The Beatles recently released a “new” song called “Now and Then” and despite the time crunch, “Let It Be Christmas” organizers made sure to include it in this year’s production.
“Let It Be Christmas (The Gospel According to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, George, and Ringo)” is the long-running Christmas production at Community Christian Church in Naperville. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8-9 and 14-15 and 3 p.m. Dec. 9-10 and 16-17.
It’s the story of the birth of Jesus Christ set to the music of The Beatles. Eric Bramlett is the associate creative director for Community Christian Church and the director of the production. He also plays a wise man and a prophet in the show.
The story takes place at Abbey Road Studio and is narrated by a recording studio engineer called The Engineer, he said. Joseph and Mary are young rock stars who come in to record with their friends, The Fab Five.
An angel visits Mary and tells her she’s going to have a baby (“Blackbird”). Mary tells Joseph that’s she’s pregnant (“Don’t Let Me Down”), (“We Can Work It Out”). He leaves (“Yesterday”), an angel appears to him in a dream (“Hey Jude”) and he goes back to Mary.
“It’s still the Nativity story told with the music of The Beatles,” he said. “I call it the original rock opera Nativity story. All of the characters’ dialogue is sung. The Engineer guides us through the whole story with spoken-word, rhyming couplet.”
In terms of changes this year, “I couldn’t help myself and I added the new Beatles song to the show this year,” he said.
The remaining members of the band — Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr — took a recording of John Lennon singing a song he wrote called “Now and Then.” With the help of technology, they were able to clean up the vocals and record new music to go with it, he said.
“‘Now and Then’ is a song that gets sung by Joseph — we call him Joe — after the moment he gets visited by the angel and is told to go to Mary and make her his wife,” he said. “He has this nice moment with God and with Mary where he sings part of the song, ‘Now and Then.’ It was pretty fast how it all happened in terms of working with the show. It’s a nice little Easter egg for the true Beatles fans.”
He’s also added some traditional Christmas carols (sung by carolers) as transitional music. There’s also a live band, lights, costumes and sets, he said.
“It’s a great, entertaining evening that’s super meaningful as well,” he said. “People who come to see it for the first time are so blown away by our ability to tell the Christmas story using all Beatles songs and us not changing any of the lyrics. I’m constantly amazed at how well these songs tell the story of Christmas and Jesus’ birth.
“I don’t think the Beatles meant for any of their lyrics to necessarily point towards these things or reflect these things. There is definitely a God-given talent that Paul and John had … they were connected.
“They were dialed in to some really deep, spiritual stuff. We are able to use that to tell the greatest story of all time. And I think it’s the greatest music of all time. If you like the Beatles and you like the story of Christmas, you’re going to love ‘Let It Be Christmas.'”
‘Let It Be Christmas (The Gospel According to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, George, and Ringo)’
When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8-9 and 14-15 and 3 p.m. Dec. 9-10 and 16-17
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Where: Community Christian Church Yellow Box Theater, 1635 Emerson Lane, Naperville
Tickets: $15-$39
Information: 800-595-4849; letitbechristmas.org
Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.