Tag: Neil Wood

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Neil Wood & Annabel van Griethuysen vow to make each night a good night as Martyn Knights says goodnight to York Light

Neil Wood’s Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks and Hope Day’s Annie in York Light Opera Company’s Annie at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

FOR Neil Wood, playing rich, paternalist 1930s’ Wall Street industrialist Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks in Annie takes him away from the dark side after such York Light Opera Company roles as the villainous Mr Bumble in Oliver!, corrupt lawyer Callaghan in Legally Blonde The Musical and, above all, the cut-throat Sweeney in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street.

For Annabel van Griethuysen, the drunken orphanage proprietor Miss Hannigan fulfils her long-held wish to play “one of my favourite characters in one of my favourite musicals”.

Both the leading adult players in the ongoing run at York Theatre Royal are working with director-choreography Martyn Hunter for the last time in his swan song to York Light after 22 shows.

“We only found out at the Sunday rehearsal on January 25 when he suddenly announced it,” says Neil. “I’ve only managed six of his shows as I’m a York Light late-bloomer, but he really knows his stuff and is an amazing director. We want full houses all week to give him a fitting send-off.”

Annabel concurs: “Martyn has brought a level of expertise that I’ve not seen in any other director. He brings out the best in everyone, where he has this vision and the practical skills to bring that vision to life, such as in knowing how to move people around the set.

Annabel van Griethuysen’s Miss Hannigan with Martin Lay’s Rooster in York Light’s Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

“He’s going to be very sorely missed at York Light. He brings his own style, where you can tell you’re watching a Martyn Knight production because there is such professionalism to his work. He inspires you to want to work hard and you don’t want to let him down. You want to make him proud of you, and it’s such an honour to work with him.”

Annabel is performing under Martyn’s direction for the fourth time. “I made my York Light debut for him as Sarah Brown in Guys And Dolls in 2018, played Widow Corney in Oliver!, then something completely different as Aquata with blue hair and Heelys [roller shoes] in Little Mermaid, and now Miss Hannigan,” she says.

“It’s been a real journey for me. I’m pleased for Martyn that he’s decided it’s time to focus on himself, but I really hope he will still come up to York to see us because he will always be welcome.

“I’m so glad to have been able to work so closely with him on Miss Hannigan for his swan song, having come such a long way since playing Sarah Brown.”

Neil is enjoying playing the larger-than-life Oliver Warbucks, albeit hoping for better luck than he had in Legally Blonde last February. “I had to play Callahan with a broken arm: it happened just a week before we opened, so they’re wrapping me in cotton wool this time,” he says.

Neil Wood’s Professor Callahan in York Light’s Legally Blonde The Musical last February

“Warbucks is a lovely fellow, and what’s nice is that you don’t have to play to the stereotype of the bullish billionaire. Martyn lets you find your own character. It’s about finding the caring side of Warbucks, his vulnerability. For a man who is so important, so rich, and has all these people cow-towing to him, it’s orphan Annie’s humanity that catches him off-guard.

“If it were not for Grace Farrell [his personal secretary] being that solid foundation in his life, goodness knows how he would be. Myself and Sarah Craggs [playing Grace] have sat down with Martyn and Kathryn [assistant director Kathryn Addison] to settle on how their relationship should play out, as they need to be seen as real people, rather than being cartoon characters, so that you empathise with them.”

Central to his characterisation is the decision to include the rarely used Why Should I Change A Thing? “I’ve not seen it in a previous production. In fact, the only time I found a version was from a 30th anniversary recording where they included everything, but it’s a delightful song that follows Easy Street and finds Warbucks at his most vulnerable.

“It’s lovely to be able to sing it and it reflects how his philanthropic side develops the more the show progresses,  how he changes from being almost frightened of children to inviting all the orphanage children to his mansion at Christmas.”

Annabel is revelling in playing the villainous Miss Hannigan. “She’s one of those roles I’ve always wanted to play,” she says. “I first fell in love with Carol Burnett’s performance [in the 1982 film adaptation], when I nearly wore out the VHS watching it again and again.

Annabel van Griethuysen’s Lithuanian vamp of a show hostess, Marlene Cabana, in York Light’s Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe

“Miss Hannigan is just such fun because she’s so horrible but so lovable in being so horrible – and I love interacting with the children so much, trying to get them to giggle at me in rehearsals.

 “I definitely feel like they were scared of me at first, but as the weeks and months have gone by, that’s disappeared and they’re now giving it so much energy.

“On top of that, the songs that Miss Hannigan gets to sing are some of the best songs in musical theatre [from Little Girls to Easy Street], so it’s an absolute honour to play her.”

As for playing a drunkard, Annabel says: “I’m just method acting. What’s important is that you don’t go over the top and stumble just because she’s a chronic drinker. It’s in her physicality that her drunkenness comes out: that sense of imbalance, rather than staggering around as you don’t want her to be a caricature.

“She mustn’t become a pantomime villain, when she does have some small redeeming features, however small. When things gets tough, that’s when she reaches for the bottle, as she lurches from one emotion to another.”

On Easy Street: Chloe Jones’s Lily St Regis, left, Martin Lay’s Rooster and Annabel van Griethuysen’s Miss Hannigan in York Light’s Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

Her big number is Little Girls. “That’s my favourite. I’ve worked with Paul [musical director Paul Laidlaw] to really put some light and shade into it, so it’s not just a belter, but there’s some comedy in there too,” she says.

Annabel previously played an equally tyrannical loose cannon as spoof Eurovision hostess Marlene Cabana, the glamorous Lichtenstein singing star with an Alpine European accent befitting a Bond Girl of Sean Connery days, in York Light’s Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe at Theatre@41, Monkgate, last July, directed by Neil incidentally.

“What’s similar is their need for control. Marlene was guiding things and Miss Hannigan is the same,” she says. “She’s trying to control the children, trying to control the orphanage and trying to control Grace Farrell too.

“But audiences love seeing someone get their comeuppance – and right at the end she gets her full comeuppance!”

York Light Opera Company in Annie, York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus.  Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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REVIEW: York Light Opera Company in Annie, York Theatre Royal, the sun’ll come out, tomorrow to Saturday ****

Harriet Wells’s Annie with Primrose’s Sandy in York Light Opera Company’s Annie at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

ANNIE is Watford-based director Martyn Knight’s swan song with York Light Opera Company after 22 shows over two decades of working with “such a wonderful theatre ‘family’”.

All that travelling north to make the Light shine brightly has been rubber-stamped by Knight being made an honorary life member, and he leaves with a sparkling account of Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan’s 1977 musical.

