment in the film that’s so honest and sincere on stage that you  really feel the audience go quiet” – and Foolish Games.

“That’s my big ‘belty’ solo in the show, where I do songs that give me lots of contrast, from ‘thrashy’ to beautiful, so Annette really gets to go on an emotional rollercoaster.”

What is the ultimate moral of Cruel Intentions, Abbie? “It’s weird because the characters are pretty devious and do some devious things, but because they’re teenagers and playing games, audiences fall in love with them,” she says.

“But the moral behind it is that there’s a dark side behind privilege, where they’re able to brush everything off with their wealth, which doesn’t just apply to the 1990s. A lot of people will connect with that thing of making questionable decisions as a teenager, but there’s a playful energy to the show as well darkness.”

On the road until the end of June, Abbie is visiting York for the first time this week. “I’ve never been there, so it’ll be lovely to see places on this tour that I’ve never been before,” she says. The further Yorkshire delights of Leeds and Hull await in May.  

Bill Kenwright Ltd presents Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm; tomorrow, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; Thursday, 7.30pm; Friday, 5pm and 8.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Age guidance: 15 plus. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Also playing: Leeds Grand Theatre, May 6 to 10, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com; Hull New Theatre, May 13 to 17, 01482 300306 or hulltheatres.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond the last-minute shopping rush. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 52, from The Press, York

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

THE myriad delights of Christmas entertainment shine through Charles Hutchinson’s tips to vacate the festive fireside.

Dickens at Christmas, but not A Christmas Carol: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until December 30. 7.30pm performances on December 21, 27, 28 and 30, plus 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees. No performances on December 23 to 26

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

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

Harris Beattie and Jonathan Hanks in Northern Ballet’s revival of A Christmas Carol at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture: Tristram Kenton

Christmas ballet of the week: Northern Ballet in A Christmas Carol, Leeds Grand Theatre, until January 4 2025

FIRST choreographed by Massimo Morricone and directed by Christopher Gable in 1992, Northern Ballet’s retired landmark production of A Christmas Carol is being revisited by director Federico Bonelli to the glee of longtime supporters and new audiences alike.

“Charles Dickens’s classic Victorian tale of redemption, with its message of human kindness and compassion, is something that resonates with us all, especially at this time of year,” says Bonelli. “Its iconic characters lend themselves so well to ballet”, complemented by Lez Brotherston’s colourful sets and costumes and Carl Davis’s festive score. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Holly Cassidy and Grace Hussey-Burd in a scene from Riding Lights Theatre Company’s winter show A Christmas Cracker. Picture: Tom Jackson

Alternative Nativity play of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in A Christmas Cracker, Friargate Theatre, York, today to Christmas Eve, 11am and 1.30pm each day; 6pm, first three days; 4pm, last day

IN Paul Birch’s first play as artistic director of Riding Lights, world-famous storyteller Ebenezer Sneezer is lost, with snow in her wellies and faithful canine companion Cracker full of strange ideas about Christmas.

When caught taking shelter in Mrs McGinty’s barn, she allows them to stay on the condition that Ebenezer brings her glad tidings with her stories. If so, a hot supper awaits. If not, exit pronto. Ebenezer must triumph over not only Mrs McGinty’s frozen heart but also Deadly, a dastardly donkey ready to kick comfort and joy out of his stable. Box office: 01904 613000 or ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.

The poster for The Snowman screenings with live orchestra at York Barbican

Christmas film & music event of the week: The Snowman with Live Orchestra, York Barbican, Sunday, 1pm and 4pm

CARROT Productions presents two screenings of Dianne Jackson and Jimmy T Murakami’s animated 1982 film with the accompaniment of a live orchestra of professional musicians.

