Beatles meet the classics

Cast members from Beatlemania will be in Toledo Saturday.

It might be a hard day's night for Chelsea Tipton II Saturday, but he's looking forward to it.

The resident conductor of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra is teaming up with members of the original cast of the Broadway production of Beatlemania for a program of Beatles music called "Classical Mystery Tour - A Tribute to the Beatles."

The 8 p.m. program at the Stranahan Theater will feature six pieces by the symphony - including "Pomp and Circumstance" and "Music from Hairspray" - followed by the Beatles music after the intermission.

The marriage of the great rock/pop band with the classics is a natural, Tipton said. "The Beatles were so forward-looking in their music, so ahead of their time, that they were using orchestral elements in their music anyway," he said. "So this is a very good merging of two different genres, rock and classical."

He said the four members of Beatlemania - in full Fab Four costume - will play some of the expected hits along with lesser-known songs like "Golden Slumbers."

Tipton said the goal is to highlight some of The Beatles' great music like "Let It Be" and "Hey Jude" with instrumentation that doesn't distract from the songs' central themes and that reminds people of the band's genius.

The 8 p.m. show at the Stranahan, 4645 Heatherdowns Blvd., is part of the Symphony's KeyBank Pops Series. Tickets are $22 to $60, from www.toledosymphony.com or by calling 419-246-8000.