On stage with Pete Price

Each month Liverpool legend Pete Price lifts the curtain and takes you into the spotlight of Liverpool’s best theatres.

Not only will Pete Price look at the shows on right now that you should see, he’ll look ahead to let you know what’s coming while also re-living some of his – and the city’s – favourite moments on stage. 

Pete Price is never short of an anecdote or an opinion, so here are the shows and stars that have got him talking in July …

What’s on and what I’ve seen this week …

The Legend of Rooney’s Ring is everything the Royal Court does best: it’s magical, it’s got big characters and big laughs, so it’s really like one of their Christmas shows mid-season. I know John May who plays Rooney and Lindzi Germain, and it’d be interesting to know if Wayne and Coleen have seen the script and what they think about it.

I saw Evita at the London Palladium and now I’m hoping they take it on tour and we get to see it in Liverpool. What they’re doing in London is stripping back old musicals, they’ve done it with Jesus Christ Superstar which has toured and Sunset Boulevard, and it’s a bit of a shock if you’re not ready for it. It’s minimalistic and all about the actors. Rachel Zegler, who played Snow White in the new film version, is outstanding as Evita, she gets three-minute standing ovations after every big song, and I’ve never seen a piece of theatre quite like it.

What’s coming up …

TINA – The Tina Turner Musical is coming to the Empire in August and it is spectacular, it tears the place apart. It’s great the way they’ve put her life story together, you forget how iconic she was but this show captures that. Even when she was older she could still sing a tune and still dance, and the energy she had on stage was unreal. When I saw the West End production that incredible energy really came across, and that is her completely – it’s not just the voice or the dancing, it’s that unbelievable stage presence. I really enjoyed it and I think audiences will come out of the Empire singing their hearts out. 

It won’t be on until next spring, but The Peaceful Hour 2 is coming to the Royal Court after the success of the first one earlier this year. This sequel is a whole new show based around the wedding of Julie and Tim who met in the original. It really was great to be part of the first show and it was wonderful the way they built the story around the Peaceful Hour. We did the first dating line on radio on the Peaceful Hour called Evening Encounter, we had 10 weddings come from it – and I went to every one. I would walk down the aisle with a bottle of champagne and give them a hug. I still get messages from people whose mum and dad met through it and they say they wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for me!

Sharing the spotlight

I first met Sharon Osbourne when we were both on the Paul O’Grady show many years ago, we connected and we’re still friends. She rang me up ages ago and said, ‘would you like to see Ozzy’s last performance?’ I was stunned and even though it’s not my kind of music there was no way I wasn’t going. We were by the stage for 11 hours and I was with every rock legend in the world, Ronnie Wood, Guns N Roses, Yungblud, I couldn’t believe I was there. Backstage there was a huge lounge with the usual champagne and drinks but also, if you want to get a tattoo, there were three tattoo artists. I wasn’t tempted, but some people were getting full sleeves! Ozzy isn’t a well man at all, but he came to life on stage, he was spectacular and the warmth, love and respect that was shown to him was remarkable. It felt like being a part of history.

Check out more from Pete on his Instagram.

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