Tag: Steve Tearle

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Steve Pratt, journalist and press officer, 1948-2026. Charles Hutchinson’s tribute

Steve Pratt on duty at the York Theatre Royal pantomime press night in December 2018. Picture: York Theatre Royal

THE funeral of York journalist, columnist and theatre, film and television critic and press officer Steve Pratt will be held tomorrow (28/1/2025) at York Crematorium, Bishopthorpe Road, York.

Steve, 77, of Monk Avenue, York, passed away at York Hospital on January 15.  

Born Stephen William Pratt in Watford on April 22 1948 in Watford, he was educated at Garston Primary School and Bushey Grammar School, where he met Lesley when she was 16, Steve two years older.

The childhood sweethearts were married on June 24 1972 at Christ Church, Watford, by the same vicar that tied the knot for Lesley’s parents.

Steve went straight from A-level studies to taking out indentures at the Watford Post, where, as a junior, he was tasked with collecting death notices from undertakers.

He went on to work for the Herts Advertiser, Watford Observer, Northern Echo, in Darlington and Portsmouth News, before returning to the Northern Echo from 1999 to 2014, winning two Tom Corder awards for best arts writer.

“His passion for writing goes back to his early years and he used to cut up magazines and create his own version,” recalled Lesley, who “bounced up and down the country with Stephen before we finally landed in York, where we felt at home”.

“There were so many famous people he interviewed as he covered lots of press junkets for films and television.”

Steve Pratt in his treasured picture with film actress Angelina Jolie, from his journalism files at home, where box upon box of theatre programmes are in need of a new home, says widow Lesley

Among those celluloid star interviewees were Tom Cruise, Arnold Scharzenegger, Leslie Nielsen, Leslie Phillips and Angelina Jolie. “He always went on about his photo with her,” recalled Lesley.

One knight of the realm eluded him, however. “Stephen was refused twice by Sir Alec Guinness for an interview, once in 1997 and again in 1999,” said Lesley. “I have the original handwritten cards Sir Alec sent him: very polite but a ‘No’ nevertheless.”

Nigel Burton, editor of York Press, who worked with Steve on The Northern Echo, said: “He was a superb features writer, someone who would always tackle any job – no matter how outlandish – with a smile and good humour.

“He was an internationally respected critic and his reviews were eagerly awaited by film distributors and theatres alike. Most of all, I will remember him as a much-missed colleague and a lovely human being.”

Peter Barron, former editor of The Northern Echo, said: “I was so sorry to hear of Steve’s passing. He was a gifted writer of a national standard and I always considered The Northern Echo to be very lucky to have him.

“He brought great quality to the paper, with a wry, humorous style and his passion for the arts always shone through. It is also telling that the arts community knew him and respected his opinion.

“A positive review from Steve Pratt in The Northern Echo really meant something, while a scathing review was to be feared. He was prolific, loved his craft, and the many awards he won were testament to his talent.”

Chris Lloyd, features editor at the Northern Echo, who was Steve’s manager for many years, said: “When I worked with Steve, he was so passionate and knowledgeable about all forms of visual entertainment, but especially about his great loves of television and theatre. He knew the stars, he interviewed them all, usually cheekily, and they remembered and respected him. 

Steve Pratt in his Northern Echo days. Picture: Northern Echo

“He was, I think, a great ally of the region’s theatre community, forever supporting and promoting it, and I was in awe of the way he wrote so quickly, so cleanly, and always with a humorous glint in his words.”

Wise Eye Films/ITV Studios creative director and The Yorkshire Shepherdess producer Mark Robinson, who started his career at the Echo with Steve, said: “He was exceptionally kind to me when I moved over from the newsroom to the features desk in the late 1980s, and he became my boss.

“Steve was unbelievably patient and encouraging and gave me the space to grow as a journalist finding his own voice for the first time. It was impossible not to be inspired by his love and passion for TV and the arts in general – and he sent me on many glamorous jobs interviewing celebrities across the UK.

“His impact on my career was so significant that we remained friends long after I left the Echo and I enjoyed our get-togethers in York.”

Viv Hardwick, fellow former Echo television and entertainment editor, said: “Steve always seemed to know the best way of doing things work-wise. His awesome ability and in-depth entertainments knowledge made him one of the most memorable men in journalism.”

On leaving The Northern Echo in 2014, Steve switched to the other side of the Press desk as press officer at Leeds Playhouse and later York Theatre Royal.

Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster said: “The whole team here are incredibly saddened by the news of Steve’s death. His relationship with YTR goes back such a long time, both as a reviewer and staff member and then as a freelancer.

“His dedication and passion to unearthing the stories of this theatre and championing the arts in Yorkshire was truly outstanding. Press nights will not be the same without his sparkly shoes and fabulous sense of humour. We will miss him very much.”  

Nun better: Steve Pratt in sisterhood habit on a press night for Sister Act

Chief executive officer Paul Crewes added: “Steve’s death is such a terrible loss to York’s theatre community and his YTR family are all devastated by this news. He was a much-loved friend and colleague and we will miss him.

“Steve was a first-class journalist and press officer who cared deeply about, and was very successful at, shining a light on the arts in York and beyond.”

Latterly, Steve took up the publicity officer’s post for York company NE Theatre York, whose chair and creative director, Steve Tearle, said: “Steve became involved with us over the past several years by supporting the publicity of our shows. He crafted and created press releases for the company perfectly, like only Steve could do. 

“He was a wonderfully gifted, talented man, with time for everyone, and had such a fantastic personality. He was such an asset to the team and totally believed in what we stood for. 

