The difference between a concert and a musical is a plot. The show We Will Rock You, running at the Orpheum Theater until November 22, would have greatly benefited if it had just been a concert. The plot was poorly developed, and such a stretch of reality that it ruined the show and tainted some wonderful musical performances.
In yet another teen dystopia story, Earth has become iplanet, a world completely, controlled by the company GlobalSoft. Creating music is not allowed on the iplanet, an unfortunate event for our main character Galileo. Gal is an alternative teenager who can’t help but dream song lyrics all day. Upon his high school graduation, the GlobalSoft authorities discover Gal and his independent thoughts, and they quickly attempt to silence him. While detained by GlobalSoft, Gal meets Scaramoush, the female version of himself. With the GlobalSoft authorities hot on their trail, Gal and Scaramoush join up with other rebel kids, called the Bohemians, in their quest to follow the sacred texts and restore “Rock and Roll” to the iplanet.
The plot holes are enormous and frequent, while the dialogue is cheesy and unenjoyable. The constant song lyric references were not very funny the first time, and really bad the twentieth time. The songs often did not really make sense with the storyline. The constant attack on current music and “kids these days” got real old real fast. And the anticlimactic ending completed the overall disappointing storyline. In general, this show confused me. I was confused by the plot, by the song choices and by the fact that the audience was constantly cheering for a show that I found to be really lacking.
The cast was consistently strong. Every one of them could belt any Queen song and they all did, multiple times. The band was amazing and the choreography and costumes were well done. The classic rock outfits of the bohemians next to the preppy pastels of the conformist teens created a pleasing visual narrative. The lighting, on the other hand, was poor. The show began with a three minute light show, and the overuse of lights continued from there. There were points in the show that I missed because blinding the audience with the spotlight was very popular during this show. The set consisted mostly of a big screen that went along with the futuristic virtual feel.
This is a show for Queen fans and only Queen fans. This show was an extension of a Queen concert complete with synchronized audience clapping, cheering, lighters and, of course, an encore. If you are a crazy Queen fan, and hate the music of today, please join your friends at We Will Rock You.
I would only recommend this show to people who are looking for a really good Queen cover band, and who are willing to tolerate dialogue in between songs. The cast is great and most technical elements are done well. This show however has a distractingly poor plot. If you are willing to overlook major writing issues because of your undying love for Queen, then this is the show for you.
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