Leslie Warren
(2 Reviews)

Well this show does exactly what is says it’s going to do!

It is crammed from beginning to end with the Beatles hits. In our opinion, it is a toe tapping triumph.

The cast of Emanuele  Angeletti as Paul McCartney, John Brosnan as George Harrison, Ben Cullingworth as Ringo Starr and Michael Gagliano and John Lennon were a fitting tribute to the Beatles – not as good of course but a very good representation.

The evening opened with a cracking running order of "She Loves You", I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and "All My Loving". The audience was instantly transported to Beatlemania time as everybody broke into song.  

By "Twist and Shout" a few moments later, many people were up dancing and the whole feel was as the show had intended, watching a tribute band rather than a theatre production.

As Beatles fans we were happy with the creative team’s choice of songs and order. There were a few touching moments that calmed down the high energy songs before having everybody back up on their feet again a few moments later.

The changes in costume reflected the different musical eras the Beatles went through from their grey suits to their Sgt Peppers colourful outfits, complete with the moustache of course.

Their vocals were great with only one or two little wobbles in the entire evening. However, the only negative in the evening was their accents. When they were singing it was believable until they spoke! They really need to work on this – especially Bronsnan and Cullingworth. Every time they spoke, which luckily wasn’t too much, it grated a little. Once they began the next song it was forgotten as we joined back in with the singing but it did detract from the overall authenticity of the show.

The second half of the show rattled along with more great songs, singing and dancing from all. The lighting and back drops were simple but effective and who needs more when the focus is on reliving moments of this amazing band that appealed to so many.

It was a thoroughly entertaining show with lots of opportunities for singing and dancing along the trip down memory lane.  

Having spent many years listening to my husband humming and singing these tunes around the house and spending years listening to them played on vinyl, I did wonder if I was going to hear the voices I was used to hearing or bad imitations of them.

I was really impressed with Dean Martin, played by Nigel Casey, he was quite realistic and at points he sounded pretty close to Dean himself. He clearly has a good voice. Frank Sinatra, played by Garrett Phillips, was a successful portrayal too. However, I didn’t think that David Hayes got his Sammy Davis Junior impersonation quite right though. He was the weakest link in this show, Sammy was a great dancer and David Hayes struggled with a small routine. It may have been helpful for him to have had a few more dancing lessons!

Having seen lots of shows and musicals the set was a little disappointing. It was really basic and as this was supposed to be set in Las Vegas as the title says then this set was not what I was expecting from a Las Vegas show. It was some wooden steps and that was about it really.

The backing singers had lovely voices and did a great job, they were what you would expect from backing singers and they put in a good show.

Nicola Emmanuel, who played Ella Fitzgerald had a fabulous voice and it was a lovely to hear from a female too – not just the Rat Pack guys.

Some of the humour from the show was a bit dated and slightly cringe worthy. However, on the whole most of the jokes and chat between songs raised a chuckle, even if I didn’t always get the Americanisms.

This was not the glitz and glam I was expecting from a ’Las Vegas’ show but most of the performances were very enjoyable and it was a lovely evening of reminiscing.