Open Stage invites you to step inside their underground Cavern Club, opening their 40th season with musical revue “Come Together: A Celebration of the Beatles.” And their cast can sing.
Led both onstage and backstage by director/vocalist TJ Creedon, Open Stage’s boss cast of musicians regale us with almost four dozen Beatles hits – songs your mother should know. And your mother probably has some of the cast’s costumes in the back of her closet. All the lads and dolls are donned in Fab Four finery: Beatle boots, round glasses, striped pants and Sergeant Pepper coats (Rachel Landon, costume designer).
Even before the first chord, when the Open Stage musicians take their places on the art-deco stage, Brad Barkdoll (vocal director/guitar) emanates a rock and roll Lennon-esque countenance, brooding and distant. Only after he sets his guitar aside to play squeezebox on “We Can Work It Out” does he feel approachable. With recognizable guitar riffs and a more refined technique than Lennon ever hoped to have, Barkdoll’s style meshes well with Anthony Pieruccini’s (band director/guitar) own impressive bravura. With too many favorite guitar-heavy tunes to choose just one, standouts for me were “Day Tripper,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” “Helter Skelter,” “Something,” and “Blackbird.”
But back to our regularly scheduled program. The tribute show starts with early 1960s hits from when the Fab Four premiered on black and white television sets, with the entire Open Stage cast delivering the rollicking “A Hard Day’s Night” to set the mood, complete with audience members twisting in their chairs and shouting at their favorite singers. At about the half-point of Act 1, the band sails the audience into technicolor, under tangerine trees and marmalade skies, through the years when the Beatles matured to create layered, more complex music. Then the cast carry that weight, swirling around the kaleidoscope through to the end.
Crooning along with the guitars, Creedon features in many numbers, and sports the hairdo closest to the early Beatles’ signature mop top. Creedon charms the audience with his heartfelt, emotional “Yesterday,” and a playful version of “Back in the U.S.S.R.” But it’s his rendition of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” that ranks one of my Top Five in the score, moving himself seamlessly through the chunky time signature changes. With his characteristically confident energy, Creedon always finds his own voice in all his numbers.
Although this is a tribute show and not a note-for-note imitation, some of the cast went the Scouser route.
Emulating Lennon the most vocally is Zachariah Roush (vocalist), sweet and raw with a slightly sharp timbre. There is a moment during “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” in which I caught Roush misquoting a lyric. The schoolmarm in me licked the tip of my red pen, ready to give that boy a demerit. And then I thought, how brilliant… Lennon himself forgot lyrics or notably garbled them, played with words and flung them far, making them fit the tune, which he also sometimes improvised. So well done, Roush, for bringing Lennon’s creatively playful disregard for perfectionism and raw vocals onstage with “And Your Bird Can Sing,” “Day Tripper,” and “Help!” Equally impressive is Roush’s go as Ringo, pouring on extra Scouser accent with “Octopus’s Garden.”
Also boarding the Mersey Ferry at the seafaring port of Liverpool, Drew Patti (vocalist) cleverly rolls his tongue over the prominent Northern England cadence to recite “Yellow Submarine.” But the real beauties Patti delivers in this show are his emulations of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Something,” the latter of which ranks as my favorite tune of the entire show. Patti brings an honest humility to his vocal stylings, not unlike Harrison, himself. Patti’s vocals almost sneak up on a person rhythmically, staying steady as Barkdoll and Pieruccini drive their guitars alongside.
While most of the arrangements feel straightforward, sounding semi-familiar from my old vinyls (minus the skips), “Eleanor Rigby” proved to be a nice surprise, fronting with a flirty mashup with Fleetwood Mac, a band just getting its sea legs when the Beatles were getting Yoko’ed. Maggie Haynes (vocalist) belts this out strong, holding that end note remarkably long. All Haynes’s performances feel consistent and enthusiastic, complete with interpretive dancing that injects a mix of modern and retro moves.
Haynes also digs down deep for a duet with Aubrey Kyler (vocalist) to perform “Come Together.” I’m used to Lennon’s concert version where he casually chews gum, “improvises” lyrics, and makes silly hand gestures. So I never imagined this song as an intensely sensuous, feminine powerhouse tune. But these ladies work it on out.
Kyler’s versatile range invites contrast and unpredictability (in a good way) into whatever she sings next. Her rendition of “Nowhere Man” is decidedly soprano, when Lennon’s original is a basic flat line. Her “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is ethereal, and she rocks “Helter Skelter” like a banshee (the good kind.)
Adrienne Connaghan (keyboard/vocalist) peppers the music with a lot of additions that George Martin added with classical instruments. Connaghan often mixed things up by moving beyond her keyboard to take center stage. Her lovely delivery of “Blackbird” still lingers in my mind, one of the best of the show.
If the voice of wisdom had a face, it would look like vocalist Jess Logan. Her throaty alto on “Strawberry Fields Forever,” Lady Madonna,” and “Revolution” felt well-seasoned, and her vocal work on “Golden Slumbers” took me to another place. Logan’s voice sounds like someone famous from Lilith Fair. (If you figure it out, please write me through TheBurg. It’s driving me mad.) Extra kudos for Logan’s flawless kazoo talents.
Jeremy Blouch (bass) and Dani Fiore (drums) lay a solid backing, allowing all the vocalists to bask in the spotlight. And then near the end, Fiore breaks out of the background for a technically correct drum solo on (drumroll, please) “The End.” (That’s some cheeky British humour for you.) And Fiore’s drumming on ‘Let It Be” give the ballad all the extra pop Macca never dared to 50 years ago today.
All the numbers pop with amazing harmonies throughout, with some definite “tingly-skin” numbers. Especially outstanding vocal blends: “Paperback Writer” and “Because.” Both songs made me turn to everyone sitting behind me to exchange that unspoken “WOW” glance.
If you yell, “Encore” at the end, (and even if you forget) the band will play you the grooviest Beatles singalong classic to finish your time at the club, with Connaghan blowing up her microphone. If you don’t know the words, then you must be new to the planet, from whichever side of the pond ye hail.
Doncha go on a bender now, but be sure to visit the Open Stage Cavern lobby pub for a pint or [insert clever wordplay here] cocktail, where you can be havin’ a bevvy with your bezzie.
On my way out of the theater, heading through the jigger underneath the Hilton, I glanced down at the disintegrating Beatles logo on my t-shirt and mumbled to no one in particular, “The older I get, the younger the cast looks.” Following me, producer Wayne Landon replied, “Some of the younger [vocalists] had to learn the songs, some hearing them for the first time.”
Feel old? Me, too. At the same time, you could have knocked this old bird over with a white feather, for the way the musicians captured the zeitgeist of the era. The cast sounded as if they’d been digging on Beatles vinyls for years, adding all the details and mannerisms that make the songs quintessentially Fab Four. Hope you yourself crack on, and get your own ticket to ride to Open Stage to see this revue. This Magical Mystery Tour is really aces.
Open Stage’s “Come Together: A Celebration of the Beatles” runs through Sept. 27. For more information, check their website at https://www.openstagehbg.com/shows/cometogether.
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