Leeds Grand Archives - North West End UK

4Dec

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Miss Saigon – Leeds Grand

When I was a student in London I saw all the big musicals, but for some reason I missed Miss Saigon which was smashing box office records at the time. Thankfully legendary impresario Cameron Mackintosh and Michael Harrison have joined forces to bring this sung through musical about the Vietnam war back on the road, exactly 50 years after that bloody conflict ended. Given the perilous state of the world reviving a musical based on Puccini’s Madame Butterfly about the cost of war is really timely. Like most musicals the narrative is driven by a love story, but the tale of GI Chris falling in love with a seventeen-year-old bargirl Kim being exploited by an odious pimp The Engineer in war torn Saigon is far, far gritter than most musicals. Years later Chris finds out his lost love has ha...

Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) – Leeds Grand Theatre

28May

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) – Leeds Grand Theatre

I have to confess I’ve always found Regency novels like Pride & Prejudice excruciatingly boring but this tongue in cheek romp through Jane Austen’s masterpiece is the exact opposite. The vague premise of the show is that we see the antics of the Bennet family, and assorted posh folk in Meryton, from the perspective of the servants. Isobel McArthur who loosely adapted the novel uses that device to allow five incredibly hardworking and funny women the chance to play all the characters as they hurtle on and off stage. This show is in the best traditions of British farce, which probably has some Austen superfans clutching their pearls in disgust, especially as our Bennet girls are a bit potty mouthed. However, if you’re not a tiresome snob then it’s a chance to enjoy a ribald trip th...

15May

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Boys From the Blackstuff – Leeds Grand

‘Gizza a job. Go on, gizza job. I can do that.’ That desolate plea for help from a broken Yosser Hughes helped make Boys From the Blackstuff one of a series of epochal TV series that marked out the newly created Channel 4 as the nation’s social conscience as our industrial heartlands were decimated by Thatcherism. Scouser Alan Bleasdale used all five episodes of his 1982 BAFTA winning masterpiece to follow a bunch of unemployed former asphalt layers - gentle Chrissie, young buck Loggo, wise George, sensible Dixie and Yosser who is prone to headbutting people – who are desperately trying to keep their heads above water working on building sites while claiming the dole as Liverpool’s industries die around them. Bleasdale used these desperate and often broken men as a metaphor for the m...

Cruel Intentions The ‘90s Musical – Leeds Grand

8May

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Cruel Intentions The ‘90s Musical – Leeds Grand

Christopher Hampton’s gloriously camp screenplay for Dangerous Liaisons featuring two bored French aristocrats playing twisted sexual games proved to be far too tempting for Hollywood studio bosses. They repacked it as nineties hit Cruel Intentions but this time featuring New York high school kids set to a banging soundtrack of hits from that decade. As every movie ever seems to be getting the musical treatment these days it was only a matter of time before it hit the stage, and although shortened versions of those nineties bangers do punctuate the action it’s not a classic jukebox musical in the obvious ways that Mamma Mia! or We Will Rock You are. That’s because it’s based on Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ classic novel Les Liaisons dangereuses, so the plot isn’t badly written drivel, an...

Les Misérables: Let the People Sing – Leeds Grand

4Apr

By Adam CraddockNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Les Misérables: Let the People Sing – Leeds Grand

It was an absolute pleasure to be invited along to review “Let the people sing!”, The UK amateur premiere of Les Misérables at Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House. Presented by Leeds AOS, in collaboration with Buttershaw St Paul’s AODS, Leeds Insurance Dramatic Operatic Society and Wakefield West Riding Theatre Company, this production is a true community project, showcasing the very best talent that West Yorkshire has to offer. Directed by Louise Denison and Musical Direction by Jim Lunt, this production seemed more like a full professional production in terms of scale and budget than an amateur show. “Let the people sing” features two fully independent principal cast, the “red” team and “blue” team. I was lucky enough to watch the red team. Robert Durkin starred as Jean Valjean, the h...

