JOHN LENNON is late (delayed by a hold-up on the trains) and Paul Mc- Cartney has an Italian accent. George Harrison comes from Wolverhampton.

And Ringo Starr… well, Ringo is the one at the back, behind the drums.

Welcome to the wonderful world of the Beatles.

Not the Beatles, but four actor-musicians portraying the Fab Four in the musical Let It Be, which arrives in Sunderland next month – at the Empire, where the real moptops appeared in 1963.

The show has been playing in London at the Savoy Theatre, where this particular fab four are gathered to talk about touring the show charting the Beatles’ story from humble beginnings in Liverpool’s Cavern Club to being the biggest band in the world.

John, Paul, George and Ringo are played by two “teams” of performers and the four presenting themselves for interview – Stephen Hill, Luke Roberts, Michael Gagliano and Emanuele Angeletti (yes, he’s the Italian McCartney) are eager to take the show on tour.

They arrived in the band through various means. Stephen Hill (George) did two or three songs at his audition. “I came from Italy, I did a concert,” says Angeletti (Paul), a member of Beatles tribute band the Apple Pies, who were contestants on the Italian X Factor.

“We did two or three songs but he did 25 songs.

It’s no joke, I heard him do it,” says Hill.” I was there outside while you were auditioning for half-an-hour or 45 minutes. We were there maybe ten minutes.”

Roberts (Ringo) auditioned firstly with the musical director and then with other members of the band. Then they spent time together to gel as a band. “We did specific rehearsals to get us locking in. What was quite nice was the first time you could really focus on the songs, put the original records on and ask ‘what are Ringo and Macca doing?’” he says.

They had to become the Beatles, not just play their songs, with more than 40 featured in the show. “If you’re playing guitar or bass or drums, you should know the parts. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing with, you should be playing as a band. You’ve got the Beatles to go on and you can’t mess around with the Beatles. It should be spot on,” says Hill.

Angeletti, whose Italian accent disappears when singing, began his musical career at four singing on records with famous Italian actor and singer Pippo Franco. He’s been McCartney for two decades. “They’re looking for as close as you can possibly get to the Beatles. It’s different from a lot of shows where once you know the score or the script that’s it, your homework’s done,” he says.

“It’s an ongoing process. They’re constantly refining it because you’re constantly living your character. It’s a life rather than just a job.”

As far as they’re aware, surviving Beatles Paul and Ringo haven’t seen Let It Be. Angeletti did meet Stella McCartney who asked him to give her a typical Paul “oooooo”.

“Most of us have been doing it a long, long time – ten years plus – and playing the parts we’ve got now. It’s not like we’ve got the job and need to learn how to do it. We know the score. It’s got to be the Beatles, as close as it can be.”

Portraying such a well-known group brings an extra sense of responsibility, one that Hill and the others take seriously. “It doesn’t matter if you’re in the West End or a pub, if you’re doing the Beatles, you should be doing it as close as you can. It’s got to be as good as them, otherwise what’s the point of standing there in make-up and wigs?” he asks ROBERTS adds: “You’ve got to imagine your characters are in the room – and give them a performance they’ll be proud of.”

You don’t have to be a Beatles fan to enjoy the show. Roberts reports that certain friends and family who aren’t Beatles fans have come to see the show to support him and left the theatre loving the Beatles. “It’s opened their eyes to the Beatles too. This show is great for exposing the whole history of them. A lot of people who haven’t researched the Beatles just think of the image of the moptops in their suits and all that.

But that’s just one tiny element. The show demonstrates there’s more to them than just that,” he says.

Hill agrees. “You could hate the Beatles, come to the show and end up loving them just because of what we do here. It’s a lights thing, a visual thing, a sound thing – not just four lads on stage playing Beatles music. There’s a lot more to it than that. I can watch the show on my night off and think, ‘this is good’. After 600 shows, I still think this is great,” he says.

He has family living in Liverpool so his first brush with the Beatles came during his childhood.

Then learning the guitar at the age of eight or nine, the first thing he wanted to play was Beatles music.

Angeletti’s father is a musician who worked for record company Italian EMI and had a complete collection of Beatles records, so “I grew up with all the Beatles,” he says.

Gagliano (John) listened to the band as a child.

His parents had an Dansette record player and a toast rack of singles without their covers on. “I used to play with them. They were my toys from an early age of five or six,” he explains.

The show attracts audiences of all ages. Only two weeks before we met they’d entertained 1,000 cheerleaders from the US. For him, the Beatles music has survived because they were the first, everything else was copied from them. “Before the Beatles, there wasn’t anything,” he says.

“We’ve had people who’ve been to more shows than some of the cast have played,” says Angeletti. “We have a diehard following wherever we go. Beatles music has that appeal to everybody.”

Robert has lost count of the number of times he’s played the songs, but isn’t bored with them.

“If anything, there were certain songs I wasn’t as familiar with until I started doing the show.

I’m liking them the more I play them. They’re complicated songs. A Day In The Life is a composition, it’s just incredible and you don’t get bored with it.”

  • Let It Be: Sunderland Empire, March 24-29. Box office 0844-8713022 and online atgtickets.com/sunderland