ARTICLES AND REVIEWS
Cairns Sun 5 MAY 2004,
Beatle brought to life in show
THE life and legend of former Beatle John Lennon is being brought to life in Cairns this week.
John Waters is John Lennon in Looking Through a Glass Onion, the internationally acclaimed musical at the Cairns Civic Theatre on Friday and Saturday only.
Readers of the Cairns Sun can win tickets to the matinee show on Saturday. The first five readers to phone Angela on 4046 3800 will win double passes for the 5pm show. Tickets will be available to collect at the theatre.
The show stars John Waters who is brilliant in his role portraying the life and legend of John Lennon delivered through a unique blend of word and music. The musical was written by Waters in collaboration with the show's musical director Stewart D'Arrietta.
Waters said he wrote the show as "what John Lennon could have been thinking as a stranger approached him with a gun. Like a drowning man, images and events flash before your eyes of your life, in no particular order, almost as though you are looking through a glass onion". The production first played in 1993 and 1994, culminating in a three-month season in London's West End.
For the audience this entire experience is either an emotional trip down memory lane or a wonderful introduction to the life and times of one of the most fascinating icons of our time, John Lennon. Waters has written a timeless piece that touches on the innermost thoughts of John Lennon covering all aspects of his life.
This interpretation of Lennon's life has been selling out in all the capital cities around Australia and bringing the audiences to their feet in stirring standing ovations and encores every night. When you combine Waters' unique performance as Lennon with the brilliant musical backing you have an entertainment experience that should not be missed by anyone who has been touched by or intrigued by the legend of John Lennon and The Beatles.
The music is delivered superbly by The Glass Onion Band that is led by Stewart D'Arrietta and features Australia's finest session musicians, including ex-Sherbet bassist Tony Mitchell. The band is complemented by the most energetic string quartet ever assembled - The Dr Winston O'Boogie String Quartet.
John Waters recently said: "Stewart and I chose the songs for the show that were essentially Lennonesque. I wrote the monologue to link the songs. Rather than to impersonate, I wanted to evoke his honesty, bitter-sweet humour, self criticism and disdain for pretentiousness and pomposity. The result is now this musical - Looking Through A Glass Onion."
The Advertiser 05 MAY 2004
I'll be all right, vows Waters
GUESTS at the ASMF lunch yesterday were left to imagine what a performance from John Waters would have been like after a lingering viral flu meant he couldn't belt out a few tunes from his forthcoming John Lennon tribute show Looking Through a Glass Onion .
``I tried singing this morning and believe me, it's for the best that I don't perform,'' he said. His national tour starts in Cairns on Friday.
``Hopefully I'll be all right by then. Well, I've got to be right by then,'' he said.
Waters said Adelaide has responded the best out of every place he has toured Glass Onion.
``Adelaide has always been good to me, I love it here,'' he said.
He likes to stay in Glenelg as ``it reminds me of a British seaside town, which is a fond memory for me''.
The Cairns Post 6 MAY 2004,
Peel back the life of a legend
One of music's most popular stars will be reborn this weekend in the person of John Waters.
It's taken as read that John Lennon was an outstanding singer and songwriter and that his work, both with the Beatles and as a soloist, has touched many hearts around the world.
Now those fans will have an opportunity to feel the vibes of Lennon in the person of Australian luminary John Waters in the musical tribute Looking Through A Glass Onion.
Critics around the world and across the nation are amazed at how easily Waters slips into the character of Lennon. The Guardian (UK) writes: "This is more than an impersonation, it's great acting, a grand performance. Uncanny really."
Waters portrays Lennon's life through a unique mix of words and music - each familiar song interspersed with comments and anecdotes from Lennon with Waters staying in the persona of the legendary man. The production debuted in 1993, culminating in a three-month season in London's West End.
For the audience this is either an emotional trip down memory lane or a wonderful introduction to the life and times of one of the most fascinating icons of our time. Waters has written a timeless piece that touches on the inner most thoughts of John Lennon, covering all aspects of his life.