He knows Annie so well – this is his fifth production – but by comparison, York Light has not revisited the show since 2001 when the late titan of the York am-dram stage, Bev Jones, was at the helm as director, choreographer and conductor. “No nonsense but great,” as Gemma Kirk, one of his Annies, described him in her 2026 programme recollections, grateful for his guidance into “what it’s like in the real world of performing”.

In turn, Martyn Knight believes the greatest joy of Annie is the chance to see young talent blossom, in this case in the nine-strong Yellow Team (on press night) and Blue Team of orphans, being nurtured under the erratic, maladroit tutelage of Annabel van Griethuysen’s ever-tipsy Miss Hannigan under the shadow of the Wall Street Depression in 1933 New York City.

Martin Lay’s Rooster and Annabel van Griethuysen’s Miss Hannigan. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

Among those orphans is the precocious, wilful Annie, a role shared between Harriet Wells, so impressive as Young Alison in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Fun Home at York Medical Society last year, and Hope Day, whose stage credits list already takes in the Grand Opera House pantomime Beauty And The Beast, Opera North’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jemima Potts in York Stage’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and York Theatre Royal’s 2023 community play Sovereign.

It was all Wells that starts Wells on press night ­– Day’s nights would follow – as Harriet affirmed all that promise in Fun Home in a musical production on a much grander stage and scale. She looked every inch at home as much as Primrose, the four-year-old Golden Labrador, in the role of Sandy, the stray dog she befriends on the Big Apple’s impoverished streets.

Harriet’s Annie, she of the ginger hair and eternal optimism, is the show’s driving force, determined to find her long-missing parents. Her opening song may be Maybe, but she has the positivity of Definitely, not Maybe. Harriet has the nascent singing chops, the American accent, and all the indefatigable energy, reminiscent of Judy Garland’s Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz.

Director-choreographer Knight and assistant director Kathryn Addison bring out the full characterisation in Miss Hannigan’s cheeky, defiant orphans (Yellow Team members Elizabeth Reece’s Duffy, Sophie Helme’s Pepper, Perdie Rolfe’s July, Belle Sturdy-Flannery’s Tessie, Bea Wells’s Kate, Lottie Barnes’s Lizzie, Leonore Thornton’s Lilly and the particularly exuberant Emilia Cole’s Molly). Their dancing is so full of joy; their singing in It’s The Hard Knock Life a thrill rather than shrill.

Neil Wood’s Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks with Hope Day’s Annie in York Light’s Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

Knight’s first instinct was that Annabel van Griethuysen – who he first directed in her York Light debut in Guys And Dolls in 2018 – might be a little young for the sozzled sourpuss role of Miss Hannigan, but her audition had “Cast me”  written all over it, he said.

As her programme profile states, Miss Hannigan is “one of my favourite characters in one of my favourite musicals”, and that assertion is matched by van Griethuysen’s woozy headache of a performance: that skill of ‘drunk’ acting, flask in hand, but without overplaying it, so that there is still humour, even pathos, in her villainy: at once a lush, but louche. She’s a mighty fine singer too, caustic in Little Girls, full of bravado in Easy Street.

From Mr Bumble in Oliver to Callaghan in Legally Blonde and especially cut-throat Sweeney in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, Neil Wood has put the dark into York Light shows aplenty, but here he shines as principled industrialist Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks, influential friend of the President.

Warbucks may have a house full of servants and famous paintings (latest acquisition, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa), but something is missing from a life fuelled by making money and the need to reopen his factories. Annie, the orphan he gives a home for Christmas, opens his heart with her belief that “the sun’ll come out tomorrow”.

Lottie Barnes, Sophie Helme, Belle Sturdy-Flannery and Emilia Cole from the Yellow Team’s Orphans

Wood’s partnership with Wells’s Annie is delightful – Warbucks blooms as she blossoms – while his singing is full of warmth, conviction and resonance, assertive in N.Y.C, questioning himself in Why Should I Change A Thing? and reflective in Something Was Missing.

Sarah Craggs’s unflappable Grace Farrell is ever supportive of Annie and Warbucks alike; Martin Lay’s Rooster and Chloe Jones’s Lily St Regis bring bags of wrong’un personality to grafter duo Rooster and Lily St Regis; Richard Weatherill makes a dapper radio show presenter, Bert Healy, performing Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile so perkily with Pascha Turnbull, Clare Meadley and Rhian Wells, who amuse as vintage harmony act The Boylan Sisters.

Fifty years after his York Light debut in Showboat (“when half the cast blacked up,” he recalls), John Hall  brings gravitas to President Roosevelt, his singing as powerful  as ever. Paul Laidlaw’s orchestra enrich every number, Scenic Projects’ set design and The Loft Costumes’ costumes are colourful and smart, adding to the high quality of Knight’s fantastic finale to his York Light years.

York Light Opera Company in Annie, York Theatre Royal, resuming tomorrow until February 21, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Chloe Jones’s Lily St Regis, left, Martin Lay’s Rooster and Annabel van Griethuysen’s Miss Hannigan performing Easy Street in York Light’s Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

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Martyn Knight to make exit with Annie after 21 years of directing York Light Opera Company at York Theatre Royal

Chloe Jones’s Lily St Regis and Martin Lay’s Rooster in York Light Opera Company’s Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

MARTYN Knight directs York Light Opera Company for the last time in its first staging of Annie in 25 years at York Theatre Royal from tomorrow to February 21.

“It’s my swan song for York Light after 21 years,” says Martyn. “I’m nearly 70, I’m still haring up and down the country – and I’ve just finished the panto season in Eastbourne, where I’ve been the dame for 21 years [at the Devonshire Park Theatre], playing Sally Smee, Smee’s mum, in The Adventures Of Peter Pan this winter.

“You have people coming through as performers all the time, and you need to have directors coming through too. There are only so many dance numbers you can do over the years.”

To prove the point, Martyn is directing Annie for the fifth time. “That spans several years,” he says. “Until now, they’ve all been in the south, High Wycombe, Taunton, Weymouth and… the other one eludes me. York Light is the first one in the north.”

Reflecting on more than two decades at the helm of 22 York Light shows, he says: “As a company, they have brought me friendship and family, as I’ve made so many friends over the years, working with incredible people, with all the joy of giving back to amateur theatre.

“What I get out of it is amazing. I started in the amateurs, never training in dancing and singing, but got the chance in 1976 o start working as a dancer in Portugal at Casino Estoril, the biggest casino in Europe at the time.

Annabel van Griethuysen’s Miss Hannigan. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

“I was in the floor show, I was 19/20, in my ‘gap year’, and being paid to do it, then went to Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore – onwards and upwards.”

