Liverpool Empire Archives - Page 6 of 8

5Oct

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

Bat out of Hell – Liverpool Empire

What do you get if you cross Peter Pan, Romeo and Juliet and Gossip Girl? Sadly, it would be a mess, which is what happened when Bat out of Hell opened at the Liverpool Empire last night. The show is set in the Dystopian city of Obsidian (although this is never mentioned to the audience) and the story of Strat, who is one of ‘The Lost’ and Raven, the daughter of the city’s leader – Falco. They have seen each other briefly, but have fallen madly in love with each other, much to Falco’s disapproval. The other issue is that Strat has been frozen and will remain 18 forever, no matter how old Raven becomes. It is not just Strat that Falco disapproves of it is all of The Lost and he tries as hard as he can to remove them from the streets and subways of the city. Act one was extremely difficul...

The Osmonds: A New Musical – Liverpool Empire

7Sep

By Anne PritchardNo Comments

North West

The Osmonds: A New Musical – Liverpool Empire

Love them or loathe them, The Osmonds were a tour de force in the musical showground in the 1960’s and 1970’s and the brothers attracted massive adulation from female fans, particularly Donny; together the group lived an incredible life producing chart-topping albums, selling out huge arena concerts and creating record-breaking TV shows. This production is based on Jay Osmond’s personal experiences charting the story of an extraordinary family and their rise to superstardom. Alex Lodge as Jay acts as Narrator; he managed a heavy script containing facts and figures about the Osmond family detailing their highs and lows; he did it extremely well with exuberance and panache. The Osmond brothers and sister, Marie were born in Utah, USA to parents George and Olive; brothers Alan, Wayne...

Little Shop of Horrors – Liverpool Empire

27Aug

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Little Shop of Horrors – Liverpool Empire

Brimming with camp, B-Movie schtick, damsels in distress and botany with a bite, Little Shop of Horrors has long been a cult favourite. Liverpool Empire’s Youth Theatre group has done itself proud in bringing this quirky and energetic musical to the stage. If you’re not familiar with the story, it follows the nerdishly charming Seymour Krelborn, a flower shop boy who comes into the possession of a strange, exotic-looking plant during a solar eclipse. Seymour wants nothing more than to win the heart of his fellow shop assistant, Audrey, but the plant’s unusual feeding regime soon gives him something far more gruesome to focus on. Surrounded by an excellent set, with spot-on costumes, and supported by a superb band under the ever-reliable baton of Musical Director Paul Lawton, direc...

6Jul

By Codie WrightNo Comments

North West

School of Rock – Liverpool Empire

I left School of Rock at the Empire on Tuesday a mixture of feelings: on one hand, I was buzzing with the energy of a fantastic show, with an electric finale and ultimate feel-good vibe. On the other hand however, I was deflated - knowing I will never, nor have ever been, as equal-parts cool and insanely talented as the child cast that were on the stage tonight. Because as Andrew Lloyd Webber himself assured us at the start of the show, yes, they do play their own instruments live! The story follows the film almost exactly. Dewey Finn (Jake Sharp) is living with, and sponging from, his best friend Ned Schneebly (played exquisitely by Matthew Rowland) and his long-suffering girlfriend Patty (Nadia Violet Johnson). He has been threatened with eviction by the pair, as well as being kicked ...

22Jun

By Jenn McKeanNo Comments

North West

Singin’ in the Rain – Liverpool Empire

Don’t you know everyone wants to laugh? The stage production of what is arguably one of Gene Kelly’s most famous films, Singin’ in the Rain, is once again making its way around the UK once more and is continuing to entertain audiences, just as it did in the 1950s. With such a famous score, including the titular track, ‘Good Morning’, ‘Moses Supposes’ and ‘Make ‘Em Laugh’, to name but a few, the musical really does make the film come to life right in front of your eyes. In 1927, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are at the height of their fame as silent movie stars. Their latest movie is a massive smash hit, and they are about to start working on the next film, when news reaches them, about Warner Brothers’ next film – a talking picture. What can they do to maintain their stardom and what ...

