ONES: THE BEATLES #1 HITS
@ PRINCESS OF WALES THEATRE, TORONTO
AUGUST 1, 2026
ONES:The Beatles # 1 Hits is not a tribute show to The Beatles. There are not four musicians who try to look like The Beatles on stage. There is no one person playing Paul McCartney, or John Lennon, or, well you get the idea. Rather, ONES: The Beatles # 1 Hits is a show and closer to a play than a concert. Frank Zirone has put together a performance that is a brief history of The Beatles, using their long list of number one singles (roughly based on the 1 album). It is a multi-media production, featuring Al Joynes on video as the narrator. But be clear, this is not the history from The Cavern Club and Hamburg days to their break-up. This show starts with The Beatles on Ed Sullivan and carries on through the 1960s.
In that sense, ONES: The Beatles # 1 Hits is also a social history of the 1960s. The Beatles were always one step ahead and the centre of the musical and social movements of the 1960s (and to this day…1 is still the largest selling album of this century). And this is explored expertly with visuals and the narration. But the focus of the show is the music. Zirone has assembled a group of musicians who replicate the sound and spirit of The Beatles. It is fascinating to watch the first half of the show, which features a core band, but by the end one sees a stage getting more and more crowded. The Beatles gave up touring in 1966, and one of the reasons was that they could not possibly perform their new music onstage without orchestras.
SPILL FEATURE: ONES: THE BEATLES #1 HITS – A CONVERSATION WITH FRANK ZIRONE
ONES: The Beatles # 1 Hits also shows how much and how quickly The Beatles grew as a band. While it would take artists many years to grow, The Beatles went from “Can’t Buy Me Love” to “Day Tripper” in one year, two years to get to “Eleanor Rigby,” and a mere three years to get to “All You Need Is Love.” It still stands to today as a remarkable and unbelievable achievement. Again, Zirone goes to great lengths to faithfully reproduce the sound. I forgot there is a marching band on “Yellow Submarine”, yet there they were. And the string quartet for “Yesterday” is perfectly in place.
ONES: The Beatles # 1 Hits has a few little twists, and Zirone, very wisely, dips into their solo worlds as an encore. All four Beatles were immensely popular during the 1970s to this day (Paul McCartney’s recent album debuted at number one around the world). But as a second-generation Beatles fan, songs like “My Sweet Lord” and “Imagine” (both of which they perform) mean as much to my generation as The Beatles songs mean to the first generation Beatles fans.
Some liberties are taken with the songs, such as the original intro for the US version of “Help!” is tagged on to “Ticket Ride,” and the show is not entirely chronological but that does not take away from the show or the music. It is a wonderful step back in time but not as maudlin nostalgia but rather a celebration of a phenomenon that has never been repeated. Although Beatle fans will love ONES: The Beatles # 1 Hits, it does serve as a wonderful introduction to the most important rock band in history. Again, although this is not a tribute show, it does give a very large glimpse as to what the fuss was and is all about The Beatles.
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