Musical bio of Beatles returns to Bremerton | Kitsap Week

Published 9:19 am Friday, July 31, 2015

BREMERTON — The Beatles were arguably the greatest and most influential act of the 1960s rock era.

And in a couple of months, you can see the closest thing to the real thing: the tribute band Abbey Road in “In My Life — A Musical Theatre Tribute to the Beatles” 7 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Admiral Theatre.

All tickets are 20-percent off with the promo code “Beatles” through July 31. The musical is family friendly and sold out the Admiral Theatre last year.

Abbey Road is Nathaniel Bott (John Lennon), Christopher Overall (Paul McCartney), Jesse Wilder (George Harrison) and Axel Clarke (Ringo Starr).

While a great repertoire of songs bind this musical together, the audience also gets to relive the most important moments of The Beatles’ epic legacy, which spans the entire 1960s. The actors that portray the band members connect with the crowd through trademark sense of humor and cheeky banter.

As one watches The Beatles progress throughout that decade, the band’s manager Brian Epstein (Murphy Martin) makes his presence known throughout the musical, narrating his side of the story starting from his discovery of the Fab Four at the Cavern Club in Liverpool up until after the release of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”

Epstein plays a very important role in this show, not only because he was the man who discovered the group, but he also influenced their fashion sense and personal touch with audiences.

The audience will relive the breakthrough Ed Sullivan Show performance on Feb. 9, 1964, viewed by a TV audience of 78 million, or reviving their deafening and packed Shea Stadium concert in 1965. It also touches on the band’s intimate moments in the recording studio.

The audience observes the four in the studio as they struggle to reconcile their creative differences after Epstein’s death in 1967, a couple of months after the release of Sgt. Pepper.

As for inspiration for the musical, Tom Maher, one of the co-producers alongside Andy Nagle, said a friend gave him a biography on Epstein, which was the basis of the “In My Life” musical.

“It took a while to get the pacing, but we are happy with the results,” Maher said.

Maher added that he wanted to make the portrayal as accurate as possible, with the band using the exact gear from the box amps to the guitars. Even the costumes they used throughout the performance — from the suits to the ensembles they wore during their Sgt. Pepper’s period — mirror the originals’ designs.

The San Diego Theatre Review called the show “the most original of all Beatles shows.”