Tag: Paul Laidlaw

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Neil Wood & Annabel van Griethuysen vow to make each night a good night as Martyn Knight 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 Knight 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 recalled in conversation post-show), 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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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
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Squid’s in! Pascha Turnbull can’t wait for the sea-witching hour as underwaterworld villain Ursula in Disney’s The Little Mermaid

Pashca Turnbull in full regalia as Ursula, the sea witch, in York Light Opera Company’s production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

WHY is the seaweed always greener in someone else’s lake? Find out in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, the spectacular finale to York Light Opera Company’s 70th celebrations that opens tonight (7/2/2024) at York Theatre Royal to coincide with half-term week.

Director Martyn Knight and musical director Paul Laidlaw are at the wheel for this underwater adventure with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman & Glenn Slater and book by Doug Wright, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairytale and John Musker & Ron Clements’s 1989 animated film.

York Light bring LED projection, dazzling costumes and choreography by Rachel Whitehead to the timeless enchanting tale of Ariel, a mermaid who dreams of trading her tail for legs to explore the human world. Aided by mischievous sidekick Flounder and the cunning Ursula, Ariel strikes a bargain that will change her life forever, but all is not what it seems.

Ariel will be portrayed by Monica Frost, Flounder by Ryan Addyman, Sebastian the crab by Jonny Holbek, Prince Eric by James Horsman and King Triton by the York stage stalwart Rory Mulvihill.

Billed as “the now renowned witch performer”, Pascha Turnbull will play sea witch Ursula, the greedy squid with powers of dark magic that, spoiler alert, will lead to her banishment.

“I haven’t seen the live action re-make [Rob Marshall’s 2023 film] – on purpose! Melissa McCarthy plays Ursula in that version. No pressure there then!” says Pascha.

How would she describe Ursula? “I think she’s more than cunning. She’s sly, devious, manipulative…she’s just awesome! Some little girls dream of being princesses, but some dream of playing villains – like me! Baddies absolutely have more fun – and you don’t have to kiss anybody!

“The big powerful woman, the larger-than-life character, is just something I’ve always enjoyed. On top of that, my natural singing voice is alto –they tend to play villains – and I’m 6ft tall.”

Pascha Turnbull being made up for the role of evil squid Ursula in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

Armed with “lots of tentacles I have to co-ordinate”, Pascha forms a new York Light team with James Dickinson’s Flotsam and Adam Gill’s Jetsam. “We’re Team Evil, as we call ourselves. James and Adam are even taller than me, so we’re a formidable team when we’re on stage together!” she says.

“I’ve seen James and Adam in other shows, like Joseph And The Mazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and James happens to work in the print industry, like me.”

Should you be wondering, Pascha and her brother Nick – even taller at 6ft 5ins – run Inc Dot Design & Print, in Seafire Close, York, a print and graphic design company set up by their father, John Turnbull, in 1980.

“I’ve always said it’s great to be tall because you always get served at the bar,” says Pascha, who will be part of a cast of 40 in York Light’s show, performing a suitably big solo number, Poor Unfortunate Souls, to boot. “That song sums up her manipulative nature. She’ll help people to live out their dreams, but there’s always a payment required!”

Looking forward to playing the York Theatre Royal stage, Pascha says: “York Light have always done their February shows there. It’s a heck of a feeling performing in such an iconic theatre building, and just having that professional experience around you is fantastic. Being back in that theatre makes you feel giddy,

“The fact that we’re doing this show over half-term means so many more people can see it, especially with all the matinees, and anything that encourages people into the theatre is a good thing. I’m very excited!”

York Light Opera Company in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, York Theatre Royal, tonight 7/2/2024) until February 17, except February 12. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

York Light Opera Company’s cast for Disney’s The Little Mermaid

Monica Frost’s Ariel

Ariel: Monica Frost
Ursula: Pascha Turnbull
Mersister Aquata: Annabel Van Griethuysen
Mersister Andrina: Helen Miller
Mersister Arista: Madeleine Hicks
Mersister Atina: Chloë Chapman
Mersister Adella: Sophie Cunningham
Mersister Allana: Sarah Craggs
Prince Eric: James Horsman

York Light debutant Ryan Adamson in the role of Flounder


Grimsby: Neil Wood
Flounder: Ryan Addyman
Sebastian: Jonny Holbek
Scuttle: Martin Lay
King Triton: Rory Mulvihill
Flotsam: James Dickinson
Jetsam: Adam Gill
Chef Louis: Zander Fick

