Let It Be
Savoy Theatre
Reviewed on Thursday 26th September 2013
“You say it’s your birthday”
When Beatles musical Let It Be opened in London it’s fair to say that it divided critics, with some seeing it as a fun evening out and an opportunity to enjoy the Beatles concert we never had, and others bemoaning yet another theatre offering flimsily constructed around a pop back catalogue — albeit the best back catalogue there is. “A tribute band at West End prices” was one particularly caustic comment.
And yet here we are, one year and several hundred performances later, and the show continues to draw audiences.
Liberal use of the Union flag on programmes and posters — as well as flags on sticks as one of the merchandise offerings — demonstrates a canny tapping into tourists of a certain age, who have a nostalgia for those images of Swingin’ London set to a Fab Four soundtrack. But it’s surprising to find the show still attracting a home-grown audience when they can see something similar being done by tribute bands up and down the country.
Because there is no story, as such. It’s four blokes being the Beatles in the various stages of their career performing the music the audience knows like the back of its hand.
For Beatle purists (ok, anoraks, among whom I include myself) every subtle detail has to work if all you’re offering is a two-hour impersonation and although they just about pull it off, there are one or two glaring inaccuracies.
James Fox (pictured right) as Paul is blessed with a fine singing voice and has the McCartney nuances down pat, but he plays the bass guitar right-handed (I know, I KNOW), thereby shattering the illusion. Non-Beatles fanatics might consider this to be a bit picky, but surely it’s Beatles fans in the main that the show is designed to appeal to and so the irritation of this compromise can’t be overstated.
Michael Gagliano as John possibly overdoes the Lennon nasal twang but is uncannily like him and, again, his singing can’t be faulted.
John Brosnan and Phil Martin as George and Ringo, respectively, have less to play with but have clearly studied their subjects, and their physical performances and playing styles are expertly reproduced.
I felt a bit cheated that extra instruments came courtesy of a session musician and a synthesizer at the side of the stage, with no effort given to characterisation or costume. Even some of the tribute bands I’ve seen — and I’ve seen a few — managed real brass players and a few strings, so this was rather shoddy on a West End budget.
Time needed for costume changes and to don stick-on moustaches is covered by newsreel and TV clips from the sixties. After I’d wracked my brain to remember the name of the presenter of Police Five (it’s Shaw Taylor, by the way) I found myself using these breaks, like the rest of the audience, to chat to my companion because the video offerings are a filler rather than a device that adds anything to the story or aids continuity.
By the end though I was up there naa naa naaaaing along to Hey Jude with the rest of them and it has to be said that, irritating inaccuracies aside, from a vocal and musicianship perspective this is one of the best Beatle tribute bands you’ll hear. But if you’re looking for a piece of narrative theatre that tells the Beatles story, this isn’t it. And although I left the theatre with the wonderful songs ringing in my ears, it was that “West End prices” comment that could be heard faintly in the background.
Reviewed by Tony Peters
Let It Be is currently booking at the Savoy Theatre until 18th January 2013
Click here to book tickets (OFFER: save £30 at selected performances)
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