When I'm 64

I had a chance to see "Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles on Broadway" yesterday afternoon.  In a word - breathtaking.  Seriously.

As I was positioned halfway across the universe... er... balcony, I couldn't actually see the faces of the performers... and that's a very good thing.  From my perch, they looked just like John, Paul, George and Ringo.  And more impressively, they sounded just like them as well.  The costumes, the wigs, the huge screens broadcasting scenes from the 1960s beside and behind the quartet all added to the illusion.  And I, along with the entire audience, was happy to subscribe to it for a few hours on a February afternoon in Boston.  It was the 1960s.  We were the screaming fans in Ed Sullivan's soundstage and Shea Stadium.  And it was the Fab Four right there in front of us.  Breathtaking.

But here's the most impressive part.  There were a lot of kids in the audience.  And the vast majority didn't look as though they would all rather be sitting at a Justin Bieber concert, marking time because mom and dad didn't get a babysitter.  No, these kids were having fun.  And many of them were singing right along: "Shake it up baby..."  "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away..."  "Speaking words of wisdom, let it be..."  The 10 or so year old kid in front of me nailed every last word of "I Am the Walrus", right down to the last goo goo g'joob.  Impressive.

As a child of the '70s, I didn't listen to any music from the '20s or '30s.  But that would have been the parallel situation.

It looks as though the Beatles are going to be safe and sound for another generation or two.  Thank goodness!