Shake It Up Baby At Epstein Theatre Liverpool Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by Dottie Rood

Being of a certain age, and born and bred in Liverpool, I thought I knew a lot about the Beatles! I didn’t, however, know Allan Williams input to their very early days. Here at the Epstein theatre I was about to find out by watching Shake it up Baby, a brand new Beatles musical.

The Epstein theatre was originally opened in 1913 and is a lovely Grade 11 listed building, formerly known as the Neptune, it has opened and closed a number of times and has gone through renovations in the past that has resulted in a small (388 seats) very atmospheric theatre that suited this musical perfectly.

The seats were comfortable with good views and there are a couple of bars offering a good selection of food and drink at reasonable prices. The staff were attentive and helpful and it was lovely to see some of the cast mingling with the audience in the bar areas.

They were said to be the worst group in Liverpool who somehow became the greatest group in the world and Shake it up Baby tells their story, through the eyes of Allan Williams, a story of how he influenced their early days and how they became, THE BEATLES!

Shake it up Baby is written by Liverpool playwright Ian Salmon (who previously wrote Girls don’t Play Guitars), it’s directed by Stephen Fletcher (who has directed Shirley Valentine) and George Francis is the musical director. The cast are made up of 10 Liverpool actor-musicians plus ‘ensemble’ and Andrew Schofield, playing the main character, Allan Williams, the man who is said to have “given the Beatles away”!

Shake it up Baby is a true story of the Beatles rise to fame, it explores their earliest performances in Hamburg, Germany and how Allan Williams took them there (literally, as he drove the van!) and what happened in their early days. It is very believable and my husband even asked had the actors who played the Beatles previously been a tribute act, high praise I thought.

When we entered the theatre the stage was set up as ‘a stage’ similar to what you would find back in the 60’s, dark, smoky and atmospheric, it didn’t change throughout the show but managed to convince you it was different areas of the Beatles early careers. This included Allan’s house, the garage they practised in, stages in the different clubs in both Hamburg and Liverpool and even the van they travelled in. It was very cleverly done and with the narration of Andrew Schofield as Allan Williams it was very convincing.

The play started with Allan Williams (Andrew Schofield) narrating and then entered the 5 teenage boys of the original Beatles practising with some very loud, not very good music. It continued with fast paced but easy to follow narration, action, dancers and music for over 2 hours. It was easy to distinguish their early music from their final music, within the play, as the actors brilliantly portrayed the very loud, not very good music and singing early on (not easy to do!) and then absolutely fantastic music and singing as the Beatles developed.

I can’t really pick out an actor who was the best as they were all really good but the actors who played different parts throughout were brilliant at each of their different, believable characters. The singing and dancing from all the actors was excellent and the whole night was very enjoyable, especially the finale of Beatles classics.

I was young when the Beatles rose to fame but my older sister had them playing constantly so I knew the songs but I don’t think you need to be of a ‘certain age’ to enjoy this play as it was lively, interesting and very enjoyable and you came out ‘buzzing’. The Epstein added to this with its size and décor which really supported the story.

Rating: 5/5
Ticket cost: £23.00 to £28.00 plus £2.00 fee.
Show Name: Shake It Up Baby is at Epstein Theatre
Epstein Theatre Hanover House 85, Hanover Street Liverpool L13DZ
From: 26th September to 11th October 2025
For more information and to book tickets visit: www.epsteintheatre.com or call: 0151 312 8735