We Will Rock You - Coliseum

Last nights BGT performance

I've looked at photos tagged at the coli last night and looks like a different set. It has the old LED curtain the Dominion had.

I was also there last night and absolutely loved it, that show does belong on a big stage and it felt like pure nostalgia. I had seen the original London version a silly amount of times and the most recent tour once so my comments are based on this. Seeing as I will be commenting on differences I noticed between the original, the recent tour and then this, please assume there are many spoilers. For those expecting a brand new production (as advertised), it isn't that. The audience were really great and actually really well behaved. I had a great night out and left on a high. 

The not so good:
The set IS mainly the same video screen set up they had on the most recent tour, very minimal sets until towards the end of Act 1 where you get to the heartbreak hotel which is the scene that had the most going on set wise, some of the screens were turned around to reveal actual set during this. I guess if I hadn't seen the recent tour, I probably would have been a bit dissapointed about that but I wasn't surprised really.
The video content on the screens was from what I can remember, 85%(rough calculation ) of what they used during the original Dominion run on the screens there, which at the time looked great but even towards the end of that run looked a bit tired, I wondered if they just didn't have the content ready to fully put in and quickly went back to this, but when the screens are the main part of the show for a lot of it, I was quite surprised that more effort hadn't gone into that. Again, it looked best towards the end of Act 1 when it was integrated with actual set. 
Towards the end of Act 2, when they are travelling to Wembley stadium, a motor bike (similar or the same one as they had in London) comes up from under the stage via an automated trap door. It felt like a missed opportunity not to use this more in the show, especially for Killer Queen's entrance like they used to at the Dominion. 

The very good:
The cast and the band! Maybe an obvious one but they are what make this show and they were fantastic tonight and seemed bowled over by the audience reaction.
Ben Elton was good, I was fearing the worst with him and he was way better than expected and really threw his all into it. He even carried his song nicely although it had been very lowered for his voice. Brenda and Lee were decent. Ian and Elena have really great voices and great comedic timing, they were a highlight along with Christine Allado, she's got a lovely voice. Nice to see Adrian Hansel on stage again, his voice is great too but in this role, rarely gets to show it off.

Significant changes:
The character that Ben Elton plays is a mixture between Pop and the rebel leader, so he appears at the beginning and then also at the heartbreak hotel at the end of Act 1 and then again at the end of act 2. It worked.

The legend of rock is now a tongue in cheek joke about the legend of we will rock you, during the first scene, Ben Elton's character delivers a very knowing few jokes about the original run of WWRY, they did hammer this home a bit too much throughout I felt and there was some clunky dialogue to do with this and Queen towards the end of the show which I will be surprised if that stays.

They've added a song!!! Act 1 now ends with The Show Must Go On, lead by Killer Queen (Brenda) who comes on stage after Lee Mead (Khashoggi) calls her to tell her they've captured the Bohemians. This was a lovely surprise as it's one of my favourite queen songs and did really work.

They now do the very full version of Don't Stop Me Now, again Killer Queen leads this but does feature Galileo and Scaramouche running at the top of the video screens also taking parts of the song whilst they make their own journey, I thought putting them in this song didn't add anything nor did them doing the full version rather than what used to happen, Killer Queen starts singing the song and just as she gets into it Khashoggi stops her to tell her that he's lost the rebels. 

When they drain lake Geneva, an actual huge statue of Freddie now appears rather than on screen, it seems this was the Freddie statue that has been posted on socials as there wasn't one I could see at the front of the theatre. 

There was a close to being tasteless joke about John Deacon in Act 2, which I was surprised had got past Brian and Roger! 

 
Overall, the majority of the script is the same, some new jokes and plot points as mentioned above and some references bought up to date but it really did just feel so warmly familiar even with the lack of set that I couldn't help but beam during the finale. I think that's it, if you got this far, well done! 

Ah thank you for clarifying!

Managed a rush ticket for tonight (row F stalls!). 10 years to the month since I last saw it at the Dominion.

Saw this for the first time ever at the matinee today after bagging an amazing rush seat in row B of the stalls.

The show struck me as mixture of Rock of Ages and Bat out of Hell. It was definitely camper than BOOH, and I think that's what made me enjoy this more. It doesn't take itself as seriously.

A few tech issues meaning about a 35/40 minute interval rather than a 20, but not bad for a second preview.

Whilst I don't necessarily think the show is that outstanding, I still enjoyed myself. The ensemble were all great, and most of the leads were really excellent; Particular standouts for me were Christine Allado and Ian Mcintosh, and I thought Ben Elton was very strong as well.

I wasn't necessarily blown away by Brenda Edwards, I think partially down to the fact that I couldn't really make out a word she was signing. The music is so loud that it often drowns out the singers a little, not that I'm complaining because usually one of my biggest complaints with shows is that it's too quiet - not an issue here, it's Loud! But I really struggled to make out most of her lyrics (admittedly I'm not the biggest Queen fan, so that didn't help).

