Tweet
Greater Manchester News, August 14th, 2006
DOZENS of children were at the popular stage show during the Sky festival that took over the city center this long weekend (11-13 August, 2006)
Huge queues snaked around a fenced-off stage at Cathedral Gardens in the city center before a live version of the phenomenally successful kids TV show LazyTown, featuring superhero Sportacus. Those who had managed to get their hands on the free tickets queued on one side and hundreds of others waited patiently on the other side to find out whether there was enough room to let them in. Some 600 parents and children got into the event for each of three performances on Saturday with some parents bidding as much as €50 on internet auction site eBay to get their hands on what turned out to be the hottest ticket in town.
And it wasn't even the original Sportacus in the show. Magnus Scheving, who also created the show 12 years ago, could not make it due to injury and his role was taken by a stand-in. The entrance to the show was guarded by a security man. Staff had to disappoint those parents who turned up without realizing it was a ticket-only event. They were forced to watch the action through the fencing. At the back of the queue and without a ticket Sarah Markwell was with her two children. She said: "If it wasn't for the kids we would have turned around and gone home by now. But they love it."
Agust Freyr Ingason, executive vice president of LazyTown Entertainment, expressed sympathy with those who had not made it into the show. But he said: "It's a big event everywhere I go and I meet people with kids. They know LazyTown. I think it sends out a positive message that parents like."