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Liverpool Empire

8Jun

By Anne PritchardNo Comments

North West

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Liverpool Empire

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a musical show collaboratively written by musical theatre legends Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Weber, based on an Old Testament bible story. For those not familiar with the story, it is about Jacob who has a large family of twelve sons. He has more affection for one of his sons, Joseph, and favours him over his eleven brothers. He has a special multi-coloured coat made for him and this causes jealousy among the brothers, so they decide to sell Joseph into slavery; after doing so they take his beautiful multi-coloured coat back to their father telling him that his beloved son has been killed. Joseph has an ability to interpret dreams and his predictions for people had proved correct prior to being in captivity. This comes to the no...

Derren Brown: Showman – Liverpool Empire

1Jun

By Jenn McKeanNo Comments

North West

Derren Brown: Showman – Liverpool Empire

Forget Hugh Jackman, the greatest showman of our generation without a doubt is Derren Brown. The prominent illusionist rose to fame in the early 2000s, starting with the TV show Mind Control and other shows such as Trick of the Mind and his specials Sacrifice, Miracle: Faith or Fiction and The Push are currently available to stream on Netflix, with more available on All4. He has always stated that he is able to manipulate the mind and use psychology to work out people’s actions. More often than not, he is able to do exactly what he says and has stunned audiences worldwide. In today’s fickle age, over 20 years after his rise to fame, he is still as popular with audiences and able to stun them to silence in awe at what he does. Unfortunately, I can’t go into detail about what we wi...

The Play That Goes Wrong – Liverpool Empire

24May

By Jenn McKeanNo Comments

North West

The Play That Goes Wrong – Liverpool Empire

The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society has finally found the play for their member numbers and the time has come for them to put it in front of an audience, but are they ready? Mischief Comedy’s The Play That Goes Wrong focuses on the Drama Society’s performance of Murder at Haversham Manor and is two hours of guaranteed laughs and enjoyment. Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, it is a comedy and a piece that will stand the test of time, as there is no actual time period mentioned throughout the piece. The comedic timing is absolutely spot on and to be able to deliver the piece straight-faced, whilst standing in exactly the right place at the right time, so as not to mess up any of the cues definitely takes a special type of skill. Just when you think nothing els...

The Rocky Horror Show – Liverpool Empire

17May

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

The Rocky Horror Show – Liverpool Empire

Well, what a hoot! From start to finish this show was an absolute rollercoaster of mayhem, laughter and double-entendres! The Rocky Horror Show – more of a phenomenon now since it first braced the theatres nearly 50 years ago (since 1973)- has become the biggest cult musical of all time. Richard 0’Brien’s wacky story of how two squeaky clean college kids – Brad and his fiancée Janet, when by a twist of fate, find their way into a creepy mansion whilst on their way to visit their former college professor, meet the charismatic Dr Frank ’n’ Furter and change their lives forever, has taken on a new life of its own. I have seen the show a couple of times and thought it’s time I educated my 17-year-old son into the world of “The Mind Warp” and to the craziness that is the Rocky Horror Show. A...

10May

By Codie WrightNo Comments

North West

Waitress – Liverpool Empire

I’ll be honest, they had me at “all-female creative team”. I’d heard such a buzz about Waitress, but aside from some passionate warblings of “She Used to Be Mine” on many an am-dram stage, it wasn’t one I had quite gotten around to learning about, and so I was going in blind. Adapted from the film by Adrienne Shelly, the show features a heart-manipulating score by Sara Bareilles that takes the audience through a full spectrum of emotions across both acts. I will say that at times some lyrics got a little lost in the mix, which is a shame as there were some amazing laugh-out-loud moments, and real gut punches in the words that I could make out. The live band were set at the back of the stage, with members occasionally popping up elsewhere to build the story - such as a sultry cello narra...