Stan Graham's Leisure Guide for North and West Yorkshire
Now that we are getting a spell of good weather it is obviously time to look forward to dark nights and cold days. I must say that I think autumn is my favourite time of year, when days are days and nights are nights, but most of all the theatres are in full swing with…
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For one week only, New Briggate turns into The Great White Way as the glamour of Broadway comes to Leeds. Actually, because of the fabulous upgrades of Howard Assembly Room and Kino Restaurant, this block which is completed by the beautiful Grand Theatre far outshines anything New York has to offer in its Theatre District.…
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Well, it seems that my rethink on stage musicals adapted from the film versions has paid off, in that I now ‘get’ the formula; dumb down on the story and concentrate on the music. The problem here is that there are no blockbuster songs, except for Love Is In The Air, which doesn’t surface until…
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Never have I been to a piece of theatre where the storyline has been so irrelevant. I will provide a synopsis later, but the whole production revolved around the uber hunk which is Michael O’Reilly, who played Johnny Castle. You could have cut the pheromones with a knife. The largely female audience had come to…
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What a fabulous evening at Leeds Grand Theatre for this production of Mozart’s Requiem and After Tears: After A Requiem by Neo Muyanga. It wasn’t opera in its usual sense, more a concert piece by Opera North combined with the Phoenix Dance Theatre, Jazzart Dance Theatre and Cape Town Opera. You would have thought that…
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On Friday 27th January Phoenix Dance Theatre held a presentation to celebrate the first 40 years of the company. Being good Yorkshire folk they opted to get value for money by highlighting two brilliant announcements at once. Although the company was set up in 1981, the 40th Anniversary Tour began in November 2021 and so…
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Three Prime Ministers, two Monarchs, strikes and a pending nuclear war. What do we want to end the year – PANTO! Oh yes we really do! If ever we needed to forget everything and revert to childhood for a couple of hours then the time is now. Simon Nock and his cohorts were back to…
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It is so hard to write a review for a show with a name like this without including a load of piscine related puns, but I will try my best. No I won’t. This is nothing more nor less than a feel-good show comprised almost entirely of sea shanties, both traditional and new, with the…
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You know that things are hotting up, or, at this time of year, cooling down, when Leeds favourite outdoor entertainment venue opens for another season. From 10th November to 31st December Chow Down is returning bigger and better than ever. The new layout is not even half of the story, it is the food, drink…
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Well, who would have thought it, another new experience just days short of my 73rd birthday – my first ballet. I have watched them on television but, as with any art form which is not specifically made for that medium, the live experience is something else. I am fortunate that Northern Ballet’s winter programme has…
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Tyke It To The Limit 