Martin Barrass’s Queen, Kay Mellor’s Band Of Gold, a Sheridan comic romp, Shed Seven’s golden night, Velma Celli’s Christmas belles and Rowntree Players’ nautical panto make CHARLES HUTCHINSON’S list

Festive tribute show of the week

Holly At Christmas, Buddy Holly And The Cricketers, Milton Rooms, Malton, Thursday, doors, 7.15pm

FRONTED by Jason Shaw, Buddy Holly And The Cricketers mark the 60th anniversary of Holly’s death while raising the spirits for the festive season in their Holly At Christmas show. Buddy’s hits, rock’n’roll classics and Christmas crackers will be wrapped up in a fast, furious and funny feast of entertainment.

Serious comedian of the week

Jayde Adams, Burning Duck Comedy Club, The Basement, City Screen, York, Thursday, 8pm

IF you want to be a “successful independent woman person” in 2019, you better have something you want to say and you better be wearing a Serious Black Jumper, or so says Jayde Adams.

“It’s time to get serious,” she reckons, as she rifles through all the noise and self-promotion to figure out what's actually going on.

Yorkshire musical premiere of the week

Kay Mellor’s Band Of Gold, Leeds Grand Theatre, now until December 14

EMMA Osman, Gaynor Faye and Laurie Brett join York actor Andrew Dunn and The X Factor winner Shayne Ward in Leeds playwright, screenwriter and director Kay Mellor’s world premiere of this stage adaptation of her TV crime drama Band Of Gold.

Mellor’s humorous but heart-breaking story revolves around a group of women, Carol, Rose, Anita and Gina, as a young mother is drawn into a notorious red-light district, and with a killer on the loose, a battle for survival ensues.

Snow show of the week

Badapple Theatre in The Snow Dancer, on tour on your doorstep from Thursday to December 29

KATE Bramley’s Badapple Theatre Company present a Christmas show set in The Great Wood, where something is awry.

The animals are desperate for sleep, but with the onset of global warming, the weather is just too warm. The intrepid heroes, played by Anastasia Benham and Danny Mellor, decide they must seek out the mysterious Snow Dancer if there is any chance of ever making it snow for Christmas.

Diva of the week

The Velma Celli Christmas Show, The Basement, City Screen, Friday, 5.30pm and 7.30pm

VELMA Celli, the cabaret diva creation of York actor and West End star Ian Stroughair, completes another year of divine drag performances at The Basement with not one, but two Christmas shows.

The 7.30pm gig sold out quickly, prompting Velma to add a 5.30pm one too as another chance to camp up Christmas to the max, Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You et al.

Nautical but nice community panto of the week

Rowntree Players in Sinbad, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Saturday to December 14

JOIN Sinbad (Hannah King), his brother Gilly (Gemma McDonald) and his mother, Dame Tilly Tinbad (Graham Smith), as they voyage the five seas in a race against time to prevent Abadun, the Pirate Queen (Laura White), becoming ruler of the whole world.

Rowntree Players promise dazzling sets and costumes, vibrant song and dance, soaking slapstick and the same jokes as last year from co-writers Howard Ella and Andy Welch in this rollicking romp of a family pantomime.

There ain’t nothing like a dame in this show….

Sleeping Beauty, York Theatre Royal, Saturday to January 25

MOVE over Dame Berwick Kaler after 40 years of York Theatre Royal pantomayhem. All rise for Queen Ariadne, the new role for Kaler’s erstwhile simpleton sidekick/punchbag Martin Barrass, and he is very definitely not the new dame, but the queen.

Dame Berwick has written the script for Barrass, David Leonard, Suzy Cooper, AJ Powell and co and is co-directing the show with former Leeds City Varieties rock’n’roll pantomime director Matt Aston.

Golden opportunity of the week

Shed Seven, Leeds First Direct Arena, Saturday, doors, 6pm

AFTER marking the 20th anniversary of their Going For Gold compilation with a gold vinyl re-issue and frontman Rick Witter’s tipple-tasting appearance on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, the Sheds are back on the road for their longest ever Shedcember tour.

Saturday’s gig at Leeds First Direct Arena – the same night Manchester’s Happy Mondays play the smaller Leeds O2 Academy – will be the York band’s biggest since 8,000 Shedheads gathered at Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl on June 29 2018.

Tea time…

Blackbeard’s Tea Party Christmas Show!, The Crescent, York, Saturday, 7.30pm

THIS year marks a decade since Blackbeard’s Tea Party first busked on York’s streets. “We’re delighted to still be here, rabble rousing and getting people dancing,” they say. “Oh, and we might have recorded a little special something to mark the occasion. Watch this space.”

Seth Lakeman’s Crescent folk gig on Tuesday has sold out, by the way.

Comic romp of the week

Baron Productions in The Rivals, Pickering, Saturday, and St Mary's Church, Bishophill Junior, York, December 12 to 14, 7.30pm

YORK company Baron Productions stage Paul Toy’s production of Sheridan’s Georgian comedy of manners, now set at the turn of the 19th century, allowing for dashing Poldark-esque costumes, the occasional wig and a healthy dose of swaggering and swashbuckling.

What happens? Captain Jack Absolute conducts a clandestine courtship of the cynical yet romantic Lydia Languish, right under the noses of their respective guardians, blustering Sir Anthony Absolute and word flipper Mrs Malaprop.