Originally published by L.S. Media. September 19th 2012.
Liz McClarnon is a woman of many talents. Singer, actor, chef, soon to be author and this Christmas at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool she is going to give it a go as being the best Cinderella possible.
Cast: Graeme Henderson, Francesca Loran, Adam Howard, Mathew Quinn, Chris Coxen, Christopher Wheeler, Tristan Pate, David Ribi, Josh Little, Samantha Dorrance, Katie Birtill, Anna Campkin, Ben James-Ellis, Christopher Fry, James Nitti, Robbie Durham, Emily O’ Keefe.
The past is a foreign country, as the saying goes. However the early sixties is still fresh in our minds as it bought the fashions, the music and the second wave generations of teenagers ready to find their own way, their own style and stamp their time on the following decades and those that would follow them.
Originally published by L.S.Media. August 7th 2009.
It is testament to the Liverpool Empire Stage Experience that a musical of this calibre is not only performed by the children of the area but it is done well and with more than a sense of style. From the moment you arrived at the Theatre you were greeted with the sight of the period costume from the Twenties and a fine Rolls Royce parked up upon the pavement.
This production took in over 120 children and all performed admirably and had the packed out audience in the palms of their hands from the opening number.
Originally published by L.S. Media. September 8th 2009.
Cast: Lydia Tunstall, Su Pollard, Michael Morgan, Chris Molloy, James Muller, Gemma James, Gareth Heesom, Simone Craddock, Lorinda King.
A story about an orphaned girl, the depression, 1930’s American society and the undercurrent of child beating doesn’t spring to mind the plot of a heart warming musical that combines some of theatre’s best known songs with some feisty one liners and cheekiness, but in the hands of director Roger Hannah and produces Chris Moreno this classic of film and theatre has been given new life.
Originally published by L.S. Media. October 9th 2009.
Cast: Pauline Daniels, Mark Moraghan, Emma Vaudrey, Emma Grace Arends, Ciaran Kellgren, Colin Connor, Anthony Watson, Marie Ekins, Joyce Greenaway, Annie Walker, Gordon Hall, Ronnie Orr.
It is easy to see why the local papers announced before the play started its current run at the Empire that Twopence To Cross The Mersey had taken in over two million pounds at the box office over the last few years. With such talented performers on stage taking the various parts from the author’s life and an excellent musical score to match, there was nothing for the packed out audience to not like.
Cast: Kara Lane, Haley Flaherty, Mark Evans, Michael Starke, Brian McCann, Ceris Hine, David Bedella, Dominic Tribuzio, Nathen Amzi.
Over thirty five years since its inception, The Rocky Horror Show still shows no sign of slowing down and resting on its sparkly top hat or putting down its feather boa. As ever the public still love this story of mad transvestites, spooky houses and tongue in cheek gore which can thrill, chill and fulfil even the stoniest of hearts.
Originally published by L.S. Media. March 23rd 2010.
Cast: Shaun Williamson, Daniel West, Nicholas Lumley, John Conroy, Peter Alexander, Richard Syms, Claire Andreadis, Andrew Scott Butler, Jon De Ville, Jolana Lee, Mark Pearce, Barrett Robertson, Alex Tanner, Matt Weyland, Ryan Winston.
Not that long ago, a sitcom took the country by storm, not for its high brow wit, not for snappy one-liners but for the place and its subject matter. There are not that many writers who could make a comedy gold out of the idea of sending a man to prison and the prospect of dealing with the establishment (both in the form of the Prison Officers and the man who actually ran the prison, in this case, the genial Harry Grout).
Originally published by L.S. Media. June 9th 2010.
Cast: Peter Howe, Christopher Robbie, James Hedley, Seb Morgan, Danny Fox, Russell Clough, Antony Gabriel, William St. Clair, Craig Whittaker, Kirk Barker, Paul Chesterton, Christopher Llewellyn.
There are books and stories that are just too epic and grand in scale to try and transfer over to the theatre, The Hobbit isn’t one of them…just.
Cast: Darren Bennett, Tony Jackson, Edward peel, Kim Ismay, Nigel Garton, Richard Ashton, Rachel Stanley, Dean Maynard, John Griffiths, Lucy Buckingham, Moray Treadwell, Alex France, Andrew Waldron.
If ever there was a film that was ripe for the theatre then surely it is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This 1968 cinema graphic smash had all the ingredients of a fine story (much of this down to the original book by James Bond creator Ian Fleming and subsequent script adaptation by Roald Dahl and Liverpool born Ken Hughes), a slightly eccentric inventor with a fantastic name, Caractacus Potts, a sweet factory owned by the Scrumptious family, foreign enemies and of course the most fantasmagorical (sic) car!
Originally published by L.S. Media. August 10th 2010.
“Camelot, it’s such a silly place” but so marvellous to visit and a joy to see Eric Idle’s West End smash hit comedy Spamalot transfer effortlessly around the country and eventually park the savage rabbit, doll out the much loved absurdity and revel in the spirit that is pure Monty Python at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool.
Written by Eric Idle and a musical score by John Du Prez, the story is pretty much the same as the film created by the Python team but with a few saucy extra bits added to give the talented cast as much time on stage as is possible.