Paul Hawkyard as the “the tall, dark and incredibly handsome Captain Hook” – as he puts it – in York Theatre Royal’s Peter Pan
AND then there were three. Not only the already confirmed Faye Campbell will be returning to the York Theatre Royal pantomime but so too will Robin Simpson and Paul Hawkyard, the award-nominated Ugly Sisters double act from Cinderella.
Completing his hattrick of Theatre Royal pantos after 2020’s The Travelling Pantomime and 2021-2022’s Cinders, Simpson will play Mrs Smee – effectively the dame role – while Hawkyard will take to the dark side as the villainous Captain Hook.
Calls aplenty had grown for Simpson and Hawkyard’s pantomime chemistry to be sparked up anew in the third Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions collaboration, particularly after their riotous sisterly double act as Manky and Mardy in Cinderella was nominated for Best Ugly Sisters in the 2022 UK Pantomime Association’s Pantomime Awards.
Mrs Smee: A new panto role for dame Robin Simpson in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan at York Theatre Royal
Glory be, they will be reunited in creative director Juliet Forster’s production of All New Adventures Of Peter Pan, performing once more alongside Campbell, last winter’s Cinderella.
Hawkyard, who previously showed York his Bottom in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Eye of York in 2018, is chuffed to have hooked the role of Hook. “Robin and I kept getting mobbed last year in York, so we’ve had to change our identity this year. Manky and Mardy are back in the wardrobe, and the hook is being sharpened and polished as we speak,” he said.
“I’m so looking forward to playing one of the most famous and evil villains ever – the tall, dark and incredibly handsome Captain Hook, the original pirate king.”
Robin Simpson’s Manky, left, and Paul Hawkyard’s Mardy in their Ugly Sisters double act in Cinderella last winter
Simpson added: “I’m delighted to be returning to York Theatre Royal for my third pantomime there. I’m also very excited to be back on stage with Paul Hawkyard. He’s a very funny guy and I’m so glad that my ‘sister’ from last year is able to return. Can’t wait.”
Simpson first gave York his Dame in The Travelling Pantomime, touring to community venues in multiple York wards for socially distanced performance in December 2020, before turning Ugly in Cinderella.
He and Hawkyard previously worked together in both A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s first year in York.
Making an ass of himself: Paul Hawkyard’s Bottom in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in York in July 2018
In late-March, book in hand at first, he stepped into the melancholic role of Jacques at very short notice in Northern Broadsides’ York Theatre Royal run of As You Like It, later filling in for Covid-enforced cast absences in further dates on the tour.
Previously he toured the country with the Halifax company as Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing. Hawkyard, meanwhile, has been filming the new series of Channel 5’s All Creatures Great And Small, set in Yorkshire.
Campbell starred in The Travelling Pantomime tour as The Hero and Dick Whittington, then took on the title role in Cinderella last winter. Come December, she will be Elizabeth Darling in All New Adventures Of Peter Pan, scripted by Evolution Productions’ co-founder, Paul Hendy.
Faye Campbell: Returning for her third York Theatre Royal pantomime
Joining Campbell, Simpson and Hawkyard will be CBeebies’ favourite Maddie Moate, the first name out of the panto hat, who will be flying into the Theatre Royal to play mischievous fairy Tinkerbell in the family-friendly pantomime adventure.
Creative director Juliet Forster said: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome back Robin, Paul and Faye for this year’s pantomime. They were all hugely popular with our audiences in Cinderella last year and we can’t wait for them to return to our stage in these fabulous new roles.”
Further casting will be revealed in coming months, first up the imminent announcement of who will be Peter Pan.
All New Adventures Of Peter Pan will run from December 2 2022 to January 2 2023. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Tempest blows in: Dates are confirmed for York Shakespeare Project’s final production of a 20-year venture to present every Shakespeare play bard none. Picture: John Saunders
YORK Shakespeare Project will go on tour for the first time this autumn with The Tempest, the final production of its 20-year journey to perform all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays.
YSP’s ambitious mission will be completed with an October 1 performance at York Theatre Royal after a North and East Yorkshire itinerary that will take in Selby, Goole and other towns and villages.
On tour from September 23, The Tempest will be directed by Philip Parr, director of Parrabbola and York International Shakespeare Festival and chair of the European Shakespeare Festivals Network.
Founded in April 2001 by artist, actor and philosopher Dr Frank Brogan with funding from the National Lottery’s Awards For All and York Challenge Fund, YSP performed its first production, Richard III, at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre from October 30 to November 2 2002 with York Settlement Community Players stalwart and drama teacher Alan Booty in the title role.
That debut had been delayed from April after a change of director from “young hotshot” Ben Naylor to esteemed Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre actor John White, but “it’ll be all White on the night” immediately affirmed YSP’s resolute, punning slogan, “It’s An Act of Will”.
Since that bumpy start, YSP has woven its way into the city’s theatrical fabric, attracting hundreds of residents to participate as either actors or crew members over two decades, many of them taking their first steps in theatre.
Philip says: “It’s impossible not to plan this production of The Tempest without thinking about the context of it being the end of this remarkable 20-year mission. We’ve been able to recruit a cast full of people who have performed in different YSP productions across the years, along with some who will be performing with YSP for the first time.”
Should you need a quick refresher course on The Tempest, a tragicomedy first staged on November 1 1611, here is YSP’s plot summary. Prospero uses magic to conjure a storm and torment the survivors of a shipwreck, including the King of Naples and Prospero’s treacherous sister, Antonia.
The embittered Caliban plots to rid himself of Prospero but is thwarted by the spirit Ariel. The King’s young son, Ferdinand, thought to be dead, falls in love with Prospero’s daughter, Miranda. Their celebrations are cut short, however, when Prospero confronts his sister and reveals his identity as the usurped Duke of Milan.
“The Tempest deals with many themes that are relevant both to this moment for YSP, but also ones that our society continues to grapple with today: disconnection, corruption, reconciliation and the difficulty of generational change,” says Philip.
“I’m excited about the way we’re approaching telling this story,” says The Tempest director Philip Parr
“I’m excited about the way we’re approaching telling this story, using the performing collective to create the island and the ‘magic’ that permeates it, and using the musical skills of many of the performers to ensure the ‘isle is full of noises’. We can’t wait to share it with audiences this autumn.”
Janet Looker, chair of York Shakespeare Project – and 2019 Lord Mayor of York, Labour councillor for City of York Council’s Guildhall ward since 1985 and family lawyer to boot – says: “It’s difficult to believe that it’s been 20 years since our very first production. We thought we were being rather ambitious when we started: would we really be able to keep this going for 20 years?
“And we weren’t always sure we’d get there, especially with the events of the last two years. But the commitment of the many supporters who have participated in our productions over the years has seen us reach this last play.
