Review: The Carpenters Story, Liverpool Empire - Tuesday, October 20 2015
Growing up, The Carpenters were a very big part of my life. Always singing along to the words I knew in the car with my mum and learning that Close to You was my favourite song at the age of 11. When I seen that The Carpenters Story was coming to the Liverpool Empire, I couldn't help but jump at the chance to buy me and my mum tickets - knowing we would both love every minute of it and would finally get the chance to enjoy mother-daughter bonding time at the theatre.
It's the opening night and the curtains are lifted to reveal a huge projection screen towards the back of the stage. A recording of an Eagle FM DJ is played and he is talking about The Carpenters then introduces their first song. This is when the band strikes up and a few songs follow before again going back to Eagle FM for the next song. As much as I would love to say this isn't it for The Carpenters Story, it is. That's about it for the 'story' part of the production's misleading title and it does tend to lack any more than just some wonderfully sung songs.
Quite simply put, The Carpenters Story is a concert of covers. However, the lead singer, Claire Furley, really gave an excellent performance. She has a very strong voice and seemed to convey Karen's voice with studied professionalism. You could tell that she has spent a lot of time working out how to replicate such a beautiful voice and delivery. As well as this, she did give a really bubbly and cheerful performance along with the excellent musicians who stood behind her - particularly the saxophonist who also played the tambourine and jazz flute.
Although the 'story' lacked general information about The Carpenters, which was really a disappointment as I was expecting a play about how The Carpenters first started out or a background to what Karen and Richard were like growing up as kids. The good thing about it though, was being able to sing along to some of their best songs with my mum sitting beside me. The general atmosphere of the theatre was electric and by the end of the night, everyone was on their feet dancing and singing to the music - which, I suppose, is what it was all about. My mum seemed to love it and that means I did too.
Speak soon,
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