When you combine Waters's unique performance as Lennon with the brilliant musical backing, you have an entertainment experience that should not be missed by anyone who has been touched by or intrigued by the legend of John Lennon and The Beatles.
This is a show for all ages. The music is delivered superbly by The Glass Onion Band that is lead by Stewart D'Arrietta and features Australia's finest session musicians, including former Sherbet bassist Tony Mitchell. The band is complemented by the most energetic string quartet - The Dr Winston O'Boogie String Quartet.
"Stewart and I chose the songs for the show that were essentially Lennonesque," says Waters. "I wrote the monologue
to link the songs. Rather than to impersonate, I wanted to evoke his honesty, bitter-sweet humour, self criticism and disdain for pretentiousness and pomposity."
Looking Through A Glass Onion at the Cairns Civic Centre tomorrow and Saturday.
The Cairns Post 7 MAY 2004
Tribute touches hearts
MASTER interpreter John Waters arrived back in Cairns yesterday to once again perform his world renowned tribute to John Lennon, Looking Through A Glass Onion.
It has been 11 years since Waters last performed in Cairns and he is looking forward to the three shows planned.
He said the production had developed much over the years with the inclusion of a few new songs and a string quartet.
People who came to the show could expect to be transported back to another time, he said. "At the end, they will feel as though they have spent a night with John Lennon."
He said the show touched people on a deeply personal level.
"I've had standing ovations and many people weep during the show."
You can see Looking Through A Glass Onion at the Cairns Civic Theatre tonight at 8pm and Saturday at 5pm and 8pm.
Tickets are available from Ticket Link.
Sunday Mail (SA) 09 MAY 2004
Waters adds on to Lennon show
JOHN Waters enjoys a special privilege when performing his acclaimed one-man John Lennon tribute show, Looking Through A Glass Onion.
For the show's current Australian tour Waters and fellow producer Stewart D'Arrietta further developed the music and expanded the band by adding an entirely new string quartet to the show.
``I actually get to perform a number of songs like Working Class Hero, How Do You Sleep, Woman and Beautiful Boy which Lennon himself would hardly ever have performed live,'' Waters said.
``It's a great privilege to be able to do that, because they are wonderful songs and there are no live versions of them.''
Waters presented two sell-out national tours of Looking Through A Glass Onion in 1993 and 1994 before taking it to London's West End with great success.
This is the fourth time he has brought the show to Adelaide.
``The show is a collaboration between myself and Stewart D'Arrietta as a tribute to the music, mystery and memory of Lennon,'' Waters said. ``It's not a greatest hits show but a biographical journey through the life and times of John Lennon, biographical because his work really tells the story of his life.
Lennon was both hero and enigma.
``I loved his deadpan delivery and while I do not try to impersonate him, it's important that I capture the spirit and the essence of the man and the performing artist,'' Waters said.
The song Glass Onion was John Lennon's postscript to The Beatles.
``It had such a strong image of crystal ball-gazing and peeling away the layers that it inspired the format for this show - a kaleidoscopic collage of song, word, emotion and image.''
Book at Bass, 131 246.
ESSENTIALS
What: Looking Through a Glass Onion John Waters.
Where: Her Majesty's
When: May 27-30
The Advertiser 10 MAY 2004
A day in the life
By PATRICK McDONALD
JOHN Waters says it is a coincidence that his decision to re-stage Looking Through a Glass Onion coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' only tour of Australia.
``It's a happy coincidence, because people are talking about things Beatle-ish,'' Waters says.
His musical monologue attempts to capture the essence of the late John Lennon with words and song.
``You can't altogether separate Lennon from the Beatles,'' he says. ``There are quite a few Beatles tunes in it but I also do Lennon songs that not a lot of people know. It's not a list of your favourite hits - it's more about Lennon's writing and how it came really from life.''
Those songs include How do You Sleep, in which Lennon attacked fellow Beatle Paul McCartney with lines like ``the sound you make is Muzak in my ears''. ``It's not a sentiment that he deeply held - he was angry at a specific time with McCartney saying `I'm the one who decided the Beatles should break up','' Waters says, slipping easily in and out of a Liverpudlian accent.
