LIVERPOOL’S Chinese Arch, the largest outside China, had seen nothing like it before. Yesterday, some of the craziest Chinese characters ever assembled gathered next to it.

There was a bearded woman, a burly character wearing a tea cosy on his head, and a camp genie, together with a prince and princess.

They were some of the characters appearing in Aladdin – Genie in the Sky With Diamonds, this year’s rock and roll pantomime at the Liverpool Everyman.

The bearded woman was Francis Tucker, who will play the drag role of Dottie Twanky. “It’s a rehearsal beard and will be gone before the show opens,” he promised. The tea cosy man was Phil Corbitt, who will be playing the wicked Abanaza. “I am a grown man and I am wearing a tea cosy on my head,” he wailed. And the furry-jacketed Steve Simmonds will be playing the genie in camp fashion. All three are veterans of the Everyman pantomime but the prince and princess – Sam Bloom as Aladdin and Emily Grace as the princess – are both Everyman newcomers.

Emily was just back from Los Angeles where she had been showcasing her band, Almost Amy. “We got a manager from it,” she reported, while Sam Bloom is probably best remembered as a member of the band AllSTARS and the children’s television series STARStreet in which they appeared.

ALADDIN opens at the Liverpool Everyman on November 23, and runs until January 12.