May 2008 Archives

News is that the Tate Liverpool has now sold around 20,000 tickets for its hotly-anticipated Klimt exhibition which opens today.
It means the show is already a record-breaker, which must be a record in itself.

Princess Anne was in town earlier this week to officially open the new Victoria Art Gallery and Museum at Liverpool University.
It's been a busy time for royal visits with the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh last Thursday and then their only daughter barely a week later.
The £8.6m gallery and museum opens to the public on June 30 and it will be free to visit which is great news.
The Princess Royal spent an hour there on Wednesday and by all accounts she was particularly interested in the skeleton they have of 1897 and 1899 Grand National winner Manifesto.

It was Evita press night on Tuesday and I admit I felt a bit nervous.
With our Magaldi auditions and various chats with the cast, I'd started to feel quite motherly about the whole production.
Not that it would have stopped me being critical of it in my review if it had needed it.
But they deserved the standing ovation because, as many people said to me afterwards, it was the best version of Evita they had ever seen.

So after chasing the elusive Ringo Starr round and round the Chelsea Flower Show asking "have you got a message for Liverpool?" it was a relief when Paul McCartney agreed to call ME!
Macca agreed to have a chat with the Echo in the run up to Liverpool Sound on Sunday.
Of course, nothing goes without a hitch and as we've all seen in the letters pages and in stories today there are a number of unhappy top price ticketholders who have suddenly found themselves in the relegation zone as far as seating is concerned.
It's such a shame, because Macca's first gig in Liverpool for five years should be a day for celebration, not recrimination.
Let's hope the council/culture company get it sorted out, because as someone at the heart of Sunday said to me, they don't want things to turn into a fiasco.
We can't AFFORD things to turn into a fiasco frankly.

Ah, a day (almost) at rest after the flurry of the Queen's visit yesterday.
And I'm not the only one who is probably relieved - a little bird told me Liverpool One boss Rod Holmes could be seen scurrying around the site on Tuesday telling everyone "come on, come on, the Queen's coming" or words to that effect.
Still, Rod has what is probably a rather busy week ahead of him now whereas for most of the rest of us it's the bank holiday.
At least the sun shone and several hundred people turned out to see the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.

I took a plethora of pictures at the Chelsea Flower Show and couldn't get them all on yesterday's entry so here are some of the others.....

(George Harrison's Wavertree birthplace is remembered in the garden to his life)

From Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen and live chickens to the undignified scrum for Ringo.
No one told me the Chelsea Flower Show could be so much fun!

Another one of those "highlights" of Capital of Culture year.
I don't mean those quote marks sarcastically - there really have been so many highlights in 2008 and it's only mid-May.
In fact, last night's concert at the Phil was the second stunning Capital of Culture event I'd attended in the same week, after the treat of Tartuffe on Tuesday.
Not forgetting the Sheppard-Worlock statue unveiling last Sunday.
Terfel was in fine, effortlessly glorious voice as you'd expect. But the Phil and Phil choir were his match at every step and they as much as Terfel deserved the standing ovation that came after three musical encores.
Mind you, not everyone in the audience was overjoyed he finished with You'll Never Walk Alone.....

I've been telling everyone I meet: "you must go and see Tartuffe."
The Roger McGough-adapted, Gemma Bodinetz-directed rhyming comedy is on at the Playhouse until May 31.
And it seems to be playing to standing ovations most nights.
I'm happy to admit I was so bowled over by the production I gave it 10/10 in my review yesterday - only the second 10 I have handed out in more than five years of reviewing for the Echo.
On the face of it, the idea of going to see a 17th century French play about religious hypocrisy may not appeal to everyone.
But you'll regret it if you don't go.
A Capital of Culture highlight. In fact, a highlight of any time and any where.

Press conferences - they're great.
Oh no they aren't! Oh yes they are!
I've just returned from the Empire where they were unveiling their stellar line up for the Christmas panto Cinderella.
Cinders herself, Jenny Ellison, has filming commitments and couldn't be there.
But fairy godmother Cilla Black was in attendance dressed in silver and looking like a cross between a mermaid and Elvis.