As a 28 year old my memories of The Beatles don’t stem from the original wave of ‘Beatlemania’, but from listening to ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ through the wall of our living room while the next door neighbour taught his daughters what good music sounded like.
The eldest would then thump out Beatle melodies on her piano as me and my sister sang along through the wall like some old age karaoke system.
The Beatles are such a phenomenon that even our generation can feel a certain sense of nostalgia as classics such as Blackbird are sung into the crowd.
There are plenty of ‘jukebox musicals’ knocking around but somehow the team at Let it Be offer up something of a higher quality than the rest.
The stage decked out with vintage style televisions that not only showed old footage of the band but streamed live from performer to audience member set a real sense of what would have been. From set design to costume design Let it Be takes its audience from inoffensive beginning to psychedelic mid-point and onwards.
The fab four are played by an equally fab four, who sing, gesture and speak as the original did. We move through time with the quartet from their days at the cavern to the now infamous stages such as The Shea.
This is an evening for all ages and musical tastes – and proof of this was my usually shy sister who found herself waving an arm during numbers such as Hey Jude and Let it Be and in the middle of an apparent out of body experience yelled – ‘Look Rose I’m waving too, I’m waving too!’
Not only were the performances exceptional but an unspoken audience solidarity became apparent during the ‘Na na na na’s’ of Hey Jude which translated to smiling nods upon exit from the theatre.
Let it Be isn’t your typical ‘jukebox musical’ – and I say that as a hater of said genre. With an unbelievable set and performers to boot this is a must see for any musical lover or Beatle’s fan.
