Review: LET IT BE Honors the Music

Though Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr still tour, it's been nearly 50 years since anyone heard all four Beatles perform together in concert. "Let It Be," the tribute show which has opened the 84th season of the Ogunquit Playhouse, provides a very lively reminder of what Beatlemania was all about and even suggests what the band might have accomplished had they stayed together a little longer.

The emphasis is on the music as Neil Candelora, Michael Gagliano, JT Curtis and Chris McBurney perform over 35 songs live during the 2 hour-plus show. The vocals vary in approximating to the originals with perhaps Gagliano, as John Lennon, and Curtis, as George Harrison, coming closest to the real thing (not that the others sing poorly). The vocal harmonies are good but only just hint at the quality of the source material. The instrumental talent of the four, however, is uniformly impressive. Music Director Daniel A. Weiss fleshes out the sound on keyboard as the group moves into the more experimental work of their later period.

Most of the narrative of the show is served up through occasional voice-overs and vintage videos running at both sides of the stage. The story is furthered by the evolution in look and sound that the band undergoes as they progress from playing dingy clubs to facing screaming throngs of young fans on their U.S. visits. Gagliano, complete with an appropriately nasal Liverpool accent, offers a few Lennon-esque quips but there really isn't much non-musical interaction among the players. Something about the Beatles songwriting methods or some backstage moments might have humanized the iconic characters just a little more.

The group's famous appearance at Shea Stadium is an exciting segment as the foursome rips through a set of guitar-heavy songs including "I Feel Fine," Twist and Shout" and "Day Tripper." Here, Curtis established his fine six-string work that would later culminate in a soaring "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." His slide and 12-string work were also exemplary.

The band's TV and movie debuts are noted with music as they performed it on The Ed Sullivan Show and in "A Hard Day's Night." The "Sgt Peppers" period lights up the stage in more ways than one as things get trippy around songs like "Strawberry Fields Forever" and the cosmic "A Day in the Life." The practice of occasionally shining bright lights into the audience's eyes is here as unnecessary as it is at many contemporary rock concerts.

The costumes get wild with plumes and marching band epaulettes eventually giving way to the more down-to-earth late-60s looks based in what the group wore for the "Abbey Road" album cover. Their careers are also visually documented through well-done evolutions in hairstyles.

After strong takes on such late classics as "Come Together," with Gagliano outstanding, and "Get Back," with Candeloria getting into Paul's playful way with a rocker, the band members emerge as mature, if still scrappy, artists. Takes of "Imagine," "My Sweet Lord," "It Don't Come Easy" and "Band on the Run" suggest a magical post-breakup Beatles concert that might have been.

It never came to pass. But, "Let It Be" succeeds in taking you there as well as any tribute show is likely to and that makes it well worth getting a ticket for the ride.

Photo by Julia Russell.

LET IT BE continues through June 11. Contact the Ogunquit Playhouse at ogunquitplayhouse.org; 207-646-5511

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