A little less than three years ago, “Rain” strung together Beatles hits, hired impersonators to cover them and brought the whole shebang to Broadway.
Now “Let It Be” has landed on the Great White Way with pretty much the same product. So similar are these shows — which aren’t endorsed by the surviving Beatles or the estates of the others — that the producers of “Rain” are suing the upstart for “copyright infringement.”
This mostly relates to the shared concepts — a nonstop series of songs jazzed up with video footage of 1960s newscasts and vintage ads — and nearly identical set lists. Both productions even include the same Plastic Ono Band song, “Give Peace a Chance.”
Never mind the irony of imitators suing for imitation. The bigger issue is: Why can’t anybody write a decent Beatles musical?
The band itself placed its songs in imaginative movies, so a “Mamma Mia!” scenario wouldn’t be unthinkable. If you wanted to take the biographical road à la “Jersey Boys,” the dynamics between Paul McCartney and John Lennon would make for a juicy story.
None of this figures in either “Rain” or “Let It Be.” Both are essentially concerts in which the audience is constantly reminded that it’s watching a cover band. The drum kit doesn’t say “The Beatles” but “Let It Be,” and Ringo Starr — or rather, “Ringo Starr” — takes us right out of the period mood when he quips, “Do you remember when CDs were black? We used to call them LPs.”
The rotating cast of musicians acquit themselves well, segueing from the bowl cuts and tight black costumes of the early ’60s to the mustaches and mock-military uniforms of the “Sgt. Pepper’s” period. The most jarringly wrong detail is that at a recent performance, the rightie James Fox embodied Paul McCartney — one of the most famous lefties in rock history.
At least this doesn’t get in the way of the songs, which are performed with note-for-note faithfulness, right down to the solos. The other night, John Brosnan’s George Harrison ably duplicated the haunting part initially played by Eric Clapton on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
If you want originality, or even some of the album cuts many fans prefer to the singles, tough luck — that isn’t the point of the show.
Before forking out for a ticket, though, consider that the weekly Beatles brunch at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill offers a good band and an all-you-can-eat buffet for just $40. Might as well get comfort food for the soul and the gullet at the same time.