Raymond Briggs’s story of a young boy’s Christmas snowman magically coming to life for a journey to meet Santa Claus will be shown with The Snowman And The Snowdog at 1pm and The Bear, The Piano, The Dog And The Fiddle at 4pm. Each show includes a fun introduction to the orchestra and a visit from the Snowman himself. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Shed Seven’s Paul Banks and Rick Witter: Performing as an acoustic duo at Huntington Working Men’s Club in the last gigs of their 30th anniversary celebrations this weekend. Picture: David Harrison

Recommended but sold out already: Shed Seven’s Rick Witter and Paul Banks, Huntington Working Men’s Club, York, tonight and Sunday, doors 7pm

AFTER two number one albums in a year, summer shows in York Museum Gardens and their biggest ever tour, Shed Seven end their 30th anniversary celebrations back home in York, where lead singer Rick Witter and guitarist Paul Banks play a weekend of acoustic sets in the intimate setting of a working men’s club.

“We’re finishing the year in the village where Rick and I first met back in 1984, and where all of this began,” says Banks. “What a journey we’ve been on.” Sheds’ bassist Tom Gladwin serves up a DJ set too. Box office for returns only: store.shedseven.com.

Nun better: Freida Nipples hosts her Baps & Buns burlesque Christmas cabaret at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb

Feast your eyes on: Freida Nipples’ Baps & Buns Burlesque Christmas Cabaret, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, tonight, 8pm; doors open at 7pm

YORK’S queen of burlesque, Freida Nipples, presents drag, comedy and showgirls in her Baps & Buns Christmas Cabaret with festive good cheer after a joyous year of shows at Rise, Acomb’s answer to Paris’s Folies Bergère.

“Prepare yourself for an evening of debauchery and glamour in Acomb,” says Freida. “The big question is: are you ready for it?!” Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.

Central Methodist Church: Hosting City Screen Picturehouse’s pop-up Christmas Cinema at Saint Saviourgate, York

Pop-up film event of the festive season: City Screen Picturehouse presents Christmas Cinema at Saint Saviourgate, The Great Hall, Central Methodist Church, St Saviourgate, York, until December 23

CITY Screen Picturehouse, York, has set up a pop-up screen at Central Methodist Church for the Christmas season. Dougal Wilson’s Paddington In Peru (PG) will be shown at 4pm on Sunday, followed by Jon Favreau’s Elf (PG) at 7pm and Monday screenings of Robert Zemeckis’s The Polar Express (U) at 4pm and Frank Capra’s season-closing 1946 chestnut It’s A Wonderful Life (U) at 7pm. Box office: picturehouses.com/YorkXmas.

Ronan Keating: Playing at York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend next summer. Picture: Supplied by York Racecourse

Outdoor gig announcement of the week: Ronan Keating, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, July 26

IRISH singer, charity campaigner and breakfast show host Ronan Keating will perform after the Saturday race card as the first act to be confirmed for next summer’s Music Showcase Weekend on Knavesmire. A further act will be announced for the evening meeting on July 25.

Keating, 47, has three decades of hits to call on, from Boyzone boy band days to his solo career, from Love Me For A Reason and When You Say Nothing At All to Life Is A Rollercoaster and If Tomorrow Never Comes. Olly Murs is confirmed already for the new 2025 race day of June 28. For race day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond at the height of Christmas cheer. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 46, from Gazette & Herald

Helen Spencer’s Fagin in Pick Me Up Theatre’s production of Deborah McAndrew’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

THE myriad delights of Christmas entertainment shine through Charles Hutchinson’s tips to vacate the festive fireside.

Dickens at Christmas, but not A Christmas Carol: Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until December 30. 7.30pm performances on December 18 to 21, 27, 28 and 30, plus 2.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees. No performances on December 23 to 26

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

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

Northern Ballet in A Christmas Carol: Festive favourite makes its return to Leeds Grand Theatre

Christmas ballet of the week: Northern Ballet in A Christmas Carol, Leeds Grand Theatre, until January 4 2025

FIRST choreographed by Massimo Morricone and directed by Christopher Gable in 1992, Northern Ballet’s retired landmark production of A Christmas Carol is being revisited by director Federico Bonelli to the glee of longtime supporters and new audiences alike.

