Cast: Brian Conley, Linzi Hateley, Kimberly Blake, Landi Oshinowo, Mikey Jay-Heath, John Stacey, Georgie Ashford, Greg Bernstein, David Birch, Courtney-Mae-Briggs, Nick Butcher, Lucy Thatcher, Edward Wade
Director: Jean-Pierre Van Der Spuy Writer: Mark Bramble Theatre: Leeds Grand Theatre Duration: 150 minutes Start Date: April 15, 2015 End Date: April 25, 2015 The circus comes to Leeds this week as Barnum, the award-winning 1980 Broadway musical, rolls up into the Grand Theatre with pomp and ceremony. Set from 1835 through to 1880, the musical follows the story of American showman Phineas T Barnum as he sets up a museum, tours with a leading starlet and breaks into politics. Soon his successes begin to crumble and he realises that the true value of life is to be found with his unwavering wife Chairy and his original passion as ringmaster to the greatest circus in the world. Cameron Mackintosh brings a slightly revised version of Barnum to the stage some thirty-five years after its origination on Broadway. Famed for its extravagant choreography, evocative design and upbeat musical numbers, Mackintosh’s expansion includes an additional song and the producer’s exceptional West End production standards.
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Cast: Andrew Frame, David Calvitto, Andrew Lancel, Robert Duncan, Alexander Forsyth, Mark Carter, Sean Power, Tom Conti, Paul Beech, Denis Lill, Edward Halsted, Gareth David-Lloyd, Jon Carver
Director: Christopher Haydon Writer: Reginald Rose Theatre: Leeds Grand Theatre Duration: 130 minutes Start Date: April 7, 2015 End Date: April 11, 2015 Direct from the West End, Twelve Angry Men transfers to Leeds Grand Theatre this week as part of a national tour. Developed from an American teleplay into a highly successful motion picture starring Henry Fonda, Twelve Angry Men is the story of a New York jury as they debate the verdict of a boy accused of patricide. The evidence is overwhelming and the majority of the jury initially consider the boy guilty, until one juror raises a shadow of doubt which swells into a fierce deliberation. Motivated by prejudice, intolerance, claustrophobia and growing fatigue, attitudes and instincts collide with the life of a youth at stake. Cast: Flavia Cacace, Vincent Simone, Faye Best, Tyman Boatwright, Callum Clack, Oliver Darley, Ivan De Freitas, Ben Harris, Teddy Kempner, Rebecca Lisewski.
Director: Karen Bruce Writer: Ed Curtis Theatre: Leeds Grand Theatre Start Date: March 30, 2015 End Date: April 4, 2015 This month Strictly Come Dancing favourites Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace quickstep into Leeds Grand Theatre in the return of hit dance show Dance ‘Til Dawn. 1940s movie star Bobby Burns is brutally murdered on the Hollywood backlots of Los Angeles. Soon trapped behind bars, Tony DeLuca (Vincent Simone) is framed by the killer. DeLuca and his lover Sadie Stauss (Flavia Cacace) make moves to attempt to unmask the real culprit and dance their way to freedom. In recent years, the popularity of Strictly Come Dancing has provided a surge of interest in dance and professional contenders Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace have rightly become household names. The spectacle of Simone and Cacace’s live performance are the major draws to this production, showcasing their exquisite dance skills in a relentless cavalcade of boundless performances to classic hits from the Forties and beyond. Cast: Patrick Brennan, Katie Elin-Salt, Daniel Hawksford, Lauren Roberts, Rhys ap William, Bethan Witcomb
Director: Max Stafford-Clark Writer: Robin Soans Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 120 minutes Start Date: March 31, 2015 End Date: March 4, 2015 National Theatre Wales and Out of Joint bring Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage to West Yorkshire Playhouse this month. Based on the life story of Welsh rugby legend Gareth Thomas, the play follows the team captain’s growth to stardom and his struggle to come to terms with a hidden identity. A day prior to a huge game against England, Thomas receives a tipoff that tabloids are to splash a story outing the player as gay – something almost unknown in contact sport at the time. Following the breakup of a marriage and fearing that his sexuality will not be accepted, Thomas attempts to take his life. Deciding to face the struggles head on by working with his teammates and family, the pride of Welsh rugby eventually discovers a pride within himself. Cast: James Gow, Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Dyfrig Morris, Jess Murphy, Robert Pickavance, Beverly Rudd, Paksie Vernon
Director: Max Webster Writer: Roald Dahl adapted by David Wood Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 95 minutes Start Date: December 5, 2014 End Date: January 24, 2015 West Yorkshire Playhouse brings Roald Dahl’s classic children’s novel James and the Giant Peach to stage this season. James is an orphan living with his two acerbic aunts when a mysterious old man offers a bag of seeds which promise James amazing opportunities. When the seeds are spilt in the grounds of his home, a peach tree bears fruit the size of a house. Within the peach live similarly oversized insects who quickly become James’ friends on an odyssey across the Atlantic through sea and air. Cast: Emma Barton, Derek Elroy, Norman Pace, Jasmyn Banks, David Verrey, Edward Hancock, Gavin Spokes, Alicia Davies, Patrick Warner, Elliot Harper, Michael Dylan.
