Let It Be Christmas

Hubby Tony and I went to a unique show last night at our community's performing arts center:

Let It Be Christmas is a musical theater production that uses Beatles songs to tell the story of Mary, Joseph, and the birth of Christ as a modern-day love story. The tag line is "The Gospel According to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, George, and Ringo".

The main star of the show was the band, which included keyboard, guitars, bass, drums, and saxophone. Many of the musicians also handled vocals, and there was a trio of backup singers. The handful of acting parts were Mary, Joseph, the Angel, and a Narrator that moved the narrative along.

The show used dozens of Beatles songs, both snippets and complete versions. I started out trying to keep track of all of them, but eventually just gave into the experience. However, some of my favorite parings were:

• Mary and Joseph met ("I've Just Seen a Face")
• They fell in love ("I Feel Fine")
• And got engaged ("Till There Was You")
• The Angel came to Mary to tell her she was going to have a baby ("Blackbird")
• Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, and he broke off the engagement ("Yesterday")
• The Angel came to Joseph ("Hey Jude")
• Joseph did some sole searching ("The Long and Winding Road")
• He apologized to Mary ("Got to Get You Into My Life")
• Mary and David rode on a train to Bethlehem. They tried to find a hotel room and failed ("Help!").
• Jesus is born offstage ("Here Comes the Sun [Son]")
• Mary and Joseph came out holding a baby (John Lennon's song "Beautiful Boy")
• The finale ("Let It Be")
  

It was a very enjoyable evening