Showmanship: Lee Mead’s P. T. Barnum in Barnum The Circus Musical. Picture: Pamela Raith
PHINEAS Taylor Barnum may have been “America’s greatest showman” – his biography sold second only to the Bible in his lifetime – but Barnum is not America’s greatest ever musical.
Bill Kenwright Ltd and Watermill Theatre throw razzle-dazzle and razzmatazz aplenty at composer Cy Coleman, lyricist Michael Stewart and book writer Mark Bramble’s show, from Lee Newby’s circus set and costume designs to Strictly Come Dancing alumna Oti Mabuse’s choreography, from circus director Amy Panter’s array of acrobatic talents to the company of actor-musicians playing 150 instruments between them.
All topped off by a star lead turn from Lee Mead, who combines verbal and visual twinkle and tightrope walking with resolute singing, from his opening There Is A Sucker Born Every Minute to Out There, in his personable portrayal of Barnum.
However, in keeping with the essence of Barnum’s infamous spinning of humbug – deceit and lies by another name – director Jonathan O’Boyle’s production is rather more style than substance, especially in Act Two.
This is not to suggest that Barnum is a big flop under the big top, merely that its high qualities in performance cannot compensate for an underwhelming score that pales by comparison with the Oscar, Grammy and Tony-winning songwriting of Ben Pasek and Justin Paul for 2017’s The Greatest Showman.
“Barnum’s the name, P T Barnum, and I want to tell you that tonight, on this stage, you are going to see – bar none – every sight, wonder and miracle that name stands for,” proclaims Mead’s inspirational Barnum, showman, businessman, politician and visionary, whose gift for humbug carries far more eloquence, chutzpah and wit than today’s quotidian, rather than quotable, politicians, even trumping Trump for braggadocio.
His humbug is not of the “Bah, Humbug” variety of Charles Dickens’s misanthropic cynic Ebenezer Scrooge, with his distaste for deception, but more a brand of playful bluster, full of exaggeration and theatrical hoaxing delivered with a showman’s flourish that may be on foreign terms with the truth but is all in the cause of entertainment.
Alas he needs a little of that humbug to cover this biographical 19th century tale’s musical failings: the lack of knock-out songs in the weaker second half, with nothing to match its opening Come Follow The Band, where Mead’s Barnum is dressed as a clown.
That said, the transition from the black-and-white stars and stripes and costumes – reminiscent of Humbug mints – for Dominique Planter’s Blues Singer belting out Black And White to the riot of colours in the reprise of the Act One stand-out The Colours Of My Life is the high point of O’Boyle’s direction.
Acrobatic and circus skills play their part but would benefit from more highlights to match the wow-factor dexterity of the bow-and-arrow routine, and overall they are outshone by the actor-musicians’ prowess on multiple instruments, with the brass playing being a particular delight.
The visual scale ranges from the big to the small, from the life-sized model of an elephant to Fergus Rattigan as General Tom Thumb, singing Bigger Isn’t Better on his return to a York stage for the first time since playing Tudor sleuth Matthew Shardlake in York Theatre Royal’s 2023 community play Sovereign.
Amid the surface-level showmanship, Barnum finds its heart in P. T. Barnum’s relationship with his steely wife Charity (Monique Young), full of her own bright ideas and suggestions, and his six-month fling with opera singer Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale (Penny Ashmore).
Mead shines brightest but Young pulls heartstrings too and Ashmore is the very definition of a polymath with her spectacular singing of Jenny Lind’s Obbligato and Love Makes Such Fools Of Us All, her heavenly harp and piano playing, and even her dancing on point, once serving in the ensemble, for the Finale.
Overall, this Barnum is a better performance than its source material, good in individual parts but not great.
Barnum The Circus Musical, Grand Opera House, York, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Lee Mead’s American showman P. T. Barnum in Barnum: The Circus Musical, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Pamela Raith
LEE Mead will lead the cast as legendary circus showman, businessman and politician P. T. Barnum in Bill Kenwright Ltd’s tour of Barnum: The Circus Musical at the Grand Opera House, York, from February 24 to 28.
West End performer and television star Mead, now 44, made his breakthrough when winning the BBC One reality show Any Dream Will Do in 2007, going on to star in the Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat tour that brought him to the Cumberland Street theatre in 2010.
Lee is no stranger to Barnum, first playing the show-hosting Ringmaster in a school production when he was 13 or 14 in his home town of Southend-on-Sea.