Director: Adam Penford Writer: Richard Bean Theatre: Leeds Grand Theatre Duration: 150 minutes Start Date: November 4, 2014 End Date: November 8, 2014 The National Theatre’s critically acclaimed One Man Two Guvnors transfers to Leeds Grand Theatre this week as part of a national tour. Based on 18th century comedy The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni, One Man Two Guvnors follows the plight of Francis Henshall, a dumpling-like lackey who tries to maintain two jobs with two governors in the wake of a gangster killing and arranged marriage. When Henshall’s two bosses eventually collide, his world explodes into torment and chaos – all whilst trying to gain a date and stave off hunger for chips and warm ale. Cast: Gareth Bailey, Roseanna Frascona, Claire Rogers, Colin Charles, James Coombes, Mark Faith, Julia J. Nagle, Michael Remick, Wayne Smith, Alexander Wolfe, Jessie-Lou Yates, James Bennett, Sarah Cortez, Lizzi Franklin, Francis Haugen, Antony Hewitt, Verity Jones, Lewis Kirk, Robin Lake, Garry Lee, Carly Miles, Carlie Milner, Simone Mistry-Palmer, Marlon Moore, Brandon Lee Sears, Natalie Winsor.
Director: Sarah Tipple Writer: Eleanor Bergstein Theatre: Leeds Grand Theatre Duration: 150 minutes Start Date: November 11, 2014 End Date: December 6, 2014 Leeds Grand Theatre offers a parting sprinkle of summertime ahead of the festive season with Dirty Dancing, the musical based on the cult Eighties motion picture. A nostalgic romantic drama showcasing dance, drama and song, the show provides an expanded book by Eleanor Bergstein with over two dozen musical numbers, underscoring a coming-of-age love story between Frances “Baby” Houseman and holiday resort dancer Johnny Castle. A struggle between identity, revolution, and a generation gap, Dirty Dancing tells a tale beyond the romanticism of dance. Bergstein’s adaptation of her film script is tautly structured, densely factoring in contemporary musical hits and political overtones from the Sixties, giving the production a vivid sense of time and place. Capturing the zeitgeist of the era, the book acknowledges the shift in racial and gender equality, placing ethnic diversity, premarital sex and the politics of abortion at the forefront of an otherwise idealised romance. Cast: Andy Daniel
Director: Simon Reade Writer: Michael Morpurgo Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 135 minutes Start Date: October 27, 2014 End Date: October 28, 2014 Michael Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful demobilizes at West Yorkshire Playhouse this season as part of a national tour which completes in November. It is 1914 and Tommo Peaceful, a Devonshire teenager, follows his elder brother into the trenches of The Great War. Following severe shellshock, the young soldier finds himself accused of desertion, a charge which often results in the death sentence. An evocation of childhood and a testament to the horrors of conflict, Private Peaceful is a play set to resonate with audiences of all ages. Cast: Lucy Ellinson
Director: Christopher Haydon Writer: George Brant Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Duration: 65 minutes Start Date: October 23, 2014 End Date: October 25, 2014 Gate Theatre’s production of Grounded by George Brant touches down at West Yorkshire Playhouse this month. It is a soliloquy in the life of a hot shot F-16 pilot who becomes a lover and mother during a war of nerves. Grounded is an unconventional tale of a bird whose wings are clipped, whose expectations fall down to earth and whose social freedoms become restrained. In all, the title of the show encompasses every literal meaning of the word. Cast: Martin Marquez, Kate Phillips, Susie Trayling, Joseph Mydell, Alan Williams, Corinna Powlesland, Daniel Poyser, David Killick, Dominic Gately, Jim Bywater, Lynette Clarke, Marlene Sidaway, Steven Beard, Tim Chipping.
Director: James Brining Writer: Arthur Miller Theatre: West Yorkshire Playhouse Start Date: September 29, 2014 End Date: October 25, 2014 This season sees Arthur Miller’s celebrated drama of social paranoia reinterpreted by the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Tracing the Salem witch trials of the 17th century, The Crucible is an allegorical protest and social commentary reflecting anxieties of the 1950s and beyond. Abigail Williams is a girl who has been sexually awakened and rejected by her employer, John Proctor. When Williams and her friends are accused of practicing satanic crafts, Proctor is tangled in a dark web of accusation, sin and social cleansing. Soon his wife and dozens of townsfolk become embroiled through Williams’ vindictive manipulations, forcing Proctor make his own, ultimate sacrifice. |
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