ALL YOU NEED IS THE SOUL // A THEATRE REVIEW OF "LENNON: THROUGH A GLASS ONION"
What if Mark David Chapman, the obsessed Beatles fan holding a copy of Catcher in the Rye, hadn't fired those bullets into John Lennon's back almost 35 years ago? Maybe the man who penned "All You Need is Love" (his self-proclaimed greatest lyric) would still be alive, having just turned 74 last week. And maybe, just maybe, he'd be a little or even a lot like John R. Waters is on stage in LENNON: THROUGH A GLASS ONION.
You won't find a wavy mop top or tiny circular spectacles at the Union Square Theater, but instead a marvelous version of what if Lennon the Man, not just Lennon the Legend, was still with us. Accompanied on a rather bare stage only by his microphone, his guitar, and a tremendous piano player (Stewart D' Arrietta). Waters rocks and talks all things Lennon for an uninterrupted ninety minutes. It's not a tribute band concert or storytelling hour, but a well-crafted blend. Pieces and parts of over thirty recognizable Beatles and Lennon's solo tunes are woven together with thoughtful vignettes written by Waters that illuminate realities about Lennon's life. Since it's not Lennon's actual words, perhaps you could call it speculation, but the autobiographical anecdotes give a very valid glimpse into some possible motivations behind the music.
The rock n' roll is awesome. Stewart D'Arietta hits hard on the keys, even harder on the kick drum, and gets the room in the groove while Waters jams on his six-string. It's just two men, but they generate a lot of wonderful noise. Waters tells us about the misunderstanding turned controversy of Lennon's claim that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus which leads to "All You Need is Love". We hear "Julia" after Waters, as Lennon, talks about his dear mother's premature passing and "Beautiful Boy" after he tells the story of trying with Yoko for kids unsuccessfully for so long, then the miracle of life he and Yoko were given with Sean. In this story, D'Arietta provides comic relief as the Chinese acupuncturist that gave them hope. The songs aren't replicas of the studio recordings, but genuine live renditions by these two great artists.
Fog fills the cavernous stage throughout the show, and dramatic lights that cut sharp lines through the smoke lend to the possibility that we might be looking at an apparition, that maybe Lennon came back to visit us to tell us how it all went down through his eyes. A couple of sound and light cues are jolting like a life in rock n' roll might have been. One brilliant technique makes Waters nothing but a floating head and was quite impressive to see. As is the show itself, a clever meditation that's part tribute, part speculatative hearsay, and all together wonderful evening.
DEREK'S GRADE: A-
Written and Conceived By: John R. Waters Starring: John R. Waters, Stewart D'Arietta. Content Advisory: Language
FINAL THOUGHTS: LENNON: THROUGH A GLASS ONION is a wonderfully done show. It is apparent the Waters and D'Arietta have spent a long time working on this (It was conceived more than twenty years ago!). Though many of Lennon's lyrics are simple, we are shown here how they are based in deep philosophy and that Lennon was a poet that put his life into his art.
W. DEREK JORDEN is an actor currently living and working in New York City. He and his wife live on a Spaceship on the top of a building, which makes for some interesting dinner parties.