When it comes to the (literal) velvet (and bell bottoms) cultural revolution of the horrid hippie era, June 25, 1967 will serve as well as any other date to mark its psychedelic Bastille Day. It was the day of the One World concert, the first global pseudo-event created for international television. In the early moments of the sly and perspicacious new play Love, Love, Love (at the Laura Pels Theatre through December 18), Kenneth, one of two brothers co-existing warily in a dingy London flat on the day in question, explains to the other the momentous nature of the moment: “This has never happened before in the history of mankind. . . . It’s twenty-six different countries, cultures, and languages coming together. It’s remarkable. It signifies a new age of international cooperation.” “So what are they showing then?” asks Kenneth’s congenitally skeptical brother Henry. “The Beatles,” comes the reply.
Bartlett finds himself making conservative points in spite of himself.
Oh. Love, Love, Love, which is marvelously directed by Michael Mayer, takes its title from the opening words of the 1960s ditty (or, if you’re a Rolling Stonereader, “anthem”) “All You Need Is Love,” which the Beatles performed on that broadcast, having been given the honor of closing a show in which various countries each selected one performing artist to represent their finest sensibilities. John Lennon’s kindergarten-groovy lyrics about love solving all didn’t by themselves cause the cultural tectonic plates to shift,