“Charles Dickens’s classic Victorian tale of redemption, with its message of human kindness and compassion, is something that resonates with us all, especially at this time of year,” says Bonelli. “Its iconic characters lend themselves so well to ballet”, complemented by Lez Brotherston’s colourful sets and costumes and Carl Davis’s festive score. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

The poster for HAC Around The Tree, the last show of 2024 at Helmsley Arts Centre

Festive celebration of the week: HAC Around The Tree, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow, 7.30pm

JOIN the Helmsley Arts Centre Singers, 1812 Theatre Company, 1812 Youth Theatre, Ryedale Writers and invited guests for an evening of theatre, music, poetry and prose around the Christmas tree. The bar will be serving mulled wine and mince pies to spark up the festive spirit in Helmsley Arts Centre’s last event of 2024. Box office:  01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Step Into Christmas: Festive hit after festive hit at York Barbican

Christmas songs galore: Step Into Christmas, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm

THIS feel-good Christmas show brings all the magic of the season to musical life with favourite festive songs, from All I Want For Christmas Is You, Last Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock, Stay Another Day and Let It Snow to White Christmas, Do They Know It’s Christmas, A Winter’s Tale and Merry Xmas Everybody. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Chapter House Choir: Choral music old and new in the Nave of York Minster

Carol concert of the week: Chapter House Choir, Carols By Candlelight, York Minster Nave, Friday, 7.30pm, doors 6.45pm

THE Chapter House Choir, directed by musical director Benjamin Morris, combine with the Chapter House Youth Choir, directed by Charlie Gower-Smith, for this ever-popular candle-lit concert, first performed in 1965 and now held in the Nave. In addition to traditional choral music old and new, festive music will be played by the chamber choir’s Handbell Ringers. For returned tickets only, check yorkminster.org/whats-on/event/carols-by-candlelight/or contact 01904 557256.

Gary Stewart: Presenting tributes to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Paul Simon’s Graceland at York Barbican

Tribute gig of the week: Gary Stewart presents Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Paul Simon’s Graceland, York Barbican, Friday, 8pm

SCOTTISH-BORN Easingwold musician Gary Stewart presents Weetwood Mac and his Graceland band in a celebration of two career-defining works, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, from 1977, and Paul Simon’s Graceland, from 1986. “With combined sales of more than 50 million worldwide, both albums have stood the test of time and are cherished to this day,” says Stewart.

“Littered with gossip and controversy, Rumours and Graceland elevated their artists to new heights of popularity, inspiring the popular music canon for decades to come. This evening celebrates a time of artistic discovery and re-creates the excitement of the era, with these seminal albums lovingly interpreted by some of today’s finest touring musicians.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Mike Newall: Laidback storytelling at York Barbican

Comedy gig of the week: Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club Christmas Special, York Barbican, featuring Mike Newall, Friday, 8pm

MANCUNIAN Mike Newall, who appeared on Britain’s Got Talent, takes top billing on with his laidback storytelling, Swiss clock timing and tack-sharp turn of phrase. “He’s like your best, most humorous friend – only funnier,” says promoter and master of ceremonies Damion Larkin. Two support acts feature too. Box office: lolcomedyclubs.co.uk or yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Holly Cassidy with the puppet of Cracker in A Christmas Cracker at Friargate Theatre, York. Picture: Tom Jackson

Alternative Nativity play of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company in A Christmas Cracker, Friargate Theatre, York, December 21 to 24, 11am and 1.30pm each day; 6pm, first three days; 4pm, last day

IN Paul Birch’s first play as artistic director of Riding Lights, world-famous storyteller Ebenezer Sneezer is lost, with snow in her wellies and faithful canine companion Cracker full of strange ideas about Christmas.

When caught taking shelter in Mrs McGinty’s barn, she allows them to stay on the condition that Ebenezer brings her glad tidings with her stories. If so, a hot supper awaits. If not, exit pronto. Ebenezer must triumph over not only Mrs McGinty’s frozen heart but also Deadly, a dastardly donkey ready to kick comfort and joy out of his stable. Box office: 01904 613000 or ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.

The Snowman: Two screenings with a live orchestra at York Barbican

Christmas film event of the week: The Snowman with Live Orchestra, York Barbican, Sunday, 1pm and 4pm

CARROT Productions presents two screenings of Dianne Jackson and Jimmy T Murakami’s animated 1982 film with the accompaniment of a live orchestra of professional musicians.