“We always knew we wanted to finish with something special, and this tour and a finale at York Theatre Royal will be an exciting and unique experience for all the actors and crew, giving us a chance to share not just the story of The Tempest, but the community ethos of York Shakespeare Project, with a much wider audience. It’s a very fitting way to mark the end of this journey.”
YSP regular Paul French will play Prospero, Effie Warboys, Miranda, and Jacob Ward, Ferdinand, but more details on casting will be kept under wraps for now to enable YSP to “reveal some surprises about how this large cast will tell the story in due course”.
Watch this space for updates, but in the meantime, here is the list of further confirmed cast members: Victoria Delaney; Sonia Di Lorenzo; Henry Fairnington; Jodie Fletcher; Nell Frampton; Tony Froud; Rhiannon Griffiths; David Harrison; Bronte Hobson; Judith Ireland; Andrew Isherwood; Helen Jarvis; Nick Jones and Stuart Lindsay.
Taking part too will be: Aran MacRae; Michael Maybridge; Sally Maybridge; Sally Mitcham; Andrea Mitchell; Fiona Mozley; Harold Mozley; Janice Newton; Megan Ollerhead; Tracy Rea; Eleanor Royse; Emma Scott; Phyl Smith; Sadie Sorensen; Julie Speedie; Lara Stafford; Harry Summers; Lisa Valentine and Sam Valentine.
Philip Parr will be joined in the production team by assistant director Terry Ram, stage managers Janice Newton and David Harrison and musical director Nick Jones.
The Tempest tour will open at Thorganby Village Hall on September 23 with further performances rubber stamped for Selby Town Hall on September 27 and The Junction, Goole, on September 28. Additional dates will be confirmed soon. Tickets are available from yorkshakespeareproject.org or the venue box offices, selbytown hall.co.uk or 01757 708449 and junctiongoole.co.uk or 01405 763652.
Tickets for the final performance at York Theatre Royal on October 1 at 7.30pm go on sale at 1pm today at £16, concessions £10, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or on 01904 623568.
The end: The Tempest concludes York Shakespeare Project’s journey through 37 plays. Picture: John Saunders
Audrey 2 x 2: The plant and the plant in human form in Emily Ramsden in Nik Briggs’s inspired innovation in Little Shop Of Horrors. All pictures: Charlie Kirkpatrick, Kirkpatrick Photography
York Stage in Little Shop Of Horrors, planted at York Theatre Royal until Saturday, 7.30pm nightly plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
THIS is a 40th anniversary production with plenty of firsts and one unquenchable thirst.
York Stage are making their Theatre Royal main-house debut after shows all over town; Filipino-born and trained, York further-educated actor and chef Mikhail Lim is cutting the mustard in a premier-league lead role; Lauren Sheriston is rocking blue hair for the first time as Audrey and…
…Audrey 2, the ever-expanding plant with the insatiable need to “feed me” with rather more than BabyBio, has undergone a sex change from bass-baritone bully to seductive soul diva and sprouted not only profuse foliage but an accompanying female embodiment in the form of Emily Ramsden: a sort of Christina Aguilera think bubble come alive. Or an Audrey 2 x 2, if you prefer.
This way, the jive-talking, blood-sucking, man-munching plant takes on even more of a personality, albeit less sinister than usual.
Mikhail Lim’s Seymour, left, and James Robert Ball’s Mr Mushnik in Mr Mushnik’s Skid Row florist shop
Not even initial sound-level problems could knock Ramsden off her stride. Quick thinking by musical director Stephen Hackshaw saw his band drop their volume, while a hand mic was found for Ramsden to see her through to the end of her opening number. After that, everything went tickety-boo as York Stage settled into new surroundings under the ever-watchful eye of director-producer Nik Briggs.
Little Shop Of Horrors is a grisly, if tongue in cheek, cautionary tale of the dangers of rampant commercialism and unsavoury greed, where the laughs are rooted in feet of clay and the protagonists die, laughing.
The director’s challenge is twofold, first to find the gory heart of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s rock’n’roll send-up of Roger Corman’s B-movie horror flick and Fifties’ American culture but to make us laugh like a hyena on the highway to hell while doing so.
Secondly, to not let the underlying moral message about the fallacy of the American dream – the profits of doom – stand in the way of a bluesy belter, a tender ballad, a dollop of girl-group doo-wop or a blast of rock’n’roll swagger.
Lauren Sheriston’s Audrey, left, and Lucy Churchill’s Chiffon in York Stage’s Little Shop Of Horrors
Briggs’s propulsive production could be darker, more twisted in the manner of The Rocky Horror Show, but the laughs flow and the principals’ singing throughout is powerful, impassioned and sassy.
Little Shop Of Horrors is set in the trash can of the aspirant American Fifties, otherwise known as Skid Row, New York, as denoted by two big bins in Brigg’s otherwise colourful set and costume design.
Initially, Mr Mushnik’s struggling little flower shop feels a little crammed with unnecessary “stuff” on the Theatre Royal stage: twice Lim’s shop junior, Seymour Krelbourne, unintentionally bumps into a waste-bin by the counter, although his character is clumsy by nature – and as the plant and its notoriety threaten to outgrow the premises, it is only right that everything becomes a tighter squeeze.
Those bumps are the only false steps in an otherwise delightfully personable, pathos-led performance by Lim as the bespectacled, geeky loser Seymour, who grows from being comically, loveably awkward and love-struck to surprisingly ruthless and reckless as fame and fortune come his way once he signs his Faustian pact with Audrey 2. He has a sweet-sweet singing voice too that channels Sam Cooke’s tone.
Danger to dental health: Darren Lee Lumby’s mad dentist Orin finding life a gas, gas, gas
Sheriston’s Audrey, the subject of Seymour’s crush, is being crushed by her abusive dentist boyfriend, Darren Lee Lumby’s corkscrew-haired, cocksure Orin, who threatens mental and dental health alike in his deranged bad-lad turn.
Sheriston has to pull off a now uncomfortable Fifties’ trait of being too good for her own good, to the point of self-sacrifice. Audrey is compliant yet resolute, and Sheriston’s performance, especially in her singing, conveys both those traits. Briggs gives her a spot-on wardrobe too, notably a green dress to rival Audrey 2’s leafage.
The thrill-seeking doo-wop chorus girls (Hannah Shaw’s Crystal, Lucy Churchill’s Chiffon and Cyanne Unamba-Oparah’s Ronnette) serve as Greek chorus and girl-group nostalgia alike with hen-party glee. By way of contrast, James Robert Ball’s phlegmatic Mr Mushnik is amusingly lugubrious, wearier than a latter-day Woody Allen.
