[rating=4]While the current offering from Broadway in Chicago, to many might be billed as a concert, in many ways “Rain” a Tribute to the Beatles, is indeed a theatrical experience. What we have is a history lesson of sorts showing us what this quartet of English performers brought to our country and our culture during some major years of history. It is a full range of The Beatles from their arrival, their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and of course the changes they made during turbulent times in America. They even do many o fthe songs that the Beatles never performed live on any stage, only in the recording studios. “Rain” is a group of four very talented musician/singers who make no attempt to imitate the “Fab Four” , but rather bring them to us as we remember them and the song book they created with music that appeals to both young and old.
Douglas Cox ( Ringo),Tom Teeley ( George),Jim Irizarry ( John) and Mac Ruffing ( Paul) are all brilliant musicians with sterling voices and as a group, doing this show have been together even longer than the Beatles themselves. The two plus hour concert is mixed with some fantastic newsreel footage, some almost real footage of their Ed Sullivan appearance, as well as the Shea Field experience.We also get a glimpse of some of the times as they change and so do the performers as they go through their own cycles; the start, the Abbey Road album, the psychedelic 60’s, and their “hippie” period, making you wish , if you are under 50, that you could have had the experiences that my generation experienced with their great music. There is also a segment of old TV commercials that will have you laughing your heads off! Oh What a night!
Songs like “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, “A Hard Day’s Night” “Let It Be” ( which had the audience on their feet singing along- just the lighters were missing on this one),”Come Together”,”Stay Back”, “Revolution”,”Strawberry Fields”, Eleanor Rigby”,”Get By” and lots of memorable songs that had both young and old audience members on their feet dancing in the aisles with a final good feeling “Hey Jude” which sent the audience home humming and smiling. What more could one ask for when spending their hard earned cash on entertainment.
The staging, lighting , videos and performances are a very special evening and I would imagine an exhausting one for the performers. That being said, there are a number of men who handles these roles in addition to those named;Steve Landes,Joey Curatolo,Joe Bithorn,Ralph Castelli ( Mark Beyer handles some of the keyboard work), The only shame is that “RAIN” will only be at the Oriental Theatre located at 24 West Randolph Street through July 1, so you do not have a lot of time to experience the concert that you will never forget. Performances are as follows:
Wednesday,Thursday,Friday and Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m.,Saturday evening at 8 p.m., matinees are Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Tickets range from $25-$75 and can be purchased at any of the Broadway In Chicago box offices,The Broadway In Chicago Ticketline at 800-775-2000, all Ticketmaster outlets and online at www.BroadwayInChicago.com
To see more about this show, visit the RAIN page at www.theatreinchicago.com
or www.raintribute.com
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