Scaramouche, Scaramouche, Will you do the fandango?

[Darren]

"Are you trying to get into my pants!?"

I saw We Will Rock You last night, and believe me, it's breathtaking. Queen are one of those bands whose music I have often found exciting, yet have somehow never bought a single album. I think that may change now.

Ostensibly a musical, but with an obvious strong concert vibe, WWRY wraps Queens songs around Ben Elton's script of a distant future where music is programmed and manufactured ("It all started with a phenomena called Pop Idol"), and musical instruments are banned. All people listen to the same music, wear the same clothes, and dance the same dance with no indiviuality. Except for the Bohemians, who hide underground searching for the one who can find Rock and Roll. Step forward Galileo Figaro, a man who has strange dreams....

The show is a pounding, ear splitting, visually amazing experience. Ben Elton's humour usually doesn't appeal to me, but his script is sharp, fast and very, very funny. The energy of the performers is almost matched by that of the audience, which last night contained a healthy number of hardcore Queen fans. Audience Participation is a requirement. You can't escape, and will be clapping and throwing your arms in the air with abandon during the songs and laughing at the jokes and maybe cheering some improvisation; "Bless you!" said Peter Johansson's Galileo, to an audience member who sneezed loudly during an ironically quiet moment.

There were four cutain calls and a well deserved standing ovation at the end.

We Will Rock You. Yep, they did! :wayne

[Si Hunt]

Hurrah! Buy "Innuendo" and the triple-set Greatest Hits which is 12 (astonishing value) in most places and which has rarely been out the charts in the last five years.

Si.

[Darren]

It's in my Amazon basket already (10.97), along with the 2 disc 1986 Wembley concert (8.98) and WWRY soundtrack (7.98).

I wanna see it again already!

[Darren]

I saw the show again on Saturday. The Greatest Hits has been thumping out of my speakers and I couldn't resist. I love the guitars and drums wrapped around the poignant lyrics. So many great tunes.

[Si Hunt]

Get "Made In Heaven" as well, it should be a fiver somewhere.

Si.

[SiHart]

I didn't think much of the play to be honest, but I agree the music was really fantastic.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

As was the company eh?

Si.

[SiHart]

Oh yes, the company couldn't faulted!

Si xx

[Kaybee Bailey]

OK, so I love musical theatre, I love Ben Elton in satirical mode and I love Queen, so I suppose what I'll have to say won't come as a surprise. The show is fun, it's like a concert, there's a lot of changes made to lines and ideas to make it fresh. But actually, the reason this is among my favourite musicals, mostly because each cast has been special. Some of the people they've had performing; Nigel Planer, Kerry Ellis, Sharon Clarke, MiG Ayesa, Hannah Jane Fox, Mazz Murray, Clive Carter, Peter Johansson, they're all consistently strong in whatever show they're doing... Ayesa looks like he could make it in the US after coming third in Rock Star: INXS. The show has a great reputation for ad-libbing and improvisation and that's the best part.