Praise too to Hackshaw’s band, embellished with wood and brass; to Adam Moore for lighting that nods to Little Shop’s red and green livery, and to plant puppeteers Jack Hooper, Katie Melia and Danny Western, relishing their well-deserved applause when leaping out at the finale.
York Stage will return to the Grand Opera House for Kinky Boots from September 16 to 24, but looking ahead, maybe an ideal scenario is for Nik Briggs’s ever-busy calendar to accommodate shows at the Theatre Royal, Opera House and 41 Monkgate each year.
Hannah Shaw’s Crystal: Part of the Greek chorus in A Little Shop Of Horrors
BOB Dylan will play Hull Bonus Arena on October 27 as one of nine British dates on his Rough And Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour 2021-2024.
Tickets go on sale at 10am today at ticketmaster.co.uk/event/36005CE8F066F6 as the Nobel Prize-winning American singer-songwriter announces his first UK itinerary since his Never Ending Tour dates in April and May 2017.
Dylan, who turned 81 on May 24, began his latest travels last December in Milwaukee and has since played 74 gigs showcasing his 39th studio album, June 2020’s chart-topping Rough And Rowdy Ways, his first set of original songs since 2012’s Tempest.
Dylan will open his British visit with four intimate nights at the London Palladium on October 19, 20, 23 and 24, before playing Cardiff Motorpoint Arena on October 26, Hull the next night, Nottingham Motorpoint Arena on October 28 and Glasgow Armadillo on October 30 and 31. Preceding European dates will run from October 25 to 17, taking in Oslo, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.
All Dylan’s 8pm shows are “non-phone events”, where audience members must put their phones into a Yondr bag, to be kept with them until after the concert. This is intended to deter audio and video recording, photography or the distractions of using a mobile device.
American dates so far have placed an emphasis on the Minnesota-born folk and rock veteran’s latest album, rather than a greatest hits set from a 60-year career that has brought him 125 million record sales and a 2001 Oscar for Best Original Song for Things Have Changed from the Wonder Boys soundtrack.
American dates so far have placed an emphasis on the Minnesota-born folk and rock veteran’s latest album rather than greatest hits from a 60-year career that has brought him 125 million record sales and a 2001 Oscar for Best Original Song for Things Have Changed from the Wonder Boys soundtrack.
The latest addition to those sales is a one-off: a new studio recording of Dylan’s 1962-penned protest song Blowin’ In The Wind that sold for £1.5 million at auction last Thursday at Christie’s, in London, where bidding lasted four minutes, matching the length of the record coincidentally, after a guide price of £600,000 to £1million.
The recording is presented on an Ionic Original disc, a form of technology that promises to deliver higher quality sound than vinyl and can be played on a conventional turntable by the way. The disc is made of aluminium, treated with a layer of nitrocellulose, coated with a sapphire and quartz gradient.
The recording was produced by musician T Bone Burnett in “one take, if I’m not mistaken”, working with Dylan, mandolin player Greg Leisz and bassist Don Was. “It felt holy. It always feels holy for me playing with Bob,” said Burnett, who described it as a “one-off piece of singular art, the equivalent of an oil painting”.
Dylan’s music can be heard live in York too in late-summer, at the Theatre Royal from September 6 to 10, in Conor McPherson’s bold reimagining of his songs “like you’ve never heard them before” in Girl From The North Country, a heart-breaking and universal story about family and love.
Writer-director McPherson’s double Olivier and Tony Award-winning West End and Broadway hit is set in 1934 in the heartland of America, where a group of wayward souls cross paths in a time-weathered guesthouse.
Standing at a turning point in their lives, they realise nothing is what it seems, but as they search for a future and hide from the past, they find themselves facing unspoken truths about the present.
Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performances and 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
A scene from Girl From The North Country, heading for York Theatre Royal in September, replete with Bob Dylan songs. Picture: Johan Persson
Joe Spud (Matthew Hudson) , front, centre, seeks friends in David Walliams’ Billionaire Boy when he has too much of everything else. Picture: Mark Douet
MUSICALS, a children’s show, outdoor concerts, burlesque, baroque music and mystery bring contrasts aplenty to Charles Hutchinson’s diary.
Family show of the week: Birmingham Stage Company in David Walliams’ Billionaire Boy, Grand Opera House, York, July 14 to 17
JOE Spud is the richest boy in the country. At 12, he has his own sports car, two pet crocodiles and £100,000-a-week pocket money from his father Len’s radical loo roll fortune.
What Joe lacks, alas, after the family’s move to a palatial house is a friend, whereupon he decides to leave his posh school for a new start at the local comp. Things do not go as planned, however, leading to his young life becoming a rollercoaster as he tries to find what money cannot buy. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.
Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company’s night of heroes and villains at the JoRo
Musical stories of the week: Joseph Rowntree Theatre Company Does Heroes And Villains, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm
A HERO. A villain. A power struggle between good and bad. An epic Act 1 finale. Sound familiar? Tonight, director Ben Huntley and musical director Jess Douglas bring to life the story of every musical you have ever seen in an evening of musical theatre songs for plucky protagonists and dastardly villains from Wicked, Hamilton, Sweeney Todd, The Sound Of Music and many more.
Along the way, other key characters will help, or possibly hinder, these intrepid characters. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Elbow: Heading for Scarborough tonight
East Coast outdoor gig of the week: Elbow, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, tonight, gates, 6pm
PLAYING together since sixth-form college days in Bury in 1990 and taking the name Elbow since 1997, Guy Garvey’s band arrive in Scarborough on the back of releasing their ninth studio album, Flying Dream 1.
Fresh from last month’s Platinum Party at the Palace rendition of One Day Like This outside Buckingham Palace, Elbow head outdoors once more this weekend to perform Lippy Kids, My Sad Captains, Magnificent, New York Morning et al – and hopefully early gem Station Approach. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Bryan Adams: Quick return to the Yorkshire open air on Sunday
West Yorkshire open-air gig of the week: Bryan Adams, Harewood House, near Leeds, Sunday, gates, 6pm
CANADIAN rocker Bryan Adams plays his second outdoor show of the Yorkshire summer this weekend, following his July 1 appearance at Scarborough Open Air Theatre.
Adams, 61, will be showcasing his 15th studio album, So Happy It Hurts, and once more he will do Run To You, Cuts Like A Knife, Summer Of ’69, (Everything I Do) I Do It For You et al for you too. Box office: aegpresents.co.uk.
Simon Rodda in Heady Conduct Theatre’s Tiresias
Storytelling show of the week: Heady Conduct Theatre in Tiresias, Theatre At The Mill, Stillington, near York, Sunday, 7.30pm
HEADY Conduct Theatre’s short tour of their storytelling show of rejuvenated Greek myths and legends concludes at Stillington Mill this weekend, a long way from Tiresias’s previous performances pre-pandemic in New Zealand.
