SF Sorrow

Baron Saturday
Mick Maldonado, Lead Vocals. Live at the Tower Auditorium, November, 1999

Old Man Going, Loneliest Person
Izzy Maxwell, Peter Moore, Lead Vocals. Live at the Tower Auditorium, November, 1999

Preservation

Money Talks
Mick Maldonado, Kay Hanley, Lead Vocals.
Announcer: Mikey Dee
Live at the Tower Auditorium, October, 1998

Scrapheap City
Kay Hanley, Peter Moore, Lead Vocals. Live at the Tower Auditorium, October, 1998

BOSTON ROCK OPERA PRESENTS; AQUALUNG VS BILLION DOLLAR BABIES.
Two classis rock albums, performed in their entirety.
April 20, 2002 at The Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge MA.

Jethro Tull’s 1971 concept album Aqualung explored themes of class, faith, mistrust, madness and lust through the character of Aqualung, a homeless drifter who may or may not also be a rock star. Alice Cooper’s 1973 Billion Dollar Babies took his proto shock rock over the top with dark musings, outrageous songs, political satire and a stellar band. Full

About the Performers

Eleanor Ramsay (Event co-producer)
Eleanor is the artistic director of Boston Rock Opera and has been directing and/or producing the company’s shows since its inception. She created the original theatrical adaptations of Preservation, Happiness Stan, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and SF Sorrow. An artist, researcher and web designer, Eleanor is also a long-time supporter of the Boston music scene.
“Aqualung is such a perfect album. The flow of the songs and the intense emotions expressed in the lyrics and music keep you fixated through the very end.”

T Max (Event co-producer)
T’s fanzine, The Noise, has been covering Boston rock and roll for more than twenty years. He’s also been with BRO from the beginning, appearing in Abbey Road, For the Benefit of Mr. Dee, SF Sorrow, Happiness Stan, Another Night@the Opera, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, Preservation Act II and, of course, Jesus Christ Superstar.
“If it wasn’t for Alice Cooper I never would have started wearing make-up or hiding boa constrictors in my trousers.”

Pat McGrath (Event MC)
Pat owns Looney Tunes Records and also fronts the band The Wheelers & Dealers. He’s been a fixture of Boston’s music scene for two decades. Hes performed all of BROs Jesus Christ Superstar productions, played the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show and also appeared at Night @the Opera and For the Benefit of Mr. Dee.

Billion Dollar Babies Cast

Gary Cherone (vocals)
Gary is currently fronting his new band Tribe of Judah. He was previously the lead singer/songwriter for both Extreme and Van Halen. Gary has been performing with BRO since 1994 in productions of Jesus Christ Superstar, Abbey Road, Night @the Opera, Another Night @the Opera and For the Benefit of Mr. Dee.
“Cooper’s Killer was my first, and Ive been bowing at the altar of Alice ever since.”

Linda Viens (vocals)
Linda has been a singer, performer and organizer in the Boston scene for over 20 years, appearing in many guises and incarnations. Her last band was the legendary funk ensemble Crown Electric Company and she has also appeared in many Boston Rock Opera productions over the years.
“I’m realizing what an innovator Alice Cooper really was, smart, shrewd, funny as hell and, the timeless and ultimate thing is, he rocks!”

John Powhida (vocals)
John recently moved to Boston and currently fronts the band The Rudds. This is his first BRO production.
“When Marilyn Manson, was just a gleam in his daddy’s eye, Alice was wearing a cod piece and getting beheaded! Classic and timeless tunes support the theatric shock rock tactics. Billion Dollar Babies is worthy of a kick ass rendering.”

Bill Bracken (Bandleader /guitar)
Bill has been playing guitar with BRO for three years. He has played in several Boston bands, has been featured in national magazines such as Guitar Player and has also won several guitar competitions.
“My uncle gave me this album when I was eight, I’ve been a huge AC fan since then. For me, it’s right up there with VH 1, AC-DC’s Back in Black or Nirvana’s Nevermind.”

Catherine Capozzi (guitar)
Catherine has been fixture on the Boston rock scene for more than a decade and is the lead guitarist and a founding member of the Boston-based All the Queen’s Men. She recently played guitar for BRO’s productions of Abbey Road and Jesus Christ Superstar and also for Thee Majestic Din Society’s Sgt Pepper.
“This album is the epitome of glittery, rock star opulence. I love the satire and irony.”

