Angela Thomas rounds up all the latest news in regional and touring theatre in the UK and Ireland.
Tag Archives | Leeds Playhouse
Brassed Off – Leeds Playhouse
Brassed Off continues at the Quarry Theatre, Leeds Playhouse until 11 July 2026. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ Pretty much like the film from which this production is adapted, Brassed Off emotionally leaves no prisoners.
Leeds Playhouse to stage new production of Brassed Off musical
A major new production of the stage musical adaptation of Mark Herman’s moving 1996 film Brassed Off will feature in the spring/summer 2026 season at the Leeds Playhouse.
Double win for Leeds Playhouse’s Oliver! at the UK Theatre Awards
The winners of this year’s UK Theatre Awards have been announced at a ceremony hosted by Faye Tozer, which took place at 8 Northumberland Avenue. The UK Theatre Awards celebrate the very best of theatre across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Awards are given for creative excellence and outstanding work both on and off […]
My Fair Lady – Leeds Playhouse
My Fair Lady continues at Leeds Playhouse until 29 June 2024. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Eliza herself (Katie Bird) has one of those thrilling soprano voices that sets the spine tingling. At the same time, she can bring out the pathos in ‘Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?’.
The Enormous Crocodile – Leeds Playhouse
The Enormous Crocodile continues at Leeds Playhouse until 6 January 2023. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Oliver! – Leeds Playhouse
Oliver! continues at the Quarry Theatre, Leeds Playhouse until 27 January 2023. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ Unlike A Christmas Carol, Oliver! is not strictly one of the regular seasonal signposts hoisted at this time to celebrate the durability of human goodness. But Lionel Bart took Dickens’ exposé of child labour and cruelty and turned it into a jaunty East End romp which, musically at least, at Leeds fits the bill for a Yuletide pick me up.
Newsfeed 17 November 2023: Adam Garcia to play Caractacus Potts in new Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tour, The King and I Dominion run and more
Adam Garcia to play Caractacus Potts in new Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tour Olivier Award nominee Adam Garcia will star as Caractacus Potts in the eagerly awaited new touring production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang next year. An Olivier Award nominee for his performances as Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever and Bill Calhoun in […]
The Mill at Sonning’s Gypsy is named Best Musical at UK Theatre Awards 2023 while Lena Hall wins for In Dreams
The 2023 UK Theatre Awards winners have been revealed in a ceremony at London’s Guildhall, hosted by musical theatre star Zoe Birkett. Best Musical Production was awarded to The Mill at Sonning for its revival of Gypsy.
In Dreams – Leeds Playhouse
In Dreams continues at the Courtyard Theatre, Leeds Playhouse until 5 August 2023. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ A rollicking musical about imminent death is scarcely the most obvious premise for a feel-good show in these troubled times.
First casting news for world premiere of In Dreams at Leeds Playhouse
Tony Award-winner Lena Hall will join West End star Oliver Tompsett in new musical In Dreams at Leeds Playhouse this summer.
Musical Theatre Review contributors pick their top shows of 2022
A selection of Musical Theatre Review critics were asked to choose their ‘show of the year’ although, as you can see, some struggled to pick just one.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The Musical – Leeds Playhouse
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory continues at the Leeds Playhouse until 28 January 2023 ahead of a UK and Ireland tour. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Roy Orbison catalogue to feature in new musical In Dreams at Leeds Playhouse
The team behind the hit show & Juliet, writer David West Read and director Luke Sheppard, have turned their attention to the music of the late, great Roy Orbison for new musical In Dreams.
UK Theatre Awards – the winners
Leicester Curve’s Billy Elliot was crowned Best Musical Production when the UK Theatre Awards returned to London’s Guildhall at the weekend after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
Full company confirmed for Leeds Playhouse’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Leeds Playhouse has announced the full company for the venue’s new production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – The Musical. As previously announced, the touring production will star Gareth Snook (The Phantom of the Opera, Her Majesty’s Theatre, Les Misérables, Palace Theatre, Sunset Boulevard /Made in Dagenham, Adelphi Theatre) as the charismatic confectioner, Willy […]
UK Theatre Awards 2022 – The nominees
Leicester Curve’s Billy Elliot, Storyhouse Chester’s Now Is Good, and the Watermill Theatre’s production of Whistle Down the Wind will battle it out for the title of Best Musical Production at the UK Theatre Awards 2022. Returning after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the three hit shows are of among the 2022 nominees […]
Leeds Playhouse announces its four Charlie Buckets
Leeds Playhouse has unveiled the four young northern actors chosen to share the role of Charlie Bucket in the eagerly anticipated new production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – The Musical when it makes its debut at Leeds Playhouse this Christmas ahead of a UK and Ireland tour in 2023. Already hard at work […]
Gareth Snook cast as Willy Wonka in Leeds Playhouse’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
West End star Gareth Snook will play Willy Wonka in the new production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – The Musical when it makes its debut at Leeds Playhouse this Christmas ahead of a UK and Ireland tour in 2023. Snook (The Phantom of the Opera, Her Majesty’s Theatre, Les Misérables, Palace Theatre, Sunset […]
A Little Night Music – Leeds Playhouse
A Little Night Music continues at Leeds Playhouse until 16 July 2022. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ What an extraordinarily generous composer Stephen Sondheim was. A little Night Music gives substantial singing roles to the young and the old, the aristocrat and the servant, the dolt and the susceptible. As the evening […]
More dates added to UK and Ireland tour of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Further venues have been announced for the UK and Ireland tour of the eagerly-anticipated Leeds Playhouse of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – The Musical. As previously announced the new production will follow its Christmas season debut in Leeds from 18 November 2022 until 28 January 2023, by embarking on a tour, launching at Milton […]