Co-artistic director Simon Rodda plays blind prophet Tiresias, who is given the gift to predict the future by Zeus, in a theatre piece about the extraordinary ability of humans to face adversity, often with mischief, humour and rebellion.
Rachel Barnes accompanies Rodda with singing and a live score on guitar and cello. Box office: atthemill.org.
Mikhail Lim’s Seymour is torn between Lauren Sheriston’s Audrey, left, and Emily Ramsden’s Audrey II in York Stage’s Little Shop Of Horrors
Anniversary of the week:York Stage in Little Shop Of Horrors, York Theatre Royal, July 14 to 23
YORK Stage make their York Theatre Royal debut with Nik Briggs’s 40th anniversary production of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s Fifties’ B-movie musical spoof.
Is there a way out of Skid Row, the New York ghetto where life is full of broken American dreams and dead ends? When flower shop assistant Seymour (Mikhail Lim) discovers a mysterious new plant with killer potential, hope may be on the horizon. So too fame, fortune and even romance with kind, sweet, delicate Audrey (Lauren Sheriston), but bloodthirsty Audrey II (Emily Ramsden) has other ideas. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The poster for An Evening Of Burlesque at York Barbican
Glitz with a twist: An Evening Of Burlesque, York Barbican, July 21, 7pm
BRITAIN’S longest-running Burlesque variety show is bigger than ever on its latest tour with its 21st century twist on an old-fashioned blend of stylish cabaret, comedy, music, circus and burlesque.
Expect glitz and glamour, fun and feathers, fan dancing and fabulous costumes, speciality artistes and cabaret turns, circus stars and comedians, World Guinness record holders and champagne showgirls. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
filoBarocco: Performing baroque music at Explore York libraries
Exploring music: Baroque Around The Books community tour of Explore York libraries, July 21 and 22. UPDATE: MINI-TOUR CANCELLED
MUSICAL group filoBarocco is undertaking a Baroque Around The Books mini-tour of three community libraries in a new National Centre for Early Music initiative with Explore York supported by Culture & Wellbeing York.
filoBarocco will be visiting Acomb Explore on July 21 at 11am, Tang Hall Explore, July 21, 3.30pm, and Clifton Explore, July 22, 11am. Tickets are free but must be pre-booked at eventbrite.com/cc/baroque-around-the-books-735039.
Lucy Worsley: Uncovering the mysteries behind Agatha Christie’s life
History meets mystery: An Evening With Lucy Worsley On Agatha Christie, York Theatre Royal, September 26, 7.30pm
THE Queen of History will investigate the Queen of Crime in an illustrated talk that delves into the life of such an elusive, enigmatic 20th century figure.
Why did Agatha Christie spend her career pretending that she was just an ordinary housewife, a retiring Edwardian lady of leisure, when clearly she wasn’t? Agatha went surfing in Hawaii, loved fast cars and was intrigued by psychology, the new science that helped her through mental illness.
Sharing her research of the storyteller’s personal letters and papers, writer, broadcaster, speaker and Historic Royal Palaces chief curator Lucy Worsley will uncover the real, revolutionary, thoroughly modern Christie. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Christina Bianco’s LV performing at Mr Boo’s in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice. Picture: Pamela Raith
The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice, Glass Half Full Productions, York Theatre Royal, 7.30pm tonight and Friday; 2.30pm, 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
THE Rise And Fall Of Little Voice has a habit of rising again and again on a cycle of major tours.
It might even be argued that Jim Cartwright’s epic yet claustrophobically intimate tragi-comedy has been over-done, but its 30th anniversary is as good a reason as any for another revival.
This week’s run is not playing to big houses – most likely because the cost-of-living crisis is putting a tight squeeze on nights out, with holidays overseas taking priority, rather than Little Voice ennui – but Bronagh Lagan’s superb production deserves bigger audiences.
She has cast brilliantly, not only in the leads, Christina Bianco, Shobna Gulati and York-born Ian Kelsey, but also in the supporting Akshay Gulati, Fiona Mulvaney and the ever-welcome William Ilkley.
Cheesier than Mozzarella: William Ilkley’s tacky club owner Mr Boo. Picture: Pamela Raith
A decade ago, Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre opened its Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Stories season with ‘Little Voice’, that theme title summing up Cartwright’s bitter yet tender clash of the blitz and the glitz perfectly.
Lagan and set and costume designer Sara Perks retain the 1992 unspecified northern setting in Mari Hoff’s damp, run-down terrace-end house with its dodgy electrics, worn furniture, empty fridge, stack of booze bottles and on-the-blink meter. Excitement amounts to the installation of a new phone, bought on the never-never.
That only adds to the noise emanating constantly from Shobna Gulati’s heavy-drinking, needy motormouth Mari, flirting in the last chance saloon, while being neglectful of her daughter LV, yet smothering her all the while.
Drowned out by by man-eating Mari’s white noise, LV (American actress, singer and impersonator Christina Bianco) is reclusive (but not agoraphobic, she says). Spending days in her pyjamas, she listens to her late father’s vinyl collection in her bedroom, perfecting the vocal tropes and mannerisms of bygone divas Judy Garland, Edith Piaf, Shirley Bassey and Bianco’s new addition, Cilla Black.
As and when necessary, she cleans up after her wild-living mother, whose neediness finds her treating her sugar-guzzling, simple, oversized neighbour Sadie (Fiona Mulvaney) like a comfort blanket to be picked up and discarded on a whim.
Clinging on: Shobna Gulati’s Mari Hoff in a needy moment with Ian Kelsey’s Ray Say. Picture: Pamela Raith
Cartwright depicts a dysfunctional, desperate world where lives are stymied by circumstance, but the wish to fly, to escape, to dream, to live beyond means, is omnipresent. LV does so through those records, kept in immaculate condition; Mari does so by placing her eggs in her latest basket: Ian Kelsey’s viper-tongued artist manager Ray Say, who sees himself as “the king of this gutter”, always on the make, but yet to make it.
When he hears caged songbird LV singing upstairs, while he’s romping with Mari on the sofa, Ray thinks he has a pathway to gold at last, if only he can persuade her to perform in public at Mr Boo’s tacky club in town.
In the wrong hands, Cartwright’s northern drama can become nasty, brutish and brash, even a freakshow, especially Mari, but the key is to locate its heart and to bring balance, to not let the white noise dominate.
Anyone who saw Gulati’s Ray in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at Leeds Grand Theatre will not be surprised at her tour-de-force Mari: selfish, grotesque, restless, volatile, relentless, potty-mouthed, over-heated yet devoid of warmth, but vulnerable too, and as funny as she is tiresome.
Bianco has hankered after the role of LV for a decade and what a performance she delivers, mastering an Oldham accent, suitably quiet and diffident yet full of stage presence, and bringing the house down with her myriad voices.