“I had such a brilliant time and I thought the story and the characters were wonderful. And it had all these fantastic songs, like Come Follow The Band, The Colours Of My Life and There Is A Sucker Born Every Minute.”
Lee’s friend Chris was cast in the lead role. “And he was a great Barnum, but I remember thinking, ‘It would be lovely to play that part one day’.”
Now, three decades later, his wish has come true at last as he headlines a lavish new UK tour of the 1980 musical by Cy Coleman (music), Michael Stewart (lyrics) and Mark Bramble (book).
Barnum: The Circus Musical tells the story of legendary American showman, marketing genius and master of spectacle P.T. Barnum, who revolutionised entertainment in the 1800s through the Barnum & Bailey Circus and the Greatest Show on Earth.
Premiered on Broadway in 1980 and fronted by Michael Crawford at the London Palladium in 1981, ahead of a UK tour, the show has been revived numerous times since, both here and around the world.
As he steps into the ring for the 2026 tour, Lee says: “It’s an absolute classic and I can’t quite believe I now get to play Barnum some 30 years after that school production. I think I must have somehow manifested it.”
“This is definitely my most challenging role,” says Lee Mead of playing P. T. Barnum
Barnum’s tour show is directed by Jonathan O’Boyle, choreographed by Strictly Come Dancing alumna Oti Mabuse and features more than 20 actor-musicians, alongside acrobats and international circus acts.
Starring as Barnum is not only a dream come true for the Any Dream Will Do winner but also an homage to his grandfather Bert and grandmother Lil, who did not have much money, meaning that a trip to the theatre was very rare for them.
“But they saved up for a year and a half to see Barnum at the London Palladium and they loved it,” says Lee. “It stayed with them their whole lives. Sadly they’re no longer with us, but I know they would have been so proud to see me in it. Every performance is going to be for them.”
Since Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Lee has starred in Wicked, Legally Blonde, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Chicago and Sister Act and plenty besides. “But this is definitely my most challenging role,” he says.
“It’s one of those rare roles for a leading man. It’s an enormous part, with huge monologues and so many songs, and I don’t think I leave the stage for two hours, apart from the interval of course.”
Then add the tightrope walking, a discipline that has required several months of intense training for Lee. “It’s the kind of thing you learn at 24, not 44,” he says. “I’ve had to get myself fit and put in the work. The rope is about 7ft off the ground and, although I trained with a harness on, there’s no harness during the show itself.
“You have to use your whole body, your whole core and every ounce of your focus and energy to get across that wire, but I like a challenge.”
Does he play an instrument too in this actor-musician show? “I don’t, no. I already have enough to do with the acting, singing, dancing and tightrope walking!” he says.
Lee Mead in the poster image for Bill Kenwright Ltd’s tour of Barnum: The Circus Musical
As with Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of P.T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman, the musical looks at the real man behind the on-stage showman, not least how he had a wife named Charity but became infatuated with Swedish singer Jenny Lind.
“So he’s a flawed character, as most human beings are,” muses Lee. “As an actor, it’s interesting to explore that side of him alongside all the spectacle. It makes for great drama.”
When researching the role, “it was interesting to learn about Barnum’s tenacity and his drive, which I think you have to have to be as successful as he was,” says Lee. “At times he kind of put his wife to one side, even though she was so supportive and loving, so I guess you could say that he was very selfish.
“But he wanted the world to see all these amazing acts that he brought together, like the oldest woman in the world, Joice Heth and General Tom Thumb. It was his passion.”
Lee picks The Colours Of My Life as his favourite song in the show “because the melody is beautiful and it’s about him trying to explain to Charity why he is the way he is, with all the different colours to him as a person and why he wants to light people up, entertain them and make them happy,” he says.
Since his schooldays productions of Barnum and Grease, Lee has enjoyed the camaraderie of the stage life and the chance to lose himself in different characters. “Then, as time went on, I discovered I had a bit of a talent for it and I worked really hard, trying to get better and better,” he says.
He attended Whitehall Performing Arts College in Essex, performed on the Portsmouth to Bilbao ferry and at Bridlington Spa Theatre, played Levi and the Pharaoh in a touring production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and was in the The Phantom Of The Opera ensemble in the West End.
Any Dream Will Do then launched him to stardom. “It was a bit of a blur, although I remember certain moments in detail, so it was very surreal,” he recalls of competing on the BBC One talent show in front of a panel that included composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and impresario Bill Kenwright, winning the public vote and then playing the lead at London’s Adelphi Theatre.
