Penguin cafe at The Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There may well have been more instruments on stage than you would find in the front window of a well-stocked music shop and more performers on stage than you would notes on a piano but each one was more than needed to give the rich, almost delicate sound demanded by the ensemble of musicians that make up the very talented and very cool Penguin Café.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
When the world of music lost Buddy Holly in a plane crash that took three of the brightest stars in American culture, he was only 22. Given good health he probably would have still been with us today and no doubt enjoying a little stage time or at least sitting in a corner and being a true inspiration and mentor to a whole generation of musicians to whom the 1950s is as alien and remote as playing outside all day and not coming home till it gets dark.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Crissy Rock, Amanda Harrington, Paul Danan, Laura Gregory, Herbert Howe, Michael Chapman, Paul Quinn, Joe Cawley.
It is a story as old as Liverpool theatres, the young damsel in distress, hated by her vain and immoral step-mother, of witchcraft, of love and a man in various dresses making all laugh before him. Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs is a prime example of the British Pantomime giving all who make their way to the theatre at Christmas a good time, full of songs and cheer and that in the end good will overcome evil. The Epstein Theatre’s festive foray into the world of sparkly tights and vanity mirrors is a delight that kept giving.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The applause could have rung out all night inside the Epstein Theatre; Dean Friedman can have also performed well into the small hours of the following day if time deemed it possible. However, even the sight of the American music maker on stage for two sets was more than enough in the end to placate the crowd who had sat thrilled and elated by the sound of the man, his melody and his music.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Jennifer Bea, Lindzi Germain, Michael Swift, Warren Donnelly, Tony James, Richie Grice, Mickey Finn.
The thing with some productions is that they do exactly what they say on the tin, there is no small print suggesting that the production will be akin to some lost Shakespeare play, full of pathos and anger, cunning and revenge. Instead it just happens to be good, in some cases very good at being able to give people exactly what they need, especially in a world that seems to be very bleak and full of unpleasantness, that of laughter and an excuse to crack a smile and laugh till it hurts. For Bon Voyage, presented by Boom Boom Productions, this is that type of play and for that the smile just got a little broader.
Richie Grice cuts a commanding but ultimately loveable figure as he sits before you. His love of comedy radiates outwards from the very time you meet him and he certainly knows his stuff and his ready laugh is easy and a joyous thing to hear whenever you mention something that tickles his own funny bone.
With rehearsals well under way for Bon Voyage at The Epstein Theatre, which stars the superb Lindzi Germain and the legendary Mickey Finn, I was able to catch ten precious minutes with the man who co-wrote the play with Paul Nicholson at The Garden at FACT and ask him his thoughts on the play and on comedy.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Lucy Williamson, Emma Dears.
Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, perhaps two of the biggest names in American show business ever and surely impossible to ever replicate on stage what they have each achieved and the adoration in which they are still held to this day. Whilst Judy Garland’s life was heartbreakingly cut short due to near obscene levels of pressure, Ms Minnelli has been a born survivor despite the huge ruby slippers she had to fill and yet in Judy & Liza it was if the two women had come back together just one more time.
Wild Flowers, Franny Conlin’s powerful play about a family torn apart due to their son crossing the picket line during the Dockers Strike of 1995, returns after a year away and will be spending two nights at the Epstein Theatre on the 29th and 30th March. This critically acclaimed play looks at the members of the Lavelle family whose son James turns away from the family and takes the path to personal destruction. It is a brutally honest play and one that deserves to be seen by a wide audience.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Just under two weeks after releasing what is already a compelling contender for album of the year and Robert Vincent is a welcome surprise for those attending the first gig by Parlour Flames at The Epstein Theatre as he comes on stage to present five of the songs from his debut album.
It certainly was the type of gig that Robert Vincent thrives in, it’s personable, light and with just the right audience that will listen intently to what he has to say and with Robert’s lyrics, he really has a lot to say.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Avant-Garde, interesting, going against the well-established grain and rather good to spend the evening in their company, all the things you need to hear when listening to the band Parlour Flames. There is something else to add to that list that will invariably grow over the next few months as well, Paul Arthurs, the man known to a generation of Oasis fans as Bonehead, has found a kindred spirit and someone who seems to care about him and the music in Manchester poet Vinny Peculiar.