Always on call: Akshay Gulati’s shy phone engineer Billy making one of his multiple unexpected visits to Christina Bianco’s even shier LV. Picture: Pamela Raith
Her contrasting chemistry with Gulati’s volcanic Mari and Akshay Gulati’s tentative, caring, in-the-shadows telephone engineer Billy is impressive too as he tentatively leads her towards the light and freedom. Pent up for so long, when LV finally speaks her mind to Mari, Bianco finds devastating new heights.
Kelsey’s Ray Say has a veneer of charm, but the dark desperation is always bubbling away beneath the sleek yet seedy surface, as the chancer turns to user and abuser. Kelsey’s Theatre Royal debut at 55 is long overdue in his home city, and we can only hope more powerhouse roles will follow here.
Meanwhile, William Ilkley’s Mr Boo, the club boss with the flatlining patter, is a delightfully observed cameo from clubland’s past.
Echoing the heightened language of Greek drama and Shakespeare, yet redolent of Fifties and Sixties’ kitchen-sink dramas too, Cartwright’s world of outsiders and leftovers elicits fears, cheers and finally tears as LV finds her voice.
In the closing words of Mari, “I beseech you, I beseech you, I beseech you” to buy a ticket this week.
Sara Perks’ set design for The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice with its cast of outsiders and leftovers: Christina Bianco’s LV (bedroom), Ian Kelsey’s Ray Say, Shobna Gulati’s Mari Hoff, Fiona Mulvaney’s Sadie and William Ilkley’s Mr Boo. Picture: Pamela Raith
Suddenly, Seymour: Mikhail Lim takes on the lead role in York Stage’s Little Shop Of Horrors
MIKHAIL Lim may have a long association with the York stage but he did not envisage being picked to play Seymour, the hapless Skid Row florist shop assistant, in York Stage’s 40th anniversary production of Little Shop Of Horrors.
“Seymour is not typically something I would think of being cast as,” he says, in the foyer of York Theatre Royal, where you will indeed be seeing more of his Seymour from July 14 to 23 in director-producer Nik Briggs’ show.
“A lot of the issues with my confidence comes from being an Asian actor, pitching against established white actors – and everyone thinks of Rick Moranis’s performance in the film, which people are so attracted to.
“But, coming to my take on Seymour, Nik saw something in it, and so did Stephen Hackshaw, the musical director.”
Hence Mikhail will be leading Briggs’s cast of 11 in York Stage’s Theatre Royal debut in Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s B-movie musical spoof about a bloodthirsty plant.
He cut his York theatrical teeth in John Cooper’s Stagecoach Youth Theatre, the Grand Opera House’s Stage Experience summer school and York Stage Musicals before studying drama at York St John, but his love of performing is rooted in his Filipino homeland in South East Asia.
“I went to train in the Repertory Philippines in Manila, where they put on theatre even though there’s no official arts programme in the Philippines,” he says. “Seeing all the things that’s going on with the arts over here now with funding cuts and school curriculum changes, it’s starting to feel like that again. Though I love the Philippines, but there’s a struggle for the arts there, I’m not going to lie.”
Mikhail was born to his mother’s second marriage with a nine-year gap to his sister and two older brothers (whose father had passed away). “My parents worked really hard for me to get here,” he says.
Plant shop trio: Mikhail Lim’s Seymour with Lauren Sheriston’s Audrey, left, and Emily Ramsden’s Audrey II in Little Shop Of Horrors
“It started with me going to the OB [Operation Brotherhood] Montesorri School in Manila, and then they put me in a private school, the Ateneo de Manila University grade school, where they were really prioritising my education at one of the Philippines’ best schools over feeding the family.
“You can imagine that going into the theatre might not have been their number one career choice for me! It was an all-boys school, with a sister school that we’d meet up with to do shows.
“So, I did Fiddler On The Roof in a Catholic school with lots of Filipinos who knew nothing about Judaism! The only thing I had going for me was that I had a Russian name! My mother named me after Mikhail Gorbachev, who she thought of as a hero.
“I was born in October 1991 in the year after the Cold War stopped and I had a birthmark on my forehead, just like Gorbachev! As a kid, I knew nothing about him, but later I read about him and thought, ‘OK, I’ll take it’!”
Mikhail’s mother wanted a change, a new opportunity for Mikhail, and so he moved to York with his parents at the age of 14. “My siblings were much older than me; they had their own lives by then and they wanted to stay in the Philippines, so it was just me and my mum and dad who came over,” he says. “Mum was a scientist with the Nestle Product Technology Centre and that’s why we came to York.”
Settling into Haxby was not easy. “Not at all,” he recalls. “English is my first language, but even speaking the same language meant nothing culturally, and you can imagine how it was back then, when York was not as welcoming as it is now. It was very jarring, like people assuming I didn’t know what snow was.
“I lasted a very short time at Joseph Rowntree School, then went to All Saints, and on to York College to do my A-levels. Not my first intended route, but I studied English Literature, Ancient History, Maths and Theatre, so at least Theatre was in there.
Moving on: Chef Mikhail Lim, centre, will be leaving Oshibi Korean Bistro, in Franklin’s Yard, on Saturdayafter four years in the kitchen. “It’s been a good run,” he says
“There was always this superiority complex in people who assumed you came from somewhere impoverished by comparison with York, though I was top of the class in Maths, but you just can’t prove anything on paper.”
All the while, his acting and singing talent was nurtured with Stagecoach, Stage Experience and York Stage. “In most places, I definitely feel like theatre is more of a home,” he says. “That said, I’ve always gaslit myself think I was the weird, out-of-place kid, because I was, but then I realised it wasn’t just me who had this problem. Teenagers are vicious.
“But I’ve come to love York and living here. I think you notice it more when you go to other cities and you realise just how beautiful York is and how respectful people are to each other – though I’m aware acting can require you to move around, maybe train in London.”
After completing his York St John theatre studies in 2014, Mikhail trained as a chef, specialising in desserts, latterly working at Oshibi Korean Bistro & BBQ, in Franklin’s Yard, Fossgate, after the unfortunate timing of opening his own specialist café in Franklin’s Yard a month before the first Covid lockdown.
“In a way, lockdown was a blessing, allowing me to think about what I really wanted to do, because I’d been working continually, When Nik [Briggs] messaged me to ask me to do Songs From The Settee online, that opened up things again for me to do theatre again.”
Cue his stage return in Little Shop Of Horrors. “I’m now hoping to save up to do an MA in musical theatre,” he says. “I’ve stopped and started and trained so much already, but getting that piece of paper, an MA, is how to get connections in the theatre world.”
