Stan Graham's Leisure Guide for North and West Yorkshire
It’s been a while since my last visit to the gorgeous Howard Assembly Room when I saw an amazing act from Mali. Tonight we moved across Africa to Zimbabwe, the home of Mokoomba, a six-piece band which plays everything from rock to a cappella. I also think that we could solve the energy crisis by…
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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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Of all the artists I have witnessed live, I think that Roy Orbison is the one I have seen the most often. In the 1960s he would regularly appear at Leeds Odeon where they had occasional pop concerts comprising about half a dozen groups of the day, who would perform their hits for about fifteen…
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What a surprise, well, two surprises really. I was sitting at home on Thursday, minding my own business, for once, when I received a mystery email from Sherin Sara Alex at South Asian Arts asking if I would like to join them for a concert at Seven Arts in Chapel Allerton the following evening. After…
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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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Back in the 1990s it was not uncommon for a group of colleagues to pop into Jacob’s Well – yes, I did work in Bradford – for a relaxing pint or two of proper beer after a hard day drinking tea. One evening there were some people in a corner who were obviously in the…
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I think that I will need to reassess my attitude regarding stage musicals adapted from films. Having seen a couple over the past two weeks without witnessing the cinema versions I didn’t realise that the plot purposely comes a distant second in importance to the music. The musicals I have watched at the Grand which…
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In 1937 – even before my time – the American singer, Sophie Tucker, made a record called Life Begins At Forty. When it comes to Sunita’s big four-O, however, it isn’t just her for whom life kicks-off. Sunita, played by Bhawna Bhawsar, is celebrating her fortieth birthday, well, actually she is trying not to celebrate…
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2023 will probably go down in the annals of the wonderful Grand Theatre as the year of the adapted screen musicals. We have already had Sister Act and Dirty Dancing with The Commitments and Strictly Ballroom still to come. So far the ones I have seen remained true to the original but The Bodyguard seems…
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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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Tyke It To The Limit 