Raymond Briggs’s story of a young boy’s Christmas snowman magically coming to life for a journey to meet Santa Claus will be shown with The Snowman And The Snowdog at 1pm and The Bear, The Piano, The Dog And The Fiddle at 4pm. Each show includes a fun introduction to the orchestra and a visit from the Snowman himself. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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Matt Goss to play York Barbican on April 25 on Hits And More Tour. Sheffield, Hull and Leeds await. When do tickets go on sale?

Matt Goss: The Hits And More at Sheffield Oval, York Barbican, Hull Connexin Live and Leeds Grand Theatre in Spring 2025. Picture: Paul Harris

THE “New King of Las Vegas”, Matt Goss will play four Yorkshire venues on his 2025 tour, The Hits And More, including York Barbican on April 25.

The 21-date itinerary also will take in Sheffield Oval on March 14, Hull Connexin Live on April 24 and the tour’s closing night at Leeds Grand Theatre on April 28.

Pre-sale tickets will be available via on Wednesday (11/12/2024) at ticketmaster.co.uk; general sale from Friday at mattgossofficial.co.uk.

The Hits & More will be a “celebration of all Matt has achieved in his music career and beyond”, from pop pin-up days in Bros to Las Vegas, not forgetting the 2022 series of Strictly Come Dancing.

Initially he headed to Palms Casino for one year only, but the South Londoner has been performing in the United States for more than 11 years now after his show became an instant success.

He moved to Caesars Palace for the remainder of his Vegas residency and has since played such iconic New York venues as Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden. He even hailed August 8 as “official Matt Goss Day” in Las Vegas.

“Trust me, what I’ve learnt over the years, being on countless stages around the world, this will be your best night of the year!” says Matt Goss. Picture: Paul Harris

Next spring’s tour will mark Goss’s return to the UK concert stage after his hit tour in 2023, when the Matt Goss Experience, with the MG Big Band and Royal Philharmonic, played York Barbican on April 23.

“Trust me, what I’ve learnt over the years, being on countless stages around the world, this will be your best night of the year!” says Goss, who promises sensational songs and an electric atmosphere.

In his Bros days, frontman Matt and drummer brother Luke  played to 77,000 fans as the youngest ever band to headline Wembley Stadium in August 1989, with support from Salt’n’Pepa and Debbie Gibson on the Bros In 2 Summer bill.

Bros also played 19 shows at Wembley Arena between 1987 and 1992, later re-uniting for two concerts at the O2 Arena, London, in 2017, when the 40,000 tickets sold out in seven seconds, the fastest ever sell-out for any Live Nation show there. 

Best known for their November 1987 number two When Will I Be Famous?, Bros split up in 1992 after releasing their third and final album, Changing Faces. 

In 2018, the BAFTA-winning documentary film about Matt and Luke’s lives together and apart, After The Screaming Stops, became that year’s most downloaded BBC production.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Meet the Grand Opera House pantomime stars: Phil Atkinson’s Hugo Pompidou, left, Jennifer Caldwell’s Belle, Dani Harmer’s Fairy Bon Bon, Leon Craig’s Polly La Plonk, Samuel Wyn-Morris’s Prince and Phil Reid’s Louis La Plonk

Copyright of The Press, York

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on Opera North in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Henry Waddington as Nick Bottom and Daisy Brown at Tytania with the children of A Midsummer Night’s Dream cast as Fairies. Picture: Richard H Smith

THIS is the second revival of Martin Duncan’s 2008 production. It was seen again five years later and now, 16 years on from its genesis, it reappears under the supervision of Matthew Eberhardt, who is building an impressive portfolio as an assistant director in Leeds. So it can be said to have stood the test of time.

The magic behind its success is not hard to find. Large-cast productions have become a speciality at Leeds, where chorus-members regularly step up into smaller roles. But Duncan has also looked back at 1960, when A Midsummer Night’s Dream was premiered, and built on a legitimate modernity behind it.

It is not merely night music, but dream music, drug-induced at that. Ashley Martin-Davis’s pseudo- psychedelic costumes for the lovers reveal them to be flower children. The child-fairies are identically clothed in white, with black wings and blonde, fringed wigs, the product of a dream-world, flitting around like bees seeking pollen. Oberon and Tytania gleam in shiny metal discs, like sci-fi chain mail.

