Stan Graham's Leisure Guide for North and West Yorkshire
This is not a play about a handler of stolen goods, although it is set in Pittsburgh, whose NFL team is called the Steelers – stealers – never mind. No, this is a very powerful work highlighting the plight of an African American family in 1957 who are at the crossroads between old school upbringing…
Read More
The subtitle of this piece is The Johnny Cash Musical, and, as such would have been great, covering the life and times of one of America’s most iconic and colourful – even though he always wore black – country music characters. As the main title suggests, however, the show concentrated on his relationship with his…
Read More
After the plethora of American musicals which have recently graced the stage of the wonderful Grand Theatre, it was a refreshing change to witness a home-grown production. Not only was the show quintessentially British, but the story was of the nation’s ingenuity in a time of crisis i.e. the Second World War. That being the…
Read More
I saw this musical about five years ago and remember being very impressed, although, for the life of me, I couldn’t recall why, so put it down to age. I seem to be putting a lot of things down to age nowadays, including wine, so it could possibly have been that. As soon as it…
Read More
As well as writing the stuff on here I do a monthly preview for Welcome to Leeds. In my August article I mused on this musical and wondered why some of the songs in the press release didn’t tally with the ones in the film. They were all written by Cole Porter but some of…
Read More
What a great way to bring the inaugural Yorkshire Fringe to a close. I have always thought of Slung Low Shorts as a sort of mini fringe in itself, being a showcase for independent playwrights, actors and other creatives, to show their work to a live audience. The format is that there are six presentations,…
Read More
Well, LeedsBID have only gone and done it again! After turning the city centre into a giant MONOPOLY game in 2024 and then Wonderland in 2025, 2026 sees them tackle Trivial Pursuit. The aim is the same, in that people are challenged with visiting various landmarks in order to answer a question and fill in…
Read More
Kiele Sacco, or Ki as she is known to her friends, and me, is an American harpsichordist based at Morley College, London, specialising in historical performance and early music. The concert began at 1.00pm which I suppose is pretty early really. The programme, being works from Renaissance England to refined French Baroque was perfectly suited…
Read More
This is my second Yorkshire Fringe event and one which I hadn’t planned on seeing, until a friend of mine said that she had been speaking to a mate at New Headingley Club, who thought I might like to go along to review it. The reason I didn’t put it on my ‘must see’ list…
Read More
This was my first taste of a Yorkshire Fringe event, and what a great way to start. The venue was small and intimate, which was perfectly suited to the theme of the work; the relationship between a man and a woman, played out in their home. At times it felt that we were being quite…
Read More
