Stan Graham's Leisure Guide for North and West Yorkshire
I have said it before and I’ll say it again, a lot of opera is bonkers. Pass The Spoon is an exception, in that it is not sensible enough to be bonkers. I can’t remember having seen any performance as childishly unfunny as this in my life, in fact I have been to two Christmas…
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When I saw that Opera North was presenting a piece in conjunction with Shadwell Opera, I assumed that the North Leeds Suburb of that name had an amateur operatic society, news of which had failed to reach me. In fact, the company is from the East London Shadwell and is a professional outfit. I have…
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After the success of last year’s The Big Opera Adventure, comes The Big Opera Mystery. Once again all the stops had been pulled out and we (me and the other kids) were treated to an hour of crime busting, to detect who the villain was in a spate of thefts. It was obvious from the…
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Now, here’s another first – and second. This is the first time I have ever been to an event and my notebook remained unused, the main reason was because it was the second time I have seen this production of La bohème and I thought that I would sit and watch it in the same…
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I say, I say, I say. What’s the difference between an opera and an oratorio? I don’t know; what is the difference between an opera and an oratorio? A boat load of money! Back in the early 1700s when Handel was nobbut a lad, operas were the telling of stories through music with extravagant settings…
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I do love a good launch presentation, and I have been to a few just lately, what with the Transform and African Arts Festivals, I have met some really interesting people and got the inside track on what was to come. The downside is that the interesting people had to put up with me, but,…
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I am beginning to think that the creatives behind the various arts organisations in Leeds know something I don’t. This is the fourth production I have been to in the last three months which highlights their youth sections. Have they got access to information suggesting that they had better invite me to see the actors…
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To mark Bradford’s tenure as UK City of Culture, Opera North decided to spread the love and stage the first two performances of the 2025 Tour of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra at St Georges Hall, handily situated across the road from the Interchange. I say ‘staged’ advisedly, as that is the term used to describe the…
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Well, that’s that then. I have completed the Grand Slam of The Magic Flute. I have seen the September 2024 production, the February 2025 one, which was the same but with a few cast changes, the free, 40-minute pop-up version performed in Holbeck Working Men’s Club in June, 2021, The 30-minute rendering in County Arcade,…
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Now here’s something I have never done before – seen the same production twice. For those of you who are paying attention, you will notice that I have copied my original review and posted it next to this. I thought it would save you scrolling to last September, when The Magic Flute began its run.…
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Tyke It To The Limit 