THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Any modern musical would kill to have even a third of the great songs you find in this mother of all jukebox shows. It was always going to be a hit because it features two dozen of Queen's fantastically theatrical songs. The other thing which this show, back for a 12-week run, has got right, is that it always engages top class singers. The leads here are all vocally brilliant... and then there's Ben Elton...
Elton, never known to hide his light, both directs and stars in this high-profile revival. He plays Pop the Rebel Leader, channeling his old pal Nigel Planer's hippie act. The latter created the part. Elton's joined by TV star and West End legend Brenda Edwards, returning to the killer role of Killer Queen. Lee Mead is another audience favorite, who it appears has grown up on stage, so how has taken to playing the Baddie? They are supported, if that's the word, by two young leads who both steal the show - Ian McIntosh as Galileo Figaro (yes, you're singing it aren't you) and Elena Skye as the droll Scaramouche.
Since it first opened at the Dominion in 2002, where it ran 12 years, the show has been seen by an amazing 20 million people across 28 countries. Those stats prove it is more than just a cult show - those generally run out of audience. Instead, this entertainment juggernaut touches audiences, both hardened fans and casual theater goers who just love the songs. On opening night, the fans were out in force, many in costume, all waiving their raised arms in unison, move perfect and word perfect. It resembled a particularly noisy revivalist Church.
When it opened it was of course totally thrashed by critics, and a lot of that dissing was nastily class based, but it proved critic proof and it is a joy to behold the incredible passion it evokes among its fans. The staging may be simple, the designs functional (albeit with rock stadium lighting), the choreography perfunctory MTV-style, but the piece has heart, and key to it is how the leads get that passion across in the music.
Vocally McIntosh is astonishing, he moves with a dancer's grace and brings a geeky boy next door quality to the part of the Dreamer, a lad who spouts forgotten rock lyrics as if he's got Tourette's. Skye matches him vocally and brings a sassy Spice Girl vibe to her part.
The threadbare plot on which the songs are hung is set in a sci-fi future where all music is strictly controlled by the 'Global Soft' corporation led by the Killer Queen. This gives Ben Elton, now in 'Annoying Dad' mode as the leader of the Bohemians, the chance to chastise the youth for being locked inside their phones instead of making great live music like they did in the old days. The joke of course is that they don't know what the old days were actually like, and so they desperately try to piece it together from fragments of pop culture which have survived the apocalypse. It's a curiously reactionary framing for a piece which celebrates youthful rebellion.
While Elton has added new gags, the book, always the weakest element, hasn't improved. Every gag is a recycled ancient rock lyric and the lead up to the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' finale is painfully telegraphed throughout. But no matter, the audience are there for the songs and to immerse themselves in this rousing escapist fantasy and they don't leave disappointed.
