On being Paul here, there and everywhere
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| "Get Back," playing this weekend at the Hawai'i Theatre, is a tribute to the Fab Four.
'Get Back' 8 p.m. today and tomorrow, 2 p.m. Sunday Hawai'i Theatre $20-$30 (discounts for seniors, students, military; half-price "rush" tickets for students and seniors at box office on day of performance) www.hawaiitheatre.com, 528-0506 |
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
Jack Petrilla, who plays Paul McCartney in "Get Back," the Beatles homage show at the Hawai'i Theatre, remembers when the Liverpool foursome first hit the United States.
"I'm left-handed, I play bass. It's pretty obvious that I would have gravitated to Paul," said Petrilla in a phone interview. He was a kid, and the Fab Four changed his life.
Petrilla was on a cell phone last week, transiting from Pennsylvania back to Nashville, where "Get Back" was en route.
"I'm one of the founders of this show and the only one to have played Paul from the beginning," he said. "I've criss-crossed the country, back and forth, up and down. To me, you have to be a leftie if you're doing 'Get Back' and 'Beatlemania.' I've seen a rightie do it, and, well, it's not right."
The show originated in 1984 as a tribute to McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. It can be construed as an impersonation show, too, and as a theatrical entertainment, but it's also a concert and a staged entity with three distinct parts covering major eras in the annals of Beatlemania.
"We try to replicate the 'Ed Sullivan Show' appearance," Petrilla said of the rise and reign of the mop-topped superstars. Since this year is the 40th anniversary of that milestone appearance, "Get Back" is on a roll, very much on the radar.
The production, fully costumed and featuring actors who sing, also taps the Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band period and the later "Let It Be"/"Abbey Road" time frame. The journey spans 20 years and embraces 30 tunes, all chart-toppers that validate the genius and the grip the Brits had on a global audience.
Petrilla said he and his yeah-yeah-yeah chums — Joe Gallo as John, Carroll Parker as Ringo and Tom Teeley as George — say nay-nay-nay to revealing their ages. "We're younger than the real Beatles, for the most part, and age is irrelevant anyway," said Petrilla.
Simply put, Petrilla said he's a musician today because of McCartney.
"Paul was always my favorite, being a left-handed child, so I related to him. I liked them all, growing up in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, but it was Paul all the way," he said.
Because of their look — the hair, the costumes, the manner, the music — Petrilla was understandably hynotized by the Beatles' arrival. "They were far better than anybody else at the time, and I did like Johnny Tillotson, Bobby Rydell, and, of course, Elvis."
He recalls the historic Sullivan show appearance at the New York theater that now bears the emcee's name (and is the Broadway home of the David Letterman telecasts). "My family was visiting relatives in Philadelphia, and I was urging my dad to hurry home that night, since I had to see the Beatles, I couldn't miss them."
And the show changed his life — and his looks.
"I started growing my hair that day, and I think my rebellion started that day, too," said Petrilla. "No more regular boy haircut."
He said the appeal and the song catalog have endured because "their music had that message of peace, love, honesty — things that are more important today."
To emulate and flesh out McCartney, Petrilla said, he zoomed in on head movements, body posture, body movement and the style of strumming and singing.
"To my knowledge, Paul has never seen us, though his friends have, including Jon Anderson, from the group Yes. So, Paul, if you're listening, you have an invitation to come check us out."
Ringo, on the other hand, surprised "Get Back" at a Toronto performance, when he came on stage, unannounced, and jammed with the group.
"Great fun, lads," he said, then jumped off the stage.
"As far as I know, we're the only Beatles-type show that ever had a real Beatle sit in."
Petrilla said that if McCartney ever comes to a performance and sits in, the way Ringo did, he wouldn't know how to react.
"Think about it: if he joins us, I'd be out of a job," he said. "I've been told he's heard how terrific we are. But it would be a thrill."
Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com, 525-8067 or fax 525-8055.
