Grand Theatre, Leeds – Mon 11 to Sat 16 July 2016
I’ll admit I’ve seen Let It Be before – and I loved it! So relished the chance to revisit the show whilst it is in Leeds this week and see what a different cast can bring to the performance.
Let It Be is a “Celebration of the Music of the Beatles”, more of tribute concert than anything else but it is immensely enjoying. Reuven Gershon as John, Ian B Garcia as Paul, John Brosnan as George and Stuart Wilkinson as Ringo are all incredible musicians presenting, on a nightly basis, a repertoire of songs that includes All You Need Is Love, Blackbird, Eleanor Rigby, Get Back, Help, Hey Jude, Let It Be, Penny Lane, Please Please Me and Yesterday, amongst many, many others. Whilst most shows struggle to have one or two hit songs, Let It Be has over forty of them!
There doesn’t seem to be any set script, just banter between the band themselves and the audience. That combined with some period video projections ensure that Let It Be is staged simply but effectively. The Fab Four come on stage and steer us through the Beatles catalogue. They start with the joyous songs of innocence, such as She Loves You and I Want to Hold Your Hand, and move on to the multilayered songs of experience, such as Strawberry Fields Forever and Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds. Periodically, contact is made with the rest of us: John Lennon repeats his famous injunction to a Royal Variety Performance audience (“Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands. And the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewellery”) and we are periodically bidden to our feet to scream and shout. The whole evening, however, is an exercise in nostalgia. With most of the audience being of a certain age and who would have been original fans of the Fab Four
A word of warning, don’t go to Let It Be if you’re idea of theatre is sitting in silence whilst watching. The producers make it abundantly clear from the start that photography is encouraged, and the performers make a point of getting the audience up on their feet to dance at every opportunity. On opening night the audience responded with gusto
The authentic detail is impressive, be it Ringo smoking a fag while playing at The Cavern or John chewing gum while singing in the later days. The sky darkening as The Beatles play Shea Stadium is another sign of a thoroughly switched-on show that takes the regular path from Liverpool to the Royal Variety Show, New York and Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, flowers, palm trees et al. Although our Paul wasn’t left handed. John had some arrogance about him and Paul was barefooted in the Abbey Road section.
There were some surprises for me too though – I didn’t know that Ringo sang but he led us in Yellow Submarine and I didn’t know that Roll Over Beethoven had been covered by the Beatles either.
For me the second half of the show was the best. The songs I like most by the Beatles were featured in the second half and I loved the acoustic section showing off the individual versatility of the performers. I know most people praise John and Paul but for me George was the genius. I loved his version of Here Comes the Sun but it was his rendition of While My Guitar Gently Weeps completely stole the show. If nothing else you must go and see the show purely for that
This is a hugely entertaining and enjoyable show and I recommend it all.