Circus coming to Yorkshire for a showstopping musical run in Leeds

An acrobatic dress rehearsal has seen circus acts grace the stage of Leeds Grand Theatre.
Dress rehearsals for Opera Norths 'The Bartered Bride' at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture by Jonathan Gawthorpe.Dress rehearsals for Opera Norths 'The Bartered Bride' at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture by Jonathan Gawthorpe.
Dress rehearsals for Opera Norths 'The Bartered Bride' at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture by Jonathan Gawthorpe.

The colourful rehearsal comes before The Bartered Bride musical production officially opens to theatre goers in Leeds on Saturday for a series of 11 performances until October 31.

Starring Scottish soprano Kate Valentine, as Marenka, and American tenor Brenden Gunnell, as Jenik, the Opera North show is billed as a story of true love and trickery set in Czechoslovakia in 1972.

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Set four years after the Prague Spring, the production is performed in an English translation by David Pountney and Leonard Hancock. It also ran at the 2012 New Zealand Opera.

Dress rehearsals for Opera Norths 'The Bartered Bride' at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture by Jonathan Gawthorpe.Dress rehearsals for Opera Norths 'The Bartered Bride' at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture by Jonathan Gawthorpe.
Dress rehearsals for Opera Norths 'The Bartered Bride' at Leeds Grand Theatre. Picture by Jonathan Gawthorpe.

It surrounds two lovers who are being drawn apart by Marenka’s father, who wants her to marry the son of the wealthiest man in town, before the circus comes to town and the constraints of rural life are thrown off.

Directed by Daniel Slater, who made his European debut with Opera North through The Bartered Bride in 1998, the show is being revived for a UK tour.

For information or to book tickets, which cost from £15, visit www.leedsgrandtheatre.com or www.operanorth.co.uk.

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