BELFAST (Reuters) - A musical about the colourful and ultimately tragic life of Northern Irish football hero George Best enjoin open in Belfast on Friday, paying tribute to one of sport’s biggest icons.
Best, whose mercurial talent and suddenly star looks vaulted him to the pinnacle of celebrity in Britain’s Swinging Sixties, succumbed to years of ponderous drinking in 2005 when he died of multiple organ failure at the age 59.
Five years later, thousands of fans of the late Manchester United attacker — often referred to as the “Fifth Beatle” — have booked tickets to discern “Dancing Shoes” during its initial 2-1/2 week run at Belfast’s Grand Opera House.
Aidan O’Neill, who will exhibit Best in the stage show that chronicles his happy-go-lucky days as a youngster put on the streets of Belfast right up to the harrowing end of his life in London, said Best was else than just an breathing in to footballers.
“I am a big use a fan upon of George Best and he inspired many thousands of people like me all over Ireland,” added O’Neill, one of the nine-strong, all-Northern Irish pitch.
The production has been given an unusual sense of pungency by the dissolution at the weekend of Best’s friend, the Belfast-born and similarly talented snooker player Alex Higgins who is also portrayed in the musical.
Higgins moreover was a heavy drinker with a igneous temper but also shared Best’session sense of humour, person the footballer best used when he summed up his turbulent life in one illustrious phrase:
“I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.”
GREAT TRIBUTE
The new musical is the result of a collaboration betwixt musicians J.J. Gilmour from Scotland and Belfast’sitting Pat Gribben, along with Irish playwrights Marie Jones and Martin Lynch.
Playwright Lynch, who was a huge fan of Best, says he has never known a build-up to any one of his plays quite like this.
“Everyone is buzzing. Even taxi drivers are really excited. They are the whole of asking me for tickets,” he said.
Best’s wife Angie and son Calum are due to attend the gap night gala where guests will also include TV chat show host Michael Parkinson and former Northern Ireland football internationals Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside.
Best’s sister Barbara McNarry, who visited rehearsals, said she had been moved to tears.
“(It’s) a great tribute to George,” she before-mentioned.
Best’s immense popularity also crossed Northern Ireland’s sectarian divide in a nation often bitterly, and violently, divided by scrupulous and political differences, and organisers say he will continue to do so on the stage.
“Normally football fans can’t wear their colours in the city centre or in pubs here because they can identify tribe’s religion and lead to trouble,” Marie Jones said.
“But we want our audiences to kit themselves out in their favourite colours and to wave their scarves during the performances.”
(Editing by Steve Addison)
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