On The Ledge
We’ve just enjoyed another great night out in Liverpool.
The evening began with a nosh at the Everyman Bistro. Who cares if it’s like sitting in a school canteen – the food was brilliant. Loads of vegetarian choices and lots of gluten-free dishes too. (It truly is the mark of a good, caring, restaurant when they acknowledge the one in fourteen of us who are veggies and the ever growing number who are medically intolerant to wheat). The atmosphere in there was great too. And it was interesting ear-wigging Matthew Kelly and his chums on the next table!
Our theatre tickets, however, were for elsewhere. So we left the Matthews Rixon and Kelly to perform their Endgame at The Everyman and walked back into the city centre.
Alan Bleasdale penned On The Ledge some fifteen years ago, and has rewritten parts of this black comedy for it’s current airing at the Royal Court Theatre.
It is set three stories up Read the rest of this entry »
Dead-ringer from hell
Meat Loaf he ain’t
…but Hell, you wouldn’t know! – He’s got the hair, the belly, the look and charisma.
As we drove down to the venue, Jayne remarked “This Hollis guy’s going to have to be good to sound like the real thing”!
She needn’t have worried. Sure, Hollis was a Dead Ringer for Michael Lee Aday (Meat Loaf to you and me) – but most of all he’s got the voice too.
This wasn’t just another tribute band. This was the Meat Loaf Rock Opera, and as the story unfolded, Hollis, his singers and his band delivered a superb performance from start to finish.
Close your eyes and it WAS Meat Loaf. Open them again and you still found it hard to believe that this wasn’t the man himself, delivering song after powerful song from the stage at Rhyl’s Pavilion theatre.
I honestly couldn’t fault it. The band were brilliant – and kudos to their new bassist who delivered a flawless base line throughout despite this being only his third appearance with the band. He was really living the dream and he did it effortlessly. I’ll wager not many of the audience even picked up on the fact he was having to keep one eye on the sheet music as he gave it his all.
Sound quality – so often left wanting at this type of event – was spot on. The two sound engineers did a great job.
The four girl singers – all from Cornwall – were not just decoration and backing vocals. Each of them performed solo numbers which proved what talented singers they were. One of the newest, who played the dippy character Daisy, had a squeaky “little girl” speaking voice and an authentic New York accent. You found it hard to believe where the sound was coming from when this delightfully diminutive creature belted out “Devil Gate Drive” with such gusto that would have put Suzi Quatro herself to shame. Absolutely brilliant!
Jayne and I came away with our ears ringing, hands stinging and our feet still tapping.
If the Meat Loaf Rock Opera tour includes a venue in your area – don’t miss it! Hell! If it ISN’T visiting your area – still don’t miss it!
You’ll find the tour dates on their web site:
www.thedeadringerfromhell.co.uk
Brick up the Mersey Tunnels
The last comedy we went to see was Alan Ayckbourne’s Bedroom Farce at Venue Cymru in Llandudno. And a farce it was too – but not in the sense the producers intended! We walked out of the poorly acted production well before half time.
Last night was very different. It was a last minute decision to go and see Brick up the Mersey Tunnels and boy, are we glad we did!
The only seats left were in the front balcony at Liverpool’s magnificent Royal Court Theatre (a real theatre as opposed to the characterless “boxes” they build today). The high viewpoint didn’t impair our enjoyment one bit. The wonderful scouse humour on stage was at times matched by the heckling as the story unfolded about the cultural divide between the Wirral and Liverpool.
Jaws were well and truly aching by the end of the night. this was a wonderfully wicked comedy. Catch it if you can.
