Tag Archives: City Varieties

Director: Matt Aston Writer: Peter Rowe Reviewer: Ruth Jepson Tired of hearing Princesses sing Let It Go, or This is Me? Want a bit more rock and roll with your Pantomime? But still after that traditional feel? Cinderella The Rock n’ Roll Panto in Leeds is definitely the show for you! The story has been tweaked slightly – Cinderella (Grace ...

Devised by: Gene Lerner Director: Giles Havergal Musical Director: Martin Pickard Reviewer: Ron Simpson Leeds is not short of quality theatre and it’s good to see the level of co-operation between three of the city’s finest. Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill is a co-production by Opera North and West Yorkshire Playhouse, staged in the City Varieties, a perfect venue ...

Writer: Peter Rowe Director: Matt Aston Musical Director: Greg Palmer Designer: Judith Croft Reviewer: Holly Spanner Now in its sixth riotous year, the City Varieties Rock n’ Roll pantomime is back with this year’s offering, Sleeping Beauty. But this is Sleeping Beauty with a difference. Princess Aurora has become Princess Susie, the three good fairies are rolled into the larger ...

Writer: Peter Rowe Director: Paul Hart Reviewer: Holly Spanner The creative team at The City Varieties are back for another year with their hugely successful Rock N’ Roll Pantomime, this time Robin Hood and Babes in the Wood. Incidentally, it was during the 1941 Christmas production of Babes in the Wood that a woman in the audience famously gave birth! ...

Written by: Boff Whalley Musical Arrangements by: Beccy Owen Directed by: Rod Dixon Reviewer: Peter Gray We’re Not Going Back is a subtly radical piece of powerful theatre from Red Ladder, which transports us back full thirty years to when political decisions threatened the existence of a national industry and its communities. Set in a re-representation of the 1984-85 Miners’ ...

Formed in the swinging sixties, Fairport Convention are widely thought of as the most important group in terms of the English folk rock movement. Considered to have begun the electric folk or English folk rock movement, they have also helped spark an interest in traditional music in general. Their 1969 album Liege &Lief was voted “Most Influential Folk Album of ...

By: Holly Spanner Celebrating their 150th anniversary this year, the City Varieties in Leeds holds the record for the UK’s longest-running music hall. There were once more than 500 music halls in the UK, but now only a handful remain. Hidden away on Swan Street, a quaint, cobbled alleyway just off Briggate in the centre of the city, this Grade ...

Writer: Peter Rowe Director: Paul Hart Reviewer: Holly Spanner Writer Peter Rowe and his team at the City Varieties in Leeds are back for another year with their iconic Rock n’ Roll pantomime. This year taking on the story of Dick Whittington, we follow Dick (Tom Milner) and his ever faithful Taffeta the Cat (Claire McGarahan) as he heads to ...