“I really valued Steve as a person and his passion for theatre. It’s with such a heavy heart I say this.  We spoke last November at length about 2026 and as usual he was so excited to be supporting us. He will be sadly missed by the NE Theatre York team.” 

From his days at Leeds Playhouse, Steve’s brighter-than-Hawaiian shirts became his trademark. “As a child he was dressed very soberly, but when he found his feet at Leeds, the flamboyant side came out, but he did need guidance, so I have to admit it was my fault,” said Lesley, recalling his collection of 30 such shirts. “Please feel free to come to the funeral in bright colours.”

One last memory from Lesley defined his role as a critic. “Getting Stephen to give you a verbal opinion was not easy,” she said. “He would always say ‘read the review’.” We did, line after line, time after time.

Copyright of The York Press and The Northern Echo

DONATIONS are welcome in aid of York Theatre Royal, where Steve’s contribution to theatre and arts journalism will be marked with a commemorative plaque on an auditorium seat and a bench in his honour on the terrace.

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Question: Why will NE Theatre York shows no longer be reviewed? Here is the answer

NE Theatre York director Steve Tearle with his pooch Millie Bell

NE Theatre York will no longer provide press tickets for reviews, donating them instead to charity.

“Our reason for going forward without professional reviews is simple really,” says chairman, director and producer Steve Tearle. 

“As we are a diverse and inclusive company, we create a safe environment for everyone and build up confidences to a level to get them on the stage and start to have faith in themselves and above all self-belief. 

“For instance, we had 27 people on the stage for The Sound Of Music [Joseph Rowntree Theatre, April 29 to May 3] that had never been on stage or sang before. Twenty of these  had to sing in Latin. It was a wonderful, outstanding achievement. To which we celebrated that success.”

Steve’s statement, on behalf of the NE Team, continues: “Professional reviews are always open to individual interpretation, and they should be, but do tend to compare and rate.

“They can lead to people feeling let down, disappointed in themselves, and can create personal setbacks. They also can go against everything we have achieved with that individual, even ourselves.

Rebecca Jackson as Maria in The Sound Of Music, the last NE Theatre York show to be reviewed by CharlesHutchPress on April 30 after more than three decades

“This has been been proved already with the cast and the team. Hence the time to change. Therefore, we have added this into our manifesto. 

“The teams and myself have made the decision not to invite any professional reviewers to ensure that we have put our cast first and put the people ahead of the company. 

“We sell tickets based on the campaigns we create around each the show; creating different campaigns for different demographics. 

“I have also found out, with the help of some market research, that previews are better than reviews to sell tickets for our company as we are only in the theatre for a small limited time.”

Did you know?

FORMED in 1914 as the New Earswick Dramatic Society, the society has mutated into New Earswick Dramatic and Operatic Society, New Earswick Operatic Society, New Earswick Musical Society, latterly NE Musicals York, NE and now NE Theatre York. “NE” stands for New Exciting Theatre York.

Coming next: Carousel, Tempest Anderson Hall, Museum Gardens, York, June 5 to 7

NE Theatre York’s poster artwork for Carousel, The Fully Staged Concert

NE Theatre York will present a fully staged concert version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel at Tempest Anderson Hall, Yorkshire Museum, Museum Gardens, York, from June 5 to 7.

After the sold-out run of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound Of Music at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, director Steve Tearle is turning his focus to another R&H favourite, Carousel, premiered on Broadway in April 1945.

This time, follow the swaggering path of carefree carnival barker Billy Bigelow as he falls in love with the sweet but naive mill worker Julie Jordan, but romance comes at the price of both their jobs.

The story turns darker still when Billy participates in a robbery to provide for Julie and their unborn child. After the heist goes wrong, Julie turns to her Aunt Netty for comfort. Meanwhile, Julie’s best friend Carrie Pepperidge has her eyes on Mr Snow, leading to a marriage proposal.

NE Theatre York cast members for Carousel: top row, Kit Stroud and Maia Beatrice; bottom row,
Finlay Butler and Rebecca Jackson

Cue such R&H classics as June Is Burstin’ Out All Over, If I Loved You, When I Marry Mister Snow, Blow High, Blow Low and the iconic Liverpool and Celtic terrace anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone.

Tearle’s cast for this tale of hope, redemption and the power of love will be led by Kit Stroud as Billy Bigelow; Rebecca Jackson as Julie Jordan; Maia Beatrice as Carrie Pepperidge; Finlay Butler as Mr Snow and Perri Ann Barley as Aunt Netty. 

 “This will be a fully staged concert version with 29 voices,” says Steve. “The score will be given its full glory with an 18-piece orchestra led by Joe Allen. “You get every word said, so you can follow the story between the songs. Projections will transport the audience to Middle America to capture every moment of the story.”

The composers are said to have regarded Carousel as their personal favourite among their works. In 1999, Time magazine named Carousel as the best musical of the 20th century.

Tickets for this week’s 7.30pm evening shows and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale at ticketsource.co.uk/netheatre-york.

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REVIEW: NE Theatre York in The Sound Of Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York ***

Rebecca Jackson’s Maria in NE Theatre York’s The Sound Of Music

RODGERS & Hammerstein’s The Sound Of Music is handed from York company to York company.

After Nik Briggs’s production on a grand scale for York Stage Musicals at the Grand Opera House in 2019 and Robert Readman’s Pick Me Up Theatre staging for Theatre@41’s Christmas show in 2022, now comes Steve Tearle’s show for NE Theatre York at a third location, the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

Officially press tickets had been given over to charity by director-producer Tearle, but your reviewer was kindly accommodated at Wednesday’s performance.

Tearle played milkman Tevye for the third time when NE Theatre staged Fiddler On The Roof in April 2014,   delivering the York company’s most moving production under his usually flamboyant leadership.

