MOM, HOW DID YOU MEET THE BEATLES?

As has been noted in Gothamist, opinions diverge regarding Mom, How Did You Meet the Beatles?, which runs at the Public Theater through February 23, 2008. Christopher Isherwood raved about it in The New York Times, but Robin Rothstein thought it "dull and static" and in need of more work.

So what's the deal? Well, the production is an engaging albeit roughly staged reading of a memoir/interview based on the experiences of playwright Adrienne Kennedy, who wrote Funnyhouse of a Negro, a 1964 play that was recently revived by the Classical Theatre of Harlem. After the success of that play, Kennedy relocated to London and had a bit of a roller coaster ride pitching a theater piece based on John Lennon's "nonsense" book In His Own Write.

Co-written by Kennedy and her son Adam, Mom, How Did You Meet the Beatles answers the title question and also covers how the playwright met a bunch of other Big Names during her sojourn in the United Kingdom during a very fertile creative and commercial period. The production is like a very special Selected Shorts in which actress Brenda Pressley does a splendid job delivering about an hour's worth of personal narrative almost entirely on her own, supplemented by projected images of locales and occasional intrusions of music that only occasionally enhance the performance. Like the great play Yellow Face, the production also touches on the importance of Joseph Papp and the Public Theater.

So, for $10 admission, you get a well-told story about Adrienne Kennedy's experiences with the Beatles and others who were part of the scene, including James Baldwin, Laurence Olivier, and Kenneth Peacock Tynan. If this intrigues you, consider giving it a try—and don't let Isherwood's rave raise your expectations too high. The Friday, February 22, 2008 performance includes a post-show discussion with John Guare (who spoke at MOMA's Friday night screening of Taking Off) and Gerald Freedman.

Here's some Beatle footage tied in with In His Own Write.