We will Rock You

This evening’s entertainment opened with “Let’s Rock!”, a varied collection of songs from the days of Rock, all handled so well by a group of youngsters, who were probably not born when the songs were released! This preamble to the main show gave the opportunity to showcase voices which we didn’t have the opportunity of hearing solo in We Will Rock You. However, in no way did this mean that they were in any shape or form weaker than the principals in WWRY. If I mention one or two of the numbers in Let’s Rock, it is simply because they happen to be favourites of mine from years past! Cameron Fleming together with his backing group and dancers presented a fine rendition of The Who’s “Pinball Wizard”. Later, Leigh Macdonald and her backing group did excellent justice to Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. Ellis Brannan, again with a backing group and dancers made the most of “Hot Patootie” from The Rocky Horror Show - a pleasure seeing and hearing one of the lesser performed numbers from the show! These songs are mentioned simply because to me they evoke memories from years ago – I’m sure each person in the audience tonight had their own favourites from their earlier years – I know the group behind us were in fine voice belting out the lyrics of many of the numbers! Congratulations to all who performed in “Let’s Rock” – a fine curtain raiser to “We Will Rock You”!

“We Will Rock You young@part” has been adapted for youth theatre from the West End hit “We Will Rock You”, based around the music of rock group Queen, with book by Ben Elton. The show is set 300 years in the future, where music and musical instruments are banned, meaning the inhabitants are only aware of computer-generated music and have no knowledge of the rock scene and its many heroes.

Galileo was superbly played by Dean Gray. Dean had just the right amount of charisma and humour to portray this role. Galileo’s love interest, Scaramouche, was played by Evie Clark. Evie offered a lovely effortless voice, which was used to great effect throughout.

Ava Clark and Kieran Burnett were suitably evil as the Killer Queen and her minion Khashoggi, with both displaying excellent singing and acting abilities. Brit and Oz (Ryan Guthrie and Hannah Kelly) were well cast, and brought out several of the more light-hearted moments, while consistently supplying first class vocals. Minor principal, Buddy, was well sung and well acted by Kieran Taylor. The LYAMC Chorus must be congratulated on their singing and on their movement, none less so than in the Finale when all let their hair down, and, boy, did they enjoy it! (So did the audience!!)

Sound was well balanced and, using backing tracks in lieu of an orchestra allowed easier balance of the vocals vs. music – I can’t remember any number in which the vocals disappeared behind the backing tracks.

Lighting was in the safe hands of Scott Davidson, always remembering to let us see the actors’ faces then adding effects, rather than attempting the other way round (which is more than I can say about a professional show which I attended the day before – my lips are sealed!)

All in all, a well-rehearsed and competent performance. Compliments to the Director, Malcy J Burnett, who, apart from being Company President, also undertook the roles of Technical Director, Sound Designer and Sound Operator – multitasking! Praise too, to Carole Gibson, Musical Director, for keeping a tight grip on everything musical, from backing tracks to vocals – all superbly controlled. Last but definitely not least, choreographer Amanda McNally displayed eminent skills in making fine visual creations with nearly sixty of a cast within the confines of the Churchhill Theatre stage!

Many congratulations to LYAMC on a well performed show!

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