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Liverpool Empire dates for Live Aid musical Just for One Day
Live Aid musical Just for One Day is set to come to the Liverpool Empire as part of an inaugural national tour. The musical, written by John O’Farrell and directed by Luke Sheppard, will be staged at the Lime Street landmark from August 3-7, 2027. Just For One Day - The Live Aid Musical is the story behind the greatest concert in music history, and features hit songs by Bob Dylan, David Bowie, The Who, U2, Queen, Madonna, The Police, Elton John, Paul McCartney and Diana Ross
Review: Dear England at the Liverpool Empire ****1/2
When Bill Shankly told a journalist that football wasn’t just a matter of life and death but was “much more important than that” he was articulating his total dedication to the game. But he could just as easily have been giving voice to the feeling of generations of diehard England fans who have celebrated (and mythologised) the team’s highs and loudly mourned their many lows. Pressure and expectation weighs heavy on the shoulders of every successive England squad, both men a
Liverpool Empire set to be rocked by talented young performers
Talented young performers from the Liverpool Empire Youth Theatre are set to rock audiences at the Lime Street venue next month. They will perform the Queen-inspired musical We Will Rock You on the Empire stage over the Easter weekend of April 3-4. The smash hit dystopian musical from the pen of Ben Elton has played to more than 15 million people in nearly 20 countries worldwide since it was premiered 24 years ago. Set 300 years in the future on the Orwellian iPlanet, it foll
Liverpool theatre shows this March
March is upon us. There are daffodils in the parks, chocolate eggs and hot cross buns – both traditional and not-so-traditional – in the shops, the days are getting longer and soon the clocks will ‘spring forward’. The days aren’t just getting longer with daylight at each end, but they are also, dare I say it, getting just that bit warmer too. With the hibernation of winter behind us, now is the ideal time to come out and enjoy everything Liverpool’s theatres have to offer. W
Liverpool theatre shows this February
With New Year now in the rear-view mirror, Easter on the far horizon and nights definitely getting just that little bit lighter, it’s the ideal time to squeeze in a trip to the theatre – or three. Liverpool venues have live performance covered in the shortest month of the year with a range of productions from big and bold musicals to intimate storytelling, and from comedy to hard-hitting drama. February kicks off with a return to the Empire stage for Tudor smash hit SIX the M
Review: Mary Poppins at the Liverpool Empire *****
Author PL Travers actively disliked Disney’s Oscar-winning screen version of Mary Poppins with its dancing penguins, (in her view) overly sugary heroine and twee sentimentality and, perhaps more incomprehensibly, the Sherman Brothers’ soundtrack of songs. Apparently, she took a lot of persuading before agreeing to let Cameron Mackintosh create a stage version and only then with a whole raft of provisos – although she didn’t live to see the subsequent show premiere in the West
Top musicals coming to Liverpool in 2026
The news may feel unremittingly gloomy, so what better distraction from real life than the chance to immerse ourselves in the Technicolor world of stage musicals for an hour or two? The UK is rich with triple threat talent and a range of all-singing, all-dancing shows, and lots of them are heading for an auditorium near you over the next 12 months. Some – like Legally Blonde, Dirty Dancing, Little Shop of Horrors and Mamma Mia! - are dependable favourites, some are sheer musi
Cracking comedy to catch in Liverpool in 2026
Is everyone in Liverpool a comedian? If not, the UK’s unofficial ‘capital of comedy’ certainly punches way above its weight when it comes to knowing how to enjoy a good laugh. So it’s perhaps no surprise funny men and women from across the country – and beyond – are always keen to bring their live shows to the city. Along with bespoke comedy clubs and regular comedy nights, star names and rising talent also perform at mainstream venues like the M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool Playh
Michael D Xavier on Poppins to Pie Jesu ahead of Liverpool Empire debut
He’s been in some of the biggest shows on both sides of the Atlantic – but for Michael D Xavier, his latest role takes him right back to the earliest years of his stellar stage career. In 2003, while he was playing the lovelorn young Freddy Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, he spotted a poster inviting people to take part in a reading for a new musical. “It’s more than 20 years ago now, so my memory is a bit vague, but I don’t believe they told us
Review: Matilda the Musical at the Liverpool Empire *****
It recently entered its 15 th year on the London stage, putting it in the top 10 of longest-running West End shows. But when the RSC commissioned the stage musical version of Roald Dahl’s children's book Matilda back in December 2008, it was a leap of faith for a company best known for presenting the works of Shakespeare to generations of theatregoers. Not only that, but they enlisted musicals first timer Dennis Kelly to adapt the book, and kohl-eyed, wild-haired Aussie come
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