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A wide range of top-notch touring shows will be visiting the region in 2017. Theatre correspondent Nick Ahad takes a look.

For the past couple of weeks we’ve looked ahead to 2017 and the shows coming to theatres including the West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Sheffield Crucible. We’ve got excited about the line-up in store for the coming season at Lawrence Batley Theatre and Wakefield Theatre Royal.

Last week we dedicated two whole pages, and rightly so, to the upcoming season at Hull Truck Theatre in the year the city holds the title of UK’s City of Culture.

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It is something of a point of pride that we still have plenty to look ahead to in today’s edition of Culture with some of the other theatres we haven’t yet covered.

I’m thinking the theatres that will be receiving shows made elsewhere, and some of the smaller, more out-of-the-way venues across Yorkshire.

Given that The Yorkshire Post this week exclusively revealed that Leeds Grand Theatre will be hosting the world premiere of Fat Friends the Musical later this year, it makes sense to start at this beautiful Matcham-esque building.

Fans of the TV show, who are legion, will have to wait until November for Fat Friends The Musical, which holds its premiere in Leeds on November 7, with the show running through until December.

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Next month, however, the theatre will host the National Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. At the theatre from February 28 to March 4, it’s a show I’ve missed on its previous visits to Yorkshire, a mistake I plan on rectifying this time around.

In March the theatre will then see the world premiere – it really is quite the year for the Grand – of Casanova, a new ballet from the world renowned Northern Ballet. The ballet is being choreographed by Kenneth Tindall, a Northern Ballet dancer we’ve been touting as one to watch for some time now. It looks sexy and dangerous and we predict another hit for the Leeds-based company.

Other shows on their way to the Grand include Shirley Valentine (April 3 to 8), starring Jodie Prenger, who will be back at the theatre taking the lead in Fat Friends, The Play That Goes Wrong (May 22 to 27) and Mama Mia! (May 20 to July 8).

The theatre is also going to be bringing back Wicked, the hugely successful musical. The show, which we are announcing the return of today, will be at the theatre June 13 to July 7.

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Over in Bradford the Alhambra Theatre has landed a couple of coups of its own.

In September this year the theatre will stage the first performance of a nationwide tour of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical. The show opens on September 9 and, following the reception it received in London, will be, I’ll bet, a sell-out success.

In July the theatre has announced this week that another musical based on the life of a singer-songwriter will be coming with Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story. It’s been a few years since I saw this show and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

At the end of February, the theatre welcomes the Kinks musical (spot a theme yet?) Sunny Afternoon, another transfer from the West End that has had sell out audiences and impressive reviews, and in March the theatre will host the stage adaptation of Meera Syal’s novel Anita and Me, 
starring the always brilliant Shobna Gulati.

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A venue that couldn’t be further in style from both these venues is Bradford’s Theatre in the Mill. A truly groundbreaking theatre, this is one of the most innovative venues in the region, staging work that is always pushing at the boundaries.

The theatre opens its season this month with Night Light. Created by Mandala theatre company this play (January 27 and 28), tells the story of unaccompanied children who seek asylum in the UK and what it’s like to be rejected by the country which gave them refuge once they reach the age of 18.

On February 3 the theatre will see a show that is the kind of work that has really made its name. Class, by Rebecca Atkinson-Lloyd, will be presented as a work in development. It’s this kind of thing, an opportunity to see theatre work in its embryonic state, that has made the theatre such an exciting and vibrant place to be. On February 25 audiences will be able to see Surprise! This show is, and this isn’t a conflation of two different shows, this really is what this theatre performance actually: an interactive clown show that looks at how we can confront anxiety. It’s a work in development and it is a perfect manifestation of why this theatre is so brilliant. It really is the kind of work that you just won’t see anywhere else. Down in Sheffield you can of course visit the Crucible and Studio, but the Lyceum is also worth a visit, particularly given that it will be hosting shows like The Red Shoes by Matthew Bourne (May 30 to June 3) and Ray Cooney’s hilarious farce Out of Order (June 14 to 17).

The theatre will also be hosting the West End hit The Play That Goes Wrong (February 13 to 18) and Kay Mellor’s A Passionate Woman, based on the TV show, this stars Liza Goddard as the passionate, doting mother reflecting on her long lost youth.

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Essentially, there is a reason Yorkshire is the best place outside of London’s West End for theatregoers and the coverage of the last few weeks will, hopefully, have convinced you of that fact. There simply is more theatre across our region than any other in the country.

Enjoy the shows.

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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: By all accounts a brilliant adaptation by Simon Stephens, I’m pleased to have another opportunity to see this. Leeds Grand Theatre, February, 28-March 4.

The Mayers Ensemble, What if I told You: I could pick anything at random from the Theatre in the Mill’s season and recommend it. The venue is brilliant. As this will be. June 8.

The Red Shoes: Matthew Bourne is popular and the purists don’t like that. Those of us who like dance, do. At Bradford Alhambra, March 8 -April 1, Sheffield Lyceum, May 30-June 3.