Oh what a circus: Lee Mead’s P. T. Barnum, centre with actor-musicians, acrobats and circus acts in Barnum: The Circus Musical. Picture: Pamela Raith
“You never think anything like that would ever happen to you, and the TV show was seen by around 13 million viewers every week. Even now, more than 18 years later, I get people stopping me in the street or at the supermarket and saying that they voted for me. I feel very blessed, because it opened up all the parts that have come my way since.”
His subsequent career highlights include performing at the London Palladium on his 40th birthday with a full orchestra as he followed in the footsteps of legends such as Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland.
Singing in front of H.M. The Queen and the Royal Family at the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in 2019 is way up there too, along with playing Caracticus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
“I remember seeing it as a teenager, with Michael Ball in the lead and thinking ‘I’m going to play that role one day’. Again, as with Barnum, I must have manifested it somehow,” says Lee.
His television work has included stints as Nurse Lofty Chiltern on Casualty and Holby City, but his appearance as himself on Motherland drew the biggest response from the public. “I played Lofty for five years in total but I’ve had more people stop me and ask about Motherland, even though I was only in one episode. That’s the one thing in my career that I haven’t done yet that I would love to do: to have a recurring role in a sitcom.”
For now, however, Lee is focusing on Barnum. “I get to be in one of the greatest, most iconic musicals ever,” he says. “I’m still in shock that I’ve landed the part, to be honest, and I can’t wait to take it around the country and to see the smiles on the audience’s faces.”
Lee Mead stars in Barnum: The Circus Musical at Grand Opera House, York, February 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Also Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, March 31 to April 4, 7.30pm plus 2pm Wednesday & Thursday matinees and 2.30pm Saturday matinee, 01274 432000 or https://www.bradford-theatres.co.uk/; Hull New Theatre, June 2 to 6, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees,https://www.hulltheatres.co.uk/
The Magpies: Hosting their folk festival at Sutton Park today
ART and cinema outdoors, folk and classical festivals, nostalgic gigs and ant adventures on a theatre terrace prompt Charles Hutchinson into arts action.
Heading to the park: The Magpies Festival, Sutton Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest, near York, today. Gates open at 10am; live music from 12 noon
TRANSATLANTIC folk trio The Magpies head into the final day of their open-air festival of music, activities, stalls and food and drink. They will be among today’s main stage acts (at 8pm), along with Liz Stringer, Honey & The Bear, Blair Dunlop, Rachel Sermanni and Edward II.
The Brass Castle Stage plays host to Jack Harris, Megan Henwood, Tom Moore & Archie Moss, Gilmore & Roberts and Bonfire Radicals, concluding with a Ceilidh with Archie Moss. Box office: themagpiesfestival.co.uk.
York River Art Market: Up to 30 artists and makers per day down by the riverside
Art in the open air: York River Art Market, Dame Judi Dench Walk byLendal Bridge, York, today and tomorrow, then August 19 and 20, 10am to 5.30pm
YORK River Art Market returns for its eighth summer as York’s answer to the Left Bank in Paris. Organised by founder, director and artist Charlotte Dawson, the weekend event showcases a different variety of more than 30 independent artists and makers from all over Yorkshire and beyond each day.
Boom, by Evie Measor, from New Visuality’s exhibition project, Colour, at Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre
Easels at the ready: Sketching in the Garden, Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street, York, until September 23, 10am to 5pm daily
THE Bar Convent invites artists and those who would like to give it a go to use its easels free of charge in the garden, where art and heritage combine to create an outdoor sketch space.
This opportunity coincides with the Bar Convent’s exhibition run of Colour, featuring works by young York artists, who have used photography skills and innovative AI technology to reinterpret York’s heritage buildings and landmarks. Why not draw inspiration from the exhibition to create your own artistic interpretations?
The Greatest Showman Sing-A-Long: Part of the Outdoor Cinema season at Castle Howard
Screen on the green: Outdoor Cinema at Castle Howard, near York today and tomorrow
THIS outdoor cinema experience in the grounds of Castle Howard presents Matilda The Musical (PG) today at 2pm, Grease (PG) tonight at 8pm, The Greatest Showman (PG) Sing-A-Long tomorrow at 2pm and Top Gun: Maverick tomorrow at 7pm.
Gates open at 12 noon for the afternoon screenings; 6pm for The Greatest Showman; 5pm for Top Gun: Maverick. Picnics and drinks are welcome at all screenings but no glassware. Blankets and camping chairs are allowed. Under-16s must be accompanied by an adult. Box office: castlehoward.co.uk.
