| Beatlemania | |
| Music | The Beatles |
|---|---|
| Lyrics | The Beatles |
| Basis | The life of The Beatles. |
| Productions | 1977 Broadway |
Beatlemania was a Broadway musical revue focused on the life and music of The Beatles. Advertised as "Not the Beatles, but an incredible simulation", it ran from 1977 to 1979 for a total of 1006 performances.
Contents |
Originally conceived and produced by Steve Leber and David Krebs, Beatlemania began previews on May 26, 1977 in Boston. It premiered on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre on May 31, 1977 (after previewing from May 26) and ran until October 17, 1979 for a total of 1006 performances. During its New York run, the show moved to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and finally the Palace Theatre. The production was nominated for the 1978 Tony Award for Best Lighting Design by designer Jules Fisher.
After closing on Broadway, the "Beatlemania Bus and Truck tour" began, running until 1983 and touring across the United States and worldwide. A lawsuit by the Beatles company "Apple Corps LTD" officially ended the show for a period of time but revival tours still continue today.
At its peak, Beatlemania had several permanent shows in several cities around the world and several semi-temporary shows in many more cities in the U.S and the rest of the world.
As the show expanded in its formative years over 50 original cast members formed 10 bunks (or casts of a single set of four). As the New York show continued its run, shows were opened in Los Angeles, Chicago, Cincinnati, and London. Short term tours of Australia, Europe, Asia and Africa were produced after 1982 and revival tours continue today.
In 1978, Beatlemania released a self-titled soundtrack to the show which included contributions from the first and second cast of performers from the show (as well as a few additional off stage keyboardists and musicians). Released on Arista Records in 1978, the album received warm audience reaction even placing on the Billboard Hot 100 for several weeks before falling into vinyl obscurity. Tracks from the album included most but not all of the original show's songlist and several of the tracks were either re-recorded entirely or partially re-recorded in the studio. Cast members that appear on the album include Mitch Weissman, Alan Lebeouf, Joe Pecorino, Randy Clark, Les Fradkin, Tom Teeley, Justin Mcneill, and Bobby Taylor.
After four years of production USA videos productions took an interest in making a film version of the Beatlemania stage show. After a brief contract negotiation, Beatlemania: The Movie began production in 1980 (shortly before the death of John Lennon). The film's cast featured Mitch Weissman (bass guitar), David Leon (rhythm guitar), Tom Teeley (lead guitar), and Ralph Castelli (drums). The reactions to Beatlemania: The Movie were cold and plans for a followup film were immediately shelved after several poor reviews of the way the film was produced (several critics complained of the film being too art based and not worthy of being associated with the stageshow Beatlemania).
The first 50 cast are known as "Original" cast members as the show expanded beyond the first original lineup (Mitch Weissman, Joe Pecorino, Les Fradkin and Justin McNeill), Broadway Production Members and consequential Broadway movie lineup, into a country wide production with several touring casts, or what became known as "Bunks".
Casts and Casting became independent after 1984 as revival and current casts tour under many different Beatle related nomenclatures.
An alphabetical listing of members (those not part of the first run of Beatlemania ) who have worked with its cast members and/or in a revival or current touring cast include:
(As John Lennon/Rhythm guitar)
Mark Benson, Carlo Cantamessa, Ron McNeil
(As Paul McCartney/Bass guitar)
Gary Grimes, Frank Mendonca, Ardy Sarraf
(As George Harrison/Lead guitar)
Michael Amador, Jim Filgate, Gavin Pring
(As Ringo Starr/Drums)
Michael Bellusci, John Delgado, Rolo Sandoval
   | Beatlemania Alumni.com - Beatlemania Alumni, The Casts, The Music, The Magic |
| | IBDB listing - Beatlemania | IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information |
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