
Stamford Bridge Community Choir: Using Makaton signing when performing at York Community Choir Festival tonight. Picture: Murray Swain
A CHORUS of song, a play counting the cost of economics and an eye for comedy help to fill Charles Hutchinson’s in-box of entertainment for the week ahead.
Festival of the week: York Community Choir Festival, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm nightly, plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
MORE than 1,250 singers are performing this week at the JoRo. Tonight features Stagecoach Performing Arts Choir, The Sounds Fun Singers, The Garrowby Singers, In Harmony Ladies Choir and Stamford Bridge Community Choir; tomorrow, Huntington School Choirs; York Military Wives Choir and Heworth Community Choir, and Friday, York Theatre Royal Choir; Eboraca; Some Voices York; Bishopthorpe Community Choir and Harmonia.
The Saturday matinee presents Excel Learning Trust Schools’ Choir, The Rhythm Of Life Singers, The Fairburn Singers and The York Celebration Singers; Saturday evening, York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir, Chechelele, York Sing Space, The Wellbeing Choir and Main Street Sound Ladies Barbershop Chorus. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Rob Auton: One in the eye for comedy at The Crescent, York, tonight
The eyes have it: Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, Burning Duck Comedy Club at The Crescent, York, tonight, 7.30pm; Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, May 3, 7.30pm
“THE Eyes Open And Shut Show is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says surrealist York/Barmby Moor comedian, writer, artist, podcaster and actor Rob Auton. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut…thinking about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.” Box office: York, thecrescentyork.com; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Queenz: On song in Drag Me To The Disco at the Grand Opera House, York
Drag show of the week: Queenz, Drag Me To The Disco, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm
JOIN the gals for “an electrifying, live vocal, drag-stravaganza, where Dancing Queenz and Disco Dreams collide for the party of a lifetime”, created and produced by David Griego. Flying their rainbow-coloured flag high in the sky, Bella Du-Ball, Dior Montay, Candy Caned, Billie Eyelash and ZeZe Van Cartier serve up sass, singalongs and a message of love, equality and acceptance.
Craig Colley, alias Billie Eyelash, says: “Drag queens really do come in all shapes and sizes, but if you want to see some hilarious, stupidly talented, beautiful and of course humble ones, Queenz really is the show for you.” Age guidance: 14 plus. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Gorka Marquez and Karen Hauer: Dancing on Speakeasy terms at York Barbican tomorrow
Dance spectacular of the week: Karen Hauer and Gorka Marquez, Speakeasy, York Barbican, tomorrow, 7.30pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing professionals Karen Hauer and Gorka Marquez follow up Firedance with new show Speakeasy on their biggest tour so far. Expect exhilarating live music and breathtaking choreography as they unlock the door to an undercover world of elegance and iconic dance flavours.
From the clandestine New York Speakeasy to the sultry Havana dance floors and from the burlesque cabaret clubs of the mid-1900s to the glittering mirror balls of Studio 54, this “delicious dance experience” serves up Mamba, Salsa, Charleston, Foxtrot and Samba moves. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Joe Sellman-Leava, left, and Dylan Howells in It’s The Economy, Stupid! at Helmsley Arts Centre. Picture: Duncan McGlynn
Fringe show of the week: Worklight Theatre in It’s The Economy, Stupid!, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday,7.30pm
NAMED after the phrase coined by James Carville, strategist for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, It’s the Economy, Stupid! employs storytelling to uncover the true cost of low financial literacy in a world ruled by money.
Directed by Katharina Reinthaller, this 60-minute Edinburgh Fringe hit tells the true story of a family caught up in the 1990s’ recession, losing home and livelihood under the economic conditions that led the world from post-war boom to housing and cost-of-living crises. Using an old board game, bags, boxes, projection mapping and a sprinkle of magic, writer Joe Sellman-Leava and Dylan Howells explore how macroeconomic forces can win elections and why the force that dominates personal lives is so complicated. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Greg Brice: Blues guitarist to play Milton Rooms, Malton
Blues gig of the week: Greg Brice, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm
BACK when Greg Brice played the pubs, clubs and bars of the West Midlands, he would find even tough audiences hanging on to his every word within a few bars. His intricate fingerstyle guitar and strident electric slide connected in the raw and immediate way that only proper roots music can. Now, in blues and Americana clubs alike, his songwriting is capturing people’s imagination. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Edwina Hayes: Heading from Beverley to Malton on Sunday night
Singer-songwriter of the week: An Evening With Edwina Hayes, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday, 7.30pm
EAST Riding musician Edwina Hayes brings together English folk, Americana and the northern singer-songwriter tradition to create her own sound. She has toured with Jools Holland, Van Morrison, Loudon Wainwright III and the late Nanci Griffith, who covered her song Pour Me A Drink and once called her “the sweetest voice in England”. She last released an album, Ruby Rose, in 2021. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Artwork by Rosebay, on show at Helmsley Arts Centre from today
Exhibition of the week: Rosebay, Helmsley Arts Centre, today to May 2
YORK Open Studios 2021 and Ryedale Open Studios 2023 artist Rosebay uses marker pens filled with acrylic paint as the quickest and most direct way to fill big canvasses that celebrate the unsung corners of the natural and built world. “The bark of a tree, a patch of rock, the place where weeds spring out of a crack in the pavement: all have their own magic and all are worthy of attention,” she says.
“Drawing on elements of Pop Art, graffiti art and cartography, sometimes my paintings home in on a tiny area and turn it into a whole landscape; sometimes I step back and take in a larger scene, often weaving together images I have seen as I walk.” Rosebay will be very happy to discuss her paintings when visiting the arts centre on March 16 and 30.