We Will Rock You

Jukebox Musicals have become a bit of a trend these days and I guess they are a bit like marmite, you love them or hate them. Well if you combine the iconic catalogue of Queen with the creative skills and talent of Crash Bang Wallop Youth Theatre one thing is guaranteed, an absolute belter of a production. From the 1st chord to the final bow the whole of the Forum felt electric, everyone around me totally engrossed and witnessing some serious talent in front of them.

Director/Producer Dan Brookes alongside Emma Greenhalgh and Chloe Richardson created a visually and exciting production. The set was genius with a huge scrapyard backwall surrounding 5 large digital screens that would jump from video clips to live videos in a flash. The Urban junkyard theme continued right around the orchestra pit bringing the audience into the story. Huge props brought the scenes to life from full size hospital beds, motorbikes and carts and crates allowing different levels to the stage. Costumes were perfectly authentic with stylish and edgy rock outfits contrasting with the beautiful white branded Gaga doll like styling. Alongside some amazing lighting, great special effects and audio the staging was of a professional standard. 

With a Queen musical the music needs to be extremely tight and Musical Director Alice Carr-Smith ensured the musical quality on stage was exceptional. Alan Owens conducted the performance, his 5 piece band ensuring the accompanying music was also excellent. The whole band were tight and didn’t once upstage the vocalists with sound levels well balanced. Ps who needs Brian May when you have Chad Barrigan rocking it out in Bohemian Rhapsody!

So a brief outline of the “story”. Set in the future, live music and performing has been banned and is not even a memory to our characters. Fighting against the establishment and their evil ruler, a brave band of Bohemians fight to find a sound that once allowed freedom and creativity. Sounds weird? Well it is but in a strange way does it not mirror our society? All we as performers want is to drag people away from screens and digital devices and watch us perform! I am trying to find some depth to the story but to be honest there isn’t much but that did not stop this talented cast from finding depth to their characters and delivering truly believable performances.

Now with just 7 main characters in the show a lot of the main work and movement had to come from the huge ensemble who were all having an absolute blast on stage. Many had extra cameo roles as part of the Gagas, Teen Queens and Bohemians and I loved these bohemian characters all being named after Music Icons. Daisy Gibson as Tina, Henry Jinks as Lady Gaga really shone for me whilst Sophie Hilton as Teacher of the Teen Queens and leader of the Gaga dance numbers really stood out.

This massive ensemble not only sounded amazing but they really delivered on the excellent choreography from Emma Greenhalgh and Chloe Richardson. This was some of the most effective choreo I have seen in quite some time with each large number not just being a routine but tightly linked to the song and the theme. From the 1st number, Radio Gaga, with the digitally brainwashed Gaga’s the style had a robotic and almost metronome style to it. Each number, albeit with different moves performed by this section of the ensemble, had a similar style and it really packed a punch. Contrast this with the more freestyle and wild movement in numbers like Crazy Little Thing Called Love where the Bohemians let their hair down and you could really see the detail that Emma and Chloe had put into these pieces.

It is weird to think that none of these principal leads were born when Queen was at its peak, in fact some of their parents may not have been born when Bohemian Rhapsody hit number one in 1975. Yet despite this, the 7 main roles not only understood the complexity of the Queen music, they embraced it and then made it their own with real style and impact.

Playing 3 of our wild and rebellious Bohemians were the wonderful Emily Thorpe as Pop, Maya Parker as Meat and Becca Walker as Brit. Maya and Becca absolutely burst onto the stage full of life and character, their characterisation of two free spirits a joy to watch and the energy levels were on fire. Both showed a real passion to their lead vocals with their duet I Want It All really well delivered. Becca really delivered some power and class to the piece. Maya got to show another side with a beautifully sensitive No One But You which not only heightened the tension in the story but was a lovely tribute to Musical legends of the past.

Emily Thorpe as Pop has brilliant stage presence for a young actress, not only having perfect comic timing in her delivery, managing an array of innuendos without them being tacky but also seemed to be able to control the pace of every scene. Just when I thought this was just a great comic actress she also then popped up with a lovely heartfelt solo in These Are The Days of Our Lives showing how good an all round performer this young lady is.

Now obviously not everyone is keen on bringing down the Empire and allowing music and creativity to thrive and in our wicked Queen, or should I say Killer Queen, we had the wonderful Georgie Goldsbrough. An actress delivering wicked style, excellent sass and an amazing powerhouse of a voice. Leading some seriously big, and very tricky numbers, including Don’t Stop me Now, A Kind of Magic and Killer Queen brings its own sort of pressure yet Georgie did an amazing job. Her presence on stage was commanding, fitting her ruler character and she bounced off her commander Khashoggi in superb fashion.

Arthur Wilson, as Kahshoggi, was the coolest yet wackiest character on stage. Leather jacket clad with excellent 80’s techno style shades he was certainly the fashion icon of the show. His stylisation of his role was wonderfully crafted, the vocal rollercoaster of line delivery really clever and his physical movement perfect for this wacky character.

The story, and production is very much based around our two main leads, Galileo, a lost soul battling with dreams and visions not realising he is the chosen one to find Music and Scary Bush… sorry I mean Scaramouche. The casting of these two important leads was perfect not only for the individual roles but also for the chemistry they created on stage.

Cerys Hughes as Scaramouche was absolutely sensational in this role. Her vocals are an absolute masterclass in delivering a rock style whilst maintaining a character. Her range was through the Forum roof with control and power whilst realising the importance of adding light and shade to the songs. Having seen Cerys before I knew she had a beautiful voice but this edge was something very new. I also felt she truly understood her character and the different layers to her role. Her irony had an edge, her humour sharp and her bite certainly packed a punch. The facial expressions were so clever whilst she really embraced the feminist and insecure side to the role too.

The contrast to this feisty side of Cerys was perfectly matched with her eventual love interest of Galileo, played excellently by Amos Lane. Although his own character, there are so many mirror reflections of Freddie Mercury in the role. Amos captured the vulnerability of the part perfectly, naive and but wet behind the ears at times, his eccentric behaviour and upbeat personality really shone through. Heavily involved in many huge numbers Amos really delivered, switching from soft vocals to powerful rock he really delivered on the role.

Whilst these two both understood their individual roles it was the chemistry that truly made the characters work. The arguments as a new couple, the comedy from Cerys (you even kept your socks on) and the duets just made it all work. If at any point you didn’t believe the connection then Who Wants To Live Forever changed that in a flash, the choreography including some beautiful lifts just brought them together as one.

A huge well done to everyone involved with the whole production, as a huge Queen fan (am I the only person who spotted the name Adam Lambert as follow spot, IYKYK!) I really didn’t know what to expect but the creativity, detail and performances were as wild and eccentric as the legend Freddie would have wanted himself. Again CBW you have shown your ability to tackle a completely different genre and I can’t wait to see what you have up your sleeve next.

 

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