The Sound Of Music is of a similar ilk: the anti-Semitism of Fiddler now matched by the rise of Nazism, and once more you can see how moved he is by his cast’s performance and the audience’s reaction to a show played out against a 2025 backdrop of political turmoil and the rise of the Right.

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musical has further significance for Tearle, who made his stage debut aged 11 as Kurt, one of the Von Trapp children, in a professional tour.

“I’ve always loved this show, and remembering my experience of it always fills me with joy,” he says. “Fast forward to 2025 and I get to produce this famous musical and play my personal favourite part in the show, Max Detweiler.”

Detweiler has been called a “political cockroach”, but just as Andrew Isherwood peppered his Pick Me Up performance with a comic edge more associated with the Emcee in Cabaret, Tearle favours a dapper flamboyance in his wardrobe and camp manner, being arch and surprisingly avuncular, rather than sinister. Having the fluffiest of canine companions in his own dog, Millie Bell, makes it all the harder to be a scurrying, hard-edged cockroach rather than the symbol of limp Austrian compliance with Hitler.

Tearle loves to stretch NE Theatre, whether in size of cast or scale of ambition or his passion for inclusivity. This time that adds up two Marias (Rebecca Jackson & Maia Beatrice); two Captain Von Trapp (Matthew Clarke & Chris Hagyard); three groups of Von Trapp children and multiple members of Strensall & HuntingtonWomen’s Institute, plus the aforementioned dog. 

In their centenary year, Tearle reached out to Strensall & Huntington WI to play the Nonnberg Abbey nuns, and they open the show in choral Latin song, filing in from the wings and the aisles, candles in hand, to fill the stage and line up in front too, the essence of devotion and purity, with a huge cross on the cloth behind.

It is a beautiful  moment of solemnity, peace, sanctuary, as much a cry for today’s world as 1938 Austria, where the hills may be alive with the sound of music but that will soon be drowned out by anything but music, replaced by extremism, intolerance and a hail of Sieg Heils.

The nuns will return at the finale, filling the stage once more with almost painfully beautiful song. Tearle’s directorial judgement here is at its best.

He could let silence fall, but ever effusive, the PT Barnum in Tearle has him addressing the audience, inviting us to take photos, talking of the impact of the show on himself and the cast and plugging NE Theatre’s upcoming concert production of Carousel at Tempest Anderson Hall, Museum Gardens, in June and the York premiere of Roald Dahl’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, The New Musical, at the JoRo in November.

Wednesday’s cast was fronted by Rebecca Jackson’s serene Maria Rainer and Chris Hagyard’s stern but loving widower father, Austrian naval captain Captain Von Trapp.

Jackson radiates goodness and good humour as the unsure trainee nun who finds her true calling looking after seven von Trapp children: the young governess with nonconformist ideas, full of love and kindness, strong of will, independent of mind, determined to nurture and bring joy, but still with so much to learn herself.

She bonds delightfully with the children, led by Caitlin Smith’s wilful Liesl, and her singing is equally adept solo or in tandem with the children.

Hagyard’s Captain von Trapp goes from austere authority, issuing orders to staff and children alike on his whistle, to warming under Maria’s influence, while never wavering from his bold stance against Nazism. He sings Edelweiss with tenderness to still the rising storm.

The supreme vocal performance award goes to Perri Anne Barley’s Mother Abbess, climbing every demanding rising note in Climb Ev’ry Mountain, but sung in keeping with her matriarchal concern rather than with unnecessary showy excess.

Praise too for Ali Butler-Hind’s Elsa Schraeder, all airs and graces, and especially for the outstanding Finlay Butler’s Rolf Gruber, the naïve delivery boy who takes up the Nazi cause. Joe Allen’s musical forces are in fine form too.

From swastikas on the auditorium walls to archive footage of German boots pounding on Austrian soil, the rise of Nazism haunts Tearle’s show throughout.

NE Theatre York in The Sound Of Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee, all SOLD OUT. Box office: for returns only, 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 18, from Gazette & Herald

Climb every mountain: Rebecca Jackson in the role of Maria in Steve Tearle’s production of The Sound Of Music for NE Theatre York

THE spring weather may be perking up, but Charles Hutchinson still finds reasons aplenty to stay in the dark for cultural satisfaction.

York musical of the week: NE Theatre York in The Sound Of Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

IN its centenary year, members of Strensall Women’s Institute have accepted NE Theatre York creative director Steve Tearle’s invitation to play the abbey nuns in this Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

The show brings back special memories for Tearle, who played Kurt Von Trapp at the age of 11 in a professional tour in his first role in any show. This time he plays his favourite part, Max Detweiler. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Cracking the whip: Carrie Hope Fletcher’s Calamity Jane in Calamity Jane, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Senior

Whip-cracking touring musical of the week: Calamity Jane, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

WEST End leading lady Carrie Hope Fletcher takes the title role of fearless, gun-slinging Calamity Jane, the biggest mouth in Dakota territory and always up for a fight, in North Yorkshireman Nikolai Foster’s touring production, based on the cherished 1953 Doris Day movie.

