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| Kay Cole. (Photos: Michael Childers.) |
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| Ted Neeley, Alaina Reed, and company. |
The gargantuan proclivities of theatricalist director Tom O’Horgan
grew ever more tiresome to the critics in the mid-70s. His work hit a low point
with this juke box musical, described by Mel Gussow as an “inflated production”
suffering from “elephantiasis.” Produced at a large, Upper West Side venue formerly
a movie house but increasingly used for concerts and special events, it attempted
to animate the stage with a psychedelic interpretation of the Beatles’ popular
1967 rock music album.
The original 12 songs on the “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club” disc were supplemented by 17 additional Lennon-McCartney numbers.
To meld the disparate songs into a unity of sorts, a transparent plot was
grafted onto the score, but the glue failed to hold and the pieces fell apart.
O’Horgan’s fragile, dialogue-less book tells of how the
ambitious young rock star Billy Shears (Ted Neeley) is corrupted through the
machinations of the three contract-bearing, androgynously-dressed Hammermen (Allan
Nicholls, William Parry, and B.G. Gibson). This group that seemed to Martin Gottfried “to
represent the show’s point that the business end of pop music killed the
Beatles.” Along the way, Billy’s romance with Strawberry Fields (Kay Cole) and
temptation by Lucy (Alaina Reed, who received the best reviews) are also
depicted.
The clichéd story was expressed through Robin Wagner’s spectacular
props and Jules Fisher’s extravagant lighting. Huge, white balloons on which
slides could be projected; gigantic puppets, including a hand that danced; an
octopus; an enormous jar of mustard; and a 20-foot tall Statue of Liberty were among
the scenic elements that led T.E. Kalem to accuse the show of being ill with “the
metastasis of spectacle over substance.” He was angry at how the excellent
music had been “trampled under the dreck of Tom O’Horgan’s grimagination,” and
called the show a “decadent nightmare.”
Gottfried thought Sgt. Pepper “a clumsy concert with dance
movement and Thanksgiving parade props. It is leaden and cheap,” while Gussow
reiterated how little of anything new had been contributed from the “attic” of
O’Horgan’s creativity.
In addition to the title song, the playlist included "With a Little Help from my Friends," "Nowhere Man," "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "I Want You," "Come Together," "Sun Queen," "Lovely Rita," "Polythene Pam," "She Came in through the Bathroom Window," "You Never Give Me Your Money," "Her Majesty," "A Day in the Life," "She's Leaving Home," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Getting Better," "Because," "When I'm 64," "Good Morning, Good Morning," "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite," "Oh, Darling," "Fixing a Hole," "Mean Mr. Mustard," "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," "Carry that Weight," "Golden Slumbers," "The Long and Winding Road," and "Get Back."
