Another night, another major show. Daily Post Arts Editor Philip Key delivers his verdict on Liverpool: The Musical

IF YOU are going to tell the story of Liverpool from the days of Empire to its current redevelopment in music, song, film and aerial acrobatics, you will need a touch of imaginative genius or a sense of the foolhardy.

The organisers of Liverpool: The Musical at the new Echo Arena, Liverpool had a bit of both.

This was a kaleidoscopic view of history and like any kaleidoscope, each turn brought a fantastic image. As a story, however, it remained a jumble.

What artistic directors Nigel Jamieson and Jayne Casey succeeded in creating was a one-off night of razzmatazz never likely to be repeated.

This being a Liverpool show, it had to open with a spot of self-deprecating comedy with the stage filled with workmen still apparently hammering and drilling.

One of them got on board a flying Liverpool 2008 sign, walked precariously along it when the lights on the final ‘L’ in Liverpool went out and then fell off when it exploded. It got a good laugh.

A film of someone reciting Carl Jung’s dream about Liverpool being the “Pool of Life” came complete with film visions of the city and the tree from his reverie.

Then high up above the stage, the three members of No Fakin DJs played a strange rock version of Rule Britannia while jigging about to the beat.

But this was just the introduction to the first of the stage spectacles, the entire Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra playing in individual boxes on six levels. Like a vast set for Celebrity Squares, it was daft yet strangely effective.

On the sides, sea scouts with flags did a semaphore accompaniment while a soprano dressed as Britannia sat in the middle of the players belting out the words.

The conductor, Vasily Petrenko, wearing earphones conducted from an industrial hydraulic lift which varied in height. The earphones were probably necessary as at times the orchestra, playing behind a translucent screen, were hidden from view as images were played on the screen. As it was, vocals from the massive choirs were not always in synch with the music, perhaps a minor matter in such over-the-top spectacle.

The flag-waving songs of Empire were followed by the more serious sounds of Amazing Grace in various versions, performed over screen images of the slave ships on which much of the city’s wealth was built, plus Monty Python-like animations of Queen Victoria.

In a sudden shift of emphasis, we had film of Liverpool in the blitz and the poverty of the 1930s, a few polemic words on screen (“Everyone Has the Right to Freedom of Expression”, etc) and a few personal reminiscences on the not always audible soundtrack. New Liverpool group The Wombats sang their new recording, Moving to New York, with archive film of merchant sailors and the great liners which left the city to cross the Atlantic.

The Phil kept up an almost constant accompaniment behind the screen, sometimes visible, sometimes not and Liverpool blues singer Connie Lush gave a belting performance of I Put a Spell on You. Here there was some of the night’s entertainment overkill in which two acrobats did some clever stuff halfway up a rope while Connie sang, a case of too much going on at the same time.

Garry Christian and band did a fine version of Revolution and the RLPO played an extract from The Rite of Spring and accompanied Jenny John and the Sense of Sound choir on All You Need is Love with Pop Art images.

Urban Strawberry Lunch did their percussive thing on Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Two Tribes (images here included Thatcher and Hatton), rap singer Riuven gave an aggressive performance of This is How We Do It, apparently celebrating Liverpool’s scally culture, and Shack, with backing from the Phil, performed Pull Together.

Connie Lush reappeared to perform her own song, Shopping, to images of Liverpool’s Big Dig and new shopping malls, and Pete Wylie in a Bacofoil-type jacket delivered his anthem Heart as Big as Liverpool.

Film of John Lennon larking about somewhere, accompanied by the song Mind Games, got a big cheer from the audience. He remains a Liverpool hero.

We had football images from Liverpool and Everton, children carrying boxes lit like lanterns and The Farm getting one of the biggest reactions with All Together Now, one of those anthem songs which never seems to have an end. The visual accompaniment came from girls climbing up and down silk ropes.

By the time Ringo Starr came on after nearly two hours, one almost forgot he was in the show. But he was up for it, grinning broadly and doing his trademark double victory sign. He repeated his new song, Liverpool 8, first heard at the Friday night People’s Opening, sounding a bit better here with the Phil’s accompaniment.

There was a Beatles song, With a Little Help From My Friends, and finally everyone got together for John Lennon’s Power to the People, another of those anthems which could go on for ever.

At times, it seemed it almost would as the assembled cast appeared unwilling to leave the stage.

Liverpool: The Musical may not have been the most homogeneous show ever staged. But, as an example of Liverpool’s spirit, talent and energy, it was unbeatable.

philkey