Leeds Archives - North West End UK

Reception: The Wedding Present Musical – Slung Low Warehouse, Leeds

27Aug

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Reception: The Wedding Present Musical – Slung Low Warehouse, Leeds

If we could travel back to 1985 and tell David Gedge -the inspirational lead singer and songwriter of indie musical darlings The Wedding Present - that forty years later his songs would be used in a musical theatre production, he would have laughed in your face and maybe kicked you in the balls for good measure. Back then the worlds of musical theatre and guitar-based indie rock were so far apart musically as to be on different planets. Gedge freely admits to not even knowing whether he even liked the format when initially approached by Writer/Director Matt Aston. Thankfully his trademark curiosity won out and he engaged with the project, resulting in the World Premiere of ‘Reception - The Wedding Present musical’ at Slung Low Warehouse in the suitably gritty streets of Holbeck, Leeds, the...

Northern Ballet take Tortoise & The Hare on tour

Northern Ballet are taking their children’s ballet Tortoise & The Hare on the road kicking off at The Linbury theatre in London’s Royal Opera House from 27th – 29th January before embarking on an extensive UK tour. Tortoise & the Hare is a child friendly re-imagining of Aesop’s much-loved fable of a Tortoise who tired of being teased for his slowness challenges a speedy Hare to a race with unexpected results. Choreographed by former Northern Ballet dancers Dreda Blow and Sebastian Loe, Tortoise & the Hare premiered in 2015 and was the second children’s ballet by the pair. The production includes an original score composed by Bruno Merz, colourful set designs by Ali Allen and live music performed by members of the Northern Ballet Sinfonia. It’s a short ballet running ...

Made in Dagenham – Riley Smith Theatre, Leeds

A successful west end musical can have the most unlikely source material. Who would have thought that the story of 19th Century French politics (Les Misérables) or a book of T.S. Eliot poems (Cats) would be in the top ten list of most successful shows ever? Given this, it is less than surprising that a musical based on the seemingly dry subject of equal pay in a car factory in grey, late 1960's industrial Britain, became a surprise hit back in 2014. Now LUU Music Theatre Society brings their considerable talent and energy to this revival at Leeds University for the next four nights. The story follows Rita O'Grady (Ellen Corbett) and her rise from a modest sewing machine operator at the Ford factory in Dagenham, to spokeswoman for her gender, striking when asked to do the equivalent job ...