Martyn continues: “I was never excellent in the three disciplines, but I could act, sing and dance, did lots of rep things, and ultimately went into the West End in one of those shows. In around 1990, I was in panto with Hinge & Bracket, alongside these 18 and 19-year-olds, when I was in my 30s, and I remember thinking, ‘I should get a proper job’, just as my mum always suggested.”

Cue Martyn directing and choreographing shows at the Watford Palace Theatre, where he had first performed at the age of 11 “when my mum got me into theatre”. “My dad was very high up in management at Heinz, but I have always been a rebel, going against what’s expected,” he says.

Directing has brought him much joy, not least when revisiting a musical such as Annie, a heart-warming tale of hope, family, and second chances with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin and book by Thomas Meehan, packed with such knockout songs as Tomorrow, Hard Knock Life and You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile. 

“I think it’s the children’s element of the show that makes Annie so popular, the chance to see your local talent on stage. We have 18 girls, aged seven to 13, and we auditioned far more than that,” says Martyn.

Annie at the double-trouble: Hope Day, left, and Harriet Wells sharing the title role in York Light Opera Company’s Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

“They really have that wow factor, and to me it’s all about the next generation of young performers. That’s what I like, when you see the talent coming through.”

Harriet Wells and Hope Day will be sharing the title role in the heart-warming tale of hope, family and second chances with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin and book by Thomas Meehan, packed with such knockout songs as Tomorrow, Hard Knock Life and You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile.

“Harriet and Hope have very different qualities and different approaches to playing the part, which I love,” says Martyn. “Harriet is very expressive; Hope was among the first ones I saw in the auditions, where you’re looking to spot someone who has star quality, and she really made me watch. She has a beautiful face.

“They’re both lovely singers and very good actresses, with demanding songs that they do so well, and though the hardest part is the dancing, they’re coming to terms with that too.”

Expect dazzling choreography, stunning costumes and a full live band in Martyn’s production, alongside a stellar cast of York talent, led by Annabel van Griethuysen as Miss Hannigan after her forgetful but unforgettable Sister Mary Amnesia in  Nunsense: The Musical at Theatre@41, Monkgate, in Summer 2024   and hostess Marlene Cabana in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe at the same theatre last summer.

Sarah Craggs and Neil Wood in York Light Opera Company’s Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

“Annabel is someone who didn’t cross my mind…until I saw her in the audition; slightly younger than she should be for Miss Hannigan, but her performance said ‘Cast me’,” says Martyn.

“Her last lead for me, [as Sarah Brown in 2018] in Guys And Dolls, was very different, which shows she is a very diverse, powerful performer. Put her together with Martin Lay’s Rooster and Chloe Jones’s Lily St Regis, and they’re really good together.”

Martyn is as busy as ever – also working on a production of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musical in Watford at present– and he is exacting in his standards. “You play to your strengths, but I also change,” he says. “As a director, I always think I could do it better, so I do alter things.”

York Light Opera Company in Annie, York Theatre Royal, February 12 to 21, 7.30pm, except February 15 and 16; February 14, 15 and 21, 2.30pm; February 19, 2pm. The February 17 show will be British Sign Language Interpreted. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

  

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Annabel van Griethuysen to lead York Light Opera Company cast as Miss Hannigan in Annie at York Theatre Royal next month

Annabel van Griethuysen’s Miss Hannigan in York Light Opera Company’s Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

YORK Light Opera Company will stage Annie for the first time in 25 years at York Theatre Royal from February 12 to 21 under the direction of Martyn Knight.

This heart-warming tale of hope, family, and second chances with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin and book by Thomas Meehan is packed with such knockout songs as Tomorrow, Hard Knock Life and You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile. 

Expect dazzling choreography, stunning costumes and a full live band, alongside a stellar cast of York talent, led by Annabel van Griethuysen as Miss Hannigan after her forgetful but unforgettable Sister Mary Amnesia in  Nunsense: The Musical at Theatre@41, Monkgate, in Summer 2024   and hostess Marlene Cabana in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe at the same theatre last summer.

Joining Annabel in the cast of 38 others will be Harriet Wells and Hope Day, sharing the role of Annie, Neil Wood as Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks, Sarah Craggs as Grace Farrell, Martin Lay as Rooster and Chloe Jones as Lily St Regis.  

Annie at the double: Hope Day, left, and Harriet Wells sharing the title role in Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

Neil Wood’s Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks and Sarah Craggs’s Grace Farrell in York Light Opera Company’s Annie. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

Assistant director Kathryn Addison says: “This production of Annie places special emphasis on the young performers who are the soul of the show. Through the casting process, the orphan casting for two teams of young people was developed first, fostering strong connections, confidence and ensemble storytelling before the final roles were assigned. 

“Our energetic cast of young performers are joined by experienced adult performers and a creative team committed to storytelling. Annie promises to deliver a heartfelt and joyful theatrical experience for audiences of all ages.”  

York Light Opera Company in Annie, York Theatre Royal, February 12 to 21, 7.30pm, except February 15 and 16; February 14, 15 and 21, 2.30pm; February 19, 2pm. The February 17 show will be British Sign Language Interpreted. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Back row: left to right, Olivia Watts, Rose Hirst, Phoebe Ellis, Emilia Heward, Sophie Helme, Elizabeth Reece and Lottie Barnes; middle row, Eliza Clarke, Eleanor Powell, Meredith Clarke, Belle Sturdy-Flannery, Bea Wells, Perdie Rolfe and Leonore Thornton; front row, kneeling, Olive Connolly, Hope Day, Harriet Wells, Emilia Cole. Picture: Matthew Kitchen Photography

      

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    REVIEW: York Light Opera Company in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until July 5 ***1/2

    Annabel van Griethuysen’s hostess Marlene Cabana vamping it up in York Light Opera Company’s Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe. All pictures: Matthew Kitchen Photography

    EUROBEAT is essentially Eurovision by another name, and if you love the campery, pageantry and “political” shenanigans of Eurovision, then you will love Eurobeat.

    Presented in York its third iteration (after 2008’s Eurobeat…Almost European and 2016’s Eurobeat Moldova), this affectionate send-up is the work of Aussie composer, writer and lyricist Craig Christie, a Eurovision devotee whose love of the annual song contest pre-dates Australia’s inclusion since 2015’s special guest appearance.

    Should you still be wondering why the faraway land of Oz is involved, apparently Aussies have a long-standing affection for Eurovision and the nation is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

    Emma Swainston’s Astrid Lungstomberg waving the flag for Swedish entry Semaphore Of Love

    Christie updates his show with each re-telling, tongue pushed further into cheek, politically and culturally savvy to the world’s woes, and steeped in Eurovision’s tropes, gauche jokes and awkward silences, while keeping the distance of a mischievous onlooker.

