What performer doesn’t want great material? Classical musicians have the works of Beethoven and Mozart as a time-tested audience-pleaser, while actors bite into the greatest Shakespearean characters with relish. The Classical Mystery Tour, presented along with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Thursday at the Music Center at Strathmore, calls up the music of the Beatles.
“You can’t go wrong with the music,” said drummer Chris Camilleri, whose job it has been for the last 14 years to bring the distinctive beat and the endearing nuances of Ringo Starr to sold-out audiences. “As lightweight as pop music is supposed to be, these songs have absolutely stood up for a half-century at this point [and] show no sign of going away.”
| ONSTAGE |
| Classical Mystery Tour — A Tribute to The Beatles |
| » Where: The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda |
| » When: 8 p.m. Thursday |
| » Info: $25 to $45; call 410-783-8000 or 877-BSO-1444; bsomusic.org |
One way to look at the Classical Mystery Tour, according to Camilleri, is to think of the various stages of the Beatles music performed over the period when John, Paul, George and Ringo were together. This tour represents a time when the group was in the studio recording with an orchestra. It was then that the world got to hear their songs with a full compliment of instruments. Think of the live trumpet section in “Penny Lane” and “Yesterday” with an acoustic guitar and string quartet.
The full show consists of some 30 Beatles tunes sung, played, and performed exactly as they were written, their original arrangements played by the BSO augmenting the music and songs of the featured performers — Jim Owen (John Lennon) on rhythm guitar, piano, and vocals; Tony Kishman (Paul McCartney) on bass guitar, piano, and vocals; John Brosnan (George Harrison) on lead guitar and vocals; and Chris Camilleri (Ringo Starr) on drums and vocals.
“To start the show off, we do the straight-up, four-piece music,” Camilleri continued. “Over the years we learned that if you come out of the gate with the heavily orchestrated [pieces,] Beatles fans feel a little bit cheated. Without ‘She Loves You’ and ‘I Saw Her Standing There,’ there’s an element missing from the history.”
The show is chronological, so the group performs in the black suits and thin black ties of the early days, progressing to the Sgt. Pepper period and finally ending up in the second act with the laid back and casual Abbey Road-style of dress.
“We hit a formula and a music book to work from that seems to be timeless,” noted Camilleri, pointing out that their audiences range from 80-year-olds down to 5-year-old kids. “Within the last year or so, we were one of the busiest pop shows on the circuit and we’re really proud of that. Good music is [ageless] and every generation will find it.”
