Backbeat, the word is on the street
You know I've been itching to use that title since we started this production!! Had to be done. The word is well and truly on the street. We have been delighted with the amount of mentions we've been getting on Twitter, Facebook and other media. Plus loads of you have been leaving comments and star ratings on our website. I've posted a couple below, but you can read the rest here.
"The best piece of live theatre I've seen - and, being ages with the Beatles, I've seen plenty. All round brilliance, and amazing musical skills from this group of actors. I must see it again! Annie C"
"My son is just discovering the Beatles and was totally enthralled by the production, the singing and the touching storyline. Do yourself a favour, and get along to the Citizen's to see Backbeat before it becomes 'bigger than Jesus Christ!' Robert Mcaulay"
...we didn't pay them to say all these nice things, honest!!
Production photography by Richard Campbell
So what have the press been saying?
“For the show to have a chance of working, Softley has to convince us of the lost genius of Sutcliffe the painter, as well as the primitive potential of a band that would redefine popular music. Softley does an impressive job on both counts.”
Guardian
"Sutcliffe and his bandmates kick up a credible musical racket, all jangly guitars and chirpy harmonies, as they storm their way through Johnny B Goode, Please Mr Postman and other period standards...Backbeat gives a convincing impression of the raw sound of early 60s rock'n'roll."
Guardian
“Isabella Calthorpe, as Astrid, all in black, blonde hair in a serious bob, is even more beautiful and enigmatic than the original...Alex Robertson makes a handsome and moody Sutcliffe. ”
The Times
"the band is tight and the excitement is bubbling under.”
The Times
"The tug of love between Sutcliffe, Lennon and Astrid reflects Sutcliffe's own split between art and rock'n'roll. Even more pertinent the ship grey walls at the back of the stage indicate the drabness of post war Britain, lit up in turn by re-light-district neon and the colours literally exploding inside Sutcliffe's head.”
The Herald
“The production uses non Beatles-written songs to drive a plot that slips between Liverpool and Hamburg. Christopher Oram’s excellent sliding door set hints at the Berlin Wall, while using projections and lighting wisely to facilitate the story’s slick passage.”
The Stage
"Isabella Calthorpe is stunning as Kirchherr”
The Stage
"A production which has enough knowing winks to keep Beatles fans happy, music to keep it pumping along and which makes sense of that most unfashionable of concepts, that art can be created for its own sake, not solely in the pursuit of fame.”
The Stage
You can see a video of audience reaction on YouTube and some exclusive shots of our opening night on Flickr. Don't forget to leave your comments on our website if you see the show.
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