THE trajectory of The Beatles lasted only a few years before they disbanded. The 50th anniversary West End show now touring the provinces emphasises their brief but epic musical creativity from 1962 to 1970.

The jukebox-style rolling out of hits by four skilled young musicians giving assured stage impersonations – complete with wigs and costume copies of how the Fab Four dressed on stage – allows fans to revisit how it felt to watch and hear them perform.

Characterisation, other than John Lennon’s on stage banter, would have added extra depth and a storyline, but the music says it all, magnificently.

Monday night’s mostly mature audience may have been more restrained than in days gone by.

“You can scream if you like,” Lennon urged, after the band burst into vibrant sound against the smoky interior of Liverpool’s gloomy Cavern Club. But by the time they got to Twist and Shout as performed at the Royal Variety Show in London’s West End, most of the house was on its feet and dancing.

Apart from authentic recreation of Beatles’ music, the show’s strength is in letting the audience imagine itself at these and other venues, including new York’s Shea Stadium where film backdrop gives a sense of the enormity of the place and how far and how quickly they shot to fame.

It also conveys the essence of events that inspired compositions – the Cold War, Vietnam, the first moon landing and the Mini, Carnaby Street and Hippies – through newsreel clips shown on retro TVs and screen projections on stage.

The first act ends in a blaze of psychedelic colour and the new musical style augmented by instrumentation of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club. A more intimate and downbeat second act hints at the break up to come as each Beatle takes a solo slot.

Pru Farrier