When the men of Deadwood fall hard for Chicago stage star Adelaid Adams, Calamity struggles to keep her jealousy holstered. Here come The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away), The Black Hills Of Dakota, Just Blew In From The Windy City and Secret Love in this Watermill Theatre production, choreographed by Nick Winston.  Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Got it taped: Gary Oldman with the reel-to-reel tape machine in Krapp’s Last Tape at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Gisele Schmidt

York theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, until May 17

OSCAR winner Gary Oldman returns to York Theatre Royal, where he made his professional debut in 1979, to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since 1989.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home. The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.” Tickets update: check availability of returns on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Andy Bell: New songs, solo favourites and Erasure hits at York Barbican tonight

York gig of the week: Andy Bell, Ten Crowns Tour, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

ERASURE singer Andy Bell opens his tour at York Barbican on the eve of Friday’s release of his third solo album, Ten Crowns, ten tracks of  dazzling, joyous pop, produced and polished in Nashville, inspired by the dancefloor and gospel, available on vinyl, CD (standard and 2CD versions), gold cassette and digitally via Crown Recordings.

Bell’s set combines new compositions with favourites from his solo catalogue and Erasure hits aplenty. His band features his principal Ten Crowns collaborator and co-writer, Grammy-winning American producer Dave Audé, who opens tomorrow’s show with a DJ set. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Guitar Legends: Terrific riffs galore at Milton Rooms, Malton

Tribute show of the week: Guitar Legends, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm,

GUITAR Legends celebrates the music of iconic guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Prince, Gary Moore, Mark Knopfler and Jimi Hendrix.

Through a blend of live music, visuals and anecdotes, the show takes a journey through rock history, showcasing tenor vocal prowess and guitar virtuosity. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Learlike: Greensleeved tell Shakespeare’s tragedy of King Lear from the distaff side at York International Shakespeare Festival

Festival of the week: York International Shakespeare Festival presents Greensleeved in Learlike, York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium, Saturday, 2pm

GREENSLEEVED, a female-led pan-European ensemble, premiere their show Learlike in York, presenting Shakespeare’s tragedy of King Lear but this time told by his daughters. These tyrant-children are newly in power but old in their ability for manipulation and deceit. Or are they? Even in the most corrupt homes the roots of resistance grow deep.

Greensleeved comprises performers who met at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: Amber Frances (Belgium), Ariela Nazar-Rosen (Poland/USA), Lucy Doig (Scotland), Julia Vredenberg (Norway) and Cecilia Thoden van Velzen (Netherlands). For the full programme to May 4 and tickets, head to: yorkshakes.co.uk.

Rob Auton: Any eyeful tower of ocular comedy at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall

The eyes have it:  Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, Saturday, 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 Barmby Moor/York 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: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Scouting For Girls: Heading for York and Leeds in 2026

Gig announcement of the week: Scouting For Girls, York Barbican, March 17 and Leeds O2 Academy, March 24 2026

LONDON trio Scouting For Girls will accompany the 2026 release of a new studio album with a 22-date tour that takes in York Barbican and Leeds O2 Academy next March. General ticket sales open at 10am on Friday  at yorkbarbican.co.uk and academymusicgroup.com.

Roy Stride, vocals, piano and guitar, Greg Churchouse, bass guitar, and James Rowlands, drums, last payed York Barbican in October 2021. Next year’s shows will mark the 15th anniversary of their Everybody Wants To Be On TV album too.

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REVIEW: NE Theatre York in Elf The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday ***1/2

Finlay Butler’s Buddy the elf and Steve Tearle’s Santa in NE Theatre York’s Elf The Musical

STEVE Tearle knows how to sell a show, this time promising audiences “an opportunity to see Elf like never before with a fantastic video wall and lots of amazing special effects”.

The result? A sold-out run of six performances at the JoRo, where your reviewer was accommodated at the last minute in the only remaining house seat. Thank you, JoRo management, for being so helpful.

Elf The Musical was last staged in York in the equivalent week three years ago by York Stage at the Grand Opera House, where director-designer Nik Briggs dressed his stage with big snowflakes, open North Pole skyline, bustling Macy’s store, finale snow machine et al, as he drew inspiration from Radio City Music Hall.

Tearle instead put his trust in technology and human/elf chemistry, utilising video backdrops of constantly changing snowscapes, spinning festive candy canes and the interiors of Macy’s Department Store and  Greenway Press, a children’s book publishing company in New York City’s Empire State Building, first seen in all its towering, vertigo-inducing magnificence.

Family discussions in the Hobbs household: Perri Ann Barley’s Emily, James O’Neill’s Walter and James Roberts’s Michael

It would spoil the visual delights in store to mention more than that, but Tearle uses the tools with a showman’s flourish, tapping into his inner PT Barnum that never lies far beneath the surface.

But is it really theatre, you ask? Is it in some way cheating to let the science, rather than the art, do the work? Not today when theatre embraces all possibilities to modernise the artform while sustaining the magic.

What’s more, everything else about Tearle’s community theatre-making is rooted in old-fashioned theatre values: a glossy programme, a big cast, with children aplenty cutting their teeth; 15 players, yes, 15, in Joe Allen’s orchestra; costumes galore, and Tearle himself in actor-manager mode, overseeing his production in the genial guise of storyteller Santa. Scatting extra lines like a jazz singer, he gives resurgent York City an unexpected mention far from the North Pole.

He is not the santa of attention, however! That central figure is Finlay Butler’s skateboarding Buddy, with Butler’s enthusiasm for playing Buddy – “one of the greatest experiences of my life!” he says – being a match for Buddy’s ebullience for life.

Finlay Butler’s Buddy enthuses in his unconventional way over Maia Stroud’s Jovie in Elf The Musical

Elf The Musical retains the jokes and the naïve charm of the 2003 Will Ferrell film in its playful, New York-witty, even wise book by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin, then adds all the song-and-dance razzmatazz of a Broadway musical, with music by Matthew Sklar big on winter brass and lyrics by Chad Beguelin full of smart humour, bold statements and big sentiments.

Tearle’s green-coated Santa introduces the story of how orphan boy Buddy crawls into Santa’s sack and ends up being brought up among all the elf toy makers on a sugar-rich diet with two visits a day to the North Pole dentist. 

