Written by Ian Salmon (The Comeback Special) and directed by Bob Eaton (Lennon), Girls Don’t Play Guitars, which tells the story of The Liverbirds, is back at Liverpool’s Royal Court from 27 September.
The five-star musical is the world’s first all-girl rock ‘n’roll group. The tale is now a book, but discover for yourself the show that brought it all to life.
In Liverpool in 1963 the music world was exploding. Musical talent, attitude and the knowledge that you could be anything you wanted to be saw the city flooded with bands and singers who were headed to the top.
Standing tall amongst all of the boys was the World’s first all-girl rock ’n’ roll group. From The Cavern to Hamburg’s Star Club Mary, Sylvia, Val and Pam did it on their terms, turning down Brian Epstein, hanging out with Jimi Hendrix and driving Chuck Berry wild.
This foot-stomping musical first hit the stage in 2019 and is back and packed with all of the great 60s songs that shook The Cavern, including the Liverbirds smash hits Peanut Butter and Diddley Daddy. The book of The Liverbirds is hitting the shelves, so make sure you get to listen to the music live in 2024!
Writer Ian Salmon says this is one of those Liverpool stories that had to be told:
“As a Liverpool writer there aren’t many stories from the Merseybeat era that remain untold; it turned out that one of the few was one of the greatest. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to tell this with the help of two of the girls themselves. These are the stories that need to be known, need to be recorded, need to be passed down to the generations that follow so that they’re remembered forever, and the theatre is a fantastic place to do that.
There’s a line that I wrote toward the end of the show; “On nights like this, in rooms like these, you make dreams come true”. That was about giving the Liverbirds the homecoming gig that they never had, but it’s really about what we do as writers; we create something from nothing, we give stories life.”
Girls Don’t Play Guitars, as told to the writer by Mary Dostal and Sylvia Wiggins, from an original idea by Paul Fitzgerald.
Cast includes: Molly Grace Cutler (Val) Alice McKenna (Mary), Lisa Wright (Pam), Sarah Workman (Sylvia) and Jonathan Markwood
Directed by Bob Eaton
Musical Direction by Howard Gray
Set Design by Mark Walters
Lighting Design by Ian Scott
Sound Design by Kate Harvey
AV Design by Jamie Jenkin
You can book your tickets here.
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