Monkee Business the Musical, Opera House, Manchester

MONKEE BUSINESS: Stage take on the manufactured band is more musical celebration than showbiz biography

Stage take on the manufactured band is more musical celebration than showbiz biography

The world premiere here of Monkee Business the Musical was planned long before the untimely death in February of Davy Jones, the Manchester-born member of the manufactured band that outsold The Beatles and the Rolling Stones half a century ago. The coincidence lends a poignancy to the event and the Manchester run has been dedicated to his memory.

theartsdesk at Chetham's: New Life for an Old School

NEW LIFE FOR AN OLD SCHOOL: A £31m redevelopment has transformed Chetham's School of Music in Manchester

A £31m redevelopment has transformed Manchester's specialist music institution

Like a streamlined sandstone-coloured satellite berthed unexpectedly in Manchester’s medieval quarter, the new addition to the country’s largest specialist music school, Chetham’s (pronounced Cheetham’s), makes a confident statement for the future. It looms seven storeys high amidst atmospheric buildings dating back as far as 600 years. 

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Royal Exchange, Manchester

SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING: Alan Sillitoe's Sixties morality tale handsomely adapted

Alan Sillitoe's morality tale about an Angry Young Man's sexual conquests is handsomely adapted

What is it about the Sixties that keeps drawing us back? Surely, it can’t just be that anniversary thing – 50 years on? Perhaps, in these care-worn times, we just like to revisit our don’t-give-a-damn  anti-heroes, having their cake and eating it, pleasuring their mates’ marriage-weary wives, arranging abortions if things go wrong, downing pints in the pub. That was the life.

He Was More Than a Monkee: Davy Jones, 1948–2012

MORE THAN A MONKEE - DAVY JONES 1948-2012: A fond farewell to the ever-youthful Mancunian

Farewell to the ever-youthful Monkee, who has died at the age of 66

The death of Davy Jones is a surprise. A horrible surprise. Less than a year ago he was on stage at the Royal Albert Hall in the reunited Monkees, full of life, hogging the stage, hamming it up and celebrating the wonderful songs of America’s manufactured answer to The Beatles.

He was English of course, born in Manchester, and brought into The Monkees to add some British sparkle. Good-looking, cheeky and mop-topped, he always got the girl. His pop voice and maracca-shaking were the focus for American girls looking for a Beatle type on their home soil.

The Daughter-in-Law, The Lowry, Salford

A welcome dusting down for one of DH Lawrence's old mining plays

“Am I for t’ see mi own lad bitted an’ bobbed? Theer’s more blort than bustle i’ this world - an’ ‘er’s a clat-fart”. Welcome to the old curiosity shop of English drama, from which Manchester Library Theatre director Chris Honer has dusted down one of DH Lawrence’s mining plays, written a century ago, around the time of Sons and Lovers, and not even published, let alone performed, in his lifetime. Lawrence didn’t have much luck with his plays, not being a la mode. Even today, they are not often seen.

Ren Harvieu, Lexington Arms

A night of nerves and ultimate release from the UK's much heralded new retro-soul diva

Five minutes before stage time at the Lexington, the latest retro-soul diva from the mighty Universal conglomerate hovered outside the ladies’ toilet downstairs, holding a crutch and looking decidedly nervous. Ren Harvieu was one of the nominees in the BBC’s Sound of 2012, and has been groomed for the past two years in the same Kid Gloves stable, which churned out Duffy and Amy Winehouse. Thus the nation will doubtless soon become readily conversant with her exotic French-Canadian surname, and know that the first one is short for Lauren. 

Hughes, BBC Philharmonic, Gruber, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

A comic fairytale and Goehr's self-portrait flank Mahler lieder

“The north wind doth blow and we shall have snow.” And how! The BBC Phil’s composer/conductor H K “Nali” Gruber could not have timed the UK premiere of his Northwind Pictures better. We were ready targets for his shattering evocation of the wind with every device at the percussionists’ disposal and a large hand-cranked wind machine. The boys in the back row had a great night out.

Manchester Rising: Celebrating the City's Vibrant Club Scene

A look at the key players threatening to break out of a thriving local enclave

I first heard Zed Bias's Biasonic Hot Sauce – Birth of the Nanocloud last autumn. He may have been one of the key players in the London-centric sound of UK garage, but he was never of that scene. Based in Milton Keynes through the first phase of his career, he releases through a Brighton label and is now resident in Manchester.

Regional Opera, 2012 Season

What's on at Welsh National Opera, Opera North and Scottish Opera this year and further on

Popular operatic love stories by Puccini, Wagner and Mozart dominate the regional scene in 2012, but key talents like producer Tim Albery in Leeds, Lothar Koenigs in Cardiff and David McVicar in Glasgow all promise significant stage experiences.

 

You Can't Take It With You, Royal Exchange, Manchester

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU: George S Kaufman's 1936 Pulitzer Prize-winner is fast, funny - and a little exhausting

George S Kaufman's 1936 Pulitzer Prize-winner is fast, funny - and a little exhausting

Oh, the joys of eccentricity. Welcome to the Vanderhof family of misfits. The head of the household, Grandpa Martin, refuses to pay any taxes, preferring to keep snakes on a hatstand. Good for frightening off the tax inspector, who unexpectedly drops by.