York Stage in Little Shop Of Horrors, York Theatre Royal, 7.30pm, July 14, 16, 18 to 23; 4pm and 8pm, July 15; 2.30pm, July 16 and 23. Box office:01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Christina Bianco: Playing LV at last almost a decade after Jim Cartwright’s vow to “make it happen”
YORK has been on New Yorker Christina Bianco’s bucket list of British cities to visit for “the longest time”.
Glory be for the American actress, supreme impressionist and YouTube sensation, she will be at York Theatre Royal all this week, playing reclusive songbird LV in Jim Cartwright’s deeply dark comedy-drama The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice.
“I’m going to be all over that city, taking a million photos,” she vows. “Apologies to the locals of York for my camera being out and my blocking traffic in the streets! It’s one of those places, which, coming from America, you don’t believe is real. It looks like something out of Harry Potter! So yes, to finally be in York is truly amazing.”
Ahead of this week’s run, Christina already had a sneak preview of York in the company of co-star Ian Kelsey, who took her on a guided tour of his home city last month, taking in York Minster, the Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate street sign, a pub and the Theatre Royal stage.
From bucket list to wish list as Christina realises a long-held ambition to play LV. “When I was young growing up in New York, I always did impressions and loved singing many genres of music,” she says. “My parents tell me I had a natural instinct for mimicry, especially when it came to Judy Garland in The Wizard Of Oz.
Christina Bianco acquainting herself with York. Picture: Ant Robling
“For some reason, I always gravitated toward British culture, television, films and comedy, watching the video of Four Weddings And A Funeral when I was little, and later Monty Python, and there was something about the British sensibility that I just loved.
“One of my favourite things in the world to watch was Absolutely Fabulous. I especially loved Jane Horrocks in it, and I love how your comedies have such broad characters but deal with serious subjects. Something hit me about the difference with American comedies.”
Later, Christina’s father saw a review of York director Mark Hearld’s 1998 film adaptation of Cartwright’s play, Little Voice, starring the aforementioned Horrocks. “Given LV’s love for Judy and all the diva impressions, he said we had to see it. I was blown away by Jane Horrocks’ performance and, of course, by the story itself. I became a little obsessed with it!” she says.
First, Christina brought her talent for mimicry to the fore in Forbidden Broadway off-Broadway in 2008. “I was doing impressions in public for the first time and gratefully being well reviewed for doing so,” she recalls.
“It put me on the map as an impressionist, and over the next few years I pushed myself to try more and more impressions and to eventually build my own show – both because I was enjoying it and because I realised there was an audience for this sort of act. It was around this time I posted some impressions videos on YouTube and they started racking up some views.”
Ian Kelsey introduces Christina Bianco to York Theatre Royal on his guided tour of his home city. Picture: Ant Robling
Move the story forward to the summer of 2012, when Christina saw a notice that Little Voice was to go on a British tour, directed by Cartwright himself. “I’d never seen the show on stage before, so my husband and I planned a six-day trip to London…with my ulterior motive being to take a train to Guildford to see the show!” she says.
“My managers at the time suggested ‘Why don’t you write to Jim, introduce yourself and tell him how much you love the show?’.”
Cartwright duly wrote back to say “I’ve just watched your stuff online. You’re fabulous! Come to the stage door and we’ll chat”. “I ended up sitting down with Jim and talking about the show for quite some time,” says Christina.
“We stayed in touch and soon after, when some of my YouTube videos went viral and I had a run of sold-out shows at the Hippodrome, Jim came and said ‘we have to make LV happen for you’! That was in 2013. So, as you can see, doing this show has been a very long journey! Now, to finally get to do it, on this grand scale, with this incredible cast, is just thrilling.”
How come it still took so long to “make LV happen” after Cartwright’s vow? “We definitely have to rule out two years of Covid, of course, but the first reason was that I met him just as he was directing a big production of his play, so I knew I’d have to wait four or five years for another big production,” says Christina.
Christina Bianco’s LV performing her repertoire of diva impersonations at Mr Boo’s Club. Picture: Pamela Raith
“Then I was attached to a production that Jim gave his blessing to that was supposed to go to Broadway, but that didn’t happen after going through three different directors – but that’s the story of showbiz.
“Then, the really tricky thing is that in the UK ‘Little Voice’ is so loved and some people say it’s overdone, being done by regional theatres and colleges as well, so the wait went on.”
Nevertheless, Christina was undaunted in her pursuit of adding LV to her CV, and once producer Katy Lipson attained the rights to the play, she promptly contacted the American actress, having seen her vocal impressions in concert. “She said, ‘I want to work with you; what would you like to do? Come up with a couple of ideas’. I said I’d love to do LV before I can’t do it.”
Sure enough, despite a further delay, Christina’s LV has arrived “when I’m still not too long in the tooth” at 40. “When Jane Horrocks first did it, she was in her late-20s, and in the movie, she was in her 30s. LV is not in her teens; she’s emotionally regressed, staying in the emotional state of a child.”
Christina’s diva impersonations on LV’s bedroom floor and the northern club stage are drawn specifically from the vinyl record collection of LV’s late father. “Everyone probably expects me to come out and do Celine Dion but it’s not the right time period,” she says.
“I don’t like confrontation,” says Christina Bianco, who shares that characteristic with the reclusive LV in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice. Here Bianco’s LV keeps her distance from Ian Kelsey’s Ray Say and Shobna Gulati’s Mari Hoff. Picture: Pamela Raith
“What I will be doing, though, is attempting Cilla Black for the first time in my life. Everybody I impersonate in the show will be of the classic musical era LV’s father loved: Judy Garland, Edith Piaf, Shirley Bassey…”.
When adding a new diva to her repertoire, how does she master the voice? “It depends on the particular vocalist but typically I immerse myself with them for a couple of days. I listen to lots of their music before I watch any video footage of them.
“I like to get the essence of their voice first. Then I study their physicality in more detail. I try to take on as many mannerisms, characteristics and facial expressions as I can. Thank goodness everyone’s liking my Cilla; everyone’s clapping; no-one’s booing! I did have the fear of God put into me about singing You’re My World just right, but I made a point of knowing that she’d been told to sing it with a mid-Atlantic accent, which I’m doing.”
Christina’s biggest challenge is playing an introvert. “It’s very funny timing for me, with my last part being Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, who’s the polar opposite of LV. Fanny couldn’t help attracting attention, whereas LV is happy to fade into the background,” she says.
“Everyone says Fanny Brice is one of the most challenging roles of all time, and I don’t disagree. You never leave the stage except to change costume; you sing 12 songs, laugh, cry, dance and do physical comedy – the list goes on!
Pyjama drama: Christina Bianco’s LV singing in her bedroom. Picture: Pamela Raith
“But I can safely say I’m more nervous about doing Little Voice because I’m not an introvert. There’s the part of me that needs the platform to perform, though [away from the stage] I can be quite shy and I don’t like to stand out, so I’ve channelled that side of me. I don’t like confrontation too, and that part of me hasn’t changed with age.