Pianist Katya Apekisheva: One of 30 international musicians playing at North York Moors Chamber Music Festival
Classical festival of the week: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, Welburn Manor marquee, near Kirkbymoorside, and assorted churches, Sunday to August 26
THE 15th North York Moors Chamber Music Festival ventures Into The Looking Glass for a fantastical fortnight with 30 international musicians, including pianist Katya Apekisheva, French horn virtuoso Ben Goldscheider and violinists Charlotte Scott and Benjamin Baker.
Directed by cellist Jamie Walton, the festival takes inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s 1872 novel to “explore the psychology of the mind through the prism of music, conveying its various chapters with carefully curated music that takes the audience on an adventurous journey through many twists and turns”. For the programme and tickets, head to: northyorkmoorsfestival.com. Box office: 07722 038990.
The Searchers & Hollies Experience: Sixties’ nostalgia at the double at the JoRo
Tribute show of the week: The Searchers And Hollies Experience, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
IN The Searchers & Hollies Experience: The Best Of Both Worlds, The FOD Band celebrate the magical, haunting hits of these legendary Sixties’ harmony bands from Liverpool and Manchester respectively. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Newen Afrobeat: Chile meets Fela Kuti at The Crescent
Chilean gig of the week…in York: Newen Afrobeat, The Crescent, York, Thursday, 7.30pm
NEWEN Afrobeat, a 13-piece Chilean orchestra, make music inspired by the legacy of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. Applying a Latin stamp, they unify the African rhythms with a colourful and energetic staging, embedded in a deep social message that talks about their roots and cultural awareness.
In a ten-year career of four albums and eight international tours, Newen Afrobeat have performed at Montreal International Jazz Festival, WOMEX, Africa Oyé and Felabration Lagos. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Janet Bruce, left, and Cassie Vallance: Hosting Story Craft Theatre’s The Secret Life Of The Garden
Children’s event of the week: Story Craft Theatre in The Secret Life Of The Garden, Friday, 11am and 1pm
HAVE you ever imagined shrinking down to the size of an ant to go on an awesome adventure through a garden? York company Story Craft Theatre’s Janet Bruce and Cassie Vallance provide that opportunity in their magical new show, packed full of fun and wonder on the Theatre Royal patio.
This interactive production for two to eight-year-old children combines visual storytelling tools, such as puppets and Makaton signs and symbols, with games and dancing, plus crafting and colouring sheets beforehand. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Herman’s Hermits: Hits, hits, hits at Pocklington Arts Centre
Retro gig of the week: Herman’s Hermits, Pocklington Arts Centre, August 19, 8pm
FORMED in 1964, Manchester band Herman’s Hermits chalked up 23 hits, hitting the peak straightaway with the chart-topping I’m Into Something Good.
Producer Mickie Most oversaw their glory days with such smashes as No Milk Today, There’s A Kind Of Hush, Silhouettes, Mrs Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter, Wonderful World, I’m Henry VIII, I Am, Just A Little Bit Better, A Must To Avoid, Sleepy Joe, Sunshine Girl, Something’s Happening, My Sentimental Friend and Years May Come, Years May Go. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
A DRIVE-IN cinema with social distancing rules will take over Knavesmire for three days next month in York.
Meeting Coronavirus regulations to ensure entertainment can return to York, interaction between staff and customers will be kept to a minimum, with cars parked two metres apart and those attending expected to remain within their vehicles for the duration of the screening.
From July 3 to 5, ten family favourites and blockbuster films will be shown on large LED screens with the sound transmitted to the audience’s car radios. Food and drink can be ordered in advance and will be delivered to individual cars.
No joking: Cinema will return to York next month, Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker and all
The big-screen promoters, Teesside company Daisy Duke’s Drive-In Cinema, have confirmed a line-up of The Jungle Book, The Lion King, Mamma Mia!, Frozen 2, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Greatest Showman, A Star Is Born, 28 Days Later, Pulp Fiction and Joker.
The organisers, who have been involved in entertainments and event management for 30 years, plan to have four screenings per day, lasting from morning to late-night.
Tickets cost £15, adults, £10, children, and can be booked at dukescinema.epizy.com.
The York open-air screenings will be part of a summer series of stops by the North Eastern mobile cinema, also calling in at venues in Darlington, Sunderland and “Teesside” (sorry not to be more specific!).
