Stan Graham's Leisure Guide for North and West Yorkshire
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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Sadly, I missed last year’s inaugural mega animation using Queen’s Hotel in City Square as a screen, so was excited to be at the launch of the 2024 version. The weather was drizzly but good enough for the gathered crowd to enjoy the spectacle in reasonable comfort, especially the people ambling round the Christmas market…
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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 have rewritten this piece several times as I want to do it justice, but the more I analysed it the more confused I became about its aim. The strap line on the programme is ‘Who do you care about and why?’ A bit of a profound question to be examined in just over an…
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We can start celebrating Christmas now that Leeds Playhouse has opened its Festive Season offering. Over the years these shows have become the yardstick against which others are measured. Last year’s production of Oliver! which I sadly had to miss as I was in hospital, and was sold out by the time I recovered, won…
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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 