Leeds Grand Theatre Archives - Page 3 of 4

Dalton Wood talks about being a Jersey Boy as the hit musical comes to Leeds Grand Theatre

15Jul

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Interviews

Dalton Wood talks about being a Jersey Boy as the hit musical comes to Leeds Grand Theatre

If you love pop music then you will have a favourite Four Seasons songs and Jersey Boys is the musical based on their troubled journey from rags to riches. The quartet famed for their close harmonies fought their way out of humble blue collar roots in Newark to record a set of beautifully arranged smash hits like Sherry, Rag Doll, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Walk Like A Man and December ’63 (Oh What a Night). For a musical it’s a natural tale of triumphing against the odds with the added bonus of lead singer Frankie Valli’s utterly distinctive falsetto vocal style. So, it’s no wonder Jersey Boys was a big hit on Broadway, and is still running in the West End, as fans new and old appreciate the great songs penned by Valli and musical prodigy Bob Gaudio. It’s also become a regular on the t...

Joseph star Jac Yarrow talks about the enduring power of the biblical epic as the tour comes to Leeds Grand Theatre

4Jul

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Interviews

Joseph star Jac Yarrow talks about the enduring power of the biblical epic as the tour comes to Leeds Grand Theatre

It’s fifty years since Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice basically invented the rock opera with their biblical epic Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Since then, this enduring family friendly show has been almost constantly on the road entertaining generations of fans who love Joseph’s journey back to his family and redemption. It’s a show full of classic Lloyd Webber/Rice tunes like Any Dream Will Do and Close Every Door, and over the years Joseph has been played by Philip Schofield, Donny Osmond, Andy Gibb, Stephen Gately, Darren Day and famously Jason Donovan, who is taking on the role of Pharoah in the latest touring production. The latest UK tour comes straight from the London Palladium where the show was revived and reinvented to critical acclaim. That London P...

24Jun

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Dreamgirls – Leeds Grand Theatre

The tough world of showbiz has always been fertile ground for musical theatre and Dreamgirls puts the spotlight on the ruthless music industry. It’s a story as long as recorded music has been around when three young black women form a vocal harmony group performing in 1960s Detroit, and thanks to a ruthless manager find success before their friendship implodes as the money rolls in. If that sounds familiar it might be based on a certain girl group who reigned supreme in the 60s as the sound of young America. Effie White has the biggest voice and attitude in The Dreams, but shy bandmate Deena has the right image that hard charging former mechanic turned manager Curtis Taylor Jr sees has the biggest potential to cross over from soul to pop. He forces the vulnerable Effie out as t...

11May

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Chicago – Leeds Grand Theatre

I’ve seen umpteen versions of this show, including one on Broadway that made a star of Ruthie Henshall, but the visceral energy and precise steps of All That Jazz may still be for me the greatest opening number of them all. And if ever there was a show ahead of its time, then it’s this one about two morally bankrupt murderesses Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart - aided by dodgy attorney Billy Flynn - who merrily manipulate the media in prohibition murder capital Chicago creating their own web of (mis)truths to escape the noose. It seems that Kander and Ebb were not only a pair of geniuses, they were also soothsayers predicting in this wry and often arch show the age of fake news, and people famous for being nothing other than being morons on vacuous channels like Tik Tok or Instagram. It...

5Apr

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

School of Rock – Leeds Grand Theatre

There can always be the danger when a classic movie turns into a stage show that you just can’t get the original star out of your mind. Well, don’t worry as there wasn’t a moment you thought of Jack Black as gifted physical comic Jake Sharp’s big voice and easy charm was perfect for broke wannabe rock god Dewey Finn who pretends to be a substitute teacher in a posh elementary school. In the absence of any teaching ability - or qualification – he focuses on his undying belief in the redemptive powers of rock and roll to form a group to take part in an adult battle of the bands. The gag is that the band is his class of privileged kids who are having their very souls sucked out of them. Step forward the kids in the band who proved to be quite the most talented group of young performe...

Bedknobs and Broomsticks – Leeds Grand Theatre

17Dec

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Bedknobs and Broomsticks – Leeds Grand Theatre

Every year people gather round their TVs after stuffing their faces to watch the festive classics, and eternally popular among them is Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks offering a quirky mix of live action and animation starring theatre legend Angela Lansbury as yuletide fun for all the family. It’s the story of the grieving Rawlins orphans - Charlie, Paul and Carrie - who are evacuated from bombed out London to a village where they are taken under the wing of local eccentric and trainee witch Eglantine Price. They join Eglantine and dodgy magician Emelius Browne on a series of magical adventures before taking on a dark threat to the village. It is such a familiar fixture on our idiot boxes that it seems natural that the catchy Sherman Brothers tunes would eventually make its way to ...

1Dec

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Grease – Leeds Grand Theatre

It’s great that this production carries on the classic movie’s proud tradition of having twentysomethings playing teenagers about to leave Rydell High School for the real world. It’s a bit odd the thick American accents the relatively inexperienced cast deploy seem to be from Brooklyn rather than the tough working-class area of Chicago the original theatre production was set in. The voice coach should have dialled it down a bit which would have helped with the sometimes wayward diction. It’s probably fair to say most of the audience were looking for a scene by scene recreation of the beloved movie, and to that extent they do get well staged versions of all songs they had grown up loving. But the producers claim to have retained the darker elements of the rawer early 1970s scrip...

Peter Andre talks about being Teen Angel at Leeds Grand Theatre

31Oct

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Interviews

Peter Andre talks about being Teen Angel at Leeds Grand Theatre

Once upon a time amiable Aussie Peter Andre was best known for his rippling six pack and being married to a controversial model. Since then, high profile appearances on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! And Strictly Come Dancing showed Peter to be a genuinely nice guy winning him many new fans. Peter is now turning his hand to musical theatre and is back on the road in Grease, which is back at Leeds Grand Theatre from Monday 29th November. You played Teen Angel on the 2019 Grease tour and now you’re also doing double duty as Vince Fontaine. What are the logistics of playing dual roles? I may even be doing a third role, namely a police officer, depending on whether or not I can get changed on time. The more characters the better for me. Each one of them has a different accent, so...

Layton Williams comes back north in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at Leeds Grand

29Sep

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Interviews

Layton Williams comes back north in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at Leeds Grand

Bury lad Layton Williams kicked off his stage career travelling down the M62 to join the Billy Elliott training academy in Leeds before graduating aged 12 to take on the lead role in the West End. He went onto play young Michael Jackson in Thriller – Live and as an adult won critical acclaim playing Angel in the 20th anniversary tour of Rent. Now he’s back up north at Leeds Grand Theatre playing Jamie New in uplifting musical Everyone’s Talking About Jamie which has just been made into an Amazon Prime movie. For people who are new to Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, how would you sum up the storyline? Jamie is based on a real character who was the subject of a documentary on BBC Three. I remember watching it years ago and it was about him wanting to be a drag queen and wanting ...

7Sep

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Looking Good Dead – Leeds Grand Theatre

When crime authors like Ian Rankin and Val McDermid sell squillions of books it seems odd producers insist on sending out creaky old stage versions of novels written in the middle of the last century. So, thank God for Peter James who is another of those crime superstars - selling 21 million books of his Roy Grace novels worldwide - who has worked out there is an appetite for stage versions featuring the troubled south coast detective. This time Grace is investigating a couple of bizarre murders that seem to be linked to the suburban Bryce family. It all starts when Father Tom brings home a memory stick he says he found on a train, which proves to contain something gruesome that puts his wife Kellie and teenage son Max in danger, and it’s up to Grace to solve it. James acts as pr...