Vinegar Hill Music Theatre presents IMAGINE – The Beatles Solo Years
Food Trucks 6pm | Doors 7pm | Show 8pm
All Ages
Join us for food and drinks before the show in our outdoor garden starting at 6pm!
The night’s food truck is Crêpe Elizabeth – specializing in sweet and savory handheld crepes!
In 1969, The Beatles walked across Abbey Road and away from the studio where they created the most important body of work that any rock band has before or since. In the years that followed, John, Paul, George and Ringo each continued to write and record countless iconic songs keeping them front and center in the eyes and ears of the world. IMAGINE, brings together the solo hits of the individual Beatles as they might have sounded had they continued together and if their legendary producer George Martin would have crafted these songs along with them.
From the creative team behind the hit orchestral pop shows “Piano Men, The Music of Elton and Billy” and “Classic Rock Orchestra.”
Joe Boucher – Bass Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Piano and Vocals
Joe grew up in the quaint seaside village of Biddeford Maine on the New England coast. He is a singer and songwriter who, for eight years, fronted the power pop band Frotus Caper. They recorded and released four critically acclaimed albums while performing constantly. Throughout that time he worked regularly as a studio session musician, playing piano and arranging pop, rock and folk songs for many artists.
Joe is an on-air host at Maine Public Classical Radio. Prior to that he spent 16 seasons as the Concert Manager for The Portland Symphony Orchestra. He spent seven years before that touring internationally as a stage manager before meeting his future bride Barbara.
Joe and Barbara live in Cape Elizabeth, Maine with their 14 year old son Henry, eight year old twins, George and Jane and a rescue dog named Pepper. Most summer nights they can be found sitting on the back porch listening to the Red Sox.
In August 2014, Joe released a CD of his own songs “Retrospectacle on Cornmeal Records. www.CornmealRecords.com
Christopher Eastburn – Orchestrator, Guitar, Piano, Bass Guitar & Vocals
Chris is an arranger, orchestrator and award-winning composer. His music has been performed to acclaim from New York’s Carnegie Hall to the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Recent commissions include a ballet score for Island Moving Co. called Newport Stories, a string orchestra and chorus score for the theatre production Moses Brown and the Voyage of the Slave Ship Sally and a score for Caitlin Corbett Dance Co. called Tom’s Wealth.
Chris’s string quartet/vocal quartet score Consent to Gravity choreographed by Daniel McCusker was hailed as “one of the most successful new musical works for dance I’ve heard in ages” by Debra Cash, dance critic for NPR’s Here and Now. His arrangement and orchestration of “Jazzy Old St. Nick, a hip swing version of a Christmas favorite” is now available from the Hal Leonard choral music catalog. As a choral director and song leader Chris enjoys working with people of all ages and walks of life.
For more about Chris, including contact information and details about his compositions and additional directing, see his website at eastburnmusic.com.
Gary Backstrom – Lead Guitar, Piano, Bass & Vocals
Gary has been playing for the last 20 years touring the country and in New England with his Award winning jam band JIGGLE THE HANDLE and as the GARY BACKSTROM BAND. He has opened for such acts as LITTLE FEAT, SPIN DOCTORS, RAT DOG, THE SAMPLES, SOUTH SIDE JOHNNY, THE ALLMAN BROS, WARREN HAYNES, BLUES TRAVELER, and has shared the stage with DERICK TRUCKS, AOD, and recently members of TODD RUNDGREN’S Band. Check out more detials at www.garybackstrom.com
Nick Pires (Drums)
Nick was born and raised in the Portland suburb of Yarmouth, ME. In high school, he was an active member of both the Jazz and Concert bands while also gigging frequently in the local music scene. After graduating, Nick put his musical aspirations aside to attend Full Sail University in pursuit of a career as a live sound engineer. Despite not playing for several years, he continued to maintain an interest in music and networking with musicians through his work in concert production and eventually found his way back behind the drum kit.
Nick currently lives in the Portland, ME area with his wife Karin and three children, Nathan, Jillian, and Joanna.