    In the words of York Light director Neil Wood, “it’s fun”. “It ends up as more of an event, though it’s still a theatre show, and from the audience point of view, it’s a blast!” he says. “If you want to come in costume, you’re more than welcome to do so. We’ll have slash curtains, glitter and haze, everything you’d expect from Eurovision, but without the big budget.”

    No-one took up the costume invitation at Wednesday’s press night: auditorium conditions were too hot and airless for that, but a Portuguese flag was waved enthusiastically from the front row, probably doubling as a cooling fan too.

    Zander Fick’s punctilious martinet, Master of Protocols “Boring” Bjorn Bjornson, in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe

    Welcome to Lichtenstein, hosts apparently by default of Eurobeat 2025. Up on the mezzanine level are Joy Warner’s Fanny Feuberger and Simon Kelly’s Kevin Kupferblum, starchy Cultural Ambassors with their regal airs and cod European accents.

    They look over everything and, in turn, tend to be overlooked by show-off show hostess Marlene Cabana (Annabel van Griethuysen), glamorous Lichtenstein singing star, who has a costume change for every song and a putdown quip or three for every contestant and national stereotype.  She is as much the mouthpiece for Christie as an echo of Terry Wogan and Graham Norton’s mickey-taking.

    Annabel Van Griethuysen (could the lead actress have a more pan-European name?) is fabulous from start to finish. Her five-star Marlene is an irresistible, irrepressible force, with no time for woke sensibilities, and an Alpine European accent befitting a Bond Girl of Connery days. She takes the demands of direct address in her sassy stride, always accompanied by eye contact.

    This Is How I Dance (by not dancing): Idomus (Pierre-Alain van Griethuysen and Megan Taaffe) in statuesque form for Lithuania in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe

    As well as parading her operatic prowess in her singing, especially in Act Two, Van Griethuysen does pretty much all of the script’s heavy lifting, aided occasionally by the staid Cultural Ambassadors and Zander Fick’s Master of Protocols, “Boring” Bjorn Bjornson, a moribund martinet whose every energy-draining interjection is begrudged by Marlene as unnecessary competition for her limelight-hogging.

    Trained in opera and jazz singing, Fick has been carving a niche for himself on the York stage in a series of impressively understated yet bang-on performances since moving here from South Africa in April 2023. Once again he favours less is more as he blossoms on the arid terrain of the humourless killjoy, making being “boring” highly watchable.

    The importance of being Earnestasia: Emma Rockliff performing Romanian entry Listen

    In Act One, somewhat reluctantly on each occasion, hostess Marlene has to make way for the ten acts (nine European, plus the United Kingdom, she quips), looking to upstage them on each costume change. The songs must do their talking for them.

    Christie plays on each nation’s Eurovision history and characteristics, kicking off with the infectious, over-calculated melody hooks of Sweden’s Semaphore Of Love, sung by Emma Swainston’s Agnetha-blonde Astrid Lungstomberg.

    Poland’s Obwody Wirujące (Kit Stroud, Sophie Cunningham and Chloe Branton), all hard hats and robotic movements, clash for attention with three maids in traditional dress, their song pulling in different directions too. Romania’s Earnestasia (Emily Rockliff) throws in every outdated Eurovision cliché, boom-bang-a-bang style, in Listen. 

    Nigel and Nadine (Stephen Wilson and Pascha Turnbull) at odds with each other in the United Kingdom’s typically unloveable Why Don’t You Love Me Anymore

    The United Kingdom’s  Nigel and Nadine (Stephen Wilson and Pascha Turnbull) are akin to a washed-up cabaret act from a bygone era on a crash course to nil points with Why Don’t You Love Me Anymore. Or more accurately, why don’t you love us anymore, post-Brexit?

    Representing Lithuania are Idomus (Pierre-Alain van Griethuysen and Megan Taaffe), seriously Eastern European yet delightfully, cutely devoid of self-awareness (unlike hostess Marlene) in singing This Is How I Dance, statuesque to a T, eschewing dance steps in the best moment of Wood and Sarah Cragg’s amusing choreography.

    Greece is the word: Chloë Chapman’s Persephone performing Oh Aphrodite, a song she also choreographed

    On song for Greece is Persephone (Chloë Chapman), tapping into Greek tragedies in the highly theatrical Oh Aphrodite. Portugal’s Mateus Villela (boy band looker Cain Branton) lives up to the lonesome title Guy With The Guitar, ushering off violinists while stoically declining to play his allotted instrument until the last note in one of Christie’s titular best jokes.

    Vatican City (rather than Italy) gives Christie the chance to take pot shots at the Catholic church before Mother Morag and the Sisters of Perpetual Harmony (Evie Latham, Lizzie Kearton, Sophie Cunningham and Emma Swainston) catch the Sixties girl group habit in Good Girl – throwing in a Bucks Fizz costume “strip” for good measure.

    Mother Morag and the Sisters of Perpetual Harmony: Vatican City’s answer to a Sixties’ girl group

    Christie’s best pastiche goes to France’s Estelle LaCroix (Amy Greene), in red beret and matching lipstick, with a mime artiste to one side and a cyclist with baguettes and string of garlic to the other, as she sings the Gallic ballad Je Vous Deteste Tous, resolutely in French bien sur, her disdain writ large.

    Norway closes the contest with Hammer Of Thor (Daniel Wood and Matt Tapp) hammering out the heavily metallic The Vikings, wherein an accountant sheds his day-job skin to join the Nordic warrior beside him as if on a Jorvik Viking Festival weekender in York.

    Time for an interval break, one where audience members must pick their top three, either by utilising a somewhat resistant QR Code or resorting to time-honoured pen and paper.

    Pulling the heart strings, but not playing the guitar ones: Cain Branton’s Mateus Villela holds back on his fret work in Portuguese entry Guy With A Guitar

    Van Griethuysen’s hostess comes even more into her element as the Eurovision send-ups continue, the tension rises and the forced jollity of a Euro party takes over. Martin Lay’s band has fun; costumier Carly Price has even more fun.

    Who wins? That’s up to you each show, but you’re on to a winner here if Eurovision is your guilty pleasure.

    York Light Opera Company in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York,  until July 5. Performances: 7.30pm, tonight and July 1 to 4, plus 3pm, June 28 and 29 and July 5. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

    Who wins at Eurobeat? You decide in the audience vote

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    Here’s your chance to vote in York Light’s Eurovision spoof at Theatre@41, Monkgate

    Waving the flag: Contestants on parade in the rehearsal room for York Light Opera Company’s Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe

    ABBACADABRA! York Light Opera Company will celebrate the magical spirit and vibrant energy and Eurovision in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from June 25 to July 5.