“What many people wouldn’t know about me is that I’m an only child who’s happy to be alone, and if there’s no ideal platform for me to be on stage, if someone asks me to stand in front of a microphone I’ll shrink.”
Christina fully memorised the script before entering the rehearsal room. “I wanted to be as comfortable with the text as possible, in order to be fully comfortable performing it in a Northern accent,” she reasons.
“Sure, I’m good at accents but it’s a very different thing when you’re doing an accent in the place where that accent actually comes from. I’m not doing this show in New York. I’m doing a Lancashire accent for people in the north. That’s very intimidating!”
For that reason, she did consult a voice coach. “People have this assumption that if you’re good at vocal impressions, you’ll be good at accents too, but it’s so important that you’re comfortable in the accent. It’s either right or wrong, an accent, whereas an impression is an interpretation, and that’s different.
Christina Bianco and Ian Kelsey set out from York Theatre Royal on Ian’s guided tour. Picture: Ant Robling
“I worked with a voice coach on Zoom over lockdown to get the Oldham/Manchester accent, and as Katy Lipson is from Manchester, she’d let me know if I was getting it wrong!”
Christina notes how American and British audiences differ. “I think Americans kind of watch you, leaning back, giving off an ‘entertain me’ vibe. I feel a British audience leans forward a bit more. They come into you and your world. Both are great and I’m not trying to insult my home country but I do feel British audiences are a little more appreciative.
“On the other side of that, Americans are much more likely to leap to their feet at the end of the show! Over here you can give the best performance of your life and the audience cheers like crazy but they don’t always leap to their feet.
“It’ll be interesting to see the reaction to this play. It won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy but I personally don’t see it as a traditional comedy. I see it as a true drama that happens to have a lot of comedic moments – and I know Jim and our director, Bronagh Lagan, are really looking to bring out the heart at the centre of it. How people are imperfect, make mistakes and have rises and falls – but they persevere.
“Fear of ‘starting over’ is a big theme in the show and I think we can say we’re all having to start over now in many ways. On both sides of the pond, and all over the world. It’s very timely.”
“York is one of those places, which, coming from America, you don’t believe is real,” says Christina Bianco, here standing outside York Art Gallery. Picture: Ant Robling
Summing up why Cartwright’s play has resonated with audiences through 30 years, Christina says: “First of all, I think this play is a true love letter to the UK. It celebrates so many great British artists and their music.
“But the story itself is something everybody can relate to, regardless of whether or not they know the music in the play. The idea that no matter how difficult things get, you can still persevere and rise from the ashes. And I think that’s exactly the message we need after the last two years.
“It’s a story about not being afraid to try something different and starting again. We’ve all been through something together that has changed us, just as the characters in the play do.”
Christina hopes audiences will embrace her as an American performer, taking on such an iconic British character. “I’d like to think that I’ve earned some stripes working in the UK quite a bit already, so maybe that will help,” she says. “And I’ve actually just become a resident, along with my husband and our dog Jeff Vader. We all live here now [on a three-year visa in London], so you’re stuck with me!”
Jeff Vader, Christina? “I named the dog after an Eddie Izzard joke,” she reveals of a surrealist shaggy- dog story that took in the Death Star, a cafeteria, Lego, and yes, Jeff Vader.
The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice, starring Christina Bianco, Shobna Gulati and Ian Kelsey, runs at York Theatre Royal until July 9, 7.30pm, plus 2pm, Thursday and 2.30pm, Saturday. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Shobna Gulati, Christina Bianco and Ian Kelsey in the tour poster for the Glass Half Full Productions tour of The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice
Lauren Sheriston’s Audrey, left, Mikhail Lim’s Seymour and Emily Ramsden’s Audrey II in York Stage’s Little Shop Of Horrors at York Theatre Royal
YORK Stage will mark the 40th anniversary of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s B-movie musical spoof Little Shop of Horrors with Nik Briggs’s summer production.
The July 14 to 23 run will mark the York company’s debut at York Theatre Royal in a show with musical direction by Stephen Hackshaw (Sister Act, Shrek, Rock of Ages, Ghost, 9-5 The Musical) and choreography by York pantomime favourite Danielle Mullan-Hill.
From the duo behind Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Beauty And The Beast and Aladdin, lyricist Ashman and composer Menken’s horror comedy rock musical is based on a Roger Corman thriller from the 1960s that featured a young Jack Nicholson.
From off-Broadway beginnings in 1982, it was turned into a film in 1986 starring Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Steve Martin and Bill Murray with its story of hapless Skid Row florist shop worker Seymour, who raises a plant that feeds on human blood and flesh.
Going green…and blue: Lauren Sheriston’s Audrey
Mikhail Lim will play Seymour, having performed in many York shows, latterly starring as Sweaty Eddie in Sister Actand Dennie in Rock Of Agesat the Grand Opera House.
Lauren Sheriston, who made her York debut in the same year as Mikhail, will play Audrey after multiple appearances in York Stage shows as Molly in Ghost; a Diva in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert; Sherrie in Rock Of Ages and Rizzo in Grease at the Grand Opera House. She has made TV appearances in Emmerdale and Eternal Law too.
Emily Ramsden will be voicing Audrey II, the blood-thirsty plant, in a break with the ever-expanding role usually being voiced by a man. Emily has played Dragon in Shrek The Musical and Nancy inOliver! for York Stage and has performed across the world on cruise ships and maintained a busy career as a vocalist for function bands in the UK.
Hannah Shaw will make her York Stage debut as Crystal, joined in the trio of Urchins by Lucy Churchill as Chiffon and Cyanne Unamba-Oparah as Ronette. Cyanne has just returned home from various engagements in Europe and previously played Mama Bear in York Stage’s Shrek The Musical.
Emily Ramsden’s Audrey II settles in among the plants in Little Shop Of Horrors
Darren Lumby’s York Stage debut as the Orin follows performances as Gomez in The Addams Family Musical and as the Prince in Into the Woods at the Grand Opera House. James Robert Ball returns to the stage after various contracts as a musical director to make his York Stage bow as Mr Mushnik.
York Stage favourites Jack Hooper, Katie Melia and Danny Western will make up the ensemble as well as controlling the puppetry for Audrey II.
After directing such shows as Calendar Girls The Musical, Elf, Steel Magnolias, Rock Of Ages, Ghost and Sister Act for York Stage, Nik says: “I’m so thrilled to be directing and producing Little Shop Of Horrors at the fabulous York Theatre Royal.
“It’s the first time York Stage has brought a show to this beautiful theatre and we can’t wait to share what we’ve been creating with our audiences. We have a tremendously talented cast who have been creating stunning work; I’m really excited to be bringing another brilliant show to the city for all to enjoy.
