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Dateline: 10th March, 2004 Liberace Play to Premiere at Jermyn Street The Anubian Nights Theatre Company is to present the world premiere of Liberace's Suit, a play by T.K. Light based on the infamous 1950s High Court libel battle between Liberace and The Daily Mirror. Directed by Phil Willmott, it runs from 25th May to 19th June at London's Jermyn Street Theatre. Pianist Liberace was one of America's most flamboyant of entertainers, known the world over for his outrageous costumes, massive collection of diamonds, and high camp shows dripping with glitz and razzle dazzle. Over the decades, Liberace transported audiences to a dazzling world of colour, joyful music, glittering costumes, and humour. But in 1956, while on a trip to London, the Daily Mirror columnist Cassandra attacked him in print, as ...the famous "winking, giggling, fruit-flavoured, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love...". Upset by the obvious inference that he was a closet homosexual, at a time when homosexuality was illegal in the UK, Liberace sued The Daily Mirror for libel and the stage was set for a case that made headlines all over the world. Drawing on contemporary reports and featuring a cast of five, Liberace's Suit follows the cut and thrust of the trial. Comic and tragic in turn, it exposes the hypocrisy of both parties and an era that forced so many gay men to desperate measures to protect their livelihoods and their very liberty. Liberace will be played by Bobby Crush, who first became famous for winning one of the earliest TV taelnt shows, Opportunity Knocks, thirty years ago. Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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