When Buddy learns that he is not an elf after all, despite being so elfish in his thinking, off to New York he must go – in Tearle’s video variation of a pantomime transformation scene – to try to find his real father, children’s publishing-house manager Walter Hobbs (James O’Neill), who never knew he had a son from a long-ago relationship. 

Stressed-out Walter is now married to long-suffering Emily (Perri Ann Barley), with a son, Michael (James Roberts, sharing the role with Zachary Stoney). In their house, no-one believes in Santa but  Buddy will work his way into their lives – work, not worm – with his idiot-savant gentle air, kindness and positivity.

The hills are alive with candy canes as Finlay Butler’s Buddy makes his journey from the North Pole to New York via NE Theatre York’s video projections

Butler’s performance is as buoyant as a bubble, as bouncy as Tigger, as cheerful as a robin’s hop  on a Christmas card. Who could not love him, this bundle of joy, love, cheek and unguarded desire to please? After Adam Sowter’s Mr Poppy in Pick Up Theatre’s ongoing Nativity! The Musical at the Grand Opera House, here is another agile comedic actor who would be wholly suited to turning his hand to daft-lad duty in panto. He sings expressively too, especially in World’s Greatest Dad and The Story Of Buddy The Elf.

Barley’s warm-hearted Emily and Roberts’s excitable Michael have two lovely duets, I’ll Believe In You and There Is A Santa Claus, while O’Neill impresses in his transformative role, gradually defrosting from treasonable to reasonable.

Ali-Butler-Hind’s scatty receptionist Deb and Kit Stroud’s hyperactive Manager maximise their cameos, topped by Stephen Perry’s intemperate publishing boss Mr Greenway with his preposterous suggestions for book changes.

Maia Beatrice, or Maia Stroud as she is now called in the programme, is well cast as Macy’s store worker Jovie, Buddy’s slow-burn love interest, whose initial New York cynicism is chipped away by his persistent enthusiasm as he corrects everyone’s misconceptions over Santa, the North Pole and Christmas.

It’ll be all white on the night (apart from the Santas!) in NE Theatre York’s Elf The Musical

A rising talent of the York stage with a cracking singing voice, full of emotion and range, and a sense of stillness in the moment not always present in an actor’s skill set, her performance has depth, standing out amid the amusing caricatures. No song is better sung than her Never Fall In Love.

Joe Allen’s well-drilled orchestra brings out the fizz and the fun in Sklar’s emotive songs, and if the dancing is less precise, it has all the sugar-rush energy of Buddy in Melissa Boyd’s choreography. Her best routine is for the Santa setpiece Nobody Cares About Santa, where the jaded, boozed-up post-shift Santas leap up and down in turn, topped off by a burst of tap-dancing.

Tearle has decked the stage front with twinkling foliage: a typical touch from NETheatre’s creative director with a designer’s flair who embraces the “true joy of Christmas” as heartily as Buddy and his one-man national elf service.

His stage bursts with colour and life, regulation reds and greens aplenty and one scene where everyone is dressed in white. What a spectacle. Buddy has a word for it: Sparklejollytwinklejingley.

NE Theatre York in Elf The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, Haxby Road, York, until  Saturday, 7.30pm nightly plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. SOLD OUT. Tickets update: for returns only, ring 01904 501935.

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NE Theatre York begin sold-out run of Elf The Musical at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, promising ‘this show like never before’

Finlay Butler’s Buddy in NE Theatre York’s Elf The Musical

NE Theatre York’s production of Elf the Musical opens tonight at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, with all six performances sold out already.

In the wake of staging Fiddler On The Roof and West Side Story, the York company will present a full ensemble with the promise of “favourite performers and a few surprises along the way.”

Director Steve Tearle says: “We wanted to bring the true joy of Christmas to everyone in York with amazing songs in this much-loved story for the whole family. It’s a heart-warming tale filled with Christmas joy and will definitely get you in the festive spirit.”

Featuring book, music and lyrics by Thomas Meehan & Bob Martin and Matthew Solar & Chad Beguelin, Elf The Musical is based on the 2003 Christmas film starring Will Ferrell, telling the story of  orphan Buddy (played by Finlay Butler), who mistakenly crawls into Santa Claus’s (Steve Tearle) bag of gifts and is transported to the North Pole.

Sold out: No tickets left for NE Theatre York’s Elf The Musical at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre

After years of growing up as an elf, he discovers his true identity and embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father (James O’Neil) and learn his true identity.

Faced with the harsh reality that his father is on the naughty list and, worse still, his stepbrother (James Roberts/Zachary Stone) and their mother ( Perri Ann Barley) do not even believe in Father Christmas, Buddy is determined to win over his new family and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas. Along the way he falls in love with Jovie (Maia Stroud).

Summing up the show, Steve says: “Elf The Musical is a fantastic holiday season favourite that really embraces the spirit of Christmas. This week we aim to give audiences an opportunity to see this show like never before with a fantastic video wall and lots of amazing special effects.”

After Saturday’s 2.30pm matinee, the audience will have the chance to meet Santa and Buddy (Tearle and Butler).

NE Theatre York in Elf The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, Haxby Road, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm nightly plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. SOLD OUT. Tickets update: for returns only, ring 01904 501935.

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REVIEW: NETheatre York in West Side Story, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York ***

In black and white: Back row: Rebecca Jackson’s Maria, Finlay Butler’s Tony and Kit Stroud’s Riff; front, Kristian Barley’s Bernardo and Maia Beatrice’s Anita in NETheatre York’s West Side Story. Picture: NETheatre York

CREATIVE director Steve Tearle first saw West Side Story at the age of nine. Within two years he was performing in The Sound Of Music at the Sunderland Empire, whereupon a life-long love of musical theatre was born.

