Let It Be at the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield Review
Let it Be
Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield
23-28 June 2014
Reviewed by Jenny Seymour
It was so lovely last night – I had the opportunity to treat my mum and take her to relive her youth with a trip down memory lane (or rather Penny Lane!). I took her to see Let It Be at the Lyceum Theatre in Sheffield.
This show is more like a concert than a play, but it is almost 3 hours-worth of hit after hit!
The sets were amazing and I think really “made” this show stand out from other Beatles tributes (such as the Bootleg Beatles). It began in the Cavern and, having been there on numerous occasions during my university time in Liverpool, the stage was a pretty good re-creation. It then moved through their set on the Royal Variety Performance (John acknowledging the audience in the box as “your majesty”!). The set of the stadium in the US was great and gave you a feeling of what it must have been like for them on stage with lots of screaming girls and no-one really listening to their music or lyrics. The band’s frustration at that time came out.
Another great set was the Sgt. Pepper’s era – Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds – wonderful!
All of the music is played on stage and sung by the cast and sounded incredible. It really did sound like the fab four! I felt as though I knew what it may have been like to watch the Beatles live, especially with the banter between the band members (albeit with a few less screaming women around me!). The band managed to get even the oldest, perhaps most unlikely audience members up to dance pretty soon into the evening and we loved dancing away.
The singing voices really did sound like each of the Beatles – even though Paul McCartney was from Italy! (Emanuele Angeletti) – the one let down for me was that every now and again some of the accents faltered – annoying for a true scouser like myself, but probably unnoticeable for many of the audience. He had a very god likeness for McCartney though and especially later on in the concert, his mannerisms and facial expressions on the big screen were just like Sir Paul!
All of the cast managed to capture the essence of the band member they were playing though – “Ringo Starr” with the shaking hair, fag in mouth and “Thomas the Tank Engine” drawl; George Harrison sang some great numbers and I loved his electric guitar playing – for me the best was My Guitar Gently Weeps. He had some good one-liners too – “hopefully one day I’ll write Something”!
But the stand out performance of the night for me has to be Reuven Gershon as John Lennon. I really felt as though I was watching John Lennon. There was not one era that suited him the best, like perhaps the other characters. Every era was spot on!
The set changes aren’t wasted, during each one, the move from era to era is depicted on tv screens, taking the audience back to their childhood – videos showing teenage girls ironing their hair (the very first straighteners ladies!) and cigarette ads – oh how we used to live!
With hits so well-known and the Beatles voices so distinct, it could face a lot of critique. However, there were some fabulous performances – Paul McCartney singing Yesterday – could have been quite exposed, but it was fabulous; Let it Be (at the climax of the show) was spine tingling and Hey Jude – well, every concert should finish with it quite frankly!
The whole cast was very strong.
One thing that frustrated me was that there was a company of about 12 men in this production, but only 5 of the company appear on stage each evening and you aren’t told which 5 you see – except Steve Geere who plays the keyboard and percussion. I worked out Reuven Gershon and Emanuele Angeletti, but not quite sure who played George Harrison and Ringo Starr last night.
A polished performance, fab sets and a great night out. We were laughing and singing along from the first note to the last. Get a ticket if you can!
Please note – the theatre only has an arrangement with the Q Park car park (you get 1 hour free parking) so bear this in mind when parking, as the car park next to the Crucible is quite expensive!
There was also a bit of a queue for the Q-Park when leaving as everyone parks there for the theatre.
Rating: 5/5 
Tickets cost from £18 to £34 (plus £1/£1.50 booking fee).
Let It Be is at the Lyceum Theatre in Sheffield until 28 June 2014. For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 0114 249 6000.
Sheffield Theatres, 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 1DA | Box Office 0114 249 6000
