Stan Graham's Leisure Guide for North and West Yorkshire
I have immense admiration for people who have a vision and the commitment to follow it through to fruition. Such is the case of Andrew McNicol, who wanted to shake up the UK ballet scene by ‘incorporating diverse artistic perspectives and global innovations, promoting Ballet’s enduring vitality, power and relevance.’ I have no doubt that…
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Jane Eyre was not a novel on the reading list of a slum kid from East Leeds in the 1950s even though it was written by a Yorkshirewoman about an orphan girl who grew up in hardship. My first encounter with Ms Eyre was a television adaptation in 1963 on a small black and white…
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I admit to having approached this evening with more than a little apprehension. I have seen productions by Phoenix Dance Theatre in the past, but they were either short works or composites. Inside Giovanni’s Room, however, was a full length adaptation of the 1956 cult classic novel, Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin, so, the question…
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Now here’s a trip down Memory Lane. I was taken by my mum and dad to see the film when it first came out and all I can remember was being bored! I have just looked it up and the release date is 1954, but it would have been a bit later than that by…
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What a way to return from a lengthy break. After the dearth of new shows since Christmas I was looking forward to getting back in the saddle and this production, which appeared to be more like a musical than a full-blown opera, seemed just the thing. It was written in 1948 by Kurt Weill and…
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What the Dickens would Christmas be without A Christmas Carol in some form or another. This year we were treated to a wonderful performance of the classic by Northern Ballet, Directed and Devised by Christopher Gable CBE and Choreographed by Massimo Moricone to Music by Carl Davis. A formidable trio indeed. For those of you…
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I don’t use a star system to grade the things I review. My reasoning for this is that the top rating would mean, should something come along which was palpably better than those to which I had allocated five stars, I could not do it justice. In 1999 the Jumeirah Burj Al Arab was so…
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Before I write this review I must admit to not being a big fan of Gilbert and Sullivan. I was introduced to their work at school via The Pirates of Penzance and, even in my early teens, I thought that the humour was very childish. I realise that it was supposed to be satirical, but…
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Had someone told me, even three years ago, that I would get hooked on ballet I would have been a bit sceptical as, although the music is usually really good, I don’t speak the language of dance. If they had laboured their point and included modern ballet I would have been even more doubtful. Now,…
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Here we have a preview covering the end of the year with not a mention of Christmas, so, should you want to escape the tinsel and fairy lights and experience something completely different, check out these events. Saturday, 28th September sees Memories As Harmonies at Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton, Leeds, a double bill of music…
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Tyke It To The Limit 