Well what can I say? "We Will Rock You" certainly delivered its title's promise. From start to finish, an over the top, spectacular performance that also delivered in its fantastical and funny plot line.
I arrived to meet Lee for a quick drink at a nearby public house in Tottenham Court Road before we made our way to the Dominion Theatre, handily placed right outside the tube station. Our seats were 4 rows from the front, an ideal place to sit because looking at it I think the front couple of rows may have caused an obscured view.
It was a packed house inside the theatre, a historical venue in London's west end. I had no idea what to expect having never been to a musical before but I was very pleasantly surprised.
The story is set years in the future as all rock music and musical instruments are banned and the charts are made up soley by boy and girl bands. The evil Killer Queen (Mazz Murray) leads the world of robots and Ga-Ga-girls (basically air headed, cheerleader type characters) in the right against any form of rock music.
Step forward the aptly named Galileo Figuro (Peter Johansson) and Scaramouche (an awesome perfoarmance from Jenna Lee James). Galileo and Scaramouche lead a group called the Bohemiams in the fight back against the all pop, robotic world and set out to rediscover the time of rock bands, a time they call the Rhapsody. The journey leads them through the seven seas of Rhye up to the ruins of Wembley Stadium where the answers to the Bohemiams' questions are answered in a spectacular finale involving all of the characters from the story.
Overall, an absolute rock fest. The production included a giant screen at the back of the stage where characters and places popped up to take the story on while the raised platform at the front of the stage revolved over the top of the audience for a couple of songs which looked amazing.
You don't realise how incredible these performers' voices are until you witness something like this live and the world depicted in the story is a sure mockery of today's culture of downloads and manufactured "bands".
The stand out performance for me was Jenna Lee James as the sarcastic Scaramouch character though every single performance was spot on. Peter Johansson and James have a superb chemistry on stage and it makes their sub plot of a love story that bit more believable.
Incredible show overall, definately recommended to anyone, even non Queen fans will love it, only slightly dampened by the moaning woman next to me who was critical of everything that happened!
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