Camilla Harris’s Helena and James Newby’s Demetrius. Picture: Richard H Smith

Reinforcing the otherworldly theme are the tall ‘trees’ of translucent Perspex surmounted by oval ‘clouds’, all brought to life by Bruno Poet’s lighting. Not quite your traditional dream, in other words.

Equally transparent is Garry Walker’s exceptionally delicate treatment of the score. He conjures from his players an intimacy that exactly complements the goings-on above, sometimes to an almost erotic degree. Naturally this dissipates into something more earthy when the artisans are at play.

These two worlds, alongside the high voices of the fairies’ realm, offer clear differentiation between the drama’s three groups, just as Britten intended, with Daniel Abelson’s lively Puck as go-between, his trumpet-and-drum motif sectionalising the score. Such clarity is magical indeed. James Laing’s commanding Oberon, a stalwart from 2008, is well matched by Daisy Brown’s yearning Tytania.

The outstanding performance of the evening comes from Henry Waddington as a blustering Bottom, the other veteran holdover from the production’s start; he is positively Falstaffian in his donkeydisguise.

Daniel Abelson as Puck in Opera North’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Picture: Richard H Smith

Colin Judson, the original Flute, reappears as Snout here, alongside Dean Robinson as Quince, Nicholas Watts as Flute, Frazer Scott’s Snug and Nicholas Butterfield’s Starveling, an excellent team.

There is also exceptional teamwork – and beautiful singing – from the dozen children as fairies, who are spearheaded by Kitty Moore, Dougie Sadgrove, Lucy Eatock and Jessie Thomas as Peaseblossom, Moth, Mustardseed and Cobweb respectively.

Nor is there is any shortage of passion from the four lovers. They are distinct personalities, Camilla Harris a flighty Helena as opposed to Sian Griffiths’s determined Hermia, with Peter Kirk’s Lysander and James Newby’s Demetrius more like rutting stags when they clash. All bar Griffiths are making their company debuts. The aristocrats, Theseus and Hippolyta, are given due gravitas by Andri Björn Róbertsson and Molly Barker.

The wit and wisdom we had first enjoyed in 2008 is resuscitated in spades.

Review by Martin Dreyer

Nicholas Butterfield as Robin Starveling, Frazer Scott as Snug, Nicholas Watts as Francis Flute, Henry Waddington as Nick Bottom, Colin Judson as Tom Snout and Dean Robinson as Peter Quince in Opera North’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Picture: Richard H Smith
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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on Opera North in Ruddigore, Leeds Grand Theatre

Dominic Sedgwick as Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd (seated) with Chorus of Opera North members as the ghosts of Ruddigore in Ruddigore. Picture: Richard H Smith

ANYONE sniffing at the idea of a professional company devoting time to Gilbert & Sullivan will experience a tasty riposte in this Jo Davies production, revived here by James Hurley.

Unveiled nearly 15 years ago, it was originally (1887) billed as “entirely original supernatural opera”. That seems to have intimidated Victorian audiences more than modern ones and Davies/Hurley really go to town in this escapist revival, unabashed at any idea that Ruddigore is somehow outside the mainstream.

 The show ticks two other boxes as well. It fits neatly into the autumnal charm offensive under the company’s new regime: witness the pre-curtain pep-talks at all three productions.

Xavier Hetherington as Richard Dauntless with John Savournin as Sir Despard Murgatroyd. Picture: Richard H Smith

In these straitened times – when are they not so? – it also makes sense to schedule a show dependent on teamwork. With no major lead roles, many could be taken by members of the company’s versatile chorus. So we have Amy Freston returning as Rose Maybud, just as naïve and gullible as before but vocally more flexible too.

 Similarly, Claire Pascoe steps into the redoubtable shoes of Anne-Marie Owens as Dame Hannah and makes them her own, not least when greeting her old flame Sir Roderic as “Roddy Doddy”. He is the other returnee – a regular here, although not a chorus member – Steven Page, even more proudly military and stentorian than before.

Updating the action from the 18th century to the 1920s means that the cloaks swirled and the moustaches sprouted, in true silent cinema fashion, which plays right into the hands of John Savournin’s dastardly Sir Despard. Never one to downplay comic opportunities, Savournin is in his element – and making every word count in a firm baritone.