``He used his very cynical sense of humour to quite good effect - but sometimes he was just being funny, the way anybody else is.''
Waters was living in London at the height of the Beatles' fame, before he migrated to Australia in 1968.
``I was a teenager at the time the Beatles rose to prominence, so I'm right in the catchment group of those who were influenced,'' he says.
Looking Through a Glass Onion has evolved over the 11 years since its inception as a two-man show by Waters and musical arranger Stewart D'Arrietta at Sydney's Tilbury Hotel.
``I wrote the monologue very, very quickly - in the space of a week,'' he says. ``I think it worked for that reason. Very little has changed. I added a monologue in the first year of doing the show, plus a song and changed little phrases here and there.''
It has also grown from two people, through a full band to now include a string quartet.
``It's our version of a string quartet: a bottom-end string quartet, because we have a double bass, a cello, viola and violin,'' Waters says.
And Waters hopes the ABC drama series Fireflies, in which he plays city slicker Perry, will be picked up for a second series, despite its average ratings against commercial blockbusters ER and Law and Order.
``I think it's a good show,'' he says. ``It's character-driven drama, which I really like.''
* Looking Through a Glass Onion is at Her Majesty's Theatre from May 27 to 30. Bookings at BASS.
Northern Territory News 14 MAY 2004
Lifting lid on inner Lennon
The life and times of John Lennon, the most daring and outspoken of the Beatles, will be presented through words and music in Looking Through a Glass Onion.
It stars John Waters, who wrote and conceived the concert in collaboration with the show's musical director Stewart D'Arrietta.
The music is presented by The Glass Onion Band and is complemented by The Dr Winston O'Boogie string quartet.
Waters said he was always inspired by Lennon both musically and spiritually.
``He was somebody who influenced me in subtle ways,'' he said. ``I grew up as a definite target audience and was a part of the whole Beatles era.
``Lennon was the voice of dissent, he was the cynical one who criticised the establishment and became quite political with his comments, and stepped outside the role of what was normally accepted as a popstar.''
Looking Through a Glass Onion was first performed in 1992 and Waters said he didn't want to just retell a story.
``I wanted to present a Lennon persona and talk as though it was Lennon's words and thoughts.''
The music is a mixture of Beatles hits and songs written by Lennon after the band separated.
``(The show) is quite teary because this ominous presence of the luring spectre of his death creeps up on you.''
* Looking Through a Glass Onion is at the Darwin Entertainment Centre Playhouse Theatre on Saturday, May 22, at 8pm.
The Post Magazine - Perth May 15 2004
In Looking Through a Glass Onion John Waters brings John Lennon to life, but not by way of imitation.
Waters affects only a mild scouse accent and his voice has become deeper and more gravely, yet his is a successful and stylish interpretation of Lennon's words and immortal music.
Using the music as a vehicle, Waters reacquaints us with a man whose wry, acerbic humour, cynicism, passion and anger changed the music scene.
While marvelling at Lennon's perceptive, timeless and autobiographical songwriting, the audience is reminded that much of the fame surrounding The Beatles and Yoko Ono was a product of the media's and our own desperate and fertile imagination.
Stewart D'Arrietta's arrangements and the addition of a classy, all-female string quartet add a depth and quality to the music that Lennon would have loved.
Looking Through A Glass Onion is more than fabulous and familiar music, it is a theatrical insight into the man behind the music. Looking Through a Glass Onion runs at the Regal Theatre to July 14.
John Waters brings Lennon legend back for local audience
Friday, 25 June 2004 Kalgoorlie Golden Mail
NEXT week's performance of Looking Through A Glass Onion will be one for all local fans of The Beatles era to savour.
The internationally acclaimed musical will wind up its WA tour at the Goldfields Arts Centre on Tuesday night after already performing in Perth, Bunbury and Mandurah.
The show stars John Waters - who is brilliant in his role portraying the life and legend of John Lennon.
The musical was written and conceived by Waters in collaboration with the show's musical director Stewart D'Arrietta.
The show's musical monologue attempts to capture the essence of the late Beatle with words and song.