Overall really enjoyed myself, and I'm SO happy that this makes use of the full width of the Coliseum stage - The only other show I've seen here was Hairspray and I feel like it used a tiny portion of the stage, so when the stage is so far from the audience due to the huge pit, it made the show seem really small. This on the other hand felt big, and was much much better.

I was there tonight, and while I appreciated the bigger stage, and while I always enjoy the Queen songs, I enjoyed both the original production at the Dominion, as well as the tour last year, more.

Some spoilers follow. . .

I may have seen this a few times, but I'm no expert like Nelly, so read that post for the details.

But generally, this operatic venue tends to suck the fun out of things, and while it is fun, in a tick-box way to see the creator of a show in the show (like Richard O'Brien was SO funny when he appeared in the "Rocky Horror Show"), I'm afraid to say I just don't think Ben Elton is a very good actor.

Let me say I think Elton is a comedic genius. I feel Blackadder became ten times more funny when he started writing for it. And some of the lines he gives his Rebel Leader (aka Pop) here are reminiscent of the gormless comedy lines he wrote for Tony Robinson's Baldrick. But, god, he hasn't got Robinson's comic timing to pull off the potential laughs.

And let me say, I loved Elton as a stand-up too, but it was the winding up of his comic aggression, about things he was genuinely passionate about (God, I loved his angel and devil on each shoulder sketches back in the day) that made him funny, not his acting ability. Simply put, while he has a comic energy, without the political fire, he has no variety, intonation or authentic attitudes to his consequently one-note and flat performance (see Sheridan Smith's masterclass in all three, across the road, for contrast)! Elton is funniest at the very beginning, when he riffs on how much the critics hated the Dominion show, something he has an actual authentic attitude about lol!

There is ONE comprehensively funny performance in this show, and it is Elena Skye's terrific Scaramouche (she was a highlight of the tour too), in that she is truly capable of timing her delivery and intonation of every line for the greatest attitudinal and comedic impact. She has the ability to build up to an utterance, to prep the audience for the laugh, to seem to deny it, then to smash it out of the park. And she's a great singer too!

Not as great as Christina Allado, as Meat, though, whose ability to mine a song for every emotion and intonation is peerless! Allado alone, and Allado together with superb accompaniment from a phenomenal Adrian Hansel, as Brit, were my musical highlights! Hansel's comic timing in his speaking part was only about half as good as Skye's, however, though about twice as good as Elton's.

Ben Elton can certainly direct, as I felt the tour at Wimbledon a year ago, was close to perfect. Part of it was that Elton wasn't also directing himself, part of it was probably that that cast had more time together, but part of it was also the lo-fi cheapness of Wimbledon itself, with it's sticky floors, cosier stage and cheaper prices. It felt as if the cosiness and cheapness drew in a more up-for-it audience, who, undaunted by operatic surroundings, fed off each other to make the whole experience communal fun.

Here, the expanse and expense creates a stiffness that isn't suited to a cheesy cultish sci-fi singalong (in the climax lol) show like this one!

Brenda Edwards may not be quite as good as the astounding Sharon D Clarke (or my fantasy casting of Beverley Knight, who's Killer Queen of an Emmeline Pankhurst in Sylvia could eat this lot for breakfast), but she's very experienced in this role, and her belt is great!

Lee Mead is stunningly unrecognisable at first, with short hair, beard and shades, and it's only when he removes the shades, to reveal his distinctive inquisitive eyes, that you know it's him. His singing is great, and his performance is suitably amusingly camp, though not as amusingly camp as his forebears.

Ian McIntosh makes for a suitably spiky and electric Galileo, though his comic timing can't match Skye's. I loved their "Who wants to live forever" duet, which was passionate.

All in all, while less fun than the Dominion show or even last year's tour, it's still 3 and a half stars of enjoyment for me.

Saw this last night. Really love having the show back in town. Hope it comes back permanently though would need a new set I think. But the choreography is fresh and a great cast. Massive queen fan so this is to me what Mamma Mia is to Abba Fans alike.

There are some incredible turns in the ensemble that I can’t wait to see as their covers. Particular Glenn and Rebecca Wickes. They will make a wonderful Galileo and Scaramouche. Loved them both in their previous array of shows.

I agree with the set, it was a bit weird watching a hand feel around under the van trying to find the break to take it off ready to move.

Anyone notice that in the visuals behind the Killer Queen during another one bites the dust has the gopher at the coliseum? And the statues are the ones on the globe?

Hopefully if that is an issue, people will feedback to the venue so they can try to address it. Was it just too quiet or unclear? I know when I saw My Fair Lady last year that I felt it would’ve benefited from having the volume turned up a bit!

P.S. I’m in H next week so fingers crossed this gets resolved before then 😀🤞🏻

It's possible, I was sat in the front row, the only time it was hard to hear was Don't Stop Me Now, both Elena and Brenda got drowned out by the band, but can't say what the sound quality is like a few rows back.  Hopefully if it was sound related it was fed back.