Leeds Grand Theatre have announced a jam-packed year of musicals, drama, dance and comedy for 2015.
Based on Mel Brooks’ Academy Award-winning movie, The Producers (8th to 13th June) is the hilarious musical comedy that won 12 Tony Awards and 3 Olivier Awards. Leeds Amateur Operatic Society celebrates its 125th anniversary with its production of Hairspray (17th to 21st March). With an Oscar-nominated score, classic musical Calamity Jane (23rd to 27th June) will star Jodie Prenger (Oliver!, Spamalot) alongside Tom Lister (Emmerdale) and a cast of talented actor/musicians. Sheffield Theatres’ production of Cole Porter’s musical Anything Goes (30th June to 4th July) features sensational songs including I Get A Kick Out of You, You’re the Top and It’s De-Lovely.
July will see Bill Kenwright bring three musicals to Leeds. Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar (6th to 11th July) tells the story of the last seven days in the life of Jesus through some of musical theatre’s most legendary songs including I Don’t Know How to Love Him, Gethsemane and Superstar. Dreamboats and Miniskirts (13th to 18th July), the sequel to Dreamboats and Petticoats, features classic rock ‘n’ roll hits from the 60s. Fifty years after the Hollywood film starring Julie Andrews won 5 Academy Awards, The Sound of Music will bring the story of the Von Trapp family’s flight across the mountains to the Grand stage in a new production of the timeless family musical (21st July to 1st August).
Following an acclaimed West End run Twelve Angry Men (7th to 11th April) will bring the taut brilliance of the 1957 three-time Academy Award-nominated film to the Leeds stage. In May (26th to 30th) The King’s Speech – the play from which the Oscar-winning movie starring Colin Firth was adapted – tells the iconic story of King George VI’s relationship with his speech therapist, Lionel Logue played by Jason Donovan. Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, winner of the 2014 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, will provide an evening of theatrical absurdity featuring P.G Wodehouse’s iconic double act (1st to 6th June).
Celebrating their tenth anniversary, the Agatha Christie Theatre Company will perform And Then There Were None (17th to 22nd August) based on the best-selling mystery novel of all time. The National Theatre will return to its Leeds home in August (24th to 29th) with their multi Olivier-award winning production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Celebrating the 21st anniversary of the Oscar-nominated film adaptation of Stephen King’s classic short story, Bill Kenwright’s new production of The Shawshank Redemption (31st August to 5th September) follows the unlikely friendship between Andy Dufresne, sentenced to a double life sentence for the brutal murder of his wife and her lover despite his protestations of innocence, and the prison fixer Red.
Northern Ballet brings Jean-Christophe Maillot’s, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo production of Romeo and Juliet to Leeds, set to Prokofiev’s unforgettable score (4th to 12th March). Back by popular demand following last year’s sell-out success, TV’s Strictly Come Dancing favourites and former World Champions Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace return to Leeds with Dance ‘Til Dawn (30th March to 4th April) – a sensational dance show straight from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
In A Night to Remember (24th March) Strictly Come Dancing’s Brendan Cole will star in a spectacular night of music and dance. Comedians Dara O Briain (25th to 27th March) and Milton Jones (24th May) will take to the stage and The Hollies will perform their classics including The Air That I Breathe, Carrie Anne and He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother (28th March). Leeds audiences can relive the 60s with original artists singing their greatest hits in The Solid Silver 60s Show (29th March).
For full details of all the shows at Leeds Grand Theatre this year visit www.leedsgrandtheatre.com or call the box office on 0844 848 2700.