“We have a tremendously talented cast who have been creating stunning work,” says York Stage director and producer Nik Briggs
“Exploring this piece in the rehearsal room with the creative team and cast has been a thrilling task. Being 40 years old, the world in which we present the show has changed drastically to the one in which it was originally created, so we’ve been making sure we create a bold new production that honours the original while keeping it fresh for a new audience. It’s been a lot of fun! We aim to give audiences a night to remember.”
Joining Briggs, Hackshaw and Mullan-Hill in the production team are lighting designer Adam Moore, sound designer Joel Suter and hair & make-up specialist Phoebe Kilvington.
Performance times will be 7.30pm on July 14, 16 and 18 to 23; 2.30pm, July 16 and 23; 4pm and 8pm, July 15. Tickets cost £15 upwards on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Cyanne Unamba-Oparah as Ronette, one of the Urchins in Little Shop Of Horrors
York Light Opera Company’s performers and production team for A Night With The Light
FROM open-air films to the Proms, Early Music festival connections to Nordic sunshine, Charles Hutchinson’s summer season is in full bloom.
York Light Opera Company in A Night With The Light, Friargate Theatre, Friargate, York, today at 2.30pm and 7.30pm
UNDER the direction of Jonny Holbek and musical direction of Martin Lay, York Light presents a feel-good programme of powerful, funny, emotive and irreverent numbers from favourite musicals and new ones too.
Look forward to songs from Hamilton, Waitress, Wicked, Chicago, Chess, Avenue Q, The Phantom Of The Opera, Les Misérables, The Sound Of Music and plenty more. “Come join us as we have Magic To Do!” say Jonny and Martin. Box office: 01904 655317 or ridinglights.org/a-night-with-the-light/.
West Side Story: One of the films to be shown at Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema in York Museum Gardens
Films under the stars: Picturehouse Outdoor Cinema, York Museum Gardens, York, tonight and tomorrow; August 5 to 7, 7.30pm
PICTUREHOUSE, owners of City Screen, York, present two weekends of open-air cinema with a summer vibe.
Tonight’s Grease (Sing-A-Long) (PG) will be followed by tomorrow’s 70th anniversary celebration of Singin’ In The Rain (U).
Next month’s trio of films opens with a 40th anniversary screening of Blade Runner (15) on August 5; next comes Steven Spielberg’s 2021 re-make of West Side Story (12A) on August 6; last up, Disney’s Encanto (Sing-A-Long) (U) on August 7. Box office: picturehouses.com/outdoor-cinema/venue/york-museum-gardens.
Off to the coast: a-ha head for Scarborough Open Air Theatre tomorrow
The sun always shines on…a-ha, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, tomorrow, gates, 6pm
NORWEGIAN synth-pop trio a-ha head to the Yorkshire coast on their 2022 World Tour of Europe, the United States and South America, 40 years since forming in Oslo.
Vocalist Morten Harket, guitarist Pal Waaktaar-Savoy and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen will be releasing a new album in October, True North, their first collection of new songs since 2015’s I, recorded in two days 25km inside the Arctic Circle.
Will they preview new songs alongside the familiar Take On Me, The Sun Always Shines On TV, Hunting High And Low and Stay On These Roads? Find out on Sunday. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Christina Bianco’s LV and Ian Kelsey’s Ray Say in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice at York Theatre Royal
Play of the week: Glass Half Full Productions in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice, Monday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2pm, Thursday; 2.30pm, Saturday
YORK actor Ian Kelsey returns to his home city to play viperous talent-spotting agent Ray Say in his Theatre Royal debut in a new tour of Jim Cartwright’s bittersweet comedy-drama, directed by Bronagh Lagan.
Coronation Street star Shobna Gulati plays louche, greedy, loud mother Mari Hoff and American actress and YouTube sensation Christina Bianco, her daughter LV, the recluse with the hidden singing talent for impersonating Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey et al. Can Ray draw her out of her shell and with what consequences? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Sixteen: Returning to York Minster for York Early Music Festival2022
Festival of the week: York Early Music Festival 2022, July 8 to 16
YORK Early Music Festival returns to a full-scale live programme for the first time since 2019 under the theme of connections.
“Concerts are linked together through a maze of interconnecting composers,” says festival administrative director Delma Tomlin. “We’re delighted to be able to shine a light on the many connections that hold us together in the past and into the future.”
At the heart of the 2022 festival will be three 7.30pm concerts in York Minster by The Sixteen (July 9, the Nave); The Tallis Scholars (July 11, Chapter House) and the Gabrieli Consort & Players (July 13, the Nave). For the full programme and tickets, head to: ncem.co.uk.
Skylights: Playing their biggest gig yet at Leeds O2 Academy
York gig of the week in Leeds: Skylights, Leeds O2 Academy, July 9, doors, 7pm
YORK indie-rockers Skylights play “the biggest gig of our lives” next weekend up the road in Leeds, where previously they have sold out Leeds University and The Wardrobe and performed at Leeds United’s centenary celebrations in Millennium Square in October 2019.
Four Acomb lads in the 30s, singer Rob Scarisbrick, guitarist Turnbull Smith, drummer Myles Soley and bassist Jonny Scarisbrick, will perform to 2,300 fans in celebration of their debut album, What You Are, reaching number 34 in the charts in May. Box office: academymusicgroup.com.
Natasha Agarwal: Soprano soloist at York Proms
Picnic party of the week: York Proms, York Museum Gardens, York, July 10, gates, 4pm
MUSICAL director Ben Crick conducts the 22-piece Yorkshire Festival Orchestra in next weekend’s performance of classical and film pieces, a special Platinum Jubilee section in the second half and a rousing Proms finale.
Soloists will be soprano and dancer Natasha Agarwal, who performed in Opera North’s Carmen, and bass-baritone John Anthony Cunningham, who has chalked up principal roles with English National Opera, Opera North and the Royal Opera House.
York Proms founder Rebecca Newman’s special appearance includes a tribute to her husband and co-founder, Jonathan Fewtrell, who died suddenly in 2020. The Fireworkers provide a firework finishing flourish. Box office: 01904 555670 or yorkproms.com/tickets.
Calling Planet Earth: Elegy to the Eighties at York Barbican
New Romantic nostalgia in the air: Calling Planet Earth, York Barbican, January 21 2023, 8pm
THIS New Romantic Symphony takes a journey through the electrifying Eighties’ songs of Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, The Human League, Ultravox, Tears For Fears, Depeche Mode, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Japan, ABC and Soft Cell.
Calling Planet Earth combines a live band with symphonic arrangements and vocals in a show designed to “simply define a decade”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk or ticketmaster.co.uk.
