Review: "Electrifying Queen musical is one of Rugby Theatre’s greatest hits"

The kids of today might struggle to believe that the few years before Live Aid were not all plain sailing for Queen - check out reviews of the Hot Space album, for example - so when they took to the stage at Wembley Stadium in the summer of 1985, no one was quite sure what would happen next.

The rest, of course, is history as their performance that day sent their record sales soaring and the certainty of an enduring legacy that eventually led to We Will Rock You, the musical.

Just as ABBA went from fading out to bouncing back with unquestionable legend status and their own musical in the shape of Mamma Mia! - so a string of Queen’s hits were stitched together by Ben Elton to produce what was probably the next in line of a new wave of jukebox productions.

The kids of the future are at the heart of the plot that resulted from Mr Elton’s efforts.

The term ‘plot’ is used rather loosely here - it is an absolutely absurd story but a fantastic way to get to hear a load of brilliant songs.

We are on another planet, in a dystopian future where live music has been banned and all traces of past glories erased in people’s memories - or so the wicked Killer Queen hopes.

The Bohemians are the rebels and there are other little twists but let’s be honest, this doesn’t pretend to be profound.

It seeks to be a great night out - and whatever its success elsewhere, if you’re lucky enough to have tickets to see this then, never mind Queen, you’ll be witnessing one of Rugby Theatre’s greatest hits.

There have been other occasions when there’s little doubt if you dropped someone into a seat and say ‘watch this’, you would see their perceptions of what amateur theatre in a Midlands market town could be, completely shattered.

But this takes everything to another level - with director Emma Bright having a clear vision of how the show could work here and then making it happen.

One can only wonder how much planning, time and creativity went into everything that made this extraordinary – the sound, the lighting, the projection, the costumes, the band and all those roles that add so much to what the actors do.

In terms of the cast, there were great performances galore, tribute again to the encouragement of their talent by the director who recruited them and all those who worked on the choreography and their vocal impacts.

As for those vocal moments, the big ballads gave chance for Wil Neale as Galileo, Libby Lowe as Scaramouche and Becca Shaw as Oz to really shine but there were many other classic takes on this line-up of most of the big hits.

But whoever shone, their efforts are just part of what will live in the memory for a long time.

I’ll mention the live band again, for showing once more what a difference a live band makes but perhaps the parting shot goes to that choreography and those frequently extraordinary costumes that helped make the evening both raunchy - and a riot.

Definitely five stars all round.