Yesterday after work, I trekked to Tottenham Court Road, armed with my snot-fighting pack (yes that's right, I have a cold, as if I don't harp on about it enough). I met my parents and my sister who came up by coach, and we went for a lovely meal at St Giles' Hotel, and then back round to the Dominion Theatre at the edge of Tottenham Court Road. The theatre can't be missed, tis got a giant Freddie Mercury Gold Statue above the door, with a screen behind with 'We Will Rock You' in Orange. I DARE you to miss it.
Inside the theatre is like many of the others, it's red and sumptuous looking, with a highly decorated ceiling. The good thing is, it ain't that big, so you will always be able to see the stage, wherever seated. We lucky in getting seats in the upper circle, row A, so plenty of leg room. I am a tall girl, and my dad is even taller, we've been to performances with no leg room at all, feeling like we were about to fall off and plummet to our deaths. (I did however nearly fall off the balcony last night, but that was in a Haagen-Dazs induced frenzy.)
The plot goes something like this: It is the year 2305, and music has been banned from planet Mall (formerly known as Earth)-globalisation has thoroughly taken over and individual thought is a thing of the past. Music and musical instruments have been banned. The evil Killer Queen has seen to that (do you see what they did there?), and all the kids are now living in GaGa world, same food, same shopping, same clothes, same music (digitally created), and same movies. There are some deviants in their wake though. One young lad who calls himself Galileo Figaro, who dreams about loud noises with rhyming words, immediately dismissed as insane. And then there's a strange gothic type creature of a girl, who refuses to conform like the others. The two are captured by Killer Queen's Cronies, but manage to escape. 'Galileo', or Gazza, christens the girl as Scaramouche. And of course, during their travels to find the music, a love story blossoms, which is fairly entertaining. On their travels they come across the Bohemians, who are a group of 'delinquents', also looking for the music. They have all named themselves after musical idols, based on the remnants of the past they have discovered, which are all misplaced, because they just don't know the meaning. The big black male leader of the pack calls himself Britney Spears, and his girlfriend is Meatloaf. There's a Welsh Paul McCartney and a PVC-clad Charlotte Church (which, actually is quite accurate come to think of it).
So will they outsmart the Killer Queen and her band of clones, or will they be brainwashed like the others. Well, I am not telling you, that's the ending, you'll have to go and have a ganders yourself.
My Thoughts: The costumes were great. With the science fiction type vibe there was much white and silver, and the bohemians, were clad in very bizarre mish-mashes of what they thought to be what the music-makers wore. There were corsets and fishnets and kilts galore. Killer Queen had some great costumes, very bondage. The special effects were great too, with screens behind the perfectly choreographed backing dancers with some great technical displays. There is also some encouragement of audience participation, which is good for kids (I sure loved it), and I think as a whole, the show is suitable for kids, although there are a few hints of innuendo in places.
It also never ceases to amaze me how these theatre peeps can make such fantastic sets using such a small blank area. The Tottenham Court Road and Wembley Backgrounds were great, and the use of the screens really made the performance.
The show was undoubtedly a tribute to Queen, and I believe that the cast really did them justice with the 30-odd songs, including We Are The Champions, Fat Bottomed Girls, Radio Ga Ga, Under Pressure and of course Bohemian Rhapsody. The story wasn't fantastically constructed; it was basically there to fit around the songs, which in some places were all shoved together a little too crudely. There were some great one-liners, particularly from the actress playing Scaramouche, who adopted a sort of floppy Little Mo Slater type persona, but with added sarcasm. The actor playing Galileo was a bit of a pretty boy, but he played the part well, cheesy American accent intact.
Being a lover of musicals, and Ben Elton, I loved it, but others with amore critical eye may not. As I said, the story was weak in places, and seemed to just be there to fit around the ditties and jokes- but that's what Mr Elton does best, and writing the show with Queen didn't exactly hinder his chances of making this show the success that it is today. I do know people though who waled out halfway through the performance as it wasn't the Queen tribute they were expecting. I think you need to go into it with open eyes, as realise it is a fairly sci-fi jobby.
Extra Information: Tottenham Court Road is on The Northern Line, and Central Line, next to Oxford Circus. Being located near Caring Cross Road and Soho, there are plenty of dining opportunities for a pre-show bite.
We bought our tickets through Kent County Council (mum works so gets discounts), they were £25 each with the coach from Ashford thrown in. Tickets for tonight's performances are according to ticketmaster.co.uk are from £13.50 to £49.
I would advise buying drinks and snacks beforehand, i.e. not in the theatre. I paid £3 for a tub of ice cream and £1.50 for a Sprite. There is also a lot of merchandise available, including T-shirts and sticks of rock, together with the Queen DVD and the soundtrack of the show. I would advise clutching onto the purse strings as Amazon or eBay will charge far less. We didn't get a programme, because Daddy's just too darn stingy, and unfortunately I cannot find current cast details online, not in full anyway, but rifling around had taught me that Swedish-born Peter Johansson plays Galileo, and Hannah Jane Fox plays Scaramouche. Sorry for lack of information here, blame my dad.
Ticketmaster UK: 0870 169 0116 Running time is approx 3 hours with interval of 15 minutes. Author: Ben Elton and Queen; Director: Christopher Renshaw; Producer: A Phil McIntyre/Queen/Tribeca production; Designer: Mark Fisher & Willie Williams; Choreographer: Arlene Phillips; Costume Designer: Tim Goodchild; Sound: Bobby Aitken
I say seeing a show like this for christmas is a fantastic alternative to a naff panto anyday!
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