Joel Simches (keys)
Joel’s involvement in BRO started in 1994 with Crackpot Notion. Since then he has played keyboards for both of the Mikey Dee benefits, S.F.Sorrow and last year’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar. When not playing music Joel is at Hummelvision Studios in JP recording music. He also just started his own audio production company, Sonic Enhancement Specialists, Ltd.
“Whenever anyone thinks of Alice Cooper and his legendary antics, both onstage and off, the birthplace of those legends is with the lineup that recorded this album. Billion Dollar Babies is Quintessential Alice Cooper!!”

Izzy Maxwell (bass)
Izzy is currently playing bass with The Countess, Cannibal Animal & Me and Cannonade. He grew up in the Boston rock music community and was previously in Max and The Borg. He also performed in the Boston Rock Opera productions of S.F. Sorrow and For the Benefit of Mr. Dee.
“Alice Cooper is a real bad ass, like Marilyn Manson or Rob Zombie.”

Steve Whitcomb (drums)
Steve has been playing drums in the Boston area for more than 10 years with several bands including Contagious, Bill Bracken Band and, recently, Trigger Effect and Fbomb, two hard rock outfits. He played drums for BRO’s presentation of A Quick One While He’s Away during For the Benefit of Mr. Dee.
“I am a huge Alice Cooper fan and am psyched about this performance!”

Wayne Viens (props)
Wayne is an artist and a fixture of the Boston music scene. He’s done it all. Wayne has also worked with BRO behind the scenes off and on since 1993.

Aqualung Cast

John Surette (as Aqualung, vocalist, co-producer)
John started his first band Boys Life while attending Malden High School. He is currently fronting the popular Boston band John Surette and the DeNiros. John originally presented excerpts of Aqualung for BRO’s Another Night @the Opera in 1999 and is looking forward to bringing the entire album to the stage. He also previously appeared in BRO’s productions of Jesus Christ Superstar, Abbey Road, Preservation, S.F. Sorrow and For the Benefit of Mr. Dee.

Mick Maldonado (guitar/vocals)
Mick is a co-founder of Boston Rock Opera and has both music directed and performed for the company. MD credits include Jesus Christ Superstar, Abbey Road, SF Sorrow, Happiness Stan, both Nights @the Opera, For the Benefit of Mr. Dee, Preservation, The Rocky Horror Show and Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. Alter-ego Mick Mondo and his band Streaker can still occasionally be seen performing around Boston.
“I’ve been a big Tull fan for many years and am enjoying revisiting my prog-rock fantasies playing Aqualung for an audience.”

Chris Mascara (guitar/vocals)
Chris’s band Mascara is currently recording and will play out again soon. Chris is also known as a solo artist and has played for other Boston bands including Nineteen, Box Car Betty, Make Lisa Rich and Ad Frank Combo. He appeared as Jesus in BRO’s 2000 production of Jesus Christ Superstar and also preformed in Abbey Road, the 1996 production of JCS, and 1995′s Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
“I’m working on Aqualung cause I love John Surette. I saw him perform excerpts from the album at Another Night@the Opera and thought it was the highlight of the evening.”

Bo Barringer (bass/vocals)
Bo is currently playing bass for The Collisions and Caged Heat. He was formerly with the late Make Lisa Rich. Bo also appeared in BRO’s 2000 production of Jesus Christ Superstar.
“I was never much of a prog-rock fan but I’ve always had a soft spot for the Tull. Their stuff was other worldly and bad ass at the same time! And how could anyone pass up a chance to play Cross-Eyed Mary with a great band?”

Melissa Wells (as The Devil, flute)
Melissa started playing flute in 7th grade. She currently plays bass for John Surette and the DeNiros. She has stage managed or performed for BRO in Preservation, S.F. Sorrow, For the Benefit of Mr. Dee, Jesus Christ Superstar and Another Night@the Opera. Most recently she founded the R&B/Soul band The Electrolytes.
“I joined the school band where there were 22 other flutists. By busting kneecaps and poisoning school lunches I earned my right as First Flutist or in some circles “flutist from hell” but when I discovered Jethro Tull I immediately dropped out of the school band to pursue playing flute in the woods.”

Carol Namkoong (keys)
Carol is currently playing keyboards with the Electrolytes. She recently played with Thee Majestic Din Society for the Noise’s 20th Anniversary Party and for BRO’s Jesus Christ Superstar and Abbey Road.

Danny Cap (drums)
Dan has been playing drums for 28 years. His repertoire includes R&B, rock, jazz and alternative music. He is currently drumming with the band The Electrolytes. This is his first time performing with BRO.

Ivory (as Cross-Eyed Mary, vocals)
Ivory is currently singing with The Electrolytes. She is also a dancer. This is her first BRO production.

