I’m not the biggest fan of jukebox musicals, in fact I despised both Thriller and We Will Rock You. Mamma Mia is good fun, although (sacrilege) I prefer the film and the less said about Rock of Ages the better!
So I’ll admit I wasn’t particularly sure that I wanted to see Let it Be. I’d heard mixed reviews and it seemed that it was, essentially, a Beatles tribute band. Now I’ve been to the Cavern Club in Liverpool and seen ‘The Beatles’ play and they were pretty awesome, but surely Let it Be would just be the same.
My worries continued when I realised photography was not ‘strictly forbidden’ as I hate phones in the theatre and imagined a view of little screens all shining brightly. No, it didn’t fill me with confidence.
How wrong was I?
To start with, there is no storyline whatsoever. A lot of people have complained about this, but personally I think it’s a good thing. I mean I was am a Spice Girls fan, but even I had to admit that the plot in Viva Forever was atrocious (although most people preferred it to I Can’t Sing). Any attempt to weave a story using the Fab Four’s songs would have failed miserably.
The show runs chronologically, starting with The Beatles’ early success in Liverpool’s Cavern Club and continuing through the years with original videos showing the boys’ journey.
Having seen some of these videos, the jokes were a bit predictable, copied directly from existing footage, but the chat was minimal and it was all about the performing.
Emmanuele Angeletti bears an uncanny resemblance to Paul McCartney and even plays the guitar left-handed.
His performance of Yesterday and The Long and Winding Road were sublime and a welcome change after we’d all been singing shouting to all of the earlier songs.
I hadn’t realised that I knew pretty much all of the words to pretty much all of The Beatles’ songs! My dad (who is apparently not a massive fan) knew all of the words and between us, we were the most talented enthusiastic audience members (yes we are available for weddings and christenings).
John Brosnan was very much in the background to begin with, but eventually had his moment, with a beautiful rendition of Here Comes the Sun and, of course, the Eric Clapton solo in While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
The visual effects were also well-executed, particularly during Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and When I’m 64, which are just mesmerising.
For me the best part was not having the set list in front of me, because for each song I just kept thinking “Oh yes I love this one” again and again!
Let it Be is as close as most of us will ever get to seeing the Fab Four live, so as long as the audience are prepared for a concert, not a musical, anyone who’s a fan of The Beatles should come out of the theatre hot and bothered with a sore throat and a big smile on their face.
This production is sensational, so a big thank you to Official Theatre for convincing me that I should go and see it!
My Stage is the World 
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