Beatlemania Again a Competent Effort

BEATLEMANIA AGAIN

Calvin Theater, Northampton, MA

January 22, 2011

So how do you feel about Elvis impersonators? Is there a difference between a tribute band and one that tries to inhabit the persona of a group? Is it better to cover or to copy? Do all cover bands suck? (Before you answer the last one let me remind you that Dark Star Orchestra is something The Grateful Dead never was: good every single night.)

How you feel about dressing up and make believe largely determines how much you’d enjoy or gag at a show such as Beatlemania Again. So let’s get it up front: I found the show a lot of fun. It was great to hear so much of the Beatles repertoire in one place at one time. The quartet performing it--Bob Fitch (Paul McCartney), Dave Pal (John Lennon), Tom Godsman (George Harrison), and founder Rich Morello (Ringo Starr)--is talented and charming. Do they sound “just like” The Beatles? No. Did their performance creep me out? On occasion, yes, though I was far more disturbed by the picture-taking and autograph-signing after the show. It’s one thing to play a stage role, but when the curtain falls, it’s time to take off the grease paint.

If you’ve not been following the story, Beatlemania was such a Broadway musical triumph from 1977 to 1979 that various touring groups put “The Beatles” back on the road again until the real group’s Apple Corps sued. That’s never a good idea; groups simply re-form with names that adhere to the letter of the law, but not its spirit. Beatlemania Again was not part of the legal wrangling; they’ve only been at it for 16 years. That’s long enough to become very good at casting a stage illusion of The Beatles. Key word: illusion.

Beatlemania Again is a show with three acts and costume changes (and one intermission). We first see the lads in the Meet the Beatles days of 1964, when they first hit New York and played the Ed Sullivan Show. This is actually the sharpest part of the show---dressed in mop tops wigs and Edwardian suits the quartet strikes all the right chords with a mix of sugary pop, rockabilly, skiffle, and watered-down blues. After the intermission we see the band in their Sgt. Pepper regalia and it doesn’t quite work. The costumes look like a mash-up between choir robes and Joann’s Fabrics and the music itself lacks the trippy and mystical dimensions of the original. The ship is righted when the band segues into the final Get Back days. The last part of the show has good energy and it features some blistering guitar work from Godsman channeling Harrison.

Godsman is the best of the lot, in part because Harrison never hogged the limelight so there’s more room to invent his character. Fitch and Pal are perfectly competent, but if you’ve seen the original McCartney and Lennon, neither would ever be confused with them. Pal doesn’t really capture Lennon’s mannerisms or his ego, and Fitch lacks McCartney’s dulcet high tones and his body type. As for Morello, his problem is different: he sings way better than Ringo ever did (or has). The four make very good music and it’s a solid approximation of The Beatles. But several things betray Beatlemania Again as Beatles in drag. First, they play a lot songs ever so slightly too fast. Many Beatles songs seem so innocent that it’s easy to neglect how tightly constructed they were, until we hear someone else do them. We also hear differences in both the harmonies and in the high ranges. Fitch’s attempt at “Hey Jude” was a low point--what McCartney made sweet and effortless came out as labored.

Would I recommend that you catch the show if it comes to your neck of the woods? Sure--why not? Just understand that though lots of tasty desserts can be made from carob, none will rival real chocolate.