Helen Évora as Mad Margaret with John Savournin as Sir Despard Murgatroyd. Picture: Richard H Smith

This means even more when he meets his match in Helen Évora’s delightfully capricious Mad Margaret, reacting compliantly to his ‘Basingstoke’ commands; they play off each other superbly.

They also combine winningly with Dominic Sedgwick’s Robin – now Sir Ruthven – in Act 2’s unique patter song. This marks the point at which Sedgwick returns to the comfort zone he inhabited as a genial Robin, a transition as tricky as any in the Savoy operas.

 Xavier Hetherington brings a bright tenor and boundless gusto to the role of Dick Dauntless, while Henry Waddington’s Old Adam is both gruff and bumbling, notably as ‘valet de chambre’. Gillene Butterfield adds a neat cameo as Zorah.

Henry Waddington as Old Adam Goodheart and Dominic Sedgwick as Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd. Picture: Richard H Smith

Anthony Kraus contributes a vigour and determination that not only inspires his orchestra but enlivens the singers into the bargain. He shows an unerring instinct for colour, mining Sullivan’s orchestration at every turn and making When The Night Wind Howls a highlight.

Special mention must also go to Kay Shepherd’s choreography and the way it is so crisply delivered, despite the addition of only three professional dancers. Dance has had a thin time of it in opera recently and this is a welcome return of an essential ingredient in the G & S recipe.

The chorus revels in its opportunities, the ladies as professional bridesmaids, the men as Murgatroyds from the past. Richard Hudson’s set for the castle picture gallery, allied to Anna Watson’s darkly evocative lighting, makes Act 2 memorable – proving Sullivan’s ability not merely to parody, but to create, real opera.

Review by Martin Dreyer

Dominic Sedgwick as Robin Oakapple and Amy Freston as Rose Maybud in Opera North’s Ruddigore.Picture: Richard H Smith
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REVIEW: Dear Evan Hansen, Leeds Grand Theatre, ends today. Shows at 2.30pm, 7.30pm. Leedsheritagetheatres.com or 0113 243 0808 *****

Ryan Kopel’s Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen

DEAR Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day, and here’s why. If you miss this week’s run at Leeds Grand Theatre, the Nottingham Playhouse touring production of Benji Pasek, Justin Paul and Steven Levenson’s musical will be visiting the Grand Opera House, York, from June 22 to 25 2025. Tickets go on general sale from Tuesday (12/11/2024) at atgtickets.com/york.

Promoted by ATG Productions, this is the first British production of the Olivier, Tony and Grammy Award-winning Best Musical to utilise an ensemble. Busy stage, and very busy Leeds Grand auditorium too on press night, a performance that crackled with excitement at the first chance to experience the Olivier, Tony and Grammy Award winner close to home. Not least because Pasek and Paul were the Oscar-gilded composers of The Greatest Showman and La La Land

“I am beyond thrilled with the talented cast we have assembled: an exciting mix of musical theatre legends and rising stars,” said director Adam Penford of a stellar company led by Ryan Kopel (from Newsies) as Evan Hansen, Lauren Conroy (Into The Woods) as Zoe Murphy and West End luminary Alice Fearn (Wicked, Come From Away) as Evan’s mum, Heidi. Today is going to be a good day to reveal all three are scheduled to play York too. Hurrah.

“It’s been nine years since the original show premiered, and it’s an honour to be the first production to re-imagine this powerful story through a contemporary lens,” Penford added.

That lens focuses on Ryan Kopel’s Evan Hansen: 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. Especially with his mother Heidi (Fearn) always being too busy with her work 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 (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 Puck-like family friend Jared Keinman’s (Tom Dickerson) writing skills to concoct past text messages from the outsiders’ “secret friendship” and social media “ambulance chaser” Alana Beck’s (Vivian Panka) drive to set up a fundraising appeal to reopen an 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.

The 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?

Pasek and Paul’s wonderful songs and Leversen’s witty, sharp, probing dialogue addresses his 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.