Annabel van Griethuysen’s Mersister Aquata, “Ariel’s mean, ambitious and devious big sister”. Picture: Matthew Kitchen
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Hooray for the Hollywood Sisters as they raise funds for York Mind at Friday concert with musical friends at Theatre@41

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The poster artwork for Hollywood Sisters And Friends at Theatre@41, Monkgate on Friday night
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REVIEW: York Light Opera Company in Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, York Theatre Royal, until March 4 ****

Razor sharp: Neil Wood’s Sweeney Todd conducting his sharp practice as Julie Anne Smith’s Mrs Lovett hovers in York Light’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street. All pictures: Matthew Kitchen

LIGHT and dark combine for the tale of Sweeney Todd, York Light’s heavyweight production to mark both the company’s 70th anniversary and last November’s passing of composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim at 91.

In 2016, Robert Readman favoured going dangerously up close at 41, Monkgate. In 2023, director-choreographer Martyn Knight returns Sondheim’s knife-edge musical thriller to a gothic grand scale, large ensemble et al, while adjusting the setting from venal Victorian to gory Georgian at York Theatre Royal.

Costume designers Suzanne Ayers and Jean Wilkinson and wardrobe co-ordinator Carly Price pull out all the stops, aided by Ellie Ryder’s wigs, hair and make-up, and sewing, wardrobe and make-up teams in big numbers. Fantastic work all round.

Full of foreboding: Clare Meadley’s harrowing Beggar Woman

Under conductor Paul Laidlaw, keyboardist Simon Kelly’s organ swells to unnerving, edge-of-the-seat effect, forewarning of the terrible deeds to come in an opening that establishes how important the 30-strong ensemble will be throughout this murder-is-meat musical, whether as feral harbingers, boozy pie eaters or mental asylum incumbents.

The grave mien and embittered baritone of Neil Wood’s ponytailed Sweeney Todd further concentrates the mind on the serious business ahead as he flees Australia to return to East London after 15 years of wrongful exile at Botany Bay, vowing vengeance on the corrupt Judge Turpin (Craig Kirby, reprising his Pick Me Up role with even more insufferable judicial arrogance).

The self-flagellating Judge is the abusive ward to Sweeney’s daughter Johanna (Madeleine Hicks), keeping her like a caged bird: a revelation that brings even more of a cutting edge to Sweeney’s resumption of his demon barbershop business above the worst pie gaff in London town.

Clinging on to love amid the wreckage: Maximus Mawle’s Anthony Hope and Madeleine Hicks’s Johanna

Mrs Lovett (Julie Anne Smith) needs an upgrade from the grit and gristle in her pies; Sweeney is up for a slice of the action, when she turns out to be as manipulative as Lady Macbeth.

Mrs Lovett may be devoid of humanity, but now that there is 100 per cent humanity in her pies, they turn out to be bloody good, celebrated heartily in God, That’s Good, the ensemble high point of a consistently impactful performance as London’s exposed underbelly.

Behind dark eyes and a bustling air, add Smith’s humour, love-a-duck London accent and top-notch singing, and hers is a best-in-show performance, relishing Sondheim’s devilish wit and snappy turn of phrase.

Pie high: Jonny Holbek’s Tobias Ragg, furthest forward to the right, leads the euphoric singing in God, That’s Good!

As the bodies pile up, deposited down the shoot from Sweeney’s barber’s chair with a rumble in the tumble each time he shortens life rather than hair, gradually a macabre darkness of humour permeates the audience response, all the more so for Wood’s Sweeney not changing his countenance . And yet vulnerability courses through his inner turmoil.

Praise too for Maximus Mawle’s Anthony Hope and Hicks’s Johanna in the young love roles, as up against it as Romeo and Juliet, plus a treat of a camply comic turn from Richard Bayton as henchman Beadle Bamford and Clare Meadley’s damaged bird of a harrowing prophetess, the homeless Beggar Woman. Martin Lay has great fun with his faux Italian accent as preposterous, twinkling rival barber Adolfo Pirelli.

Any York production is always better for the presence of Jonny Holbek, and his Tobias Ragg, assistant first to Pirelli then kitchen aid to Mrs Lovett, is a scene stealer here: humour and tragedy, light and darkness, hope and desperation, naivety and madness, all at play in his performance.

Gritty encounter: Julie Anne Smith’s Mrs Lovett entreats Neil Wood’s Sweeney Todd to try the worst pie in London town

Paul Laidlaw’s wind and brass players, together with Kelly’s keyboards and Francesca Rochester and Laurie Gunson’s percussion, bring out all the drama and rich musicality in Sondheim’s score, sometimes luscious, other times juddering and jagged.   

