Remember way back in 2019 when we hadn't even heard of Covid-19? Well we had a press release telling us the Queen and Ben Elton’s smash hit musical' We Will Rock You' was touring in May 2020 with a new cast and new state-of -the-art production. Very exciting news and I immediately made a note in my diary but due to reasons beyond anyone's control it didn't happen and was postponed to 2022.
However, last night we were very excited to be at The Regent Theatre for opening night. The Musical is based on songs of Queen set 300 years in the future in a globally corporate world, Globalsoft
run by Killer Queen has banned all non computer generated music. A group of Bohemians have been searching for lost instruments and must evade
the Killer Queen to bring back the music. The storyline was easy to follow and some lyrics were changed in the well known songs to make them relevant to the story. They even managed a line about Covid to bring it right up to the modern day.
There were so many exceptional performances but Killer Queen (Jenny O'Leary) was magnificent, her sidekick Khashoggi (Adam Strong) added comedy to the duo too.
The 2 main characters Scaramouche and Galileo were played by Understudies Anna Davey and Damien Walsh but were both phenomenal with a great connection.
The Bohemians, Cliff (Michael McKell) Brit (David Michael Johnson) and Meat (Martina Ciabatti Mennell) added power to the already strong cast and lots of hilarity too. The whole ensemble added entertainment with their cheesy smiley faces as the Ga Ga's and fantastic dancing.
The musicians were outstanding and we caught glimpses of them when the graphics allowed us, they got big cheers from the packed-out audience.
It was lovely to forget about what is going on the world and immerse yourself into the music, the laughter and emotion. There was lots of clapping and toe-tapping, but no singing along until the end. A pre-recorded message from Ben Elton was played at the beginning telling us not to sing along, very hard when we are all Queen fans, but we did get to join in with Bohemian Rhapsody at the end though!
For any Queen fans, this show is a must, you will get to hear all of your favourite songs. It is on at the beautiful Regent Theatre until Saturday 12th March.
https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/we-will-rock-you/regent-theatre/
