August
16, 2005
On
the evening of August 14th, while the Lennon opening party was underway,
a storm came through and cooled off the brutally hot week that had been. The
next two days were overcast and rainy, but not hot. The heat wave was over,
it seemed, but so was the honeymoon.
The reviews for Lennon showed up first thing Monday morning and were mixed, to put it mildly. The trouble with subjecting one's art to critics is, they never rate your work based on your intent or your message. They rate it based on what they want to see in it. So most of them dismissed the show for not being all about The Beatles, or not sounding or looking just like The Beatles, or not featuring enough Beatles songs (there's only one) or for over-illustrating John's relationship with Yoko Ono. Never mind that John himself said, "My biography now reads 'Born, lived, met Yoko.'" I find it astounding that after all the years and all the times John talked himself blue in the face, the general public still regards Ms Ono as the evil dragon lady who stole their beloved Beatle and shattered their dreams.
The press also seems to regard John's brief heroin addiction in 1969 as a hallmark of his life right up there with Shea Stadium. They were so disappointed that we didn't take a detour to address it (actually we did, but it was cut). And they all seem to think that the most important woman in John's life was May Pang (his mistress and caretaker during his estrangement from his wife in 1973-74), who is not in our story. Why? Because this isn't a biography of John Lennon. It is John's story, in his own words, and he didn't talk much about her, either. He spoke volumes, however, about Yoko, the love of his life, like it or not.
For the record, I am a huge fan of The Beatles and have been so since birth, literally. I'm the harshest critic in the world when it comes to any Beatles-related project intended for public performance. If you're in a Beatle tribute band, you do not want me in your audience. I'm also a fan of John as a solo artist, an aficionado of his character and an expert on his voice. As a rock musician, I have strong musical opinions that don't always jive with this production. Having said that, after watching this show taking shape, I think it's one of the most important statements that can be made on a stage. I'm not alone. Those who were closest to John when he was alive, who knew everything that he was, walked away from Lennon loving what they had seen and heard in that theatre. So did readers of the New York Times, who've submitted their own reviews online that contradict the findings of the critic. And so do the vast majority of theatre goers who have come to the Broadhurst and had a profound emotional experience, one that brought hope for the future and helped heal a lingering wound inflicted on all of us a quarter century ago.
That's why we're doing this. Not to tell a definitive story or reinvent musical theatre. We're here to heal. That's all John wanted.