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A CurtainUp Los Angeles Review
Backbeat


"Being able to play isn't that important. Look at him. He's cool. He's going to be our star. And he's thought of a new name for the group. Tell them, Stu.'The Beatles. "— John Lennon introducing Stu Sutcliffe to the band
The Beatles were the first rock band to prove the power of cross media pollination. Soon after their first single was released in the US, they appeared in their first movie as themselves. One year later they approved a cartoon featuring imitations of their Liverpudlian lilt. So the unending spate of stage pieces and films depicting aspects of the band's history is a natural extension of it. Most have even been honorable.

' Two faux concerts, Beatlemania in the '70s and the recent Rain, have been Broadway hits. The Cirque du Soleil extravaganza Love is in its seventh year. No fewer than three fine independent films, Nowhere Boy, The Hours and Times , and Backbeat have covered their early days. The last has now been adapted artfully to the stage.

Its best scene depicts the creation of that first single,"Love Me Do." McCartney (Daniel Healy) strums a new tune on his guitar: “Please love me too/ Just like I love you/ I'll always be true/ Don't say we're through/ Just love me too." Lennon (Andrew Knott) overhearing, calls it "a load of shite." He wants to know what this fella in the song wants. As used here, the song is Paul's own indirect plea to John. He feels sidelined by John's attachment to the fifth Beatle who stands between them, literally and figuratively.

The scene catches fire as John convinces Paul to change the song's POV. The lyrics shift from supplication to seduction. We witness the creation of both a pop classic and a legendary partnership. Paul gets what he wants and so do we. There's only one problem: the scene comes nearly ninety minutes in. Until then, the sleekly beautiful Backbeat places Stuart Sutcliffe (Nick Blood) front and center. Stu who? That's the challenge of the piece.

In a best case scenario, the thrilling discovery of a figure who's surprisingly instrumental to a beloved band's development would compound the joy of the expected moments. Sadly, the show's scenario, written by the film's director/co-writer Iain Softley and Stephen Jeffreys, is middling at best. The creators' don't prove the case that Sutcliffe deserves to be where the show places him - as a pivotal figure in a major stage production and the band's development.

At the top, Sutcliffe, John's friend from art school, doesn't play an instrument. Despite John's tutelage, which provides welcome comic relief, Stu develops no demonstrable musical talent. He's there because John won't take no for an answer. Even more damaging, he never demonstrates much of a commitment in the group. Many in the audience will be fans, so Stu's indifference won't exactly come across as a come-on.

Much stage time is devoted to Sutcliffe's infatuation with art and Astrid (Leanne Best, niece of original Beatles' drummer Pete Best), the girlfriend of a graphic artist working with the band. Director David Leveaux, with projection designers Timothy Bird and Nina Dunn, creates lovely stage pictures for scenes in which he paints and she takes the first photographs that capture the Beatles' incipient stardom.

Too many of their scenes though repeat the same beat. Astrid wants Stu to commit to his real talent and he doesn't disagree. In the film, the cool hauteur of Stephen Dorff's Sutcliffe was enough to capture the camera's interest. A big stage requires more and the creators haven't figured out how to provide it. The duo's claim on the narrative is cemented by their influence on the band. He suggests the Beatles name and she influences their era-defining bangs and collar-less suits.

But nothing the top-billed duo do affects us like the simple scene in which Healy's Paul sings "A Taste of Honey" for a music executive. It's not just that the show is trading on a pre-existing affection for the mates and their music. The sweet tune pings all the way to the balcony of the large theatre and draws us forward because of the aching purity of Healy's voice and intent. Nothing Blood's Stu does comes close to matching this so he stays closed to our hearts.

Knott's voluble Lennon is also tied up by writing that isn't sufficiently pointed or resonant. People keep commenting on John's love for Stu. We get a sense of its fervor, but not its source or its kind. Too often, Knott pumps vocal energy into scenes to give them life.

Once Stu leaves the band, John, Paul, George (Dan Westwick), and newcomer Ringo (Adam Sopp), decked out in their new Astrid-inspired style, ride a platform downstage. They play "Twist and Shout" practically in our laps. We bop along, blissed out. If the show generated more thrills like this, Jersey Boys would be aching for a brawl to kill the competition.

During the previous tunes though, in which the actors impressively cover the Beatles' covering early rock hits, they play mid-stage. In front, most of the German clubgoers stand teutonically stiff. When one does a sharp-edged dance across the stage, the theatricality serves as a tonic. The show needs more moments like this and the too-rare moments of underscoring by music supervisor Paul Stacy. Kudos also go to Richard Brooker's crisp sound design. The extended raucous encore sends us out on a high. But the pleasures remain far too remote for far too long.

The estimable Leveaux, whether working on texts by O'Neill, Stoppard, or Bergman, has few equals at translating the world of a play into fields of light. Here, with lighting designers Howard Harrison and David Holmes, he gives us alluring smoke-filled blue neons of industrial Hamburg. He bathes Blood's chiseled bare torso in worshipful light. Like his other work, these visuals invite reflection. But Backbeat needs to throb with the explosive dynamics of the Beatles' early sets.

Surprisingly, Oliver Bennett as the other forgotten Beatle Pete Best sets off the most sparks musically and dramatically. When he's summarily replaced on new producer George Martin's orders, he does not recede willingly into the sad stats of rock and roll trivia. Indicative of so much that's muffled, we never learn what John, Paul, or George felt about the firing. Whether or not the writer's hands were tied by legalities, keeping them off-stage is one more example of how too much of Backbeat stays in a minor key.

Backbeat
Adapted for the stage by Iain Softley and Stephen Jeffreys
Directed by David Leveaux

Starring: Nick Blood, Leanne Best, Andrew Knott, Oliver Bennett, Daniel Healy, Dan Westwick, With: Edward Clarke, Josie Dunn, Sam Ford, Mark Hammersley, Perry Ojeda, Charlotte Palmer, Phil Pritchard, Dominic Rouse, Louise Shuttleworth, Adam Sopp, Charles Swift, James Wallace, Miranda Wilford
Design: Andrew D. Edwards from an original concept by Christopher Oram
Lighting Design: Howard Harrison and David Holmes
Sound Design: Richard Brooker
Projection Design: Timothy Bird and Nina Dunn for Knifedge
Musical Supervision and Original Music: Paul Stacy
Running time: Two hours 40 minutes including one intermission
Runs: Tuesday through Sundays until March 1, 2013
Ahmanson Theatre 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Reservations: (213) 628-2772
Reviewed by: Jon Magaril
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