Yet he desisted from directing Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s 1950s’ musical. “I was always comparing what I could achieve with that amazing film,” he says, but then he attended a Broadway production in 2019 that changed his mind.

Here comes his different take, “not as ‘dancey’, not as polished, but very raw, very emotional, focusing on the acting”. In a nutshell, NETheatre York’s production would be built more on movement than choreography, although Melisa Boyd is still credited as choreographer, rather than movement director, working in tandem with Tearle.

After Rebecca Jackson’s Maria and Finlay Butler’s Tony cross without noticing each other in a sliding doors moment, the physical performance style is established in a long sequence without dialogue that opens the over-long first act, distilling the chaos and friction between two Upper West Side working-class gangs in New York:  the Polish-Irish Catholics, The Jets, and their Puerta Rican rivals, The Sharks.

All are wearing variations on black and white streetwear, as sharp as in the era of 2Tone Ska, but here designed to be timeless, representing all eras from the 1950s to the present day to emphasise the continuing resonance of a tragic teenage romance rooted in Shakespeare’s ill-fated, star-crossed tale of forbidden love, Romeo & Juliet.

Kit Stroud’s Riff and The Jets in NETheatre York’s West Side Story

The black-and-white uniformity is also designed to reinforce common humanity beneath the codes of a turf war, here delineated by The Jets moving in a jive style, The Sharks more fluid in their stride.

Black and white defines Tearle’s set design and lighting too: even the three mobile scaffolding towers that facilitate much climbing and clambering, not least for Maria and Tony’s balcony scenes, are decorated that way, matched by the bold-typed projections that chart the story’s calamitous rush from 5.34pm on Friday evening to 2.31am on Sunday morning on a countdown clock. The New York skyline is depicted in monochrome too.

Tearle only breaks the night with colour – to borrow a Richard Ashcroft song title – in moments of heightened drama or tragedy, first used when Maia Beatrice’s Anita decorates Maria’s new dress with a red band, echoing the red coat in Steven Spielberg’s otherwise B&W Schindler’s List. Later, the columns of bright white light will turn bloodshed-red.

If a musical is built on a triptych of music, story and choreography, Tearle’s production is stronger on its musicality and storytelling than movement: the ensemble motion in commotion needs more zip, more dynamism, more attack and anger, more heat too, although Riff and The Jets finger-click into the right gear in Cool.  

Tearle’s “focus on the acting, the characterisation” pays off, however, in the heart-stopping performances of Jackson’s Maria and Butler’s Tony. From Puerto Rican accent to beautiful singing voice and deportment, Jackson is a terrific young talent, one to watch, leading I Feel Pretty so delightedly and delightfully. Butler, lithe and full of stage presence, sings movingly too, especially in Maria.

Steve Tearle’s Doc and Finlay Butler’s Tony in West Side Story

Kristian Barley’s Bernardo and Kit Stroud’s kilted Riff exude macho menace as hot-headed rival gang leaders, ever ready for a rumble, Scott Barnes amuses in a camp cameo as gym party chaperone Mr Glad Hand and Erik Jensen’s Lieutenant Schrank is suitably no-nonsense.

Beatrice’s abrasive Anita and Jackson’s Maria combine in the show’s outstanding number, A Boy Like That/I Have A Love, while Tearle’s Jewish drug store boss Doc – the older, outsider voice of reason, bewilderment and despair – takes over the singing of Somewhere (a song originally given to Consuelo on Broadway), giving it added adult heft.

Look out too for Melissa Boyd’s volatile Rosalia, Alice Atang’s athletic Natalia, Zachary Pickersgill’s plucky Snowboy and Erin Greenley’s tomboy Anybodys, along with Steve Perry’s vengeful Chino.

Defining West Side Story as “a play with music, rather than as a music”, Tearle has followed up a similarly focused Fiddler On The Roof by “stripping back” his latest production, restricting the cast to 35, keeping the stage pretty much bare, save for the scaffolding towers, a neon sign for Doc’s store, eight chairs and a bed. The lighting ups its game, a dazzling component in capturing the moments of conflict and conflagration.

Not all the blocking works well, the tinsel curtain cutting off heads in one scene, and the movement is sometimes heavy footed, but we are seeing a new, character-driven side to Tearle’s direction this year, more grit, less glitter. Coming next: Elf The Musical, from November 26 to 30, when the (Christmas) glitter will no doubt resurface!

NE Theatre York in West Side Story, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, 2.30pm and 7.30pm today. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrownteetheatre.co.uk.

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Steve Tearle turns West Side Story black and white for raw emotion in timeless NETheatre York show at JoRo Theatre

Putting it in black and white: Back row, Rebecca Jackson’s Maria, Finlay Butler’s Tony and Kit Stroud’s Riff; front, Kristian Barley’s Bernardo and Maia Beatrice’s Anita. Picture: NETheatre York

DIRECTOR Steve Tearle follows up his best NETheatre York show so far, Fiddler On The Roof, with a bravura take on West Side Story at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from tomorrow (24/7/2024) to Saturday.

Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s musical, inspired by Shakespeare’s tragic tale of forbidden love, Romeo And Juliet, is set in 1950s’ New York City, where the Sharks and the Jets, two working-class gangs, clash in a violent turf war, but Steve is taking a fresh approach.

“NETheatre is known for creating innovative musical theatre and this production is no different,” he says. “We wanted to create this classic as a timeless piece of theatre as we feel the story itself is as relevant today as it was when the musical was written in the Fifties. We won’t have mobile phones but it will resonate with our modern age.

