In autumn 2022, Mark Lewisohn presented a one-man stage show that played at Bloomsbury Theatre in London.

Marking the anniversary of the Beatles’ breakthrough year, EVOLVER:62 was a one-man, two-hour-plus, highly illustrated history lecture that drew on the extraordinary deep riches of Mark Lewisohn’s Beatles research archive, the content of a filing cabinet curated into a screen lecture with audio, video and his ad-lib expertise.

Just how incredible are the Beatles? Taking all known things into account, they’re off all known scales.

October 2022 is 60 years since their first record, Love Me Do. It hit the chart in week 1 and they’ve never really left them since. Now, in the wake of Peter Jackson’s jaw-dropping Get Back trilogy and Sir Paul McCartney’s 80th birthday celebrations, world leading Beatles author Mark Lewisohn will present a new format show, screening curated riches from his incomparable archive to speed-deliver 62 fascinating history bites about one year.

EVOLVER:62 is 62 sharp vivid moments that add up. It’s Beatles on the launchpad and detonation time for our huge cultural shift. Lovingly sharing items from his filing cabinets, Lewisohn will guide audiences through a galaxy of real-life moments, letting authentic archival gems transport you back where they once belonged, to see and feel how it all was before it was. People can expect to be well informed after a single two-hour show, tugged by 62 fast-moving stories of lives, loves, laughs, drama, death, beauty and music, one incredible engaging episode after another.

The bottom line? Whether you’re grooving new to the Beatles or think you’ve seen it all, come and love it a whole lot

more … and be completely enthralled. The deeper you go, the higher you fly.

When’s it bloody coming out, Mark? The second volume – when? People are waiting for it so where is it, and why are you doing a stage show?

Tune In came out in 2013 and I still don’t know when book 2 will be finished. It’s really quite some challenge to dive into such a deep, wide and vast history and to assess, condense and relate it thrillingly on the page. It IS coming, and in every single second of every single day I’m aware that it’s for me to do. But what a task it is. In the meantime, it’s become 2022 and I face an inescapable truth, which is that the book project is underfunded. It had great initial impetus but that was a long old time ago and now I need to finance staying alive while I’m writing. EVOLVER:62 is that. It’s my way of making some cash while giving handsomely to the public, a way of sharing my Beatles passion with other passionate people while the next book is still in prep.

You could do crowdfunding instead …

Yes, but that’s not a route I want to take right now. To me, the bottom line is that if I sign with Patreon or whoever, I’ll have to give people extras. EVOLVER:62 is the extra and it’s something different: a treat presented in person, a trip to the theatre for friends, lovers and family. The Beatles appeal to pretty much everyone – everyone! just think about that – they breathe an unrivalled reach and they spread nothing but pleasure. We can all use a helping of that right now, so I say: Come and have a laff and a shout in London with EVOLVER:62.

Why a stage show?

Because I can talk Beatles. It’s my thing. And I love putting my research archive to fresh use; I amassed it to underpin my writing but it’s way too strong to stay locked away in a filing cabinet. I want to share openly what I’ve been gathering in 40 years of perpetual discovery. In pre-Covid 2019 I toured HORNSEY ROAD about the Abbey Road album on its 50th anniversary and a lot of people told me they loved it. Presenting on stage doesn’t alter what I do: it’s still about openly sharing gems. Mostly I do that on the page, but these days, to pay bills, it’s also on the stage.

Why choose 62?

Clear reasons. Because 2022 is an anniversary, sixty years on from the time of detonation, the first rumbles of the Beatles’ global cultural earthquake – massive then massive still today. From 1963 to 1969 the Beatles were visibly on top of everything, but they were ready and primed in 1962, and I’ll use fantastic archive items to let this live again. The Beatles is a tremendous story – really the very best there’s ever been – and I’ll be showing it in ingredient parts.

Many people think the Beatles were much more interesting at the end – 1967–70 – than they were at the start.

Then maybe they don’t know it well enough, and I invite them to spend two hours getting up to speed with that. The Beatles were always as you saw them. Peter Jackson’s Get Back has made the public hip to the Beatles in 1969, but EVOLVER:62 shows those same four guys a mere 6–7 years earlier. In 2022 that’s like looking back to 2015–16. Yesterday, really. My message is: so, you like the later Beatles? So, you’re engaged with or inspired by or enchanted by them, their personalities and talent? Fantastic! Me too. And now here they are folks, with shorter but still long hair and every bit as daring, original and sharp. Merely younger, that’s all. It’s only possible to enjoy.

Why is fascination for the Beatles still growing?

For a million reasons, at least 62 of which I’ll be showing in EVOLVER. One major thing underpins everything they were about: they were real, and real is bullseye, real always connects with people purely. They weren’t assembled by committee. And they were super-gifted artists: original, fresh, inquisitive, instinctive, open-minded, open-hearted, authentic, charismatic, funny, brave, brilliant. They were true communicators and communicators of truth. In everything I do, I strive to show the Beatles as people, never as icons. I say we must be real with them and with what happened, we must be as true with them as they were in their actions. Me? I’m just the cheery host, the link man, flashing the Beatles’ history in constituent pieces so we can all see the truest picture.

Why is it only in London? You’re not touring EVOLVER:62 …

I’ve got a book to write. If I’m convinced of strong demand from other places then I’ll consider more dates, and that would certainly be handy for me, but I’m always happy to get back to my desk. The policy, in summary, is to stand and deliver and then dive back into the day-job.