Abbey Road still rocks
Music Review/by Sarah Rodman
Friday, May 4, 2001

Aida isn’t the only opera in town these days. Over on the other side of town — on Huntington Avenue to be exact — Boston Rock Opera is presenting a production called ‘S. F. Sorrow’ that’s every bit as theatrical and entertaining as it’s more cultural counterpart. It can be seen at the fraction of the cost AND it’s sung in English. S. F. Sorrow, written by the legendary British band The Pretty Things in 1968, is believed to be the first full-length rock opera ever written. It tells the story of a young man whose perfect life takes a turn for the tragic when the woman he loves is killed in a horrible accident. Unable to find peace in his life, he falls under the spell of a ‘shaministic trickster’ named Baron Saturday who leads young Sorrow to the edge of madness and beyond. If you’re waiting for a happy ending you’d better look somewhere else. S. F. Sorrow is a tragic opera and you’ll feel pretty fatalistic by the time it ends: Fatalistic and enormously entertained.

The cast for S. F. Sorrow is very strong, both as singers and as actors. Gene Dante is the narrator of the show and he does a good job of keeping the audience involved in the story being woven by the show’s songs. Linda Bean is equally good as Sally, the girl next door who steals Sorrow’s heart. Mick Maldonado almost steals the show when he storms across the stage as Baron Saturday, and I say almost only because of the great job Peter Moore does in the lead. Moore’s singing voice is string, but what makes him so fascinating to watch is the way he uses his gangly body to portray everything from the joy of first love to the horrors of war. Director John Whiteside deserves credit along with the cast for keeping all the various elements of the story moving smoothly, no easy task when you’re dealing with a story that starts at the turn of the century and ends in the cosmos. In a wonderful case of making the most of what they have, the BRC transform the bare stage at Mass College of Art’s Tower Auditorium into everything form a rural English factory town to a World War I battlefield through an inventive use of videos and slides. All this and the show is backed by a real rocking’ band. S. F. Sorrow is a dramatic, entertaining night of theater that should not be missed.

Presented by Boston Rock Opera.
Words and music by John Lennon and Paul McCartney (“Within You, Without You” by George Harrison) Produced and directed by Eleanor Ramsay, music direction by Mick Maldonado, choreography by Jane Bulger. Starring Doug Thoms, Bill Goffrier and Susan Barnaby.ß At: The Lansdowne Street Playhouse, tonight and tomorrow and Nov. 8 through Nov. 11

By Jim Sullivan, Globe Staff

It was uh — 28 years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play. They’ve been going in and out of style, but they’re guaranteed to raise a smile. So, let me introduce to you: The Boston Rock Opera doing Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the album, in toto, at the Lansdowne Street Playhouse, this weekend and four nights next week.

The Beatles happen to be in style right now – just try to miss the ABeatlesC promos for the upcoming TV rock-doc / the “new” Lennon song / the outtakes CD releases. Thus, the Boston Rock Opera folks find themselves at the right place at the right time. The BRO is not a company to lack for ambition. They revamped “Jesus Christ Superstar,” mixing kitsch with poignancy, and staged the Kinks’ underappreciated, politically astute “Preservation Act 2.” Here, they are kicking up something that is neither kitschy nor political. “Sgt. Pepper” was the seminal progressive rock album of 1967, a semiconceptual record still considered one of rock’s finest. (And all done on a four-track!) It hit during the Summer of Love and was the confirmation of the Beatles’ move from mop-top to hippie, from pop star to artist.

But, of course, the Beatles were kaput as a touring unit by then. So you’ve only seen wretched things like the 1978 “Sgt. Pepper” movie starring the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton or “Beatlemania.” (Or, maybe, Paul “I was the real artist” McCartney serving up snippets during post-Beatles stadium tours.) You’ve never heard the whole thing done live, done theatrically, done up close.

You can now and should. This is a splendid, joyous production that will bring a smile to your face. It’s expertly choreographed and sharply played by the eight-piece band. The few glitches (some dead mikes) on Wednesday’s opening night were covered neatly, because even though this is a theatrical production, it’s also only rock ‘n’ roll.

Producer/director Eleanor Ramsay faced a couple of problems in putting together this show, which includes a cast of 13 and three dancers. As conceived, Sgt. Pepper is less a narrative than it is a series of set pieces and songs. And while there’s some drama – the young woman leaving her parents’ home, the deadly car crash at the end – there’s not a lot of conflict or tension. What there is, is a comfort zone of musical familiarity – these folks take no liberties with the music – and the twists Ramsay has worked out for the individual songs, weaving some together, letting others stand alone. This is pretty much the way we listen to concept albums anyway; if the songs don’t work on their own, they won’t as a whole.