The idea for the show first came about after a song - Glass Onion.
The song was Lennon's postscript on The Beatles era.
It had such a strong image of crystal ball gazing and peeling away the layers that it inspired the format for the show.
The show will have a lot to live up to after a hugely popular season in 1994.
However, this time around promises to be better than the original, which sold out to the biggest audiences in the centre's history.
Adult tickets are $49.90, so call the box office on 9088 6900 to book.
Concession and children's prices are available.
On the road again
RON BANKS. The West Australian 2 July 04
After 22 episodes, the ABC decided to stop producing its drama series, Fireflies, much to the consternation of actors like John Waters, who played Perry. "We mightn't have rated through the roof but we were building a strong audience until the ABC decided to mess with its scheduling," says Waters. "I'm not very happy with the ABC. They panicked when they didn't get the results they expected at first but they should have persisted. It was good, character-driven drama."
So what does an actor do when a series comes to an end? He goes out on the road again - at least, that's the case with Waters. Since Fireflies ended, Waters has been touring his own show, Looking Through a Glass Onion, a tribute to the Beatles' John Lennon.
With his musical director, Stewart D'Arrietta, rock band and four-woman string section, Waters has been taking his now familiar show to theatres, community halls and other venues across the country.
Looking Through a Glass Onion was first performed at His Majesty's Theatre in 1993 and during the past decade it's been back twice - most recently in 2001. Next week the show comes to the Regal Theatre for five nights, as well as playing in Kalgoorlie, Bunbury and Mandurah.
Long-running shows experience changes, no matter how minor, and Waters admits that over the years his performance as John Lennon has probably lightened a little in tone. "When I first played him, I wanted to bring out the dark side of Lennon's character, and it was really quite a dark show," he says. "It was true to his character, of course, but now I feel I've probably relaxed a little and made the show lighter - more commercial, if you like. We even do encores, which we never used to do because the show was a serious piece of theatre."
Like many actors who have a favourite role or virtuoso piece up their sleeve, Waters is reluctant to suggest that this will be the last tour of Looking Through a Glass Onion. However, he admits to feeling that this could turn out to be the last time he will strap on the guitar and assume a vaguely Liverpudlian accent.
If it is, this versatile actor will no doubt turn back to the musicals and the dramas that have sustained his long career from his early days in the musical, Hair. In the past couple of years he has played Fagin in the musical, Oliver, taken a strong dramatic role in Wilde's An Ideal Husband, appeared in the stage version of The Graduate and done other TV series such as Channel 9's The Young Lions. "That one was buried in the late-night timeslot," he says ruefully.
When his national tour of Glass Onion ends, Waters will be back in Perth for the lead role in a low-budget film by local director Derek Hobbs. "It's about a 50-year-old bouncer about to retire who decides to get involved in one last scam," he says.
Looking Through a Glass Onion is on in Bunbury today and tomorrow; Mandurah on Sunday; and at the Regal Theatre, Perth from July 7-11.
Snippet of a video interview with John here on undercover.com.au
Link HERE to a written and audio interview with John on ABC Goulburn Murray 23/7/04 (it requires Real Player - click here if you need to download Real Player)
More ABC interviews HERE - a few different ones from ABC South West WA 30/6/04.
John Lennon was one of the most powerful musical forces of the 20th century. This performance explores why.
Mary O'Donovan, Citysearch, June 2004 Editorial Canberra
Actor John Waters conceived this show with musical director Stewart D'Arrietta in the mid-1990s. Waters' love of Lennon's music and his approach to life permeate this performance, and make it a poignant reminder of the complexity of a great musician and artist. Waters does not try to impersonate the great Liverpudlian songwriter in either his singing or his speaking, but he endeavours to delve into the inner workings of the man. As Waters says, "I wanted to evoke his honesty, bitter-sweet humour, self criticism and disdain for pretentiousness".
The performance features songs from both The Beatles and Lennon's solo career, and are performed by Waters with backing from The Glass Onion Band. This rock 'n' roll band is supplemented by The Dr Winston O'Boogie String Quartet, which helps to create a new and vibrant experience of Lennon's music.
