Review of Celebrate the Beatles! Concert

By Jack Evans, Special to The Intelligencer, Tuesday, February 8, 2005

(reprinted with permission by Jack Evans and The Intelligencer)

If "All You Need Is Love," there was plenty of it in The Empire Theatre Sunday. The Quinte Symphony and the internationally acclaimed "All You Need Is Love" ensemble teamed up for a "special" concert in the symphony's annual season.  They loved each other. They showed they loved the music of The Beatles they both performed; and the audience loved everything they did.

Like the unseasonal spring-like weather outside on a sunny Sunday afternoon, "love was in the air."

For the extra large number of young people in the audience, it was probably quite an eye-opener, to see what they might otherwise have assumed to be a stuffy symphony orchestra slamming out the pop music beat as well as the guest Love ensemble specialists. They may even have noticed the fact that several of the players in the orchestra were in their own age group...young students.

But maybe The Beatles and a symphony go well together anyhow.  The super-talented group of Brits who literally took the world by storm in the 1960s  have become as classic in terms of music as Mozart and Beethoven. Certainly Maestro Gordon Craig and his Quinte Symphony had no qualms in giving a symphonic touch to the dozens of Beatles-composed songs on the program, plus accompanying the Love ensemble on many more.

If you live in the Quinte area and have never been exposed to Andy Forgie, then you probably don't live in the Quinte area. As front man for the All You Need is Love ensemble, Forgie sang, danced, acted, and explained the background to many of the songs to a completely attentive, full-house audience for an afternoon which proved to be as much of a musical feast as one could find.

There were frequent outbreaks of spontaneous applause and cheering throughout the concert, but one scene dominated. Empire Theatre owner and Love member Mark Rashotte and charter Quinte Symphony member and long-time concertmaster Marion Stratton did an on-stage battle of guitar vs. violin.

For the first time orchestra fans can remember, Stratton plugged a hot microphone into her classic instrument and waged all-out war with Rashotte's equally well wired guitar. It was a show-biz memory Belleville will probably talk about for years. First they sawed off together, filling the auditorium with electronic sound.  Then Rashotte took a solo; then Stratton countered it with a cadenza-like solo of her own.  They kept going like that back and forth.  Finally Stratton took complete command of the sound system and brought Rashotte to his knees with a prolonged and powerful musical punch. The audience was on its feet, giving a standing ovation to both of them. And the song wasn't even over.  It finally ended with a slappy high-five between the two and a warm hug along with a tsunami of applause and cheering.
A creative light show and fog effect worked its way through the entire concert, adding a colourful, fun effect to the show.

One needn't trace out the dozens of Beatles hits that rang through the Empire that afternoon.  If you can remember a Beatles tune and hum or sing it, they probably played it.  Forgie encouraged the audience to clap and/or sing along at several points.  They didn't need much encouragement.  Even some of the orchestra members were observed mouthing the words along with the Love company, if not singing.

All You Need Is Love is Andy Forgie, Mark Rashotte, Al Haring, Francis Rose, (keyboard) Steve Smith (drums) and Vitas Slapkauskas (electric bass). The Quinte Symphony is conductor Gordon Craig and about 45 talented musicians, mostly from the immediate area from Brighton to Bloomfield. The audience was some 700 totally satisfied customers. The generous applause and standing ovations said it all.  If you missed it...you missed it. 
But the Quinte Symphony still has two more concerts left  in its regular season. The next is Sunday, April 10 at 2:30 p.m. in The Empire, and the closing one features Belleville native and renowned pianist Greg Butler on Saturday, May 28 at 7:30 p.m . again in the orchestra's home Empire. A limited number of tickets might still be available if you "get cracking" as they say in the egg commercials. 

Gilbert and Sullivan Revue. October 19th, 2003

What a wonderful experience! The performance was outstanding. We enjoyed every moment of the concert.
V. Hamilton - Belleville

The concert in pictures:
(Photos by: Kazuyoshi Ehara ©)