🗞️ May Best Shows To See in Leeds

Welcome to the Merry Month of May, and if this rain keeps up then you are welcome to it! Still, if spring continues to be awful on the weather front – see what I did there? – at least you won’t mind being in the shelter of one of the city’s marvellous theatres.

First up is The Grand where the new musical, Come From Away, continues its run until 11th. It is based on a true story about 7,000 passengers stranded in a small Canadian town in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. It has a slew of Olivier and Tony Awards so must be worth a look.

From 14th to 25th there is Pretty Woman – The Musical, based on the 1990 romcom about Vivian and Edward’s love story, with music written by Jim Vallance and, The Groover from Vancouver, Bryan Adams. No Summer of ’69 jokes please! 

The Grand is becoming a hotbed of Six, as it returns for another run from 28th May to 1st June. Backstage must be piled high with body bags containing decapitated queens by now, possibly why the theatre is closing for a refurb from June.

Leeds City Varieties has a couple more screenings of West End plays this month: Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma star in Shakespeare’s Macbeth on 5th May; and on 7th Michael Sheen is Nye, the Minister who introduced the National Health Act in 1948, full name Aneurin Bevan, in Tim Price’s play in a National Theatre Live showing.

Leeds Playhouse presents Here You Come Again from 11th May until 8th June, a new musical co-produced by Leeds Playhouse and Simon Friend Entertainment, which is being staged here before going on to the West End. I wonder whether the National Theatre will be showing it on a cinema screen to return the compliment. You have probably deduced from the title that it draws on the back catalogue of Dolly Parton. It is the story of one of her fans whose fantasy version of the star gets him through trying times. I don’t think is is as weird as the publicity blurb suggests.

On 29th and 30th May there is a show for those aged 3+ called Robyn Hood about a young girl who builds a den on a patch of green land where she has some woodland adventures.

 Just sneaking into May is My Fair Lady which starts on 31st and runs all the way through until 29th June. It is a co-production between Leeds Playhouse and Opera North so bound to be spectacular and superbly sung and acted. 

Carriageworks has its share of offerings in May with ‘NASTY: ‘big’ girls being gross’, from 13th to 15th, a story of, well, I think the title says it all; Titanic the Musical from 15th to 18th, which should go down a treat and Battle Cry, a solo play from Matt Fox about a former soldier struggling with PTSD, on 17th and 18th. 

24th and 25th sees the staging of Snow White by Yorkshire Theatre Ballet, comprising dancers aged 7-21 years. There are two shows for the young ‘uns in The Three Bears on 26th May and There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly on 31st. That brings back memories of Saturday morning radio.

Finally, if you fancy a short foray out of town, there is a new folk musical called Mother of the Revolution being staged at Leeds Industrial Museum, Armley from 2nd – 5th and 9th – 12th May. Don’t worry, it is not an insurgence, we are talking Industrial Revolution telling the story of Leeds industrialist Betty Beecroft and those who came after her. 

Whatever you decide to go see, I hope that you enjoy it and you at least get a few fine days, and on Saturday – May the 4th be with you!