My Day in Manchester (featuring 'We Will Rock You') | ryuuzaki's Blog

So *ahem* seriously this time.  What kind of reviewer would I be if I did not give my opinions on We Will Rock You?

Yesterday's adventure to Manchester came courteousy of a trip with the women that my mother works with.  We spent a few hours shopping in the Arndale Centre (reasonably fruitful.  I managed to acquire a Trauma Centre game for my DS, as well as a nice hard-backed copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula).  Then, some of the women decided to spend a few more hours shopping, while the rest of us went to watch the Queen musical, We Will Rock You.  And, despite the criticisms that the show has received, I must say that it was awesome!

Story-wise, you're thinking The Yellow Submarine meets 1984.  The whole thing is set some three-hundred years in the future, when all music that is not electronically generated has been banned (for some unknown reason).  The Globalsoft Corporation, run by the Killer Queen, therefore decides on what everyone on Planet Mall should listen to, and thus the youth of today are all (basically) clones of one-another.  Globalsoft's police force, led by Commander Khashoggi, quell any rebellions against this order by capturing the rebel 'Bohemians' and brain-draining them, before sending them to the Seven Seas of Rhye.

But things have begun to change.  A rebel named Galileo Figaro has risen up and with the grudging help of his female friend, Scaramouche, he intends to follow the ancient prophecy left by the great warriors (Queen - specifically Freddie Mercury) and bring live music back to Planet Mall.

See what I mean.  It's so very, very cheesy.  So cheesy, in fact, that it's awesome.

Although it's hard to tell from my crude synopsis, the show was very funny.  If you go and see it though, don't expect rapier wit.  The humor was very low-brow with sexual innuendo's abounding.  This isn't a bad thing, but if you're not into that kind of thing then avoid.

As We Will Rock You is what one would call a 'Jukebox Musical' as well, there are no original songs in the musical score.  This is to Queen what Mamma Mia! is to Abba.  Once again, therefore, if you don't like Queen's music then you won't enjoy the musical.  Fortunately, I've been a Queen fan for my entire life so I was really in my element.  Although I'm not a huge fan of musical theatre in general, this I liked!

For your information, here's the tracklist:  Radio Gaga, I want to break free, Somebody to love, Killer Queen, Play the game, Under pressure, A kind of magic, I want it all, Headlong, No-one but you (only the good die young), Crazy little thing called love, One vision, Who wants to live forever, Flash, Seven Seas of Rhye, Fat bottomed girls, Don't stop me now, Another one bites the dust, Hammer to fall, These are the days of our lives, We will rock you, We are the champions, Bohemian Rhapsody.

Although some of the links into songs were quite...random to say the least (specifically One vision and Seven Seas of Rhye) and the lyrics for others were changed in places due to nature of the person singing them (Fat bottomed girls was sung by a woman, thus was altered to avoid lesbianism...) it was fairly awesome to watch a musical that was solely based around the titles of Queen's greatest hits.

Oh yeah, and Brian May played the guitar solo in Bohemian Rhapsody.  I think I may have mentioned that yesterday...