We Will Rock You (Sutton Coldfield Musical Youth Theatre)
If you are an aficionado of 'We Will Rock You' the Queen Musical, you might need to take a few moments to digest how this version has been specifically abridged and changed for Youth Groups, I am still not sure why Wembley Stadium needs to be changed to Graceland or the Heartbreak Hotel needs to become the Hard Rock Cafe but, fortunately it doesn't detract particularly from the core story and frankly anything that allows a cast (particularly one with this talent and enthusiasm) to belt out classic numbers from Mercury, May, Taylor and Deacon has to be a good thing.
So for those less familiar with this musical, we are in the future, on the iPlanet and 'rock music' has been banned, the only legal music is that created by the ruling authorities, known as GlobalSoft, that which could be described as Computer Recorded Autotuned Pop (work that one out for yourself).
An aging hippy and leader of 'The Bohemians' by the name of Buddy Holly and played with some intense characterisation and just the right amount of comedy and pathos by Oscar Ralley has managed to steal a tape (a video tape, you remember those things we had before DVDs) containing an extract from before 'the day the music died', the iconic section from Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' but, nobody really knows what this means and they are waiting for the man who will, somebody they call 'The Dreamer'.
Brit, a true rock'n'roll performance from Finlay Hutt and Oz, played by Ellie Summerfield (probably the voice of the night in a cast with more than its fair share of stunning vocals, watch out for her performance of 'No One But You', truly incredible) are out searching for supplies when they stumble across our hero and heroine.
Said hero/heroine are Galileo (or to give him the full name he likes to go by, Galileo Figaro) played in a laid back rather cool style by Nate Wallace hears voices in his head, screeching, thudding, banging noises that he doesn't understand and Scaramouche (a name provided by Galileo from a dream even though he has only just met her) performed with piercing wit and vocal power by Amelia Waldron (if you are looking for another highlight, her performance of 'Somebody To Love' is one to watch out for).
Is Galileo 'The Dreamer' I hear you cry ? Of course he is ! much to the disgust of Killer Queen (she who rules the iPlanet or at least she thinks she does) an imposing and powerful performance from Sienna Renshaw and her Chief of Police, Khashoggi a delightfully evil portrayal form Zephan Rowe (massive credit for his performance of 'Seven Seas of Rhye', that's a really difficult song to master).
I'd love to mention every member of this cast by name but, there are simply too many, however every one adds something to this production, particularly in the Bohemian Scenes (shout out to Suzanne Harris for managing such an extensive array of costumes).
I'll finish with a few words about the management team that don't appear on stage but, without whom this wouldn't have happened. Some big and incredibly well coordinated dance numbers that we can thank choreographer Maggie Jackson for, some inspired direction from Paul Lumsden, not least of all using 'Bohemian Rhapsody' to allow those members of the cast that didn't get a principal role to show-off their voices (proving that casting must have been difficult) and musical production of all those 'Queen Hits' from Chris Corcoran (I guess we would have all liked a 'Live Band' but, in these economically challenging times we can't have everything).
Don't let there be empty seats for the remaining performances of this one, I can only imagine the time and effort involved in bringing this to the stage. Enjoy some 'Live Theatre' and 'Queen Hits' it's the perfect mix !
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