April 2010 Archives

THE RLPO's Mahler Edition concert series is the subject of a new 30-minute film on Sky Arts 2 this weekend.
Sky Arts at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is presented by Liverpudlian poet and broadcaster Roger McGough

THE Royal Court is launching a series of new 'afternoon variety' shows.
The new Royal Court Variety Lunch Club is aimed at theatregoers who prefer to be entertained and get home while it is still light.

Finally! We can officially announce what the rumour mill has been spreading for a little while now - Sex and the City's Kim Cattrall is set to play Cleopatra in Liverpool this autumn.
I can imagine the tickets will be snapped up like the proverbial hot cakes when they go on public sale on May 17. Apparently if you become a Theatre First member though you can get them from today.....

Are you a bit bored of politicians? Does the idea of a whole night of election coverage leaves you cold?
Help is at hand with comedy coming to Liverpool in force next Thursday.
John Bishop is at the ECHO arena, while Daniel Kitson brings his new stage show to the Everyman.

I went to a very interesting evening's chat with Mike McCartney at Liverpool Cathedral on Friday night.
Mike talked about his photography, the surrealism of The Scaffold, and yes, a bit about "our kid" (Sir Paul McCartney to you and me) as well.
The "in conversation with" was interspersed by some of Mike's favourite music including some terrific Django Reinhardt played by Gary Potter, and Come Together in a unique version by the guitar-playing Katona Twins.

AWARD-winning musical Rent takes to the stage in Liverpool tomorrow.
The show, at the Black-E in Great George Street, is the first time Jonathan Larson's Tony award and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical has been granted permission to be staged on Merseyside.

It appears to be business as usual for the city's theatres and arts venues despite the chaos that has descended on northern Europe.
Most of the shows are thankfully already touring the UK or are "homegrown".
Even the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's chief conductor Vasily Petrenko, performing in Amsterdam over the weekend, has made it home in one piece.
Apparently with the airlink between Amsterdam and Liverpool grounded, he caught a ship from the Hook of Holland.
So anyone with a ticket for Thursday's Petrushka concert breathe easy, it will go ahead.

Former EastEnder and Grange Hill actor Todd Carty is the latest name to sign up for the first UK tour of Spamalot heading for the Liverpool Empire in August.
He will play Patsy in the show alongside Marcus Brigstocke as King Arthur and Jodie Prenger as Lady of the Lake.

Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson's creepy Ghost Stories is heading for the West End I hear today.
The hit show, a joint production between the Everyman and the Lyric Hammersmith, will open at the Duke of York's theatre on June 25.

I dropped in to the Cavern yesterday where they were holding auditions for The Beatles Sessions, an amazing new live show-in-the-round which will recreate the band's recording career at Abbey Road.
The project has real pedigree, being helmed by Stig Edgren who is responsible for the Elvis live show which recently came to the ECHO arena plus other spectaculars across the globe, and by Geoff Emerick, the Fab Four's original sound engineer at EMI.