The Beatlemania Stage Show — co-starring Lucien Nocelli of Lincroft (right) as John Lennon — rolls up to the stage of Red Bank’s Two River Theater for a fab fundraiser on Sunday.
Beatlemania is coming to Two River Theater for a benefit concert! But wait, didn’t we just publish this story a couple of months ago? Yes, we did — but that was an altogether different foursome of MockTops, and an event (presented by Red Bank Rotary Club) dedicated to an altogether different collection of worthy causes.
You see, The Beatles never really went away — and never ever left the hearts of the people of New Jersey, a state in which most everyone of a certain age treasures a recollection of Sullivan Show ’64 (and which gave the world The Knickerbockers in return). From celebrity tributeers like The Fab Faux to veteran costume acts like The Mahoney Brothers, we need never venture too far afield for our FabFour fix — and it seems that whenever and wherever thereÂ’s a charitable cause to be advanced, a medical bill to be paid, a grave wrong to be righted, the Beatles suit up and re-emerge in some shape or form like some semi-retired Justice League.
Here in and around the greater Red Bank Green, that moptopped mania often manifests itself in the host entity of the Beatlemania Stage Show, a two-hour, four-act extravaganza that offers spot-on recreations of Beatles material, ranging from the cheerful chirp of their earliest singles to the ambitious, genre-smashing gotterdammerung of their final studio masterworks.
Co-fronted by Lincroft-based singer, songwriter, guitarist and businessman Lucien Nocelli, the show comes to the Two River stage on the afternoon of Sunday, May 1, in a concert from which proceeds are being dedicated to the nonprofit organization Housing & United Service Inc. of NJ.
Nocelli, owner-operator of Lesson Laboratory for Musical Instruction in Lincroft, has been channeling the sound and spirit of John Lennon for some time now, whether overtly in the Beatlemania show or as a vein of inspiration that courses through several self-released solo albums. He’s also no stranger to the art of the benefit show, having in recent years staged fundraisers for a cause that hit close to home — Sheri Nocelli, his partner in marriage, music and merchant ventures, and a young mother of two who’s waged her own protracted battle with an extremely rare form of leukemia (redbankgreen is pleased to have gleaned from her online journal that Sherri’s condition has vastly improved since we last interviewed her in 2008).
Playing here on behalf of HUSNJ and its efforts in advocating and securing housing for blind and disabled citizens, Beatlemania Stage Show offers up a production that “spans the entire story of the Beatles in one amazing performance;” one that places its cast in detail-intensive “Ed Sullivan suits,” silk Sgt. Pepper uniforms and “exact Abbey Road apparel.”
Tickets for the 3p show are priced at $35 general admission ($40 premium seating) and are available from Two River Theater Company’s online box office.
