Let It Be
Blackpool Opera House
Let It Be has been winging its away around the world and has finally stopped off in Blackpool, and if you’re partial to a bit of Beatlemania then this show is definitely for you.
The Fab Four (or Five if you count the excellent keyboard player) provide non-stop hits and an extremely authentic take on the iconic band that started off in Liverpool and became an international sensation.
Let It Be takes us on The Beatles’ musical journey through
the years, while retro televisions show old footage to set the
time-frame with adverts for shampoo and cigarettes,
festival/flower power type scenes, a Twiggy fashion shoot, and
best of all, some hysteria from real screaming Beatles fans as
the boys sing Help. There was a small technical hitch when one of
the TV screens stopped working but the main set more than made up
for it, especially when the entire stage was transformed into a
kaleidoscope for Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, complete with red
stars and flying horses.
The show kicks off
with a collection of early classics, such as Please Please Me and
She Loves You, followed by Twist and Shout and Day Tripper which
had the audience up out of their seats dancing.
James Fox as Paul McCartney sings a lovely, haunting version of Yesterday, which was originally filmed in Blackpool. “The B side to the A side, written by the seaside” says John, played by Paul Canning. As well as having John Lennon down to a T with both his singing and movements, Paul Canning raises the most laughs. When he asks the audience what they’d like to hear next and someone asks for Imagine he replies that they haven’t been paying attention, joking: “I haven’t written that one yet.” The second half of the show has more rapport and this works well. However, as revealed in my interview with James and Paul, Let It Be is supposed to make the audience feel like they've stepped back in time, so the show is a compilation of excerpts from several Beatles concerts, right down to them shaking hands with a few lucky people in the audience at the end.
The backdrop is a cyclorama featuring pop art and images telling the songs’ stories, which proves a dramatic accompaniment to atmospheric tracks such as Eleanor Rigby and While My Guitar Gently Weeps, which warrants lots of psychedelic colour. My favourite set is the acoustic one, where the band sit down to play We Can Work it Out, Norwegian Wood and Here Comes the Sun.
You can’t fault the musical performance, all of the band members are talented musicians and perform their respective Beatle character’s songs perfectly. The costumes and wigs have clearly been meticulously researched, and the mimicry is so good that they look more and more like the real Beatles as the show progresses.
The finale, as expected, is rousing, with virtually the entire audience standing up to sing, waving their arms and using mobile phones as torches to Hey Jude. This is The Beatles, 2014, Blackpool-style.
Let It Be is a fantastic family show and it’s only in Blackpool until the 12th October, so get your Ticket to Ride now!
Ticket Prices: Stalls - £20.50 - £31.50; Circle - £15.00 - £31.50. Available from Ticketmaster (booking fees apply), or from the Blackpool Opera House box office at Church Street, FY1 1HL, tel: 0844 856 1111
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