Martin Knight’s choreography matches that musical diversity, adding to the deliciously dark delights of this juicy psychological drama. Make sure to grab a bite of this very tasty pie.

Performances: 7.30pm,  tonight (27/02/2023) until Saturday plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee.  Box  office: 01904 623 568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

By Charles Hutchinson

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York Light mark 70th year with cutting-edge Sweeney Todd in Georgian setting

Neil Wood’s Sweeney Todd and Julie-Anne Smith’s Mrs Lovett with their hot-selling new pie in York Light Opera Company’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street. Picture:Matthew Kitchen

LIGHT meets dark when York Light Opera Company return to York Theatre Royal from Wednesday in “one of the darkest musicals ever written”, Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street.

Steered by the familiar hands on the tiller of director Martyn Knight and musical director Paul Laidlaw, the show is set in the Georgian era, rather than the usual Victorian London murk.

In York Light’s 70th anniversary production, Neil Wood takes the title role of the misanthropic barber who returns home to the Big Smoke after 15 years in exile, seeking vengeance on the corrupt judge (Craig Kirby) who ruined his life.

The road to revenge leads to him to open new tonsorial premises above the failing pie shop run by Mrs Lovett (Julie-Anne Smith). Cue a very tasty meaty new ingredient to boost sales in this now cutthroat business.

“Yes, it’s dark and gruesome, but it’s so funny too,” says Neil. “One moment the audience are bent double with laughter; the next they’re in tears. A lot of it comes down to the patter style that’s reminiscent of Gilbert and Sullivan.”

Richard Bayton, by day in charge of ticket sales for Sweeney Todd as York Theatre Royal’s box office manager, will be playing Beadle Bamford. “Two months into rehearsals, I’m thinking, ‘who is this man? There has to be more to him than how than how he ends up’, so I’ve built up the character, when he’s often seen as comic relief but I’ve looked to make him darker,” he says.

A cut above: Neil Wood’s Sweeney Todd in the doorway of his Fleet Street upstairs premises. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

“I’ve really enjoyed it because it’s always fun to play a bit of a baddie, though the real baddie is definitely Judge Turpin.”

Julie-Anne Smith’s Mrs Lovett occupies the dark side too with her surprisingly delicious but morally dodgy pie contents. “Everyone is damaged in this piece, all except Anthony Hope [played by Maximus Mawle],” she says. “Even Johanna [Madeleine Hicks] is extremely damaged – and living with the Judge, she would be! Everyone else represents the underbelly of London.”

Neil rejoins: “Whether you’re playing Shakespeare’s Richard III or Sweeney Todd, you have to find something you understand in the character. It’s not until he meets the damaged Mrs Lovett, who has her own agenda, that he changes course after being wrongly exiled for a crime he didn’t commit.

“Through fate, he has found his way back home to London to find his wife dead and discover what the judge has done, with his daughter now in the judge’s hands. In that moment, Mrs Lovett manipulates him, and it’s like a puppet being played with, on a knife edge.”

 Julie-Anne says: “You have to push that notion that they’re only human; you have to make that connection with the character you’re playing. At the end of the day, she’s human, she’s damaged. She just wants a cottage by the sea and will do anything to get it.

“That’s why she’s interesting to play because people can never believe the horrific deeds that humans can do, but particularly if it’s a woman perpetrating such horrific crimes, but her humour endears her to the audience – and they’re laughing with her rather than at her. That’s why I like playing the anti-hero, because they’re more complex.”

“People can never believe the horrific deeds that humans can do, but particularly if it’s a woman perpetrating such horrific crimes,” Julie-Anne Smith, York Light’s Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street. Picture: Matthew Kitchen

From the maniacal Sweeney Todd to Titus Andronicus, such characters “have always been more interesting, with the best lines”, notes Neil. “We’re just really lucky to have the chance to be doing such roles,” he says.

“It’s also the right time to be staging Sweeney Todd, especially with Stephen Sondheim passing away last year. There’s lots of interest in him again, with Sweeney Todd running on Broadway and the Sondheim concert, Old Friends, with Bernadette Peters in the company, that’ll be on in London at the Prince Edward Theatre for 16 weeks.”

Richard is savouring the meatiness of Sondheim’s lyrics in a show where 80 per cent of Sweeney Todd is set to music, either sung or underscoring dialogue. “They’re so rich in meaning,” he says. “I’ve been able to find new interpretations and new meanings in every rehearsal because you  can read so much into them.”

