The document reviews the musical "Grace Darling The Musical" produced by York Stars at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre in York. It summarizes that the musical is based on the real-life story of Grace Darling, a lighthouse keeper's daughter who became famous for rescuing survivors of a shipwreck off the coast of Northumberland in 1838. The review notes that the musical depicts Grace's life from childhood through the famous rescue to her death at age 26. It highlights some of the lead performers, including Charlotte Gray in the title role of Grace Darling.

1. THEATRE
Review: Grace Darling The
Musical, The York Stars,
Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York
9:36am Friday 2nd July 2010
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By Charles Hutchinson »
THIS is the second world premiere of a Dennis
Westgate musical by York Stars since the
community company shed “Rising” from its
name and left the Railway Institute after 13
years for a bigger stage.
Newcastle writer and composer Westgate has
created a show based loosely on the life of
Grace Darling, pretty much the Florence
Nightingale of the nautical world. In her early
20s, this lighthouse keeper’s daughter acquired
national fame for her part in the rescue of men,
women and crewmen on the stricken Forfarshire
off the Longstone coast in Northumberland.
As Westgate readily admits, not much else is
known (save that she died at only 26). And so
he has constructed a musical with a narrative
arc from childhood, as ten-year-old Grace (a
delightful Natalia Leaper) plays on the
Bamburgh rocks in 1826, through the famous
lifeboat rescue, to the tear-jerking denouement
of her death.
Friday, 2 July 2010
Her love interest, the globe-trotting Joe Swann
(Michael Tattersall), and her expansive family,
together with villagers, townsfolk and fishermen
and women, flesh out the story.
Company founder Charlotte Gray is not only the
show’s co-director (with Donna Riley and Hayley
Hetherington) but also plays the lead role of
Grace, singing particularly expressively when
Grace struggles to cope with the sudden
attention (I Care Nothing For Fame).
Rob Davies cuts a stoical figure as the family’s
rock, lighthouse keeper William Darling, and his
rendition of Keeper Of The Light is an early
highlight.
Michael Tattersall will be the one to watch from
this company; his haunting In Your Shadow is a
truly moving finale.