    Expect non-stop, infectious Eurobeat rhythms and dazzling visuals in Australian composer, writer and lyricist Craig Christie’s high-octane, electrifying musical, presented in its York debut under the direction of Neil Wood and musical direction of Martin Lay.

    “I didn’t know of the show until the company approached me and said, ‘this is what we want to do for the summer show’, and I thought, ‘absolutely’! It’s such fun,” says Neil.

    “It seems to have taken various guises. The first one I found, from 2008, starred Les Dennis and Mel Giedroyc and was called Eurobeat…Almost European. Then, in 2016, it was revamped by the same writer as Eurobeat Moldova, starring  Rula Lenska and Lee Latchford-Evans. Then MTI [Music Theatre International] released this one, Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe.

    “It’s very much a re-write but with some of the same songs. Craig Christie updates it each time, freshening it up with more Eastern bloc countries, like Lithuania, this time. 

    York Light Opera Company in rehearsal for Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe

    “The challenge for us is to present it as an event to take part in. For anyone who loves Eurovision, if it’s on your bucket list, then this is your opportunity to get involved.”

    What happens? “The audience can not only dance and revel in the fun of the European song contest, but also they will decide the winner, with the chance to vote on an app or good old pen and paper,” says Neil.

    “The cast won’t know who’s won until it’s announced, but there’ll be a nod to it ten minutes out from the end because of the costume changes needed.”

    The Eurobeat show will be hosted in Lichtenstein – winner of the right to do so by default, apparently – by Annabel van Griethuysen’s Marlene Cabana and overseen by Zander Fick’s master of protocols, Bjorn Bjornson, while Fanny Feuberger, Joy Warner, Kevin Kupferblum and Simon Kelly will take on the roles of Cultural Ambassadors.

    Representing Sweden will be Astrid Lungstomberg (played by Emma Swainston); for Poland,  Obwody Wirujące (Kit Stroud, Sophie Cunningham and Chloe Branton); Romania, Earnestasia (Emily Rockliff); United Kingdom, Nigel and Nadine (Stephen Wilson and Pascha Turnbull) and Lithuania, Idomus (Pierre-Alain van Griethuysen and Megan Taaffe).

    York Light Opera Company cast members working on a routine in rehearsal for Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe

    On song for Greece will be Persephone (Chloë Chapman); Portugal , Mateus Villela (Cain Branton); Vatican City,  Mother Morag and the Sisters of Perpetual Harmony (Evie Latham and Lizzie Kearton); France, Estelle LaCroix (Amy Greene) and Norway, Hammer Of Thor (Daniel Wood and Matt Tapp).

    “Each of the ten songs has an individual character in keeping with the familiar style of each country, but not too many ballads. So the French entry is very sultry; the Swedish entry has Loreen-esque vibes; the Norwegians have entered a heavy metal song – again!,” says Neil.

    “The British act, Nigel and Nadine, are on the comeback trail. They were actors in what might have been 1970s’ sitcom and now they’re back, representing the UK.”

    Eurobeat takes the form of the song contest in Act One, followed by the voting and extra songs in Act Two, climaxing with the result and the reprise of the winning number. “But rather than five hours on TV, it takes two hours on stage,” says Neil, who also provides the choreography in tandem with Sarah Craggs.

    “Our job has been not just to create the songs as Eurovision moments but to find the humour, and if you know my style, if I can see a joke, I’ll use it. Having directed I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change and Nunsense  for this company, this one goes in a completely different direction.

    “It ends up as more of an event, thought it’s still a theatre show,” says Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe director Neil Wood

    “It ends up as more of an event, though it’s still a theatre show, and from the audience point of view, it’s a blast! If you want to come in costume, you’re more than welcome to do so. We’ll have slash curtains, glitter and haze, everything you’d  expect from Eurovision,  but without the big budget.”

    Praising Christie’s writing, Neil says: “It’s very cleverly written because the contestants and other characters have to talk directly to the audience or to speak in their second language, so the jokes deliberately don’t always land.”

    He admits to being a Eurovision devotee.  “I love  it!” says Neil. “I grew up in the era where the UK still used to win. My earliest memories were Abba, Brotherhood Of Man and Milk And Honey, from Israel.

    “It was the thing to watch it as a family, as I have with my kids as they’ve grown up, watching with the packets of Haribo in front of us. It’s so huge now; really in vogue.”

    York Light Opera Company in Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York,  June 25 to July 5. Performances:  7.30pm, June 25 to 27 and July 1 to 4, plus 3pm, June 28 and 29 and July 5. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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    REVIEW: York Light Opera Company in Nunsense: The Mega-Musical!, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until July 6 *** ½

    Let us pray…for laughs: The Little Sisters of Hoboken and Ben Wood’s Brother Timothy in York Light Opera Company’s Nunsense: The Mega-Musical! Picture: Matthew Kitchen

    BLACK box theatre. Thick walls. No air conditioning, beyond a smattering of cooling fans. Then add nuns’ habits and wimples and the hottest night of the year.

    No wonder, in the last breaths of her climactic big number, Clare Meadley’s Sister Mary Hubert suddenly exclaimed: “God it’s hot in here.”

    The stultifying heat made the opening joke of Act 2 even more apt. “How do you make holy water?” “Boil the hell out of it!”. Theatre@41 boiled the hell out of us all, actors, Martin Lay’s band up high on the mezzanine level, and audience members alike, some improvising impromptu fans from programmes.

    Good news – if not for sun worshippers – lies in the weather forecast. Lower temperatures for the rest of this week, even lower next week. Hallelujah, as the Little Sisters of Hoboken might well sing.

    Or at least the last 12 still standing – and dancing, singing, acting, and telling jokes, too – after Sister Julia, Child of God’s dodgy Vichyssoise put paid to 52 of the sisters in a culinary catastrophe. Forty-eight have been buried but, heaven forbid, Reverend Mother Mary Regina (Joy Warner) has chucked money at buying a plasma TV, leaving the final four in limbo in the convent freezer.

    Now the Little Sisters must stage a revue and talent show to raise the necessary funds, taking over the set for the 8th grade’s production of Grease at the neighbouring Mount St Helen’s School, James Dean & Marilyn Monroe posters, Fifties’ jukebox et al.

    Cue the out-of-touch Reverend Mother mistakenly thinking the high-school musical was called Vaseline, but otherwise Grease references are not milked in Dan Goggin’s 1985 off-Broadway musical comedy.

    Inspired by attending a school run by the Marywood Dominican Sisters that first spawned his line of greetings cards of a nun’s funny quips, Nunsense grew from a cabaret show into a full-scale production and later the Mega-Musical version with an expanded cast, more characters and more comic mayhem that Neil Wood is directing for York Light. In a nutshell, more fun per nun.