Neil adds: “It’s such a complete show; the orchestrations are wonderful, and Martyn Knight and Paul Laidlaw have been a joy to work with as they really appreciate what a challenge Sondheim is. That’s why we started in early October on the music, and then Martin came up for a first block of rehearsals from November and has back since January after a Christmas break. You can’t start working on the detail until the words are embedded in you.”

Julie-Anne is thrilled to be putting flesh on Sondheim bones in Sweeney Todd. “I was in a professional group, Lucky 4 You, that performed Sondheim songs all around Yorkshire, and I’d always wanted to do the big duet from Sweeney within the context of the show. Now I can do that with Neil.”

York Light Opera Company in Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, York Theatre Royal, Wednesday (22/2/2023) to March 4, 7.30pm, except February 26; 2.30pm, February 25 and March 4. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

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Hooray! York Musical Theatre Company cast raises a glass to Hollywood’s golden age ahead of Rowntree Theatre show

York Musical Theatre Company cast members Cat Foster, left, Henrietta Linnemann, John Haigh, Richard Bayton, Helen Spencer and Rachel Higgs dress the part for Hooray For Hollywood! at Nola in York

YORK Musical Theatre Company will offer escapism to Hollywood’s golden era after release from the pandemic lockdowns at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York.

The classic American cinema of the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s will be explored in song in the slick and sophisticated six-hander Hooray For Hollywood! from November 8 to 10.

Devised and directed by Paul Laidlaw, the piece was first staged at York Theatre Royal Studio in 2007, and now Laidlaw reignites his show with a cast of six – Richard Bayton, Cat Foster, John Haigh, Rachel Higgs, Henrietta Linnemann and Helen Spencer in a nostalgic, whirlwind journey through the sounds of a bygone era from the MGM, Warner Bros, RKO and Universal studios.

Richard Bayton, left, and John Haigh raise a glass to Hooray For Hollywood! at Nola

“Packed with a classic collection of love songs, torch songs and comic numbers, Hooray For Hollywood! covers iconic artists such as Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra to name just a few,” says Laidlaw, who recalls the premiere 14 years ago.

“We’ve actually performed the show at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre before, as well as at the York Theatre Royal Studio. As we head into our 120th year next year, it felt right to be a bit nostalgic and look back at some of our original pieces that audiences loved and revive them for new audiences.

“We loved performing The World Goes ’Round a few years ago and this show has a similar feel in that it’s a small cast and is fast paced and slick but will take the audience on a magical musical journey.”

Cocktail time for York Musical Theatre Company cast members Rachel Higgs, left, Henrietta Linnemann, Cat Foster and Helen Spencer at Nola

In the lead up to next month’s performances, Laidlaw’s cast members have been Puttin’ on the Ritz in a photo-shoot at the Nola jazz restaurant and bar in Lendal, designed to evoke the glitz and glamour of vintage Hollywood.

“Housed in the old congregational chapel on Lendal, the gold, mirrored decor of Nola was the perfect setting as the cast of six brushed up their white tie, tails and top hats – so to speak! – and posed with martini glasses in the 1920s’ Art Deco atmosphere,” says publicity officer Anna Mitchelson. 

“Richard, Cat, John, Rachel, Henrietta and Helen are now deep into rehearsals for the show, learning intricate harmonies and weaving famous Hollywood melodies together in a unique and clever way.”

Tickets for the 7.30pm performances cost £15, £12 for age 18 and under, on 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk. 

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York Musical Theatre Company say Hooray For Hollywood in escapist November show

Six of the best for Hooray For Hollywood: Paul Laidlaw’s cast for York Musical Theatre Company’s November show at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre

YORK Musical Theatre Company will head off to Hollywood in November with a desire for escapism from months of pandemic lockdowns.

Devised by director Paul Laidlaw, Hooray For Hollywood’s celebration of songs from Tinseltown’s golden age was first performed by YMTC at the York Theatre Royal Studio in 2007. 

From November 8 to 10 at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, Laidlaw’s revival of his slick and sophisticated six-hander show will explore the musical masters of the classic Hollywood of the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s.

Laidlaw’s cast is made up of four women and two men: Cat Foster, Rachel Higgs, Henrietta Linnemann and Helen Spencer, joined by Richard Bayton and John Haigh.

This nostalgic, whirlwind journey through the sounds of Hollywood is packed with love songs, torch songs, and comic numbers from the bygone days of  Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

Director Laidlaw says: “We’ve actually performed the show at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre before, as well as at the Theatre Royal Studio. As we head into our 120th year next year, it felt right to be a bit nostalgic and look back at some of our original pieces that audiences loved and revive them for new audiences.