Looking Through a Glass Onion had a successful three-month run in London's West End, where critics said Waters captured the essence of Lennon.
Layer upon layer
Author: Chad Watson Date: 22/07/2004 Newcastle Herald
PEEL the layers from his glass onion and you find singer-actor John Waters has sweet and sour feelings for the Hunter Region.
The pleasant emotions have to do with his moving John Lennon stage salute Looking Through A Glass Onion.
The unhappy sentiments relate to the recent swatting of Fireflies, the ABC TV drama series shot mostly at Wollombi.
Waters has brought Glass Onion to Newcastle at least three times over the past decade or so and has played to packed houses on each occasion.
He returns this month, possibly for the last time, and again the punters will flock to his celebration of the Beatle genius.
Waters has added a third show (July 29) to his stint at Wests Leagues Club after the first (July 27) and second (July 28) performances filled up fast.
Cynics may suggest the big ticket numbers have something to do with the hoo-ha surrounding the 40th anniversary of The Beatles' only visit to Australia.
But Waters believes the public affection runs much deeper for his tribute to Lennon's words and music.
"I hardly think the anniversary thing matters," he says. "This show has become something of an institution in its own right it is an iconic piece of Australian showmanship."
Fireflies, of course, was never given that opportunity, with the show about a rural fire brigade being axed after one series.
Waters, who starred in the production, is peeved that the plug was pulled, and "not just because what happened to my employment opportunities".
The show was axed due to low ratings, although the ABC pitted it against established US dramas ER and Law And Order: SVU.
"I think it's really sad that there's so little production of Australian TV in general," Waters explains."The ABC really does have a brief to produce drama, particularly that sort of rural drama."
Waters, now 56, watched a lot of American television while growing up in England. "I used to look to the United States for inspiration," he says. "When I was really young all I wanted was a sweater with a big letter on it, a big refrigerator and a big car in a big driveway."
That's why he was so glad when The Beatles came along. "They made me feel empowered because they were better and become more successful than any of the American bands," he says.
Waters says he doesn't plan on picking Glass Onion out of the vegetable cooler again.
His next visit to the Hunter will be to promote "adult contemporary rock" originals "even though I hate that phrase because music should be for everyone" co-written with Glass Onion collaborator Stewart D'Arrietta. "I would hate to be one of those people who's forever making a comeback," he says. "One last time? That's the Farnham technique isn't it?"
Watery eyes
Author: Michael Gadd & Amy Edwards Date: 21/06/2004 Publication: Newcastle Herald
JOHN Waters knows better than anyone about the phenomenon that is John Lennon.
The Aussie actor/musician co-wrote the Lennon tribute Looking Through A Glass Onion more than a decade ago and the act is still selling out across the country.
``I didn't think I would still be going back to it 12 years later," Waters said.
Waters has pursued many other career paths including starring in the ABC series Fireflies but he always returns to Onion, which is a mix of songs, words and images based on the ex-Beatle.
Waters thinks Lennon's popularity, which continues 24 years after his tragic death, is due to the fact that he was more than a packaged pop star, but an idol that stood for something and changed throughout the years.
``He was like a work in progress we all observed," Waters said of the tough and then softer Lennon.
``He endeared himself with his peace activities in the 1970s."
Waters also believes that if Lennon was alive in today's war-charged climate he would probably be in jail.
``He didn't hide anything. He would be under arrest in the States right now because he couldn't keep his mouth shut."
Waters started his career as a singer and bass player with an R&B band before branching into acting. He said both passions gave him enjoyment as a performer.
``When I'm on stage I get the freedom of putting on another skin ... it's a great feeling," he said.
Although Fireflies has been cancelled, Waters won't be following other Aussies and heading to America to crack the film industry.
He has a new family and a 17-month-old son that is getting loads of dad's attention.
This latest Glass Onion tour coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' first tour of Australia.
Newcastle performances will be at West Leagues Club on Tuesday, July 27 and Wednesday, July 28.
Tickets are on sale from West Leagues Club.
