JUST IMAGINE, A RETROSPECTIVE
Recently completing a record run, finishing up at the Haywood Theatre in Los Angeles, “Just Imagine”, a stage production based on the life of John Lennon gives a very trenchant insight into the inner workings of a bedeviled but supremely talented Beatle.
Probably the most prolific of the group, John Lennon was also the most reactive member of the group and some would say the prime cause of their eventual breakup. His unpopular political stances at the time did not endear him to a lot of people and caused him no end of problems. His marriage to Yoko Ono, drug and alcohol abuse didn’t do much to help the situation either.
Another cause for the eventual break up was the sudden death of their manager, Brian Epstein, an especially difficult time for Lennon who was very close to him.
Tim Piper performs on stage as John Lennon, with his musical group to a background of various images depicting the life of Lennon. Pipe successfully pulls off this challenge to suit his own view of the characterization. He looks and acts the part with ease and bravado. This was definitely in tune of the audience on hand and it was clear he had them in the palm of his hand. It was a full house and no voice of dissent was in evidence.
Not being a rock fan myself, even when they were first introduced as a group by Ed Sullivan in 1964, it still gives me no problem recognizing the group, and John Lennon in particular, as probably the greatest influence in music in the twentieth century. Their record sales and notably Lennon’s, even when he went solo later on, were phenomenal even by today’s standards. He achieved the sales of twenty five hit singles in theUnited Statesand a record of fourteen million album sales, along with the other Beatles. In addition, in 1965, he and the Beatles were honored by being given the Order of a Member of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth.
This will not be the final curtain for ‘Just Imagine’ as the word I’m hearing is for another engagement in the near future for this charismatic group.
BOB TINSLEY
eeworldnews.com
