Nick Blood (photo credit: Nobby Clark)
friends start band, band becomes successful, life starts to get real
Backbeat is and is not the Beatles
by Dave Ross
Backbeat: The Birth of the Beatles is in dire need of a new name. Admittedly, calling it Stuart Sutcliffe, the Beatles and the Conflict That Took Place At The Same Time The Beatles Were Born doesn’t have quite the same ring, but let’s not beat around the bush. The Beatles themselves are almost secondary characters in this show. But that’s actually ok.
This is a jukebox musical, so don’t go into this show expecting to be dazzled by something fresh and new. The songs serve as a vehicle to deliver the story, such as it is. Unfortunately, it takes a few cranks of the engine to get the vehicle going and get the story moving as well. The story does suffer pacing issues, particularly in the first act. It only becomes apparent part way through that this is the story of Stuart Sutcliffe (Nick Blood), John Lennon (Andrew Knott), and the rift that developed between them as Sutcliffe fell in love with Astrid Kirchherr (Isabella Calthorpe). The story is a familiar one—friends start band, band becomes successful, life starts to get real, tensions are revealed, friendships fall apart, someone dies and catharsis take place.
