Chicagoan pays tribute to Beatles in ‘Rain’

You might say Jimmy Irizarry has been preparing for his role in “Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles” for most of his life.

A native of Southwest Chicago, Irizarry first fell in love with The Beatles when he was just a kid. At one point, he even had his own tribute band, Day Tripper.

“It was a Beatles band featuring all The Beatles’ songs,” he said.

That was merely a dress rehearsal for his current role as the late John Lennon in “Rain,” opening Tuesday in Chicago for a short run.

Irizarry sees his role as Lennon as a good fit. He said he and the former Beatle share the same vocal range and ability to play rhythm guitar — as well as a similar “off the wall” sense of humor.

“I got into performing professionally in my mid-20s,” Irizarry said in a telephone interview. “I come from a musical family, we all played guitars and sang.”

Irizarry has been with “Rain” for two years, including several performances on Broadway.

The show starts from The Beatles’ American debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in February of 1964 and ends with the Abbey Road era. The four stars of the show perform a full range of Beatles songs.

“Rain,” according to Irizarry, is the most accurate of The Beatles tributes, right down to the costumes. (He has six.)

“We try to represent the records true to their light,” he said.

“Rain” is essentially a music concert with some light banter thrown in. There are cameras throughout the theater that will project videos and images of the “Rain” cast onto the big screen behind the band.

“It’s a wonderful show,” Irizarry said. “Beatles fan or not, everyone will like it.”