We Will Rock You

WE WILL ROCK YOU is a jukebox musical by Queen and Ben Elton.     It has music and lyrics by Queen, story and script by Ben Elton and original vocal score by Brian May, Roger Taylor and Mike Dixon.  It's set in the future where original thought and individuality are banned.  It is a world without musical instruments. In this world there’s a group of rebels, The Bohemians including Galileo who has words and music in his dreams and Scaramouche, who captures his heart.    From the Star Wars style intro on a screen to the encore of Bohemian Rhapsody, the show is packed with timeless Queen classics.

Projected backdrops were used for most of the scenes including the wasteland, Wembley stadium, Globalsoft HQ, Killer Queen’s residence and Heartbreak Hotel.   The props wee amazing and included a Harley Davidson.  

The costumes were excellent with modern, futuristic outfits for the Teen Queens, Khashoggi and a selection of individuals styles for the Bohemians including basque and ripped tights for Oz, kilt for Britney, leather jacket and skinny jeans for Galileo, hippy style flares for Buddy and some easily recognisable pop star outfits including Boy George, Madonna, Tina Turner and Prince.

The lighting was amazing with a variety of colours and combinations used to enhance the action.    Bars of lights were used to frame the stage and many angles and coloured filters used as well as spotlights for solos.    The special effects were spectacular and included frighteningly realistic skeletons appearing on screen behind the victims of the brain draining scene and a giant game of ‘Space Invaders’ to accompany ‘Another One Bites The Dust’.

This was an electrifying show with superb performances from an outstanding cast.   The story – the Earth has been renamed the Iplanet and individual thought and creativity has been outlawed – is brought to life by an amazingly talented bunch of performers who gave their all throughout the show.  Leading the Bohemians, Dale Burrell, as Galileo, performed with confidence and charisma and was evenly matched by his fellow Bohemians: Grace Tinder (Scaramouche), Chloe Ballard as Oz, and Gaz Cottier as Brit was an audience favourite and full of life and humour.   Sally Manning as Killer Queen had an evil charismatic presence and powerhouse vocals.    Ian Mosely was sinister and commanding as the police chief, Khashoggi.    Richard Bond as the hippy librarian brought warmth and humour to this comedic role but also great emotion to his solo ‘These are the days of our lives’.   The subject of the show which is set in the future – the effect of globalisation and social manipulation where young people spend a lot of their time in a virtual world – is relevant today.   It has a serious message but is often hilarious as some dialogue is composed of song titles strung together in sentences and is full of puns and humorous asides.    Every aspect of this production was executed perfectly led by experienced Director and Choreographer, Jenny Sawyer.  The dance sequences were imaginative and performed with precision.    Simon Eastwood headed up the musicians and the music was incredible from all, particularly guitar solos from Daniel Bilbey.    The band accompanied the performers with their extraordinary interpretation of the Queen classics.     There was not one dull moment in this staggeringly enjoyable and hugely successful production from BATS.  It was so good, I went twice!

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