AN EXCELLENT SHOW, BUT NOT A TOO WORTHY CAST RECORDING
Marijan Bosnar | Croatia | 08/15/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"`We will rock you' follows the suit Abba successfully made in the past with their musical `Mamma Mia': putting excellent household-known songs on stage in the form of a musical. There is no need to ramble too much over the meaning, impact and place the English rock band `Queen' and their lead singer Freddie Mercury have in the history of modern music: millions of sold records, an everlasting fan base and hit songs ranging from `Bohemian Rhapsody' to `Those were the days of our lives' are enough to mention.
Two out of three original surviving members of the band, Brian May and Roger Taylor teamed up with a well know English writer and comedian Ben Elton and Robert DeNiro himself as a producer to transfer `Queen's' hits to the stage in form of a story. The result is an entertaining and vivid 3-hour show called `We will rock you'. After its premiere in London's Dominion theatre, it has been filling the seats of this huge place (one might even consider it as a concert hall) night after night and the show was successfully transferred to Spain, Las Vegas, Russia, Germany and Japan.
Ben Elton wrote an interesting futuristic story. The action takes place 300 years in the future. The completely globalized world is run by a cyberspace company called `Globalsoft' presided by The Killer Queen. All the musical instruments and music composing, apart from the one created by the computer programs are banned. A group of young rebels oppose such state and led by a young Galileo Figaro and his girl Scaramouche try to find the instruments and introduce to the world the sound of rock and roll that has been long gone from everyone's mind. This may sound as a trashy plot, but it works surprisingly well on the stage. The actions of the main characters are told through numerous `Queen' hit songs: `Killer Queen', `I want to break free', `Who wants to live forever', `A kind of magic', `Another one bites the dust', `Radio Ga Ga' and `Bohemian Rhapsody' to name just a few. Apart from that, Ben Elton wrote the additional dialogue to further explain the story and for this he has come up with some of his most funny lines. The theatre audience kept bursting into giggling during the performance I attended, whether it's about the mentioning Brittney Spears, Victoria Beckham or Lord of the rings.
This cast recording featuring the original cast members was recorded live during one of the performances at Dominion Theatre. And even though it includes all the main musical numbers and somewhat evokes the great atmosphere of this show, it does not satisfy completely. The main problem stems from the fact its singers do not have the top vocal power this kind of music simply must have. Tony Vincent, who plays Galileo here, is not a bad vocalist, but here he is too thin, and almost unnoticeable, very much unlike the current Galileo in London, the Swedish-born Peter Johansson. Vincent also makes a habit of singing with a deliberate and rather annoying echo in his voice. Sharon D Clarke's Killer Queen is only a slight improvement, yet miles away from Mazz Murray's freezing vocals in the current cast. Hannah Jane Fox makes a very good Scaramuche, one must admit. One of the unwritten rules of the musical theatre has been that inappropriate (or shall we say for this occasion, a rather average) casting can hurt and ruin the best of materials (if you want the best of examples, try the 1994 LA recording of Andrew Lloyd Webber's `Sunset Boulevard' with Glenn Close singing the lead). This recording alas confirms that fact.
But if one can put aside all that, what you do get on this CD is a very good instrumental rendition of `Queen's' greatest hits delivered by a disappointing cast. It would be interesting to hear this material with different people singing the roles. The CD comes with the production photos, cast and creative time listings, but with no lyrics or a synopsis. `Queen' aficionados will note some minor lyrical changes made to fit the plot.
The show is a miracle to see and hear live on stage and the experience will stay with you for a long time. In the end, however, it deserves a much better recording if it wishes to match it.
"
Track Listings (24) - Disc #1