Just when you thought you knew all there was to know about The Beatles, a new live musical documentary has been created to shed light on the most famous band in the world.
Coming to the Jeanne and Peter Lougheed Performing Arts Centre in Camrose, this is a live music event for the memory books.
Created by Haley Marie, Artistic Director of Aurelia Productions, Becoming The Beatles is a production featuring stories and photos of the band’s life. Playing Friday, Oct. 13, Marie and her band will also be performing 20 of The Beatles’ biggest hits.
This show was created as a labour of love, delving into the stories behind the music, something that Marie values in all genres.
“Whether it’s about The Beatles, whether it’s about classical music, whoever it’s about, I really think there are so many interesting untold stories about the music makers and who they were,” she explained. “And about the very ordinary, very human circumstances that created extraordinary music.”
Her love of music history found its way into the creation of Becoming The Beatles. It’s an interesting challenge taking on the story of The Beatles who happen to be one of the most documented bands in the world, but that didn’t stop Marie. Her focus was on significant stories that hadn’t found the light of day.
To do this, Marie rejected all the main sources of information and delved into the history of the band to create a unique show.
“For six to eight months I read voraciously. I made hundreds of pages of handwritten notes,” says Marie.
“The goal of this show is to shed light on what people don’t know, so that’s why we’re going to analyze the music, explain why it’s great, and explain some of their lesser-known influences. Like classical musicians, avant-garde musicians, everybody from Pierre Boulez to Beethoven.”
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The show’s first iteration was presented to the public in 2017, explained Marie, and there was a significant person in the audience that helped shape how the show appears today.
“One of the people to come that night was Mary-Lu Zahalan, who was the first graduate from the Beatles master’s program at Liverpool Hope University,” says Marie.
“She came up to me and said she learned new things about The Beatles and that to me, can you even top that?”
Zahalan ended up becoming the Director for the show, which helped shape it into what it is today.
For those trying to wrap their heads around what to expect with Becoming The Beatles, Marie says it’s not a tribute show and it’s not a two-hour lecture.
“We’re playing 20 big blockbuster Beatles hits in chronological order and then in between songs we glue the whole thing together with the behind-the-scenes stories. From John Lennon’s birth in an air raid to the band’s breakup and beyond, and the influences that they all had on the world going forward.”
Couple that with over 400 projections, the audience is going to be presented with a wonderful historical piece about one of the greatest bands of all time.
“This is a show for both the ultimate Beatles fan, and also for people who haven’t been lifelong fans but are interested in their stories and the era,” says Marie.
While this will be a treat for the senses, for Marie it’s a joy to go on stage and tell the band’s stories. “In complete honesty, I can say it’s a privilege to perform this show every time.”
“I mean that because I think about the four guys in the band, but also the other people who were close to them and I think about what they went through and how hard they worked and how much of themselves they gave to their art,” she said.
Becoming the Beatles is part of the Shuman Insurance Presentation Series and is show sponsored by Boston Pizza Camrose.
