We Will Rock You young@part

Inspired by and featuring the songs of Queen, I had not seen this new version of We Will Rock You… before, which proved to be an excellent choice for KODYS. Song keys are changed where needed, songs and scenes are edited for time and content, while keeping the spirit of the original West End show intact. Featuring chart-topping Queen songs including “Killer Queen,” “We Will Rock You,” “Somebody to Love,” and many more, this adaptation of the West End show follows two young rebels as they restore rock ‘n’ roll to “the iPlanet” in a post-apocalyptic world when real musical instruments had disappeared!

Dan Richards, who led from the front as Galileo Figaro a dreamer, had fantastic presence and a powerful voice to match fulfilling all his musical numbers well Including “I Want to Break Free”. He and Scaramouche played with great strength by Niamh Hawkes, sang several strong numbers together including “Under Pressure” and particularly “Who Wants to Live Forever”, bouncing off each other well.

The villain of the piece, Killer Queen is also strongly played by Jasmine Tooley and excelled with “Another One Bites the Dust”. The Killer Queen’s second in command is Khashoggi, a smooth and ruthless operator, played well by Harry Cartwright – loved the cool glasses! Other strong support was provided by Lois Stevens (Oz), Aoife Hadley (Brit) and with great expression Mason Howell (Buddy).

The venue for this performance was St. George’s Church, which had been cleverly adapted to create a raised stage area with two main entrances facing the audience, and a screen in between, on to which a number of suitable projections were displayed throughout the performance. The large church space created some acoustic challenges which all coped with well.

The ensemble was divided between the Ga Ga Kids or the Bohemians and the whole cast wore distinctive costumes and make-up. The majority of the music was via backing tracks with some underscored accompaniment which worked well and added atmosphere, all rounded off with a rousing version of “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Congratulations to all involved.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.