Beatles tribute show Let it Be opens at Prince of Wales in Sep

A new show paying tribute to The Beatles will open at the West End’s Prince of Wales Theatre in September to mark the 50th anniversary of the release of “Love Me Do”.

Running from 24 September to 19 January (previews from 14 September), Let it Be is billed as “a spectacular new West End production featuring more than twenty of The Beatles’ greatest hits”.

These will include early hits “Twist and Shout”, “She Loves You” and “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” as well as “Yesterday”, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, “Come Together”, “When I’m 64”, “Get Back”, “Hello Goodbye”, “Hey Jude” and the title song.

Described in publicity material as a “media rich theatrical concert”, the show comes from the same team behind Rain, which ran on Broadway from 2010-11. Let it Be will mark the first time that the Grand Theatrical Rights to The Beatles’ back catalogue have been granted by Sony/ATV for a West End production.

Let it Be is produced by Jamie Hendry Productions, Annerin Productions, Rain Productions, BB Promotion, MagicSpace Entertainment and Julian Stoneman Associates.

The Prince of Wales Theatre was the venue of the Fab Four’s legendary Royal Variety performance, when John Lennon issued his famous command, “Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands. And the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewelry.”

The venue’s current production, Abba musical Mamma Mia!, is moving to the Novello Theatre from 6 September. Let it Be will be followed in 2013 by the long-rumoured West End transfer of Broadway smash hit The Book of Mormon.