The Liverpool Empire Theatre show was stopped during a performance after the leading actress was replaced due to losing her voice. The Bodyguard, the romantic thriller that made Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You' famous, is currently running in the city until Saturday, June 20.
About The Bodyguard
Based on Lawrence Kasdan’s 1992 Oscar-nominated movie starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, The Bodyguard had its world premiere at the Adelphi Theatre in London’s West End and was nominated for four Olivier Awards. A sell-out 18-month UK and Ireland tour followed, before the show returned to the West End at the Dominion Theatre ahead of two further sell-out tours of the UK and Ireland in 2018/19 and 2023. To date, The Bodyguard has played to over 3.9 million people in 15 countries and 45 US cities.
The Bodyguard features a host of classics, including 'Queen of the Night', 'So Emotional', 'One Moment in Time', 'Saving All My Love', 'Run to You', 'I Have Nothing', 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody' and one of the biggest hit songs of all time – 'I Will Always Love You'.
Cast and Incident
The cast includes Sidonie Smith as Rachel Marron, Adam Garcia as Frank Farmer, Sasha Monique as Nicki Marron and Matt Milburn as Sy Spector. They are joined by John Macaulay as Bill Devaney, Jonathan Alden as Tony, James-Lee Harris as Stalker and Ryan Bennett as Ray Court in The Bodyguard The Musical.
It was the Tuesday, June 16 show that was stopped during the second act. A spokesperson for the production refused to comment on the incident to the ECHO, claiming all was explained on the night at the time. According to social media posts, there were “technical difficulties five minutes into the second part”. A handful of attendees online speculated that an understudy was needed for one of the roles, as “her voice went”.
In another separate video, in the background, an announcer can be heard saying: “Good evening, due to the indisposition of Sidonie Smith, the role of Rachel Marron will be played by Miranda Mambo. This performance is now able to continue.”
The last time the show came to the Empire, it was also halted during its interval after a power cut in the building. The outage occurred at around 8.30pm, just as the show was entering its interval, and did not come back on. Theatregoers say they were then told at around 9.20pm the show was cancelled due to the outage, and the audience - those who had not left already - left the building.