“Our show will be set at ‘anytime’, not a specific time, so we’re using costume references from the 1950s to the present day to emphasise that timelessness. Our design will be mainly black and white, using colour only to highlight crucial moments in the story. The first time you see colour is when the action moves into the gym, and whenever something tragic happens we’ll use colour.”

That story revolves around the boundary-breaking love of Tony (played by Finlay Butler), from the Jets, and Maria (Rebecca Jackson), whose hot-headed brother Bernardo (Kristian Barley) belongs to the rival Sharks gang. Events take a dramatic twist for leader Riff (Kit Stroud) after a rumble between the Jets and Sharks goes drastically wrong, leading Tony to take matters into his own hands.

Steve Tearle’s Doc and Finlay Butler’s Tony in NETheatre York’s West Side Story. “Doc has always thought of Tony as his family,” says Steve. “When Tony got out of prison, Doc took Tony in to live with him and look after him”. Picture: NETheatre York

“In our version, the story runs from 5.34pm on Friday evening and ends at 2.31am on Sunday morning to make it even more of a tragic rush,” says Steve. “The time line will be projected throughout the show.”

He is revelling in directing this landmark musical. “My love of West Side Story started when I was nine when my mum and dad first took me to the pictures in Sunderland to see it, and it’s been a favourite ever since with so many fantastic songs – Maria, America, Cool, I Feel Pretty, Somewhere, Jet Song, Gee, Officer Krupke – probably more than have featured in any other musical,” says Steve.

“The film set off my love of musical theatre that kicked off my career, giving me the confidence to appear in The Sound Of Music at the Sunderland Empire, aged 11, playing Kurt. My inspiration for singing, everything, is that film.

“But I never thought I’d be able to stage West Side Story because I was always comparing what I could achieve with the impact of that amazing film.”

What changed? “I went to see the show on Broadway in 2019 and that gave me the springboard to do a different take on it, not as ‘dancey’, not as polished, but very raw, very emotional, and that inspired me to come up with this concept, focusing on the acting,” says Steve. “Our show will be raw, full of dancing, climbing and fighting.

Melissa Boyd’s Roselia Sanchez, left, and Maia Beatrice’s Anita in NETheatre York’s West Side Story. “Anita and Roselia are best friends but Roselia isn’t as keen as Anita about living in America,” says Steve

“I think of this musical as a play with music, rather than as a musical, where we’re concentrating on the characterisation and the stories, and on stories that are not usually explored in depth, such as Doc and Tony, who lives with him after prision, looking at what their relationship is, and the story between Bernardo and Maria too.

“We’ve not changed a word but what I have done is strip it back, so it uses the least props I’ve ever used, making it as raw as the emotions, showing the struggles they all go through to be in a gang. The stage will be pretty much bare, with no wings, three scaffolding towers (for the balcony scenes), eight chairs and one bed, and we’ll use white lights and strobe lighting.”

Steve is directing a cast of 35 aged 11 to 60-plus. “Look out for Snowboy, who’s played by Zachary Pickersgill. He has hardest lines in the show and he’s only 11,” he says. “We’ve reconstructed the gangs as gangland and gang warfare is like today, with generals, runners and look-outs.

“Everyone will be in black and white, and to tell the gangs apart, it will come down to movement: the Puerto Rican Sharks’ dancing will be more fluent; the Jets will be more jive based.

“Our first rehearsals were all about getting into character before we started rehearsing lines, initially keeping Jets and Sharks apart in the reherarsal room.”

NE Theatre York in West Side Story, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 24 to 27, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

The Jets in NETheatre York’s West Side Story. Picture: NETheatre York

Cast:

Rebecca Jackson, as Maria; Finlay Butler, Tony; Kit Stroud, Riff; Maia Beatrice, Anita; Kristian Barley, Bernardo; Stephen Tearle, Doc; Erik Jensen, Lt Schrank; Rich Musk, Office Krupke; Scott Barnes, Mr Gladhand.

The Jets

Sam Brothy, Action; Callum Richardson, Baby John; Erin Greenley, Anybody’s; Missy Barnes, A-Rab; Toby Jensen, Big Deal; Zachary Pickersgill, Snowboy; Courtney Batey, Graziella; Amy Legerton, Velma; Neve Greenley, Thelma; Ellie Roberts, Cynthia; Greg Roberts, Diesel; James Robert, Miguel; Alice Atang, Natalia.

The Sharks

Steve Perry, Chino; Melissa Boyd, Roselia Sanchez; Zachary Perry, Pepe; Ali Butler-Hind, Consuela Hernandez; Alfie Surgeon, Juano; Rosie Musk, Teresita/Roselia understudy; Kalayna Barley, Francesca; Katie Erskett, Margarita/Consuela understudy; Surya Pickersgill, Rosa; Beth Roberts, Casandra; Annie Stephenson, Valeria; Joni Rooke, Ariana; Molly Johnson, Karina; Isla Tilley, Marion; Darcy Mulholland, Melanie; Paige Sidebottom, Anna; Chloe Drake, Maria understudy.

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REVIEW: NE Theatre York in Fiddler On The Roof, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York ****

Alice Atang’s Fiddler and Steve Tearle’s Tevye in NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof

TEVYE will always be Steve Tearle’s most treasured role, his programme note reveals, as the North Easterner plays the Russian village milkman for the third time in celebration of Fiddler On The Roof’s 60th anniversary.

That enthusiasm is writ large in both his performance and his direction of the 1964 Broadway musical, less showy than usual in both cases, still with his familiar twinkle in the eye in his engagement with the audience but graver in disposition too, as demanded by the shadow of anti-Semitism that darkens Joseph Stein’s book for the nine-time Tony Award winner.