Sgt. Pepper starts in carnival fashion with barker Doug Thoms setting the stage for Bill Goffrier (BRO’s resident smarmy lush) in the Ringo Starr role of Billy Shears on “With a Little Help From My Friends.” “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” is cast not as an acid dream, but, as Lennon always insisted, a child’s fantasy, with fourth grader Patrick Sean Goggin in a wheelchair, reading “Lucy,” administered to by fetching nurses. “Lucy” turns out to be the girl from “She’s Leaving Home” who’s meeting a man from the motor trade. (The “motor trade” phrase was Liverpool slang for an abortionist, but this does not factor in here.) “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” is a carnival with everyone cavorting on stage and Thoms leading the parade: somersaults, hoops, dancing – very synchronous.

Then comes a (long) break and, well, Side 2. BRO captures the Indian mysticism of “Within You, Without You,” via Chris Mascara’s sitar and Michael Knoblach’s tabla, and Lynette Estes’ spiritual Krishna character. The dancers weave and hover, adding to the spell. But wait, no incense? “Lovely Rita,” as crooned by Randy Black, raises the only flag meter maids have ever had raised in their favor. Practically everyone is out to chirp “Good Morning, Good Morning” and then it’s on to the silly-into-somber “A Day in the Life.” The synth spirals at the end, and then the famous piano chord, parodied by the Rutles, a 22-second strike and then fadeaway.

Words and music by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
“Within You Without You” by George Harrison

Performances: November 1-11, 1995 and February 14-17, 1996

Boston Rock Opera presented Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band — a concert, performing the classic Beatles’ concept album as a rock vaudevillian concert intertwined with a loose narrative of emotional highs and lows, during November 1995 and then for a special one-week run in February, 1996. The shows were enthusiastically received by fans who packed the Lansdowne Street Playhouse and braved the New England blizzards to spend a splendid time with Sgt. Pepper and his troupe.

“A splendid, joyous production that’ll bring a smile to your face”
The Boston Globe

“An original and creative vision” The Noise

“The band meets the daunting challenge
of covering one of the best-loved albums in rock ‘n roll history”
The Boston Herald

“Fresh and on-the-money”
Boston Rock

Stage adaptation by Eleanor Ramsay
for Boston Rock Opera

THE TROUPE
(in order of appearance)

Doug Thoms The Barker
Tim Robert Billy Shears *
Susan Barnaby Lucy
Patrick Goggin The Young Boy
Dave Minehan The Boyfriend
Carolyn Kaylor The Young Woman
Linda Viens The Mother
Lynette Estes Krishna
T Max Man From the Motor Trade
Randy Black The Romantic
Denise DiZio Rita
Rick Shaw The Slacker
Mick Maldonado Sgt Pepper

The Dancers:
Molly Carano, Kristen Kissik,
Anne Schwartz

THE BAND
Mick Maldonado guitar, keyboards
Matt Thorsen guitar
Dave Pace bass
Nigel Matthews drums
Jeff Allison keyboards
Joshua Hauser trombone, euphonium
Mike Breidegam saxophone, clarinet, flute *
Scott Getchell trumpet
Michael Knoblach tabla
Chris Mascara sitar

THE STAFF
John Whiteside Stage Manager
Kathy Rosen Set Design
Mary Ricciardi Costumer
Harry Melanson Lights
Mike Higgins Sound

Lighting Design:
Mark Janowitz, Douglas O’Flaherty,
John Whiteside

* Bill Goffrier played the role of Billy Shears in the original presentation.
* Ken Field played saxophone and flute in the original presentation.

THE BACKGROUND

Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was probably one of the most anticipated album releases of all time. The Beatles spent more than five months and $75,000 dollars (a pittance today but unheard of at the time) using the studio as a creative laboratory and pushing the boundaries of 4-track recording. The original concept was to loosely string together songs about life in Liverpool but the first two songs recorded on this theme, Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane were released early by a nervous Brian Epstein. Since singles did not appear on albums in Britain back then they were removed from the Sgt Pepper’s line-up. The songs the Beatles composed next dealt more with alienation, mistrust of modern society and the loneliness of ordinary people rather than a look back at old Liverpool.

It was not until late in the sessions that the Beatles got excited about creating an alter-ego for the band, presenting the songs as though they were a concert by Sgt Pepper and his troupe. This new theme was the inspiration for the famous photo in which Sgt Pepper’s band performs for the assembled celebrities and gurus; the Beatles “invited guests.” Of course Sgt Pepper’s was never performed live. The Beatles concert was a come on. They could not have performed such complex songs live at that time even if they had wanted to. Sgt Pepper’s confirmed that the Beatles were now exclusively a “studio band.” Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band became one of the most written about and best selling albums ever and forever changed the rules of rock recording.