    See Emily play: Emily Rockliff’s scene-stealing Sister Robert Anne in Nunsense: The Mega-Musical!. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

    No nun pun is knowingly resisted by Goggin, from the song title Nunsense Is Habit Forming to the sisters’ vow that “on our way to heaven, we’re here to make some hell”, all in the cause of proving that “nuns can be fun”.

    Five principal nuns each have a story to tell in both song and tale, enabling nuns and York Light alike to parade “triple threat” skills, whether Emma Craggs-Swainston’s Sister Mary Leo’s ballet dancing on point, or Emily Rockliff’s restless Sister Robert Anne, desperate to outgrow her “understudy” role, the convent equivalent of rising from chorus line to lead, as she parades her gift for mimicry with her wimple.

    Kathryn Addison has fun with Sister Julia’s life-endangering cooking, Warner’s Reverend Mother maximises the comedy pratfalls in inhaling a mind-altering substance, and best of all is Annabel van Griethuysen’s forgetful but unforgettable Sister Mary Amnesia, parading her operatic voice, comic timing in eye contact and vocal delivery, even hammy ventriloquism with grouchy nun puppet “Maryonette”, all topped off by a country cowgirl song.

    The humour is broad in range and style, occasionally smutty, sometimes slapstick, never subtle, and Goggin’s songs are similarly varied, from gospel to Andrews Sisters’ close harmonies, familiar musical theatre tropes to an ensemble tap-dancing dazzler, choreographed joyously by Rachel Whitehead.

    Wood’s cast adheres wholly – and holy – to Goggin’s advice to “play nuns trying to be showgirls and not the other way round”, to the betterment of the show’s hearty comedy.

    For added entertainment, the role of Father Virgil will be played in The Play What I Wrote guest turn tradition by a different actor at each performance. First up was Richard Bayton, setting the bar high in his good-natured cameo.

    After The Sound Of Music and Sister Act The Musical, once more nuns are making a habit of entertaining in song and dance and unguarded humour in Nunsense. And that habit is catching: even stage manager Sarah Craggs is in nun’s clothes.

    York Light Opera Company in Nunsense: The Mega-Musical!, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, running until July 6, 7.30pm (except June 30, July 1 and July 6); 3pm, June 29 and 30 and July 6.  Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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    You know it makes Nunsense for York Light to keep it wimple in Dan Goggin’s unconventional musical at Theatre@41

    Habit forming: Sarah Foster’s Sister Mary Brendan, back row, left, with, front row, from the left, Clare Meadley’s Sister Mary Hubert, Emily Rockliff’s Sister Robert Anne, Joy Warner’s Reverend Mother and Emma Craggs-Swainston’s Sister Mary Leo in a scene from Nunsense: The Mega-Musical!

    NUNS, nuns and more nuns. Musicals love them, from The Sound Of Music to Sister Act and now Nunsense: The Mega-Musical!, York Light Opera Company’s summer show at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York.

    Running from June 26 to July 6, the divine delights of Dan Goggin’s 1985 off-Broadway musical are being directed by Neil Wood with musical direction by Martin Lay.

    “Get ready for a heavenly dose of laughter as we present a side-splitting extravaganza brimming with witty humour, toe-tapping tunes and heavenly hilarity, as well as in tap dancing, tightrope walking and ventriloquism” says Neil.

    “Anyone expecting The Sound Of Music will be disappointed; anyone not expecting it will be overjoyed.”

    In the wake of the unfortunate passing of four beloved sisters – now “chilling out in the freezer” after a “culinary catastrophe” involving Sister Julia’s dodgy Vichyssoise – the remaining Little Sisters of Hoboken find themselves in a sticky situation.

    To raise funds for a proper burial – and perhaps a new cook! – the nuns must take centre stage for a riotous revue and talent show like no other, performed on the set of a school production of Grease that is being staged next door.

    Building on the success of last June’s “riotous, rude and relevant” I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, York Light will stage a “mega-sized version” of Goggin’s show with an expanded cast, new characters and even more musical mayhem.

    Neil Wood’s full cast for Nunsense : The Mega-Musical!, including late replacement Kathryn Addision, bottom row, second from left, and the ten Father Virgils

    “It’s an absolute pleasure to return to York Light Opera Company to direct their summer show for the second year running,” says Neil. “Nunsense: The Mega-Musical is an exciting, hysterical and entertaining show and I’ve been lucky enough to cast 12 exceptionally talented actresses who encapsulate their various characters to perfection. It’s a wonderful show, which I’m sure audiences will adore.”

    Among them will be Kathryn Addison, taking over from the indisposed Pascha Turnbull as Sister Julia, Child of God, at only five rehearsals’ notice.

    One further cast hitch has required a novel solution, Neil reveals: “As with producing any show, you come across little hiccups, and our original Father Virgil [Matt Tapp] being sent to the Highlands a month before opening night was possibly the most extreme hiccup I’ve had to deal with as a director.

    “So, what’s the solution?  Do you find one actor who can cover all ten shows at late notice? No! Instead, we’ve found ten actors who can do one night each with limited rehearsal!”

    Inspiration came from comedy national treasures Eric and Ernie. “I got the idea having seen the guest actors in The Play What I Wrote, the show based on the life of Morecambe and Wise, and it’s worked exceptionally well!” says Neil.

    “We had such a good response from the gentlemen of York Light Opera Company and within days I’d managed to cast all ten performances. It was difficult to get one replacement actor to do all the rehearsals and performances at short notice, and a lot easier to get ten to do one show each, saying ‘tell me when you can’t do it’ and then getting my Father Virgil spreadsheet sorted out by the end of the weekend!”

    Among them will be York musical actor, York Theatre Royal box-office manager and 2016 Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalist Richard Bayton, soon to appear in Bright Light Musical Productions’ York premiere of Green Day’s American Idiot at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

    Sing something wimple: Emily Rockliff’s Sister Robert Anne to the fore in a rehearsal for York Light’s Nunsense: The Mega-Musical!

    “It’s not a huge part, but it’s vital,” says Neil. One that requires only one rehearsal, as Richard explains. “We’ve all been sent the ten pages that Father Virgil features in to learn the lines. Then, on the night I’ll turn up at 6pm to prepare for the 7.30pm start, getting into the inner, deep characterisation of what it means to be Father Virgil, sorting out the blocking on stage and finding out who I’m supposed to be flirting with!”

    Neil is enjoying his first experience of Nunsense. “I remember that it came to the West End in my nipper days and thought, ‘well, that sounds an interesting show’,” he recalls. “But I’d never thought about it again until I was approached by the York Light committee to direct their summer show for the second time in a row after I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.