The result is his most rounded production for NE Theatre York, one that plays to his Busby Berkeley-style convention of using a big cast but does everything in the cause of the musical, rather than imposing on it mischievously or allowing himself to adlib.

Given what is unfolding in Gaza and Israel, this is a time of heightened division and global political tension to be staging a musical with a pogrom – an act of persecution against Russian Jews in 1905 – at its heart.

Fiddler is set in the Pale Of Settlement of Imperial Russia, where Tevye must cope not only with three daughters’ strong will to marry for love – each one’s choice of husband moving further away from the customs of his faith – but also with the Tsar’s edict to evict the Jewish community from their small village of Anatevka.

Rooted in Sholem Aleichem’s story Tevye And His Daughters (or Tevye The Dairyman) and other tales, Fiddler finds the traditionalist Tevye facing changes to his simple family life from all sides: from daughters rebelling against the convention of arranged marriages, as they take matters into their own hand, to the climactic decree to evacuate the village.

Stein’s book and the songs of Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick richly establish Tevye’s tormented, if humorous character and his role as narrator/commentator, swimming against the tide of change and female empowerment, and this is where Tearle excels, bringing such personality to If I Were A Rich Man and Tradition.

Not only Tearle impresses. Perri Ann Barley’s stoic wife Golde and the rebel treble of Maia Stroud’s Tzeitle, Rebecca Jackson’s Hodle and Elizabeth Farrell’s Chava give moving performances too, while Finlay Butler’s Motel, Kit Stroud’s Perchik and Callum Richardson’s Fyedka play their part resolutely.

Melissa Boyd’s choreography hits the mark in the show’s hot spots, Matchmaker, Matchmaker, To Life, Sunrise, Sunset and Tevye’s Dream, the production’s high point.

Praise too for Tearle’s costume design and musical director Joe Allen’s orchestra, so integral to the moods and changing tones of Fiddler On The Roof.

As for the Fiddler of the title, whether by Tevye’s side or perched on the roof, Alice Atang is a nimble symbol of both joy and melancholia.

NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof ran at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from April 23 to 27.

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Steve Tearle to play Tevye for third time in NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof

Steve Tearle’s Tevye and Perri Ann Barley’s Golde in NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof

DIRECTOR and lead actor Steve Tearle is at the helm of NE Theatre York’s revival of Fiddler On The Roof at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, next Tuesday to Saturday to celebrate the American musical’s 60th anniversary.

Based on Sholem Aleichem’s story Tevye And His Daughters (or Tevye The Dairyman) and other tales, the nine-time Tony Award-winning 1964 musical has music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and book by Joseph Stein and is best known for the songs If I Were A Rich Man, Matchmaker, Miracle Of Miracles and Sunrise.

Set in the Pale of Settlement in Tsarist Russia in 1905, the story centres on Tevye, the humble milkman and family man, who lives a very simple life in the small village of Anatevka.

When three of his five daughters rebel against the traditions of arranged marriages and decide to take matters into their own hands, mayhem unfolds as he strives to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural creeds.

Steve Tearle’s Tevye and Alice Atang’s Fiddler, Tevye’s conscience, in NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof

Tevye must cope not only with his daughters’ strong will to marry for love – each one’s choice of husband moving further away from the customs of his faith – but also with the Tsar’s edict to evict the Jewish community from their village [in the story’s nod to the Kishinev pogrom, an act of persecution against Russian Jews in April 1903].

Tearle will be playing Tevye, forever associated with Israeli actor, singer and illustrator Topol in the Oscar-winning 1971 film, where he reprised the role he had originated on Broadway and went on to perform more than 3,500 times between 1967 and 2009.

Tearle, by comparison, will be chalking up a hattrick of turns as Tevye, a part he played previously for New Earswick Musicals at the JoRo in November 2016 under Ann McCreadie’s direction, when the York Press review praised him for his “limitless charisma and exemplary dad dancing”.

“Tevye is a dream role,” he says. “You get to go through so many emotions. It’s an honour to play this part again, bringing him to life with NE Theatre’s amazing cast. It’s a fab experience.

“The show may be 60 years old but it’s very relevant today with the empowerment of women as Tevye’s daughters rebel against faith and tradition by choosing who they want to marry. The story highlights the struggles of the Jewish community too.”

Fiddler in the woods: Alice Atang’s Fiddler, Perri Ann Barley’s Golde and Steve Tearle’s Tevye set the scene for NE Theatre York’s Fiddler On The Roof

NE Theatre also wanted to do the show as a tribute to the late Mavis Massheder, who made her first stage appearance for New Earswick Amateur and Dramatic Society (now NE Theare York) in 1954 in the chorus of The Gondoliers and was elected chair in 1969.

Mavis steered the company through the many ups and downs and difficult times the theatre industry experienced over the next 45 years. She died in 2020 aged 91.

Perri Ann Barley will play Tevye’s wife Golde, joined by Maia Stroud, Rebecca Jackson, Elizabeth Farrell, Alexa Lord-Laverick and Paige Sidebottom as his daughters, Ali Butler Hind as Yente and Alice Atang as The Fiddler, Tevye’s conscience.

The company will include Kit Stroud, Callum Richardson, Finley Butler, Geoff Seavers, Toby Jensen, James O’Neill, Scott Barnes, Chris Hagyard, Kelvin Grant, Pascha Turnbull, Aileen Hall, Carolyn Jensen and Greg Roberts too.

NE Theatre York in Fiddler On The Roof, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, Haxby Road, York, April 23 to 27, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.