23 January 2012 (Theatre Review)

Star Rating: 3/5

Review by: David O'Shaughnessy

The Tivoli Theatre on Francis Street is one of Dublin's most criminally under appreciated venues. Although the address is Dublin 8, being just around the corner from the Christchuch Cathedral means a lot of people miss out on of the city's more intimate venues.

The current performance hoping to make the most of this intimacy is Get Back: The Story of The Beatles, a show that sets out to highlight the big moments from the history of The Beatles by recreating those moments live with what is a very accomplished tribute band. Roughly 2 hours in length, the performance charts a seven year period that saw the group rise to meteoric and sustained worldwide fame, with accompanying visuals and minor set changes as well as bit-part interactions with the audience. The fault with this is that it is very hard to figure out what the shows primary goal is.

As a tribute act, The Classic Beatles are exceptional. Their musical prowess and ability is incredible when it comes to recreating the sound and personas of the fab four, and they hold the audiences attention with ease. So as a gig, the show is excellent. However, it's when the production tries to break into more of a jukebox musical that cracks start to appear.

The display and set that accompany the band are simple and effective, but also quite dated technologically if the show is trying to aim towards a theatrical piece. With the opening of The Grand Canal Theatre, Irish audiences are now beginning to see the best of the West Ends touring sets, and standards have just moved past a simple video projection and interchangeable props.

In terms of script and acting, the moments between songs where the performers banter in character are impressive caricatures, but little more, and anything extended past short exchanges borders on cringeworthy. As for the narrative, the show does call for the audience to have a significant pre-requisite knowledge of the history of the band, otherwise some moments will just seem unnecessary.

But the audience attending was eating it up to the fullest extent, so while the show has it's faults, Beatles fans will be in their absolute element and more than definitely on their feet and singing along before the end of the show. And there are definitely more than enough fans out there to make the most of a Beatlemania reprise.

Get Back: The Story of The Beatles runs until February 14th in Dublin's Tivoli Theatre, Francis St. Tickets are available here.

 

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