AMATEUR THEATRE REVIEW: We Will Rock You - The Lyceum Theatre, Crewe.

For three performances only, the talented young people of  'Curtain Call' - an amateur musical theatre society based in Crewe - presented the "young@part" version of the Queen musical, 'We Will Rock You'.

A "young@part" score is a shortened and edited version of the full musical, making it suitable for youth groups to perform. One of the prerequisites of performing this verison is that no performer be older then 18 years. I have not come across Curtain Call Productions before, and so had no yardstick upon which to judge them by; however, if I am ever to see another of their productions, they have set the bar extremely high!

The story is the same as the adult jukebox show (more or less); but simplified (and modernised) a little, and tells the story of a dystopian future earth where the population is conditioned and controlled to such an extent that they all wear the same clothes, behave the same way, and even all think the same thoughts. It is a future where individuality, freedom, expression, and God forbid rock music, are all outlawed. However, as in all such scenarios, there is a healthy band of renegades and outlaws - the underdogs - who always fight the tyranny and win the day. In this case the renegades come in the form of Galileo Figaro (Gavin Adams), a dreamer whose visions are all music references and allusions to Queen songs, and a Goth girl who becomes known as Scaramouche. After being thrown in prison and escaping, they are taken by the outlaws to The Hard Rock Cafe and find many others of their kind there, all named after pop and rock stars. They hail Galileo as The Dreamer - the chosen one - the one who will lead them and bring back rock music. Of course the two fall in love (this is musical theatre!), and of course the oppressors fight them and momentarily gain the advantage. But without wanting to give you any spoilers, all ends happily ever after...! Ben Elton is unlikely to win any literature prize for the writing of this book.

Gavin Adams's portrayal of Galileo was sympathetic and sincere, was able to hold the audience well, and worked well with co-protagonist Prinny Robertson playing Scaramouche, who exuded 'Goth' like it was going out of fashion. Thier duets together were lovely, creating some truly beautiful harmonies. Co-stars Britney Spears (Eddie Thomlinson-Cliffe) and Oz (Jessica Davidson) making a believable and dynamically different couple, upping the energy levels on their entrances. Again, they had a good command of their respective characters but I especially enjoyed Davidson's vocalisations - her trained belt voice giving depth and colour to some rather bland passages and lyrics. "No-One But You" was spine-tingling good. 

The baddies were headed by Harry Grigg in full drag as Killer Queen, mincing around the stage as if he were born for this, clearly enjoying every single moment. But the biggest surprise was just exactly how lithe and agile he was too, performing the splits and high kicks with ease. Second-in-command was a po-faced traditional baddie Kashoggi (Phoebe Robinson), dressed from head to toe in black leather. Her unflinching and unsmiling style worked nicely against the emotions and vibrant characters all around her. 

A large and adept ensemble played both minions of the corporation and the band of outlaws with equal zeal, with lovely harmony singing and perfectly exectued and apt choreography. I enjoyed watching as some of the chorus even had developed their own personalities and charater quirks too, and this was a lovely touch. 

It was clear that director and choreographer Joel Montague had a solid understanding of the cast and their respective talents, making full use of everything he had available to him. Costuming was excellent, but sometimes the lighting used was not sufficient. Especially on the first platform stage right, and sometimes on the high walkway across the rear of the stage, principal performers were left in darkness. The set design was not particularly optimal I didn't find. It consisted of a static series of metal rostra and steps; but sadly, since the show had some rather short scenes which changed locations quickly and often, the locations were not signalled or signposted clearly enough at times, meaning we had to play catch-up on guessing the location or waiting for it to be spoken by the cast. 

There were a couple of occasions where dialogue was muffled - expecially at the very start of the show, and during act 2, a few places where the music cues were too slow. However, those are truly minor condsiderations overall. The only other suggestion I would make is that Killer Quuen allows more time at the end for Galileo to change into his Freddie Mercury costume... and also, if he comes back on stage as Mercury, then why don't Scaramouche, Britney and Oz all come on for the final song as May, Deacon and Taylor?

However, that notwithstanding, this was a thoroughly proficient, professionally produced, and highly enjoyable production, and all involved should quite rightly be extremely pleased and proud. 

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 4.3.22