Review: We Will Rock You - The Jewish Chronicle

A brief history of We Will Rock You goes something like this: a band called Queen achieve legendary rock status and sell 300 million albums; a comedian called Ben Elton writes a musical incorporating their tunes; the show is almost universally panned by critics when it opens in the West End in 2002, but becomes an unstoppable hit with audiences worldwide. So is it any good? Well, yes, and no. It is undeniably a great spectacle. The songs are amazing, the performances, in this touring production, are awesome, the whole sound and vision experience breathtaking. Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor worked on the original production and Arlene Phillips took charge of the choreography. But does it amount to much more than an extravagantly produced evening with a tribute band, with a story attached? Elton has contrived - and I really do mean contrived - a plotline that goes way beyond absurd, with a futuristic love story, a battle between good and evil, and a plea for musical integrity. At first it seems to be an effective way of weaving the songs into the narrative, but it rapidly runs out of steam, its power exhausted by the stale jokes and strained dialogue. We are in a future century when music has been entirely computerised and instruments are banned. The menacing Globalsoft corporation dominates, headed by the outrageous tyrant Killer Queen (Tiffany Graves). Pitted against Killer Queen and her henchman Khashoggi (Earl Carpenter) are the Bohemian underdogs, a tiny band of rebels with a messianic zeal to let real music live again. They comically piece together ill-fitting fragments of a long-lost musical heritage - The Beatles, The Doors, Bob the Builder - in the hope that one day it can be revived. Then they chance upon a snatch of an old Queen video that gives them hope. Cue Radio Gaga as the cloned kids of the future dance to tunes downloaded directly into their brains. Cue I Want to Break Free as Galileo the dreamer (Noel Sullivan) feels the stirrings of a musical rebellion. Cue Somebody to Love as Scaramouche (Amanda Coutts) taunted by her peers, yearns for revolution. The pair team up to lead the struggle (cue several more Queen classics). The plot - good rebels versus bad corporation - resolves itself quite abruptly and slides, thankfully, into an electrifying finale of We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions, which I can only fault for its brevity. There is too much Ben Elton (although X Factor critics will perhaps appreciate his attack on bubble-gum pop), and not enough Queen. But the music and the staging is enough to make up for the ridiculous bits in between the songs. Manchester Palace Until January 15. www.manchesterpalace.org.uk