I’ve been a Beatles fan nearly all my life, discovering the Fab Four only shortly after their breakup in 1970. Since then, I’ve spent a fair chunk of my disposable income on buying Beatles albums in all sorts of iterations: vinyl, 8-track, cassette, CD and even video. I’ve bought “regular” albums, re-mastered albums, rarities, anthologies — you name it. But through it all, I’ve stayed away from “re-imaginings” and reinterpretations. I’m a purist at heart; I wanted to hear the music the way the group intended it to be heard — no mashups need apply, thank you very much.
So it was with a little trepidation that I went with my wife to see “LOVE,” the Cirque du Soleil interpretation of the Fab Four’s music, with a story very loosely based on the band’s rise to fame and the influence both of and on the world around it.
The music is of course phenomenal. But the remixing of familiar licks, stings and phrasing is truly inspired. Bass lines from one song lead into and remain throughout another; drum kicks from Abbey Road become the foundation of “Get Back.” The mix between albums, eras and styles works in a way that seems not only seamless but in hindsight downright natural — even obvious, once you’ve heard them. And the quality of the sound is something that one imagines has never before been heard outside Abbey Road studio itself. I’m quite sure I never stopped smiling during the entire performance.
And speaking of performance, it’s hard to believe, but the music itself was only part of the experience. The acrobatics, dancing and staging were nothing short of incredible. With costuming and set decoration that seemed equal parts Peter Maxx, Dr. Suess and Rube Goldberg, LOVE is every bit a feast for the eyes as well as the ears.
Don’t look too hard for a storyline. The plot, if there can said to be one, serves merely to connect segments that are at times joyous, mystical, tragic, whimsical and funny…but always sensual and always a sheer delight.
With musical direction from Beatles producer George Martin and his son, Giles, LOVE is a meticulously, brilliantly, lovingly woven experience of a lifetime. To call it simply a “show” would be a disservice to the genius of not only the Beatles’ body of work, but the set design, choreography, sound design, performances and technological know-how it took to bring it all together. What I feared might be just another vehicle to milk the Beatles franchise yet one more time turned out to be a fitting capstone to the legacy of the four lads from Liverpool — one that would have been impossible without the intimacy with which Martin knows the material.
Writing a review of LOVE is a little like trying to describe, well, love. Words are utterly unfit for the task. LOVE needs to be experienced in all its multi-sensual glory to be understood. And once it is, it is something that becomes part of you forever.
Cirque du Soleil’s “LOVE” is now playing at the Mirage Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas.
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