VooDoo works on barbecue, too
January 7, 2014
Carla Bernard Sapia
January 8, 2014
His parents loved them from the outset. His older sisters later idolized them. And Steve Landes tours the globe performing as one of them.
Landes and company arrive at the Saenger Theatre Jan. 17-19 in “Rain – A Tribute to The Beatles,” the touring Broadway salute to John, Paul, George and Ringo.
A self-professed second-wave Beatles fan in the Landes’ household, Steve still remembers rooting around his parents’ attic as a young boy, pulling out his sisters’ old posters, shirts and records – “you name it” – of the Fab Four.
Drawn to their spot-on harmonies, Landes nearly wore out those old records, playing them again and again. By age 10, he could seamlessly play along – the prospective sixth Beatle, if it were, after keyboardist Billy Preston.
Putting his newfound guitar skills to the test, Landes found himself fronting a Top 40 cover band in his native Philadelphia by age 13.
The Beatles had long split by then, each pursuing their own musical projects. And talks of reuniting died Dec. 8, 1980, outside The Dakota apartment building in New York City after Mark David Chapman pumped four bullets into John Lennon’s back, killing the singer/songwriter.
America’s fascination with The Beatles never wavered, however. A tribute show, “Beatlemania,” had ended its Broadway run but was still in high demand.
Even at 17, Landes’ voice lent itself to emulating Lennon – his timbre and vocal range are spot on for the Brit’s. He joined the cast, and spent the next few years “learning the accent and really trying to hone in on how [Lennon] sounded.”
The self-taught guitarist quickly had to teach himself to play the keyboard – “it probably shows,” he jokes. Landes dedicated hours to getting John Lennon’s stage patter down.
“The idea was to embody his character, rather than just imitate him,” Landes said. “I spent hours trying to find out as much about him as I could.”
The payoff: a spot beginning in 1998 in “Rain – A Tribute to The Beatles,” the ultimate multi-media spectacular that chronicles the Fab Four’s first U.S. appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show,” through their “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” years up to their final live appearance singing “Get Back” from atop Abbey Road Studios. “Rain,” for Beatles newcomers, was the B-side of the band’s 45 rpm “Norwegian Wood.”
Traveling with the show, Landes has experienced firsthand Lennon’s climb to fame. He’s fronted The Beatles’ “Slow Down” at Liverpool’s Casbah Club as Peter Best, the club’s owner and pre-Ringo Beatles drummer, kept time.
“Obviously, they are The Beatles. They are on a different level from everybody,” Landes said of playing on some of the stages the Fab Four once graced. “It is a surreal moment to stand on some of the stages and say the same words and connect with Beatles fans the same way he did is very surreal. It is like one of those life imitating history imitating life kind of moments.
“Coming from Philadelphia, I never thought I’d be standing on the Prince of Wales Theater in London where John said, ‘Just rattle your jewelry,’ in front of the Queen Mother,” he said, chuckling. (Again, for Beatle newbies, the reference is to the Nov. 4, 1963, appearance at the Royal Variety Performance in London. Prior to singing the final song of their set, “Twist and Shout,” John asked the audience for a little help, “The people in the cheaper seats, clap your hands; all the rest of you, just rattle your jewelry.”
Although Landes has yet to meet the surviving Beatles, he has met those closest to John Lennon: Yoko Ono and their son Sean, first wife Cynthia Lennon, promoter Sid Bernstein, the band’s fan club secretary Freda Kelly and John’s former girlfriend May Pang.
“Fortunately, I’ve been able to hear stories about John that they felt were too private or too personal to put in their books,” Landes said. “I’ve really gotten a really good impression of who he was personally, off the stage and outside of books. He really was a guy with a heart too big inside of him. Only at the tail end of his life was he able to become the person he was always meant to be.”
The combination of The Beatles’ harmonies that ruled the airwaves in the Sixties and John, Paul, George and Ringo finding their way as musicians and family men after the band’s demise continue to resonate with fans of all ages.
“The Beatles are forever. Their music is timeless,” Landes said. “We see kids – little, little kids (ages) 6 and 8 – who know the words to the songs. Teens in our audience know the more obscure songs, too. ‘Norwegian Wood’ and ‘In My Life.’ There are Boomers reliving the journey with their kids and grandkids. It’s such a bonding experience.”
Designed to cover the bookends – the very beginning and end – of the Beatles’ career, Landes said “Rain” is the concert the Fab Four never performed, and certainly not in America. The group only toured the U.S. three times … until “Rain” comes to town to share the whole Beatles experience.
Joe Bithorn (George Harrison), Steve Landes (John Lennon), Joey Curatolo (Paul McCartney) and Ralph Castelli (Ringo Starr) chronicle The Beatles’ career beginning with their appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” through the Sgt. Pepper years to the release of the band’s final album, “Let It Be.” The Broadway touring production of “Rain – A Tribute to The Beatles” runs at the Saenger Theatre Jan. 17-19.
