Musical ‘Let it Be’ tells of turbulent times through music of The Beatles
Director Sunny Smith took on an unexpected challenge when she agreed to stage the musical “Let it Be” for the Players Centre for Performing Arts. The musical uses hits by The Beatles (and maybe some of the band’s lesser-known songs) to tell a story of families in turmoil during the 1960s without a line of dialogue.
“I’ve not quite directed anything like this before,” said Smith, who runs the theater program at Booker High School’s Visual and Performing Arts Center. “It’s been a new experience for all of us, process wise.”
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Developed by Stageworks Productions and Annerin Productions, the musical features about two dozen Beatles songs, including such favorites as “Hey Jude,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Help!” “Yesterday,” “A Hard Day’s Night” and “All You Need is Love.”
Those songs, and the actions of the larger cast under Smith’s staging, bring to life the stories of two families from roughly 1964 to 1966 as they face turbulent times, young men being drafted to service in Vietnam, death of family members and how all those things impact loved ones.
The musical closes the Players Centre’s Summer Sizzler series with a cast of some veteran performers and those new to mainstage productions.
Timothy Spradlin plays Bill Martin, who is dealing with the recent loss of his wife, which has also created a rift with his daughters (played by Kasey Ferace, Ciana Bostock and Liv Tunks), as they try to come back together as a family. His daughter Loretta becomes rebellious; Rita starts a romance with the neighbor’s son, Jude; and Lucy has stopped speaking to anyone.
Auggie Toynton plays Jude Jones, whose own family (played by Tanner Fults, Lindsey Nickel and Delaney Lockwood) is torn apart when he is drafted.
The cast also features Neil Kasanofsky, Aden Russell, Shawn Spears, Morgan Takacs, Jamie Becker, Charles Page and Katie Keck.
Smith said these families are dealing with issues that most audience members will connect with.
“There are going to be people who lived through all this. This play is about memories and they will have had these experiences,” she said. “They may have had somebody who had to go off to war, or maybe they have dealt with someone passing. We associate so many of these things to music.”
Smith said the show helped her reconnect with The Beatles.
“The first thing I did when we agreed on this show was to start listening to Beatles albums. It brought me back. I grew up listening to the Beatles,” she said. “Hearing these songs again brought back some specific memories and gave me such a better insight into understanding these stories.”
At the start of rehearsals, Smith said she gathered the cast to go through the music, and more specifically, the lyrics.
“We were trying to assess the meaning of the lyrics. If this is the lyric I’m singing, what am I really saying inside, underneath?” she said. “It’s the same thing you’d do with any line in any play, but we don’t have a script. The script is the lyrics.”
The cast is working with Michelle Neal as musical director. Smith said, “We just drilled the music for the first two weeks, talking about character and didn’t start our process of blocking until the third week so the actors would be comfortable knowing this is the direction I’m going in.”
‘Let it Be’
Directed by Sunny Smith. Runs Aug. 17-28 at Players Centre for Performing Arts, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $23.50-$26.50 and $14 for students. 941-365-2494; theplayers.org
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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Beatles hits create framework for The Players’ musical ‘Let it Be”