Leeds return for Playhouse and Opera North hit co-production of A Little Night Music
Leeds Playhouse and Opera North’s acclaimed production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s evocative A Little Night Music will play an encore run in Leeds this summer. Directed by the Playhouse’s artistic director James Brining, the director of Leeds Playhouse and Opera North’s celebrated 2016 production of Sondheim’s Into the Woods, A Little Night Music […]
Leeds Playhouse’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tour announced
The eagerly-anticipated Leeds Playhouse production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – The Musical will embark on a UK and Ireland tour in early 2023. Following its Christmas season debut in Leeds which will run from 18 November 2022 to 28 January 2023, the new production will open at Milton Keynes Theatre on 9 February […]
Hedwig and the Angry Inch – Leeds Playhouse
Hedwig and the Angry Inch continues at Leeds Playhouse until 23 April 2022, before transferring to HOME Manchester from 27 April to 11 May 2022. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The first revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch in the UK for 15 years sees the piece going back to […]
Elijah Ferreira joins cast of Leeds Playhouse and HOME Manchester’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Elijah Ferreira will join the previously announced Divina Da Campo (Chicago, UK tour) in the upcoming Leeds Playhouse and HOME Manchester co-production of the Tony Award-winning Hedwig and The Angry Inch. Ferreira (Safe, Hackney Empire) will play Hedwig’s husband and roadie Yitzhak in the production which will run in Leeds from 2-23 April 2022 before […]
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is Leeds Playhouse’s Christmas 2022 production
An exciting new production of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – The Musical based on the much-loved book is to premiere at Leeds Playhouse from 18 November 2022 to 28 January 2023 (press night is 25 November). Directed by Leeds Playhouse’s James Brining and adapted from Dahl’s novel by David Greig, with music […]
Election-themed Say Yes To Tess to open at Leeds Playhouse
Tess Seddon’s autobiographical comedy Say Yes To Tess will open at Leeds Playhouse in March before playing dates in London at Camden People’s Theatre. Presented by Leeds-based theatre company TheatreState in association with Leeds Playhouse, the new musical is inspired by Seddon’s own experiences when standing in the 2017 election as a candidate for the […]
Michèle Taylor appointed MBE for services to Theatre and Disabled People
Michèle Taylor has been appointed MBE for services to Theatre and People with Disabilities as part of the New Year’s Honours list. Taylor works as Director for Change for Ramps On The Moon. This is the Arts Council-funded consortium aiming to change the theatre sector by bringing more Deaf and disabled people into the sector […]
Drag artist Divina De Campo to star in Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Leeds Playhouse
Divina De Campo will take centre stage in a major new production of the Tony Award-winning Hedwig and the Angry Inch as part of the Leeds Playhouse’s spring/summer 2022 season. The star of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK who made her musical theatre debut as Mary Sunshine in the current UK touring production of Chicago, will […]
Online release of hit show Piaf
An online version of the hit Nottingham Playhouse and Leeds Playhouse production of Pam Gems’ Piaf will be available to rent until 31 December 2021. Directed by the Nottingham Playhouse’s artistic director Adam Penford, the reopening production at the venue this summer stars Olivier Award-winner Jenna Russell (Sunday in the Park With George, Merrily We […]
A Little Night Music – Leeds Playhouse
A Little Night Music continues at Leeds Playhouse until 17 July 2021. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ For my first visit to Leeds Playhouse in many months I knew I was in safe hands with a joint production from the venue and Opera North, the ever reliable James Brining in the director’s chair. […]
Nottingham Playhouse to reopen with Piaf starring Jenna Russell
Tony nominated and Olivier Award-winning actress Jenna Russell will step into the spotlight as Edith Piaf in Pam Gems’ Piaf – the reopening production at Nottingham Playhouse this summer. Presented by Nottingham Playhouse and Leeds Playhouse, the production which is directed by Nottingham’s artistic director Adam Penford had been due to debut in 2020 with […]
Seven Deadly Sins – Opera North at Leeds Playhouse
Seven Deadly Sins was live-streamed by Opera North from Leeds Playhouse. The Seven Deadly Sins (1933) was Kurt Weill’s last collaboration with Bertolt Brecht. Hitler had come to power the previous year and Weill was Jewish. As soon as possible, he left for America. Brecht saw the potential for the two Annas to be different […]
Open letter to theatre and performance makers
Just hours before the first meeting of the Government’s new recreation and leisure taskforce, a wide-range of companies and venues signed an open letter to theatre and performance makers urging them to become part of a new industry-led freelancers’ task force. Amid warnings that over 1,000 theatres across the country will be closed permanently by […]
The cast of Nottingham Playhouse’s Piaf gives lockdown digital performance
The stars of Piaf – which should have been performed at Nottingham Playhouse and Leeds Playhouse this spring – have come together for an exclusive performance of ‘Hymne a L’Amour’. The piece, initiated by director Adam Penford and musical director Alex Parker, gives audiences an exclusive taste of what to expect from the postponed production. […]
New musical features the hits of Tom Jones
A high-powered creative team has been assembled to bring a major new musical featuring the songs of national treasure Tom Jones to the stage. Luke Sheppard (In The Heights), the director of the current West End smash & Juliet will take charge alongside celebrated stage and screen choreographer Arlene Phillips and award-winning set designer Jon […]
The Wizard of Oz – Leeds Playhouse
The Wizard of Oz continues at the Leeds Playhouse until 25 January 2020. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ A suggested new title for this production could be Wizard of Oz: Full Throttle. This is a breathless production that is not afraid to innovate, but pays its respect to the 1939 MGM original. For […]
