We Will Rock You – The Musical!

 

Brought to you by Nuffnang and We Will Rock You

 

2003 was a milestone year for me. I finished my grueling rounds of surgery, Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy for breast cancer and I was turning 40 just as my hair was growing back to a spunky 2 cm long pixie haircut.

So the girlfriends and I celebrated by organising an (extra) long weekend to Melbourne, for a weekend of shopping, eating, drinking, partying, as you do.

One of the highlights was  the We Will Rock You Musical. You see, I am a Queen fan from wayyyy back.  The first single I owned as a teenager was Killer Queen, and the second was Bohemian Rhapsody. I was madly in love with Freddy Mercury and had scrapbooks full of cut outs of magazines with his face. I even owned some slightly obscure albums by Queen, like the score to the 1980 Flash Gordon movie.

So watching the We Will Rock You on my girly weekend was perfect: We knew all the songs. No one cared if we were a bit loud and sang along and stamped our feet and clapped to the intro of We Will Rock you. So much fun and it is something I will never forget.

 

Fast Forward 13 years.

I was invited to go along to see the new and fresh revival of We Will Rock You* and of course I was going to go! This time I took my daughter.

We Will Rock You is set in the future, when live music is banned on earth. Iplanet is ruled by Globalsoft, headed by Killer Queen (played by Casey Donovan). The kids are all brainwashed to like manufactured, synthesised pop music.

“It is the appropriation of the imagination of all kids”

Enter the rebellious Galileo Figaro (Gareth Keegan) and Scaramouche (Erin Clare) on a mission to make some sense of the lyrics that Galileo can hear in his dreams. They meet up with a bunch of kids who are fighting against the plastic music and are based in a deserted Hard Rock Café, and worship the left over musical relics left over from the past. Brian Mannix (Uncanny X-Men) features as one of the “Bohemians” fighting for REAL music, until together they find the Holy Grail Axe and defeat Globalsoft.

Interwoven in the storyline are 24 songs of the wonderful music by Queen. Some of my favourites were:

• Killer Queen (sung by Casey Donovan. That girl has a big, FANTASTIC voice and good stage presence!)
• Under Pressure
• You’re my Best friend
• Radio Gaga
• Bohemian Rhapsody was the thrilling encore.
• It’s a kind of Magic and so much more!

 

The costumes were fun, the sets were stunning,  the music was so wonderful, the cast harmonising was flawless. Some of the guitar solos were out of this world.

We Will Rock You was crowned the UK’s favourite show at the Olivier Awards 2011, the British Theatre’s answer to the Oscars The show has just had a run of over 3600 performances in the UK, with as many standing ovations! World wide over 16 MILLION tickets got sold!

The show has been updated with all the more current lingo and events, making it fresh and new.

I highly recommend seeing this show, especially if you like Queen music. Either see it with your girlfriends – like I did – and you will have a ball. Likewise, seeing it with your family is a great experience. I had a great time with my 18 year old, amazing how many songs these kids recognise, even though this music came out before they were born!

 

We Will Rock You has been developed by Queen and Ben Elton, and will have you singing along, swaying, clapping and laughing.

Like Molly Says, Do yourself a Favour and go watch. You will love it. I promise.

 

 

 

 

What is your favourite Queen Song? Would you go and see this show? (you should!!)

 

Anything marked with an asterisk* has been gifted for reviewing purposes, but all opinions are 100% honest and mine.

Til next time,