More than any other rock musician (with the possible exception of Bob Dylan), John Lennon personalized the political and politicized the personal, often making the two stances interchangeable but sometimes ripping out the seams altogether. Indeed, without Lennon’s early and bold fusion of politics and pop, a play like Evita, in which Che Guevara is a major character, probably wouldn’t exist. But Evita? As I stood there, I began to realize the extent of John Lennon’s artistic influence - that, even on Broadway (whose aesthetics are, for the most part, diametrically opposite every-thing Lennon stood for), he’d made some kind of mark that would not or could not be forgotten. Bruce Springsteen launching into a turbulent “Twist and Shout” from a Philadelphia stage that same night made perfect sense. While I couldn’t think of a single rock & roll genre - from the most conservative crooning to the most radical punk rock - that hadn’t drawn a good deal of inspiration from Lennon, I didn’t quite understand this tribute from the Great White Way. Other than as a simple gesture of respect, it surprised me at first. At the curtain call, the show’s star, Patti LuPone, asked for a moment of silence for the slain ex-Beatle. The night after John Lennon was murdered, I happened to attend the Broadway musical Evita.
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