THEATRE REVIEW: Something About George: The George Harrison Story - The Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

This mini ‘Concert for George,’ highlighting the incredible talent of the late Beatle, George Harrison, written by Jon Fellowes, who co-produced the show alongside Liverpool-born singer songwriter Gary Edward Jones and theatre producer Bill Elms pays tribute to one of music’s most understated icons, who is often referred to as the “Quiet Beatle”.

It will be twenty years in November since much-loved, much-missed, George Harrison passed away at the age of 58. In his family’s words, the ‘quiet’ Beatle slipped away, “Conscious of God, fearless of death and at peace”, leaving a rich catalogue of music and an appeal for everyone to ‘Love one another’.

This accolade show takes the form of a biography woven together with quotes and music performed live on stage. Daniel Taylor takes centre-stage as narrator and vocalist, on lead guitar and vocals is Jon Fellows, Callum Macmillan is on drums and percussion and Jordan Alexander performs on keyboards and vocals. On acoustic guitar is Jonny Darnell, who stepped in at the last minute as vocalist Daniel had a mishap whist running prior to the opening night of the show and broke his shoulder, thus being unable to play guitar for the performance.

Daniel Taylor’s admiration for George is clear from the outset and he started by describing the ex-Beatle’s humble upbringing in Wavertree and then fast-forwarding to his final unsettled years with the Beatles and onto his solo career, his success with super-group, The Travelling Wilburys (Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and George) and his eventual illness and passing.

Along the way, we hear of George’s marriages, his legal battles and his work in film production. Additionally, we hear about the music he produced post-Beatles along with the personal meanings behind particular songs and albums.

George’s haunting ‘My Sweet Lord’ and his most famous love song, ‘Something,’ plus favourites, ‘Here Comes The Sun’, and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ were enjoyed by those watching along with ‘All Those Years Ago’ plus ‘Give Me Love’ and ‘Bangladesh’ which are all included in the set along with others and yet I must admit unfortunately, I didn’t ‘feel’ George in those numbers whilst they were being performed.

There were also some other lesser-known numbers included, which, I imagine, many of the audience didn’t recognise such as ‘I’d Have You Any Time’ and ‘Wah-Wah’.

The staging was minimal, four musicians playing their instruments and the vocalist centre stage, sometimes playing a tambourine; images and videos were projected onto a backdrop behind the musicians but didn’t really add anything to the production. As the first half finished, I didn’t really feel a sense of fulfilment regarding the subject matter of the show; I was rather disappointed as I felt it fell rather flat and the audience’s reaction as they sauntered off to the bar, gave me the same impression.

The second half was definitely the more livelier part of the show with more upbeat numbers performed such as The Travelling Wilbury’s ‘I’ve Got My Mind Set On You’, ‘End Of The Line’ and ‘Handle With Care’ which had the audience clapping along.

It was evident that the audience had a deep sense of fondness and respect for George and were looking forward to enjoying the show and the music, but I must admit to feeling rather underwhelmed by the show and felt at times the audience agreed with me.

Taylor narrated the story, sometimes passionately and delivered the songs but it didn’t really hit the spot for me. His vocals didn’t start off well, sometimes not hitting the notes and struggling with some of the arrangements but it improved as the show went on. George was always my favourite Beatle and I went on to enjoy his ‘All Things Must Pass’ album and the two Travelling Wilburys albums he produced but I felt Taylor’s renditions of the songs from those albums were somewhat different arrangements to the originals and missed the mark at times. One of my favourite songs, ‘If Not For You’ was way off the mark.

All in all, the show has potential; the elements for a successful show are all there, but the content in this production is at times somewhat dull and predictable, hence I feel the presentation needs some fine-tuning.

George’s short life contained so much - there was world-wide adoration, first love and marriage, heartbreak, life-long friendships, rags-to-riches wealth, hedonism, low times leading to depression, religious enlightenment, songwriting, film-making, multiple successes, new-found love, shared spirituality, fatherhood, an unprovoked attack and a fatal illness leading to his passing - fabulous material for what could have been a super show, but sadly for me, it wasn’t.

'Something About George' is not a tribute show, it is one musician authentically honouring the music of another and relating a life story; I admire the sentiments of the performers and the producers of this show, but feel George deserved more than it delivers.

Reviewer - Anne Pritchard
on - 19.6.22