THE FAB FIVE

On the stage, in theatre, there are musicals. We all know them: West Side Story, Rent, Les Miz, We Will Rock You ... but there are also what I would call Musical Reviews. These are plays, usually based on a single performer/group, using their music to tell some story but normally, in the second act, becoming a concert by a tribute band; the illusion of the story is tossed aside as the actors-now-tribute-band turns the theatre into a concert venue.

The stage version of The Buddy Holly Story falls into this category as does Jersey Boys, the story of the Four Seasons.

Backbeat, currently showing at the Royal Alexandria, falls into both these categories ... mostly.

Backbeat is a play that entwines several stories: The birth of the Beatles, the short and tragic life of Stu Sutcliffe and a love story, well a couple of love stories. It begins with the earliest incarnation of the Beatles with Paul, John, George and drummer Pete Best. They are yet to be called the Beatles; that name arrives along with Stu, a moody talented artist and John Lennon's BFF. Stu has no musical abilities but John tells him that isn't important ... he'll play bass. In funny scene, John teaches Stu the three strings he will need to press in order to play. Stu asks what he should do with his other hand, the one that is normally on the guitar's neck. John berates him: "What do you need to do that fancy shite for, that's showing off"

There is some friction about Stu's arrival in the band and Stu himself seems unsure about the whole thing but these are a bunch of teenaged boys from Liverpool and being in a band gets you birds, so off they go. The music in Backbeat is completely logical. It comes in the form of the band playing in clubs in Germany and England, recording sessions, and to themselves. The club performances are excellent: Loud and raucous and blistering; American rock n roll played at a breakneck pace. It gives you a sense of what this must have been like; at a time when many British musicians were doing sappy remakes of creaky standard pop sounds, these young Teddy Boys were pounding out music that was visceral and physical .. and loud

We follow the boys to Germany where they play their first gigs in a seedy brothel slash nightclub in Hamburg. It's here that Stu meets Astrid, a German photographer who is more drawn to his artist side than his musician's pose. Astrid is played by Isabella Calthrope and she delivers one of the strongest performances in the piece.

Astrid and Stu is not the only love story in Backbeat, it is also about the love between Stu and John. And it is about the love of music. Some of the most effective scenes in the play involve John and Paul creating their songs; the process is quite fascinating and it is glimpse at the greatest songwriting duo in the history of pop music.

Over all, the cast is fairly strong. Andrew Knott is effective as John, he is particularly good at capturing Lennon's caustic sense of humour but fails at bit at strong expressions of emotion but is mostly very fun to watch. The boys in the band sing their own songs and they are all competent with Daniel Healy as Paul exhibiting a particularly moving voice.

The music is good and, as I sated, appropriate ... except where Backbeat slide from legitimate musical into music review. When the story is ended, bows are taken, the Beatles come back out and start belting out a few songs. The rest of the cast breaks into song and people move through the audience, encouraging dancing and clapping. We've morphed from play to concert and after a couple of numbers you see the cast not as characters or actors but as a fairly run of the mill tribute band. Luckily this does not last long.

Backbeat the musical: Fun and moving. Backbeat the concert: I should have bought a beer