Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
British Blues Rock has never seemed healthier. Perhaps it’s the times the nation is living through and experiencing or it may just be because a generation of performers, sick and tired of the same old thing have gone in search of a musical utopia and bought back a message from the past which says this stuff is very cool, why did we ever abandon it?
Liverpool sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Sylvester McCoy, Tracey Childs, Christian Edwards, David Silbey, Jonathan Forbes, Paul Chahidi, Miranda Raison, Gemma Whelen.
Persuasion is perhaps the most potent weapon on the planet, if you can influence your way of thinking on to others what could that make you? A skilled negotiator perhaps, a person of reason, a tyrannical despot or perhaps the biggest persuader and manipulator of them all, The Doctor!
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The sheer magnetism that runs through The Hummingbirds, whether in their live sets which sets the pulses racing as if being hooked up to the national grid or in the studio recordings which just seem to get better and better, certainly marks them out as being part of the new breed, the surging confidence in music from Merseyside.
Their latest self-titled E.P. release epitomizes this and once more the band has come up with a set of music which has been strung together in timeless fashion and made to resemble a piece of work that gets pawed at, eyes glowing with anticipation as the prospect of each song coming through the speakers is nothing short of tantalising.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Cast: Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, John Leeson, David Warner, Toby Hadoke, Dominic Mafham, Jane Slavin, Nicholas Briggs, John Dorney.
If for nothing else, and to be fair there is a lot of emotion running through this last episode of Tom Baker’s second series for Big Finish. For fans of the classic series of Doctor Who, the final moments and words of May Tamm as the compelling Lady Romana as she admits to want to carry on travelling with The Doctor in the Tardis and keep an eye on him are filled with a deep and lasting regret as this would be the last the devotees and story addicts will ever get to hear new and well-polished expressions by one of the finest actors to step on board the Tardis.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Lucinda France-Hayhurst, Daniel Baird, Jennifer Moule.
Language is perhaps the most important thing a human can have in its fight to remain individual but what happens when the boundaries become blurred and tainted when one particular person starts to try and sound as if they appealing to all, the loss of voice, the mark of individuality becomes lost and in that danger and even evil can be seen to take root.
Following on from the success of the last few years (Merry Ding Dong, Scouse Pacific, Little Scouse On The Prairie, A Nightmare On Lime Street) Fred Lawless has set the action in space and the show is called The Hitchhiker’s Guide To Fazakerley and now the Royal Court Theatre has announced the cast for this fantastic festive offering for 2013.
The cast can now be confirmed as Michael Starke, Lindzi Germain, Lynn Francis, Angela Simms and Jack Rigby! Michael, Lindzi and Lynn were all in last year’s brilliant comedy A Nightmare on Lime Street but this is the first Christmas show for Jack (Our Day Out, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Angela (Ladies Day). The show will be directed by Royal Court Artistic Director Ken Alexander and the Musical Director will be Howard Gray.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Charlotte Wilson, Bethany Slinn, Iona Campbell, Bryony Holloway, Geraint Williams, Darren Begley, Jack Conway, Alex Cottrell, Sarah Peverley.
There is always a new way to look at anything in life, it just takes courage, conviction and imagination and as the weather was making its mind on whether to add a little extra spice and atmosphere to the occasion, The University Of Liverpool Drama Society’s interpretation of Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market was weaving its dark, peculiar spell around a fascinated audience at the Kazimier Gardens ahead of it transferring to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Jackie Clune, Amy Lennox, Natalie Casey, Ben Richards, Anita Louise Combe, Mark Willshire, Marlon Moore, Tom Andrew Hargreaves, Philip Bertioli, Lori Haley Fox, Gemma Maclean, Lisa Bridge, Andrew Waldron, Lauren Stroud.
It seems strange that after 30 years, some of the issues raised in 9 To 5 have yet to be tackled head on and the change in attitude promised by so many has yet to actually come to fruition. However, quite rightly, the musical has become a national favourite, with audiences joining in the fun in a similar way to when The Rocky Horror Show or The Sound of Music is in town and dressing up as their favourite characters from this amazing production.
This coming September a production by new playwright Bill Snell will be making its way to The Lantern Theatre following a successful run in North Wales.
Sweets For My Sweet tells the story of two young lovers Billy and Mo who work in a 1970s Liverpool sweet factory (Bill Snell himself worked in Barker and Dobson) and this time the production will be performed in support of the Roy Castle Lung Foundation.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
The name and music of Alela Diane might be lost on the vast majority of people in the U.K., in the same way that some of these isles more eclectic and diverse musicians might be mislaid or even missing from the American subconscious. It doesn’t mean they should be dismissed, it just means that the ocean that divides a common tongue is sometimes just that little too wide, too expansive for a great ship to traverse.