- Performances: 1,006
- Open / Close: May 31, 1977 – October 17, 1979
- Tony Awards: None, nada, zilch. One nomination for Jules Fisher’s lighting design. The show had no “director;” Fisher is listed as the show’s “production supervisor.”
- Box Office: Approx. $45M (or more than $187M in 2023 dollars). As many as seven regional iterations of the show sprung up before the NYC production was shut down in 1979, adding significantly to the total box office for the show’s producers.
Podcast
Not-a-lawyer but legally proficient Randy Evans joins me as we try to untangle what allowed a show that so fundamentally rips off one of the best bands in history to be so successful. Our profound conclusion: in-fighting is bad business.
Call me litigio-centric but the first question I had in considering “Beatlemania” was “how?” This theatrical contraption — it was more of an enhanced concert than a musical, jukebox or otherwise — didn’t include a single Mop Top in its development or production so how did it avoid swift and decisive Beatle-blockage?
Apparently the gears of intellectual property law ground slower in those days. There was legal action taken but, according to this summary, it took more than two years before the production was finally shut down. By then, it had played to tens of thousands and raked in millions. The show avoided some attention thanks to a coy roll-out where no official opening date was ever set (which also allowed producers to avoid negative critical assessment early on).
- Fun Fact: “Beatlemania” was one of a select few shows to change Broadway venues during a run, moving from the Winter Garden to the Lunt-Fontanne early in 1979. It would relocate again 5 months later, toiling away at the Palace for its last 9 weeks.
The answer as to why “Beatlemania” was so popular on Broadway may be relatively simple — the Beatles were a cultural phenomena that stopped performing live only a few years after becoming internationally ubiquitous. The show provided an intense immersive experience that clearly captivated fans who were hungry for their music in whatever format they could find it.
While the masses definitely loved “Beatlemania” — it closed because of an injunction not lack of audience — the show suffered plenty of critical wrath. Some called the show “a ghoulish rip-off” and others sniffed that it failed “to probe very deeply beneath the bright, flossy surface.” Even the most flattering commentary offered that the show was “an unobjectionable diversion.”
- Fun Fact #2: Paul McCartney confirmed the impending breakup of the Beatles almost exactly 50 years ago with a statement released on April 10th, 1970. Their legal dissolution wouldn’t happen until 5 years later.
I was certainly ready to write this show off without any serious consideration. However, the “forgotten history” video linked to above did challenge me to take a more contextual view. Some of the assertions seem overblown, e.g., calling it “one of the most technically advanced productions the theater world had ever seen” and the “first to capitalize on the sense of spectacle.” Even so, I’m sure Broadway was a different place back then and maybe “Beatlemania” opened the doors to more family-friendly fare around Times Square at a time when NYC was more crime-riddled.
Hard to take even today, though, is the intensity of fan devotion that, among other things, supports a website that tracks all of the former “Beatlemania” cast members, many of whom still make their living imitating the Fab Four. There are a lot of bands I love but really, listening to high quality audio of their hits keeps me plenty happy rather than tossing money at facsimiles.
There are three personal stories spawned by “Beatlemania” that I find pretty interesting. First, at least one actual recording star got his break starring in the show: Marshall Crenshaw was an understudy for the John Lennon role on Broadway, then starred in a national touring company until 1980. His big hit, “Someday, Someway,” debuted in 1982. These days, Crenshaw still tours as well as sometimes handling lead vocals for the Smithereens since the death of their lead singer in 2017.
The creators of “Beatlemania” were a ragtag crew, few who had serious theatrical cred. The book is credited to a painter (Robert Rabinowitz), an illustrator (Bob Gill) and a 26-year old editor for The New York Times Magazine, Lynda Obst. While Rabinowitz and Gill would fade into relative obscurity, Obst would become one of the rare truly powerful female producers in Hollywood, working on hits like “Flashdance,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” and the more recent “Interstellar.”
Finally, one of the Paul McCartney lookalikes in the original show was Glen Burtnick. Burtnick would go on to join Styx in a later iteration of the band and currently performs with an Electric Light Orchestra variant called “The Orchestra.” I find the career of someone like Burtnick fascinating: he’s worked consistently in the music business, never exactly a stand-out himself and often making a living emulating others. For every John, Paul, George or Ringo that’s become a major star, there are a hundred Glen Burtnicks, resolutely plugging away making music (or theater or art or dance), doing what they love without much acclaim.
“Beatlemaniacs” can still find the show or a reasonable knock-off touring out in the world today (see below). As for my own critical consideration of the show: sorry, I’m more of a Stones guy.
Final Grade: C-.