RAIN: The Beatles Experience

The Show features 5 different scene and costume changes, 3 video screens and live camera projection, combining  vintage television commercials and historic video footage. All has been recreated with great detail right down to every note of music performed live. For the four longtime band members – Joey Curatolo (Paul McCartney), Joe Bithorn (George Harrison), Ralph Castelli (Ringo Starr) and Steve Landes (John Lennon), with a little help from their friend Mark Lewis (keyboards, percussion) – the music is first and foremost.  

For more than two decades, RAIN has distinguished itself by focusing on details, always being faithful to The Beatles with the ultimate goal of delivering a perfect note-for-note performance.  All the music is performed live, with no pre-recorded tapes or sequences. The four onstage members are veterans of the made-for-Broadway stage show Beatlemania and not only project the physical looks, speech and traits of the immortal lads from Liverpool, but the camaraderie and charisma the Beatles possessed to a degree even their nearest competitors.

From an audience standpoint; how do they sound and look? At first, a bit of an awkward deja vu for those who were fortunate enough to actually see the original Beatles perform live or on television.

Of course the music is loud and at a few times the sound overpowers some of the vocals, but other than that, the voices are a well matched replica of the original artists. Joey Curatolo's portrayal of Paul McCartney is a testimony of his dedication to his Beatles passion and the strongest of the four performance-wise.

"To replicate the Beatles' studio sounds on stage (and with no pre-recorded tracks) would be impossible without prodigious musicianship".  This group of talented musicians have tackled and accomplished this daunting task. "A Rain show typically runs 2 1/2 hours, with the songs performed in their original keys. The Beatles themselves quit touring in 1966. The pioneering, intricate recordings from Sergeant Pepper through Abbey Road were never performed live by the group. That adds another dimension of difficulty for Rain. But the band - supplemented by various sounds of the Beatles background instrumentation from offstage keyboardist Lewis' synthesizer and, when needed, Joe Bithorn's guitar synthesizer - carries through".  ~ www.rainthebeatlesexperience.com .

The musical journey takes you through five sets as follows; the history making 1964 Ed Sullivan Show which first introduced "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Close Your Eyes" and "I Saw Her Standing There". Second Set- Shea Stadium with a record holding 56,000 fans and tunes "Hard Day's Night", "Yesterday", "Day Tripper" and the still ever popular " Twist and Shout" which brought the crowd to their feet.

The Third set welcomes in the Sgt. Pepper Era with those colorful, gaudy costumes and memorable songs "A Little Help from My Friends", "Eleanor Rigby", with some nifty video graphics, "Strawberry Fields".  The whimsical "When I'm 64" which the nearly sold out crowd was heard down to the Kimmel Center singing " will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm 64" and of course the finale of the Sgt. Pepper album  featuring the same titled song and "Turn You On".  The Beatles never performed this music live as they stopped touring after 1966.

The Second Act ( fourth set) – Flower Power featuring plenty of flashbacks of meditation, incense, nonsense  and who knows what else many were doing resulting in such songs as " Goodbye/Hello", I Am The Walrus", "Girl" from the Rubber Soul Album, "Mother Nature's Son" and a rousing " My Guitar Gently Weeps" which showcases George Harrison  (Joe Bithhorn's extraordinary talent on guitar).

The Fifth Set, almost 2 hours into the show, take us to the Abbey Road journey of 1969-70 from " Golden Slumbers", "Come Together", "Get Back", Give Peace A Chance", Blackbird"  to "Carry That Weight" , which drummer Ralph Castelli (Ringo),  shows his great stuff right into "The End". Encore numbers, which will not be revealed are exactly what you would hope to end truly one of the strongest tributes to one of the most widely loved original groups in history.

RAIN – The Beatles Experience plays at the Academy of Music through January 20, 2008. For tickets and information call 215.731.3333 or online at www.kimmelcenter.org/broadway

Photos of RAIN: Courtesy of The Kimmel Center PR  Broadway at the Academy

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