When Leeds Grand Theatre first opened on Monday 18 November 1878, a playbill declared it would ‘Positively Open’, now, after 15 months stood closed, it is ‘Positively Reopening’ on Thursday 17 June 2021 with a socially distanced run of Northern Ballet’s Swan Lake.
Despite the ongoing challenges still facing the theatre, following the government’s latest announcement that COVID-19 restrictions are extended until 19 July, The Grand’s curtains will rise again this week to host the very best in West End and Broadway musicals and dramas, stand-up comedy, dance and music, and resident companies’ Northern Ballet and Opera North.
Leeds audiences are encouraged to buy tickets to support the heritage venue that has lost 98% of its income throughout lockdown and continues to face financial difficulty whilst ever social distancing measures are in place.
A selection of shows in 2021
Heathers The Musical: 28 Jul-14 Aug
Heathers The Musical, the black comedy rock musical based on the eponymous 1988 film, embarks on its first national tour. Westerberg High’s Veronica Sawyer is just another nobody dreaming of a better day. But when she joins the beautiful and impossibly cruel Heathers and her dreams of popularity may finally come true, mysterious teen rebel JD teaches her that it might kill to be a nobody, but it is murder being a somebody.
Magic Goes Wrong: 30 Aug-4 Sept
Back with their biggest comedy catastrophe to date, multi award-winning Mischief (The Play That Goes Wrong, BBC One’s The Goes Wrong Show) return to the stage with their hilarious new show created with magic legends, Penn & Teller. A hapless gang of magicians are staging an evening of grand illusion to raise cash for charity. But as the magic turns to mayhem, accidents spiral out of control and so does their fundraising target!
Peter James’ Looking Good Dead: 6-11 Sept
Starring award-winning actor and EastEnders icon, Adam Woodyatt, and star of stage and screen Gaynor Faye (Emmerdale, Coronation Street, The Syndicate), this world premiere stage adaptation tells the story of Tom Bryce (Woodyatt), who, after finding a discarded USB memory stick, inadvertently becomes a witness to a vicious murder. When Detective Superintendent Roy Grace becomes involved, he has his own demons to contend with, while he tries to crack the case in time to save the Bryce family’s lives.
Waitress: 14-18 Sept
Meet Jenna, a waitress and expert pie-maker who dreams of some happiness in her life. When a hot new doctor arrives in town, life gets complicated. With the support of her workmates Becky and Dawn, Jenna overcomes the challenges she faces and finds that laughter, love, and friendship can provide the perfect recipe for happiness. Starring Lucie Jones (Les Misérables, Legally Blonde), Sandra Marvin (ITV’s Emmerdale, Hairspray), Evelyn Hoskins (Spring Awakening), and Matt Willis (Busted, Wicked), with score by Grammy award-winning Sara Bareilles (Love Song, Brave).
Twelve Angry Men: 23-27 Nov
Reginald Rose’s gripping courtroom thriller has been hailed as the ‘classiest, most intelligent drama in the West End’. It brings the 1957 three-time Academy Award nominated film to the www. A jury has murder on their minds and a life in their hands as they decide the fate of a young delinquent accused of killing his father. But what appears to be an open and shut case soon becomes a huge dilemma as prejudices and preconceived ideas about the accused, the trial and each other turn the tables every which way, until the nail-biting climax…
Bedknobs and Broomsticks: 8 Dec-9 Jan
Enter a world of magic and fantasy as Disney’s classic movie makes its world premiere as an exciting new stage musical. With the original songs by the legendary Sherman Brothers (Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), including The Age Of Not Believing and The Beautiful Briny. When the three orphaned Rawlins children are reluctantly evacuated from wartime London to live with the mysterious Eglantine Price, they have no idea what adventures lie ahead. Upon discovering Eglantine to be a trainee witch, they join forces to search for a secret spell that will defeat the enemy once and for all.
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO BOOK TICKETS: LEEDSHERITAGETHEATRES.COM
