by Darrell Kirk

Sounder contributor

Ten years after their acclaimed production of “Across the Universe,” Rock on the Rock Choir is bringing Beatles music back to the Orcas Center stage with “The Magical Mystery Tour: A Beatles Music Extravaganza.”

The production, which opens Nov. 7, represents a remarkable collaboration spanning generations, with nearly 100 community members taking the stage to celebrate music that continues to resonate across age groups. Under the direction of Grace McCune, who founded Rock on the Rock in 2008, the show weaves Beatles classics into an original story about a young musician’s journey to follow her dreams.

The show runs Friday-Sunday, Nov. 7-22 with a 7 p.m. start time on Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on the first two Sundays on the Orcas Center Main Stage. Tickets are available at https://orcascenter.org/.

The seeds for this production were planted immediately after the 2015 Beatles show concluded. Music Director Jim Bredouw recalls the moment vividly.

“I believe it was Jake Perrine who came up to me and said, ‘Do you think there are like 30 more songs we could do a second show some year?’ I laughed instantly. I said, ‘Jake, there are 50 more songs that everybody would recognize.’” he remembers.

That night, Bredouw created a list with three columns: songs that would make a great theatrical story, overlooked musical gems and songs everyone would recognize.

For years afterward, “Jim would be like, is it time for more Beatles?” McCune recalled. “And I thought, the 10th anniversary of our last Beatles show was it.”

The music’s multigenerational reach became evident from the first day of rehearsal. McCune described teaching the children’s class: “I asked, who’s ever heard of Yellow Submarine? And everybody raised their hand. Who’s ever heard of the Beatles? Everybody raised their hand.”

For Bredouw, 74, the Beatles represented something deeper than fandom.

“I approached the Beatles purely as a musician,” he explained. “Their main influences were Little Richard, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry. But very quickly, they developed into a much deeper creative force, both lyrically and musically. Between them and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, I just kept following and studying what they did, and they took me into a much deeper place musically.”

The Beatles’ impact extended far beyond music.

“What was so remarkable is that they impacted youth on so many levels,” Bredouw noted. “For other people, it was spiritually, like George Harrison going to India. I would posit that we might not have yoga studios like we currently do if he had not brought the Indian influence into pop culture.”

Crafting the story

The production’s narrative emerged from collaboration between McCune and Creative Director Deborah Sparks.

“I suggested, why don’t we make a story out of it? Because then you can divide it into scenes,” Sparks explained. “We talked about the different characters that are in the Beatles songs.”

Martha emerged as the central figure.

“Let’s make it all about Martha and her journey,” Sparks said. “Grace said, well, she’s a musician. I said, that’s even better. Maybe she’s leaving home.”

McCune wanted Martha to be a young woman who is a musician but is not following her dreams.

“And that’s when the merry pranksters come in and say, ‘Come and join us, Martha,’” she said.

The Merry Pranksters travel across America in a Volkswagen bus. Sparks collaborated with set builder Chris Brems to create a 9-foot bus that folds accordion-style. The production features a dream sequence for “Yellow Submarine,” painted on giant canvas, complete with a pointing hand from the iconic cartoon. Sparks painted all sets in fluorescent colors for the lighting design.

“I decided I want the whole thing painted in fluorescent so that when we put blue lights on, these colors will pop,” she said. “The blue LED light is like a black light.”

For Associate Music Director Stormy Hildreth, the production represents a journey from student to colleague. Hildreth has been singing with Rock on the Rock since age eight.

“When I was in my late teens, I started notating all of the arrangements,” she explained. “Grace was writing them, but I was using my software to write up all the sheet music.”

This year marked a milestone.

“I’ve started arranging the songs with her. I did a couple solo and we worked on 20 different songs together,” Hildreth said.

The collaboration consumed three months in the studio. Hildreth’s path illustrates the island’s opportunities.

“Grace has been huge in my musical life. I also worked with Martin Lund for many years studying piano and jazz,” said Hildreth, who degrees from Berklee College of Music in Boston and New York. “Grace gave me the most incredible foundation I could have ever dreamed of in music.

She now splits time between Orcas Island and Los Angeles, working on recording projects while teaching island students.

Bridging generations

Working across age groups brought discoveries. Hildreth recalled recording demonstration vocals, not realizing these weren’t songs she grew up with.

“Jim didn’t realize until after we were done recording that these weren’t just songs I knew off the top of my head,” she laughed. “This definitely was not the type of music I grew up with. ‘Eleanor Rigby’ was one of my favorite songs to study in music theory classes. But now I get to perform it live with an arrangement that I got to write. Jim actually helped me fall in love with that song even more because he’s like, wow, Stormy, that song sits in such a fantastic place in your voice.”

The song selection balances classics with lesser-known gems.

“I really wanted to do Beatles tunes that weren’t as popular. Because there are some deep cuts that are just beautiful songs,” McCune said.

Bredouw highlighted several: “‘She’s Leaving Home.’ That’s an amazing lyrical journey. ‘Martha, My Dear’ was written about his sheepdog. ‘I’ll Follow the Sun.’ A lot of people don’t know about it. Beautiful melody.”

The arrangements transform songs for different settings.

“When they go to the Irish pub, we arranged the music so it would sound like an Irish ditty. And the New Orleans jazz bar is Dixieland jazz, blues,” McCune explained.

Bredouw set one condition before agreeing to direct the music: to include the complete Abbey Road medley. It consists of eight song fragments the Beatles combined for their final recording.

“They had snippets of tunes that weren’t complete songs. So they married them all in this magnificent 16-minute nonstop medley,” Bredouw said. “It’s very complicated to do it all in one take, but I wanted to challenge myself. That’s how we’re closing the show, which is a big accomplishment musically, and a great way to end a Beatles show, because that’s how they ended their careers.”

The Cultural Revolution

Sparks emphasized the Beatles’ broader impact.

“It’s music that actually changed the whole climate of music at that time,” she said. “It was during the 60s when freedom was really a whole new concept. There was a lot of rebellion against repression of the 50s.”

The band brought emotional depth.

“They’re really telling you about their emotions and things that were happening to them. They were great storytellers,” Sparks explained. “When you read the lyrics without the music, it’s poetry, like they were reading their diaries. They’re really big into peace and brought a message of love and peace to their culture.”

For songwriters, Hildreth emphasized studying Beatles music: “They have such unique chord changes and use a lot of modal interchange, borrowing chords outside of the key. And lyrically, their imagery is so vivid and the storytelling is so rich that they inspire songwriters to push the boundaries.”

The Magical Mystery Tour production embodies community spirit.

“It’s such a beautiful community event. It creates a family,” McCune said. “We’ve got parents with their children in the show together. It’s a family event. What it means to me to work this hard on a show is, it’s sort of a love song from my heart to the community.”

Sparks emphasized patience when working with performers of all levels: “There’s gonna be people for whom it’s their first time on stage. So it’s about keeping it light, keeping a sense of humor and a lot of patience.”

At 74, Bredouw suggested this might be his final music directing job.

“Music directing at 74 is a lot different than 64. But I’m all in. I’m having a great time,” he said.

The production features Anna Mueller as Martha and Corey Wiscomb as Sergeant Pepper, with choreography by Tiffany Loney and approximately 100 performers including a 70-member chorus, 25 dancers, and 12 children.

As Hildreth summarized: “It’s so much fun to see all of us working together with Sparks creating these wacky set designs, Tiffany doing incredible choreography, and working with Grace and Jim on the music side. It’s truly a dream come true.”