Stan Graham's Leisure Guide for North and West Yorkshire
After an extremely quiet January, the new month has started with an absolute treat. Three hours of Wagner, sung in German with English translation on display screens, might not sound like a way to tempt you away from your fireside on a cold Saturday evening, but, believe me, it was worth it. The evening began…
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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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After the pantomimes, Christmas shows, brass bands and the odd festive drink or several, a night of traditional music and stories was just the most amazing way to end my year’s reviews and look forward to the big day. The star of the show was Eliza Carthy MBE, who is bona fide folk royalty, her…
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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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There is something about brass bands at Christmas which just seems right. Whether it is because it is the time when the Salvation Army regale shoppers with their renditions of carols, I don’t know, but it certainly adds a festive cherry to the fruit cake. Now where’s the Wensleydale? Naturally, the programme comprised a selection…
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The Festive Season has got off to a great start this year. After two wonderful pantomimes and a stunning Christmas show, here I am at the fabulous Howard Assembly Room for an evening of song from Madeline Bell and Ian Shaw. The pair have been performing together for many years off and on but obviously…
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If last week’s trip to the pantomime took me back to my first childhood, this one certainly appeals to my second. The jokes were far more risqué, with lots of double entendres but even more single entendres! The age guidance is 4+ although there is advice for those who are bringing younger tots, due to…
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I was looking forward to seeing this show, which I last saw in 2022, and wondered what someone else would do to it. As it happens it was basically the same production but with a few small changes. What hadn’t changed, however, was that the story is told in flashbacks, the opening scene depicting the…
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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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After last week’s visit to Howard Assembly Room to see a South African cellist who had the audience up on their feet and rocking, this concert could not have been more different. That is the attraction of this venue, apart from the staff and the building itself. Arve Henriksen is a Norwegian trumpeter and tech…
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Tyke It To The Limit 