The Beatles tribute band RAIN has traveled a long and winding road to end up in Athens, chronicling the extraordinary career of one of the most influential bands in music.
The Broadway show will play at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium to an as-yet under capacity audience.
Andrew Holzaepfel, associate director of the Campus Involvement Center, said the concert hasn’t sold as well as he might have expected but added student ticket sales have exceeded initial predictions for an event that tends to attract an older crowd.
Though he had initially hoped to sell about 1,900 tickets, 1,300 tickets have been sold thus far. Holzaepfel said about one-third of those sales are from students.
“This one was highly requested by our subscribers … (and) I really enjoyed it when I saw it up in Columbus,” Holzaepfel said. “It’s telling the history of The Beatles (using) old video clips to tell the tale of how it went.”
The performance is a mix of Broadway and a live concert with video and costume changes to chronicle the evolution of the band through different time periods.
The musicians are expected to look, play and sound like The Beatles in every way. Mac Ruffing, impersonating Paul McCartney during the performance, even went so far as to learn to play bass left handed even though he’s naturally right handed.
“There was a left-handed Hofner bass hanging on the wall of the music store, and I bought it on the spot — this was like a calling to me,” Ruffing said. “The Beatles were a visual band as much as they were musical, and they’re remembered by that.”
Mark Lewis, who impersonates John Lennon, said in a press release that the musicians are expected to do everything The Beatles did. They have to play multiple instruments, have a great ear to pick out the subtleties of the music, harmonize to perfection, look like the Beatle they are portraying and have the confidence to lead a band while talking in an English accent.
However, the members have been playing so long and are such die-hard fans that the music and acting have become automatic.
“I’ve been playing the music for so many years it’s become second nature,” Ruffing said. “It’s just loving the material … and learning by ear.”
The group loves the legendary foursome so much that when Lewis was asked what his favorite song was, he couldn’t pick.
“I like the one that starts with ‘Please Please Me’ and ends with side two of ‘Abbey Road,’ ” Lewis said. “In other words, no favorites; I like them all.”
wh092010@ohiou.edu