    “It’s an ideal contrast, a chance to have a totally different cast, with those 12 female roles. It started as a five-hander that’s now a much bigger ensemble show after Dan Goggin wrote more characters and more numbers, and he’s even done a version where you could add children, though we won’t be. “

    Neil has even received advice via Goggin’s Facebook posts. “He signs all his posts as ‘Danny’, rather than ‘Dan’,” he says. “He’s advised the cast that they’re playing nuns trying to be showgirls and not the other way round, with ‘choreographed imperfections’ that go with that.”

    He loves Goggin’s music too. “Sometimes, you come across a show and you think, ‘um, not sure’, but this one has a fantastic score:  there’s country music, Andrews Sisters’ close harmonies, gospel, traditional musical theatre songs, even a ballet routine and tap-dancing nuns!

    “Rachel Whitehead has choreographed the ballet and the tap number, and the rest of it has come out of that twisted mind of mine! The lovely thing about doing it at Theatre@41 is that because it’s a smaller space, it’s intimate. There’s no ‘fourth wall’ in the show but there is interaction with the audience because it’s that sort of show.”

    Working alongside Neil is assistant director Sarah Foster, from Missouri, USA, who is in the third year of her PhD studies at the University of York.

    Annabel van Griethuysen’s Sister Mary Amnesia, left, Emma Craggs-Swainston and Emily Rockliff’s Sister Robert Anne in the rehearsal room

    “I saw the show at the theatre where I was directing with a company in Springfields, in the middle of nowhere! One of the 12 to 15 Springfields that The Simpsons never reveal exactly where they’re from,” says Sarah, who has helped the York Light cast to work on their American accents, just as she did for York Musical Theatre Company’s The Wizard Of Oz in May.

    “I first saw the five-hander and I remember I was struck by just how genuine the show was; how funny it was; the variety of the nuns’ different stories and the variety of the songs. I wasn’t expecting the tap number in the middle!”

    Sarah was involved with Springfield Little Theatre for eight years, mostly performing in musical theatre, before taking up her PhD studies in How the Arts Influenced Climate Change and Sustainability Education.

    She finds time to maintain her theatrical involvement, whether as production assistant on York Light’s February production of The Little Mermaid at York Theatre Royal or now playing Sister Mary Brendan.

    “She’s one of the teachers at the school connected to the convent,” she says of her role. “She’s the drama teacher who’s putting on the production of Grease.”

    Summing up the show, Neil says: “The humour is bonkers with elements of farce, but not a Brian Rix or Feydeau farce. The humour comes from the five principal nuns’ stories unravelling as the Mother Superior tries to hold it all together, not always with successfully!”

    “Their personalities keep bursting through, making it more difficult for the Mother Superior to control them,” adds Sarah.

    Clare Meadley’s Sister Mary Hubert, front, and Sarah Foster’s Sister Mary Brendan, left, in rehehearsal for the Little Sisters of Hoboken’s fund-raising revue

    Nunsense suits the “triple threat” talents of York Light, says Neil. “It needs good operatic singing, country & western belts too, good dancers and good actors, and that’s the joy of working with York Light. There are so many talents you can go to.

    “The show is great family entertainment, with a couple of jokes that might go over young heads. Goggin knew what he wanted, and it’s not often you get a script that is so detailed and so full of possibilities to make it funny.”

    “The comedic timing is really well thought out,” says Sarah. “And I’m also going to enjoy this show so much because it’s interactive, with conversations with the audience.”

    Neil rejoins: “The fourth string to the director’s bow is being able to choreograph those laughs. I love to look for those moments.”

    He highlights the comedic impact of a nun’s attire: the habit and wimple. “For the actors, the wimple absolutely focuses the importance of facial expression, but not to go over the top because expressions are magnified by the wimple’s shape,” he says.

    “The habit limits the possibilities of the choreography because it restricts movement, but in a good way for comedy, as we have nuns trying to be showgirls, and not the other way round. We even have nuns on point in one number.”

    The band members, perched on the mezzanine level, add to the visual impact too. “They’ll all be dressed as monks and vicars, and our musical director, Martin Lay, is playing the role of Father Patrick, leading the heavenly chorus,” says Neil. “Even the stage manager, Sarah Craggs, will be a nun!”

    York Light Opera Company in Nunsense: The Mega-Musical!; Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, June 26 to July 6, 7.30pm (except June 30, July 1 and July 6); 3pm, June 29 and 30, July 6.  Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

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    York Light to stage off-Broadway comedy Nunsense: The Mega-Musical with expanded cast and new characters

    And then there were nuns: York Light Opera Company’s flyer for Nunsense: The Mega-Musical

    THE Little Sisters of Hoboken will be bigger than ever in Nunsense: The Mega-Musical, York Light Opera Company’s summer show at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York.

    Running from June 26 to July 6, the divine delights of Dan Goggin’s musical are being directed by Neil Wood with musical direction by Martin Lay.

    “Get ready for a heavenly dose of laughter as we present a side-splitting extravaganza brimming with witty humour, toe-tapping tunes and heavenly hilarity,” says Neil.

    In the wake of the unfortunate passing of four beloved sisters – now “chilling out in the freezer” after a “culinary catastrophe” involving soup – the remaining Little Sisters of Hoboken find themselves in a sticky situation. To raise funds for a proper burial – and perhaps a new cook! – the nuns take centre stage for a riotous revue like no other.

    For the uninitiated, Dan Goggin’s 1985 off-Broadway musical promises a night of unforgettable entertainment, featuring:

    ● An all-singing, all tap-dancing cast of the Little Sisters of Hoboken, each with their own delightful personality.

    ● A script packed with jokes and side-splitting situations.

    ● Show-stopping song-and-dance numbers.

    ● A heart-warming message of community, perseverance and finding humour even, in the face of adversity.

    Building on the success of last June’s “riotous, rude and relevant” I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, York Light will stage a “mega-sized version” of Goggin’s show with an expanded cast, new characters and even more musical mayhem.

    “It’s an absolute pleasure to return to York Light Opera Company to direct their summer show for the second year running,” says Neil. “Nunsense: The Mega-Musical is an exciting, hysterical and entertaining show and I’ve been lucky enough to cast 12 exceptionally talented actresses who encapsulate their various characters to perfection. It’s a wonderful show, which I’m sure audiences will adore.”

    One cast hitch has required a novel solution, Neil reveals: “As with producing any show, you come across little hiccups, and our Father Virgil [Matt Tapp] being sent to the Highlands a month before opening night is possibly the most extreme hiccup I’ve had to deal with as a director.

    “So, what’s the solution?  Do you find one actor who can cover all ten shows at late notice? No! Instead, we’ve found ten actors who can do one night each with limited rehearsal! Keep your eyes on social media to find out who.”

