A musical about John Lennon has been savaged by New York critics after its first night at the city's Broadhurst Theatre. The musical features nine actors of both gender, who all portray Lennon at different times in his life. It also received poor reviews at its debut in San Francisco. Well, it was a bad idea to begin with, really, wasn't it?
Anyway, Ben Brantley of the New York Times accused the production of portraying Lennon as a cuddly character and ignored the darker side of the late Beatle, saying "Little that follows goes beyond such fortune-cookie wisdom."
Even more bitingly, The New York Daily News said: "The image is so goofy that someone arriving late might imagine he had stumbled into (Monty Python's) Spamalot next door. Should you plop down 100 dollars for a theatre ticket or just stay home and listen to your old records? In the case of 'Lennon', the answer is easy: Light one up and put on the stereo."