RAIN: A Tribute to the Beatles "Comes Together"
by Jack Shaw February 1, 2012
Joey Curatolo, Ralph Castelli, Joe Bithorn, Steve Landes in RAIN: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES at the Academy of Music - Part of the Kimmel Center's Broadway Series. (Photo credit: Joan Marcus)
It was a beautiful day in Philadelphia, unseasonably warm and sunny for the end of January, and then RAIN came. Maybe RAIN should come more often for us old enough to have experienced the real deal and even for those who weren't born yet. Rarely have I seen an audience so whipped up emotionally and affected by what they saw on stage. And off.
It wasn't all on stage that did it. It was on the three big screens that flashed back to the day with newsreels, commercials, old photographs, television shows, graphic and psychedelic-tweaked images from the 60s and 70s that brought back the era of the greatest band held in audience memories. If not in their minds already, here was a history montage for the young.
At times it was an almost psychedelic experience. We were enthralled, dazed, amazed and hypnotized–if you can be that all at once. As a concert venue, it was a phenomenal mix of some of the most innovative and memorable songs ever written by the legendary Beatles and all that went with each live performance, and as theatre, RAIN's performance was so dead-on, catching every nuance of the original performances, "note-for-note" as advertised.
The Beatles broke up the year I graduated from high school. For me, it was a non-event–not because I wasn't a Beatles' fan–but because I never worshiped at the musical altar. But seeing this audience swoon at the altar, dance and sing in the aisles like teenagers of that day, hearing of one woman who fainted when she saw John Lennon, it is obvious The Beatles were more than a band to many. I always appreciated The Beatles' music; I saw it had a unique appeal but I was too young at the time to recognize the group's musical genius. I see it now.
There were young people in the audience, including my 13-year-old son who knows more Beatles' facts and trivia than I do, truly enjoying the show as much as those older members of the audience who remember rather than have to learn a history lesson. Perhaps the young enjoyed it more because they didn't have to wait years for the complete exposure; they found it one place at one time.
RAIN pulls all the honesty, the music, the playfulness and the history into making The Beatles experience "come together." It's an interesting theatrical spectacle, too–especially when audience members whose ages differ by 50 years are affected so profoundly by an identical performance. In truth this performance was part Beatles and part RAIN. At this point nothing matters but the fantastic experience.
RAIN: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES
Annerin Productions
MagicSpace Entertainment
Broad and Locust Sts.
www.kimmelcenter.org
Jack Shaw
Jack has directed such plays as HARVEY, LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS, ROMANTIC COMEDY, BLITHE SPIRIT, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, and CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OTHER BUSINESS; and acted in various Regional theaters throughout the country. His professional musical theater experience includes such roles as Nathan in GUYS AND DOLLS, Perchik in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, Mordred in CAMELOT, and Ice in WEST SIDE STORY. He has performed as Touchstone in AS YOU LIKE IT and Prince/Chorus in ROMEO AND JULIET in Shakespeare summer stock, toured as Tom in THE GLASS MENAGERIE with The National Deaf Theatre Company. As a staff commercial announcer in radio and television he has done hundreds of regional commercials as well as many national and some international spots for the U.S. Air Force. If he is acting, he likes to play bad guys—like the Nazi officer in NUMBER THE STARS. If he is directing, he likes straight plays as opposed to musicals. He recently played Candy in OF MICE AND MEN and Tony Abbott in HEAVEN CAN WAIT. Before that, the abusive dad in THE BOYS NEXT DOOR and an old fool in PLAY ON! He is a steady reviewer for STAGE Magazine, while he continues to write several articles a week for various blogs, including Shaw's Reality. He has published two books on theatre, one on training and development, and a novel, In Makr's Shadow. He teaches English, speech and drama part-time as a visiting professor or adjunct instructor for local colleges and universities.
ENCHANTED APRIL at Bryn Athyn College
HAMLETMACHINE + MEDEAPLAYS = Renegade's Richly Challenging Work