Vintage rock n’ roll stage musicals are a well-established genre. Let It Be is a bit of a deviation within this brand as it plants itself squarely on its chops at musical impersonation. It’s not here to tell the Beatles’ story or chart the behind-the-scenes drama of the band. Provided you are looking for a period-accurate tribute band, Let It Be is a very satisfying gig.

The format of the show is broadly to recreate versions of some of the Beatles’ most famous concerts (the Royal Variety Performance, Shea Stadium, etc.). This breaks the mould of archetypal productions in this genre which frame the big songs within a biopic narrative. Let It Be is explicitly about the music and the gigs. There’s no connective tissue in a story sense at all. Screens around the stage provide humour and context for set changes with period adverts or newsreel footage. The rest is solely down to performance and stage presence.

For those who know their Beatles trivia, there’s an obvious issue that needs to be overcome for the later songs and careers of the group. After Brian Epstein’s death, the band ceased to do live performances and began spiralling into their protracted break-up period. Hence, there are no hugely iconic concerts for a lot of the key Beatles canon with all four members. The second half of Let It Be therefore revises the concept of the show and becomes a speculated 1980 reunion concert, a ‘what if?’ to facilitate their other material and songs composed post-break-up.

The rehashing of the concept of the show post-interval does irk a tiny bit but it’s as sensible a method as any to deliver on the primary appeal of the show. One does perhaps wonder if the initial pitch of concert recreation was so sensible in this light but ultimately the goal of the production is not compromised: you get to see talented Beatles impersonators doing the greatest hits.

It’s worth extolling the efforts gone to on this front. It is demanding enough to be a competent actor and musician. On top of this, the performers have to not simply deliver good cover versions of Beatles songs, but they need to do so in such a way as to emulate John, Paul, George and Ringo at specific concerts. All four show themselves up to this task. Michael Gagliano is the go-to John Lennon impersonator in the industry. Emanuele Angeletti does an almost eerie Paul impression. John Brosnan and Ben Cullingworth arguably have it slightly easier with George and Ringo’s more muted stage presences but both are putting in the trademark features. Kudos to Brosnan for remembering George’s toothy singing at the Royal Variety performance.

With the caveat that this is not The-Story-of-the-Beatles-with-Music, Let It Be is an entertaining tribute concert for enthusiasts with plenty of appeal to neophytes as well.   ★★★☆☆   Fenton Coulthurst   29th August 2018