“We loved performing The World Goes ’Round [a revue of Kander and Ebb’s songbook] a few years ago, and this show has a similar feel in that it’s a small cast and is fast paced and slick but will take the audience on a magical musical journey.”

Tickets for the three 7.30pm performances cost £15, £12 for age 18 and under, at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk or on 01904 501935.

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Livvy returns home to cast her spell over York Stage’s Jack And The Beanstalk panto

Livvy Evans: Returning to her home city to wave her wand as Fairy Mary in York Stage’s Jack And The Beanstalk. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick

MARCH 17, London. York-born musical actress Livvy Evans is one day away from the opening of her West End role in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical at the Aldwych Theatre.

“After two weeks of tech rehearsals, we were getting ready to open, but instead we got called in to say the theatre would be closing immediately,” she recalls, now sitting in a different theatre, back in the home city she left 13 years ago, as she prepares to play Fairy Mary in York Stage’s socially distanced, Covid-secure Jack And The Beanstalk at Theatre @ 41 Monkgate, York.

Livvy went from Simply The Best to simply the worst of times, as the Coronavirus pandemic left the West End deserted for month after month. “Initially, we expected to go back after a few weeks, but at the last meeting we had with the company managers they told us ticket sales were being taken off for January and February and now, as with most shows, they’re aiming for a spring reopening,” she says. In other words, at least a year of gathering cobwebs will have passed.

In her professional career, Livvy has been “lucky enough to pretty much go from theatre job to theatre job” in such shows as Soho Cinders, Motown at the Shaftesbury Theatre and UK tours of Sister Act and Ghost: The Musical. “When I have had a time where I haven’t worked, I’ve done nannying support in special needs, and I get a lot from it; it’s much more fulfilling than working in restaurants,” she says.

“But right now there just aren’t the jobs available for actors that they might otherwise tend to do in the quiet times, such as teaching or working in bars,” she adds, on top of the blow of no furlough pay. “And we’re being asked to go back for less pay and fewer shows when we do re-start.”

Glory be that Nik Briggs came a’calling, offering Livvy the chance to join his Jack And The Beanstalk company for the panto season. “It must have been the beginning of September, and at that point it still hadn’t been confirmed that Tina wouldn’t be opening this year,” Livvy recalls.

“So, I could only say ‘hopefully’, and I’d need to get permission from the Tina company, so it all took a long time. But once we knew Tina wouldn’t be opening, I said to Nik, ‘I’d love to do it’. I’ve been a professional for many years, but since leaving for London, I’ve never done a professional show in York. Leeds, yes, Bradford, yes, but not York.”

Brought up in Huntington, Livvy moved south to train in musical theatre on a full scholarship at Arts Educational, in Chiswick, London, in 2008. “I normally only spend four or five days in York, but this year it’ll be six weeks, which will be lovely,” she says.

“I don’t think I’ve ever played Fairy before, and the only panto princess I’ve done was Jasmine in Aladdin at the Grand Opera House in 2006 with Syd Little and Michael Starke, who I then did Sister Act with. I remember he used to call me his ‘little Peking duck, his little dumpling’ in the panto!”

Livvy will be performing with York Stage for the first time. “Strangely, I never did a York Stage Musicals show when I was young, but I did a lot of the summer school youth projects with Simon Barry at the Grand Opera House, doing my first professional job in Aladdin on the back of playing Audrey in Little Shop Of Horrors,” she recalls.

“I liked being put in with the older group for York Musical Theatre Company shows, working with Paul Laidlaw and Jim Welsman – and I loved playing little Kate Mullins in the British premiere of Titanic: The Musical for that company.”

As opening night of Jack And The Beanstalk approaches fast on Friday, Livvy says:  “It’s great to be in York, especially at this time of year, back in the house I grew up in, and I’ve never been so excited to be playing the Fairy, spreading joy to everyone, although she’s a no-nonsense fairy! As everyone keeps saying, I’m going to be the talk of my niece’s playground!”

York Stage presents Jack And The Beanstalk at Theatre @41 Monkgate, York, from December 11 to January 3; show times, Monday to Saturday, 2pm and 7pm; Sundays, 1pm and 6pm; Christmas Eve, 12 noon and 5pm; New Year’s Eve, 12 noon. Box office: online only at yorkstagepanto.com. Please note, audiences will be seated in household/support bubble groupings only.