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Leeds Grand

28Mar

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Leeds Grand

As a critic if you keep going long enough then yet another touring production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will come along. It would be easy to be snooty about Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s debut collaboration, but this family friendly musical is still a lot of fun - if a little dated - and critically has some great tunes. Unlike some of Lloyd Webber’s later bombastic scores this is more pop rock, that was of its time like other seventies hits Godspell or Hair, with the added spice of Rice’s always witty words. It's a short for a musical reworking of Joseph’s story in the Bible where he is sold into slavery by his 11 jealous brothers, before hooking up with the Egyptian Pharaoh to work out what the ruler's dreams meant thus saving his nation from disaster. ...

X Factor winner Joe McElderry stars in new version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Leeds Grand

19Mar

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

X Factor winner Joe McElderry stars in new version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Leeds Grand

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat returns to Leeds Grand Theatre after a sell-out run in 2023 and X Factor winner Joe McElderry will be playing Pharaoh. McElderry played the title role from 2017-18 in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s first major collaboration, and since then has been a regular on the stage as the lead in The Who’s rock opera Tommy and Club Tropicana: The Musical. “I have such a long history with the show and to re-join in a different role, this time playing Pharaoh, will be so exciting," says Joe McElderry. “I can’t wait to perform to amazing audiences in Leeds in a show so close to my heart.” Joe McElderry (Pharaoh) and Adam Filipe (Joseph) in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat @ Sunderland Empire. (Opening 14-01-25) ©Tristram Kenton ...

Whip-crack-away as Calamity Jane rides into Leeds Grand

2Mar

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

Whip-crack-away as Calamity Jane rides into Leeds Grand

The revival of The Watermill Theatre’s Calamity Jane starring Carrie Hope Fletcher comes to Leeds Grand Theatre before a West End run. It’s based on the beloved Doris Day movie, andthis foot-stomping new production features all the sure-fire classic songs including The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away), The Black Hills of Dakota, Just Blew in from the Windy City, and the Oscar-winning Secret Love. The fearless, gun slingin' Calamity Jane is biggest mouth in Dakota territory and always up for a fight. She'll charm you hog-eyed though, especially when trying to win the heart of the dashing Lieutenant Gilmartin or shooting insults at the notorious Wild Bill Hickok. But when the men of Deadwood fall hard for Chicago stage star Adelaid Adams the touch rebel struggles to keep her jea...

Only Fools and Horses: The Hit Musical – Leeds Grand

26Feb

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Only Fools and Horses: The Hit Musical – Leeds Grand

Once upon a time before catch up TV millions of people used to sit around in their millions on Christmas Day to watch hit shows with Only Fools and Horses being an annual festive ratings buster. So, it was obvious it would become a stage show, but what was more surprising that the antics of dodgy Peckham street trader Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter and his gormless bruv Rodney would end up as the sort of musical Cockney knees up you might have dahn the boozer. Thankfully the producers have gone for early Fools and Horses before the show really jumped the shark when the Trotters actually became millionaires, so Granddad is their sidekick rather than that unfunny buffoon Uncle Albert. The TV series was created by legendary comedy writer John Sullivan, and his son Jim, working with comedy grea...

It’s all Cushty as Only Fools and Horses: The Musical comes to Leeds Grand

16Feb

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

It’s all Cushty as Only Fools and Horses: The Musical comes to Leeds Grand

For fans of classic British comedy it’s all cushty as Paul Whitehouse reprises his West End starring role as lovable Grandad in the UK and Ireland tour of the smash-hit show Only Fools and Horses: The Musical. Joining The Fast Show legend at the Grand are Wicked star Sam Lupton as Cockney chancer Del Boy and Tom Major making his professional theatre debut as his daft brother Rodney. It’s all kicking off in 1989 Peckham as the yuppie invasion of London is in full swing, but love is in the air as Del Boy sets out on the rocky road to find his soul mate. Meanwhile Rodney and Cassandra prepare to say ‘I do, and even Trigger is gearing up for a date. Boycie and Marlene give parenthood one final shot as Grandad takes stock of his life, and decides the time has finally arrived to get his pi...