In her opening speech at this week’s Aesthetica Short Film Festival in York, festival director Cherie Federico called for everyone to be kind to each other. Not the usual content on such an occasion, but Cherie had a point. One that resonated all the more when watching Dear Evan Hansen, especially in the wake of Trump’s vainglorious return to the presidency.

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.

Conroy’s Zoe excels too, part rose, part thorn; Fearn brings West End star quality to Heidi; Lefevre’s Connor has haunting, gothic presence; Dickerson amuses as prankster Jared; 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. 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. Do not miss the Generation Z musical with far wider appeal.

Dear Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day and here’s why. If you can’t wait until the newly added run at the Grand Opera House, you can catch Dear Evan Hansen at Sheffield Lyceum Theatre, April 8 to 12, or Hull New Theatre, April 22 to 26 next year. Leeds Grand Theatre, today at 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: leedsheritagetheatres.com or 0113 243 0808.

Did you know?

THIS Nottingham Playhouse production of Dear Evan Hansen is partnering with The Mix, the digital charity for under-25s. The musical deals with sensitive topics, relevant to young people today, and this partnership will ensure that anyone affected by the issues explored in the show knows where to find support. 

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on Opera North in The Magic Flute, Leeds Grand Theatre, September 28

Opera North in James Brining’s revival of The Magic Flute. Picture: Tristram Kenton

FOR the start of her first full year as general director, Laura Canning is presiding over an autumn of three revivals, of which this production by James Brining is the first.

Doubtless she had no say in the schedule, but it still looks cautious, especially when viewed in the wake of, for example, Buxton Festival’s five new productions this summer.

Brining operates as artistic director of Leeds Playhouse, just a short walk away from the Grand Theatre, and this had been his first full operatic production. It still shows signs of over-calculation.

Before the curtain we are treated to a welcome designed to embrace newcomers. Old-stagers might have regarded it as patronising but, seen alongside a bare-bones outline in the programme of what constitutes opera in the first place, it is arguably a useful introduction to an artform that too many have found intimidating: an attempt to cast the audience net more widely, in other words.

This process must be treated gingerly, however, if the company’s core audience is not to be deterred. The overture is intended as an introduction, presenting themes and building anticipation.

All of that is dissipated when it is overlaid with a dumb show, based on Bergman’s cinematic view of the whole work being a child’s dream/nightmare, that has little or nothing to do with Mozart. So, overture and dumb show are at odds with one another: in our screen-obsessed age, the eyes take over and the overture goes for naught.

As it was, Christoph Koncz, making his Leeds debut, opened the overture very slowly and followed with an extremely rapid allegro, which the orchestra – now under its new leader Katie Stillman – handled with panache. Thereafter Koncz impresses with the transparency of the textures he conjures.

Egor Zhuravskii has graduated from Fenton in Falstaff to Tamino here, and does so smoothly enough. Narrow at the start, his tone opens out over time but remains a little dry, albeit stylish. There is not much genuine feeling between him and Claire Lees’s admirable Pamina, but she entrances with every appearance and sounds ready for greater things.

Leaning heavily on his Welsh lilt, Emyr Wyn Jones makes an affable dunderhead of Papageno, almost taking the pantomime route, while Anna Dennis makes an imposing Queen of Night, edgy, determined and accurate.

Msimelelo Mbali, as Sarastro, lacks the gravitas shown by Andri Björn Robertsson’s Speaker, but his bass grows in authority in Act 2. Colin Judson offers an apt irritant as Monostatos, in place of the repellent figure we had last time.

Pasquale Orchard makes a charming Papagena, although she is introduced to Papageno early and deprived of her ‘old lady’ disguise. Many of the lesser roles are ably assumed by members of the chorus, proving its versatility.

Colin Richmond’s flexible set proves its worth once again, as does Douglas O’Connell’s high-impact video effects.

Brining envisaged Blakean poles of innocence and experience. He might instead have allowed Mozart and Schikaneder – in Jeremy Sams’s colloquial translation – to speak for themselves. The plot is complicated enough as it is.

Review by Martin Dreyer

Performances: Leeds Grand Theatre, February 12, 13, 15 and 22 2025, 7pm. Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com. Hull New Theatre, March 27 and 29 2025, 7pm. Box office: hulltheatres.co.uk.