We Will Rock You At Princess Theatre, Torquay Review

Reviewed by Helen Wyatt

Wow wow wow! We were absolutely blown away by the We Will Rock You musical by Queen and Ben Elton, which we were lucky enough to see on opening night at Torquay’s Princess Theatre, playing to a packed audience of clearly very ardent fans! We deliberately didn’t look at the trailers or synopses of the musical before we went as we wanted to be surprised by the show, and as we love Queen songs we didn’t think it would be difficult to put on a good show based around those. To have it written by Ben Elton alongside Queen meant we were in for a good night regardless!

I will try not to give too many spoilers here as the joy of revealing why characters had certain names, such as Meat, Brit, or Cliff, is part of the great fun and perfect comedic timing of the show. The programme tells you that there are 7 voices of Queen, which is rather mysterious in itself, as there were only 4 of them, but all becomes clear as the show progresses. A show synopsis is conspicuous by its absence in the programme, but I think this is because the premise of the show is revealed on opening, and the story develops very cleverly, so to share the synopsis in the programme, other than to say it is a musical by Queen and Ben Elton, might be to reveal too much! To attract such packed out theatres with the title alone is testament to the popularity of Queen, but what I can say is that the story centres around music being outlawed in the future, and the bohemians need to find the “dreamer” who can help bring back rock and roll! Do they? Don’t they? You can find out by seeing the show!

The programme does give you the song list, with 24 Queen songs over two acts, running at around 3 hours, with many firm favourites listed such as Radio Ga Ga, Killer Queen, Seven Seas of Rhye, and Another One Bites the Dust. There is again one song that is conspicuous by its absence, which I won’t mention now to avoid more spoilers, but the song list ends with “Do You Want More…?” which might give a hint as to what happens at the end!

This show is amazingly cast, and I cannot overstate that! The two main protagonists, Galileo and Scaramouche, created some killer sexual chemistry which built perfectly throughout the show, and was only topped by their insanely perfect rock voices. The power behind them, and the note control, was mesmerising and while no one can hold a candle to Freddie, these two took a perfect second place. Some other noteworthy cast members were Meat, whose diminutive size hides a very powerful voice, Cliff who brings both musicality and brilliant comedic timing, and Khashoggi as a great evil right hand man. The whole cast were superb, and no step or note was out of place.

One person who deserves a separate special mention is Killer Queen, played by an understudy, who absolutely smashed it on the night and we would have had no idea that it wasn’t an understudy without the announcement that it wasn’t the usual cast member!

Ben Elton’s writing is hilarious, and the whole theatre was giggling, belly laughing, or simply mesmerised the whole way through; watch out for some cheeky up to date covid references and dark humour too. I hadn’t appreciated quite how good his writing was, until seeing this show! If you love musical theatre and you love Queen then this is absolutely the show for you, and you cannot afford to miss it! We ended with a lengthy standing ovation which was truly deserved.

As ever, Princess Theatre Torquay staff were welcoming and friendly; tickets are now checked on the door so once you are in you can head either to the concessions stand or the bar for a quick pre-show drink, and everyone we encountered couldn’t have been more helpful. They even have a new system where you can order concessions to your seat in the theatre, to save you queuing in the interval!

The theatre does not have dedicated parking but there is plenty of on-street and other types around. Even on show nights you will find somewhere to park relatively close to the theatre but I would recommend arriving early if you don’t want to have to walk too far. The theatre is situated in a gorgeous sea-front location, with easy access restaurants. You can stop for a bite to eat before the show, and there are plenty of bars to have a drink.

Rating: 5/5
Tickets cost from £13
We Will Rock You is at the Princess Theatre Torquay from Monday 16 until Saturday 21 May 2022.
For more information or to book tickets go to https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/we-will-rock-you/princess-theatre-torquay/

Princess Theatre, Torbay Rd, Torquay TQ2 5EZ