Good news for Haley Flaherty - the audience seemed to really like her.
Haley is the actress who has had to step in to the role of Roxie Hart in Chicago currently on at the Empire.
Jennifer Ellison was supposed to be playing Roxie but managed to dislocate her knee.
Oww!
I saw Haley in the role in Southport last November and thought then she was pretty good.
Last night she won the Ellison fans over too with a sparky performance as the Prohibition-era lady killer.
Let's hope the show sells well for the rest of its run and proves what I said in my review last year, that really Chicago is an ensemble piece.
Just because one big name is missing (however disappointing that is for the audience and for the star herself) doesn't mean the show can't and won't go on.
An entertaining evening followed by the usual miserable wait for the number 82 bus. The night-time timetable is a joke - we all waited 25 minutes and then had to cram on a single decker like the proverbial sardines.
Or maybe that should be kippers after some generous person decided to light up and let us all share their cigarette smoke?
Note to Arriva/Stagecoach/Merseytravel - things need to improve before Capital of Culture.