    Inspiration came from comedy national treasures Eric and Ernie. “I got the idea having seen the guest actors in The Play What I Wrote, which is a show based on the life of Morecambe and Wise, and it’s worked exceptionally well!” says Neil.

    “We had such a good response from the gentlemen of York Light Opera Company and within days had managed to cast all ten performances. However, that’s just one little treat for the audience…

    “…Throw in tap dancing, tightrope walking and ventriloquism and you know you are in for a night you will never forget.”

    York Light Opera Company in Nunsense: The Mega-Musical; Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, June 26 to July 6, 7.30pm (except June 30, July 1 and July 6); 3pm, June 29 and 30, July 6.  Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

    Who’s who in the cast?

    Reverend Mother Mary Regina: Joy Warner; Sister Mary Hubert: Clare Meadley (except July 5 and 6), Alison Davies , July 5 and 6; Sister Robert Anne: Emily Rockliff; Sister Mary Amnesia:  Annabel van Griethuysen; Sister Mary Leo: Emma Craggs-Swainston; Sister Julia, Child of God: Kathryn Addison, replacing Pascha Turnbull, with only five days of rehearsals to go; Sister Mary Brendan:  Sarah Foster; Sister Mary Luke: Chloë Chapman; Sister Mary Wilhelm: Madeleine Hicks; Father Virgil: as explained above; Brother Timothy: Ben Wood; Sister Mary John: Alison Davies (except July 5 and 6); Sister Mary Matthew: Amy Greene; Sister Mary Mark: Sophie Cunningham.

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    REVIEW: York Light Opera Company in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, York Theatre Royal, making waves until Saturday ****

    Pascha Turnbull’s Ursula, James Dickinson’s Flotsam and Adam Gill’s Jetsam in York Light Opera Company’s Disney’s The Little Mermaid. All pictures: Matthew Kitchen Photography

    THREE matinees this week are testament to the family appeal of Disney’s aquatic adventure The Little Mermaid, a show ideal for half-term week.

    Across the city from February 16 to 18 at York Barbican, a Tylosaurus, the largest predatory marine reptile to ever grace our oceans and now the largest marine puppet ever made, will be making a big splash in a purpose-built tank in Jurassic Live. “If you sit near the front, you will get wet,” comes the safety alert.

    No such warning is necessary at the Theatre Royal, but in the absence of water, everything else is thrown at director/choreographer Martyn Knight’s hi-tech production: an LED screen by AV Matrix; flying by Blue Chilli Flying; images and animations by Broadway Media Distribution and additional scenic elements by Scenic Projects, Lowestoft, and Curtain Call Productions, Crewe.

    Bon appetit: Zander Fick’s Chef Louis

    The tentacle costume for 6ft tall Pascha Turnbull’s evil sea witch, the giant squid Ursula, has been made specially by Caroline Guy, to go with a spectacular array of sea-world costumes by Spotlight Costume Hire and additional costumes created by York Light.

    Wardrobe coordinator Carly Price has overseen a sewing team of ten, complemented by 21 dressers at the theatre; ten people in Ellie Ryder’s wig, hair and make-up team; ten more in the stage crew, all serving a cast of 43. Set building took 14 people; Paul Laidlaw conducts an excellent nine-strong orchestra, three of them on keyboards.

    Those numbers tell you this is a big, expensive show to mount, taking on the challenge of staging a musical produced originally by Disney Theatrical Productions, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale and John Musker and Ron Clements’s animated 1989 film for Disney.

    Monica Frost’s Ariel in mermaid mode in Disney’s The Little Mermaid

    Built on a book by Doug Wright, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman & Glenn Slater, this is every inch a Disney show, in style, content and philosophy, but Knight’s cast still brings a York Light air to it too.

    This is helped by the experienced presence of not only Turnbull’s terrific villain, Ursula, but also Neil Wood’s mandarin Grimsby, Martin Lay’s bird-brained Scuttle and in particular Rory Mulvihill’s stern King Triton, ruler of the underworld.

    Turnbull’s Ursula and her henchmen with the flashing footwear, James Dickinson’s Flotsam and Adam Gill’s Jetsam, savour the dark side with more than a hint of pantomime villainy, and Turnbull’s rendition of Poor Unfortunate Souls is a formidable finale to Act One.

    Neil Wood’s Grimsby and James Horsman’s Prince Eric

    Jonny Holbek’s Caribbean crustacean, Sebastian the crab, carries the heaviest comedy load, and although painting a face red to deliver a calypso caricature in Under The Sea might not be on a par with a white actor blacking up as Othello in 2024, the Jamaican jive could sit awkwardly for those who cringed at Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

    Nevertheless, Holbek is such a personable presence on stage – witness his Dewey Finn lead turn in School Of Rock last November – that his Sebastian goes down well, breaking down theatre’s fourth wall in the style of a panto daft lad.

    Under The Sea, by the way, is as big and bright and fun as the big ensemble number should be, while Monica Frost’s Ariel, the mermaid who makes a deal with Ursula to take on human form (at the cost of her voice), relishes her spotlight in Part Of Your World in a resolute lead performance.

    Rory Mulvihill’s King Triton

    Lay’s Scuttle and the Seagulls could not be more positive in Positoovity, danced to tap choreography by Rachel Whitehead, and if you want an actor to maximise a cameo with comic flair and French drama, step forward Zander Fick’s Chef Louis  in Les Poissons in the palace kitchen.

    Roller-skating is all the rage under the sea for Triton’s daughters (Frost’s Ariel, Annabel Van Griethuysen’s Aquata, Helen Miller’s Andrina, Madeleine Hicks’s Arista, Chloe Chapman’s Atina, Sophie Cunningham’s Adella and Sarah Craggs’s Allana), who swish hither and thither and sing siren-style.

    James Horsman’s Prince Eric, the royal who would prefer to be a sailor, is played as straight as a ruler, fitting the Disney tropes of dark hair, slim frame and mono-focus on his one – find his bride – task in hand.

    Jonny Holbek’s Sebastian the crab and Ryan Addyman’s Flounder performing Under The Sea

    Ryan Addyman, who had everyone talking about his Jamie New in York Stage’s  Everybody’s Talking About Jamie Teen Edition last June, was promptly head-hunted to play Flounder, and he anything but flounders as Ariel’s fabulous fish sidekick here. One to watch, definitely.

    Dial M for Mermaid if you enjoy Disney with a York Light touch, colours galore, fairytale fantasy, Turnbull terrors and Mulvihill regal authority

    Performances:  7.30pm nightly, plus 2.30pm, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

    Martin Lay’s Scuttle, front, and the Gulls dancing Positoovity in York Light’s tap number in Disney’s The Little Mermaid