John Waters to take on John Lennon in new stage show

Lennon: Through a Glass Onion</i> stars veteran Australian actor John Waters.

We're about to get a Simon and Garfunkel tribute show through town but there's another musical-theatre interpretation of rock history on the way.

Lennon: Through a Glass Onion stars veteran Australian actor John Waters (best known for his role in Oz television's Offspring) in a performance that mixes spoken word and song in a celebration of the life and career of the late Beatle.

Waters, who performs the show with piano accompanist Bill Risby, first devised the piece in Sydney in 1992 and took it for critically acclaimed seasons in London's West End and New York as well as other major centres - including a season at the Brian Epstein Theatre in Lennon's birthplace, Liverpool.

"It's been fantastic, the response the show is receiving, especially from the younger audiences that are coming along, some of whom were not even born when Lennon and The Beatles were recording and releasing their music." says Waters.

"It's a testament to the legacy of the man and his music that still excites and intrigues people to this day."

The publicity for the show quotes co-creator Stewart D'Arrietta saying "The song Glass Onion was Lennon's postscript to The Beatles," (that's despite the track appearing on the fourth-to-last Beatles album) but says the Lennon-McCartney track which has references to earlier Beatles songs was influential.

"It had such a strong image of crystal ball-gazing and peeling away the layers that it inspired the format for this show - a kaleidoscope collage of song, word, emotion and image".

Lennon: Through A Glass Onion will play six performances at the Civic from August 10. Tickets are on sale now.