Review
A walk down memory lane as Queen fans are treated to a drama musical with a futuristic twist
AMITHA AMRANAND
Here's a trip to the future via memory lane. Dwell on the past enough and you might get a jukebox musical with a science fiction "plot". There's nothing wrong with remembering or even honouring something that has made an indelible imprint on your heart. And Ben Elton's adoration for the British rock band Queen is palpable in the West End musical, We Will Rock You, which he wrote and originally directed.
You don't need to be that old or a Queen fan for We Will Rock You to rock you. There were people- adults and children alike- who didn't know the songs but still had an enjoyable time. Although it has become an all-too-familiar sports anthem, it's difficult not to feel revved up by the title song.
But when the entire cast, led by MiG Ayesa, gave a passionate rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody as an encore, you might want to check your pulse if it failed to move you.
We Will Rock You, now playing in Bangkok for the first time this month, is a high school drama set 300 years in the future, and to the music of Queen. On Earth, re-christened Planet Mall, musical instruments are banned and music is programmed and not made. The youngsters are glassy-eyed, non-thinking Homo sapiens whose tastes in everything from music to clothes are dictated by the Killer Queen of Globalsoft Corporation (the deliciously evil Annie Crummer, whose slithering sashay sumptuously complements her African safari-inspired costumes). As two young rebellious outcasts, Galileo Figaro (Ayesa) and Scaramouche (Sivan Raphaely), are looking to break free and find somebody to love, they get captured by the Globalsoft police for their failure to conform. They later escape and, together with Vic (Stephen John Van Niekerk), Oz (Carly Graeme) and other Bohemians who are in hiding and secretly trying to make music, fight against the Killer Queen to bring music back into the world.
Supposedly a story about youth rebellion and the spirit of rock, and all I hear and see is cliche'd blah blah and sappy ga ga - ironically, the ingredients for commercial brouhaha, which the play claims to denounce.
Throughout the show, music blared around us and occasionally the lights glared into our eyes, simulating a rock concert experience. And We Will Rock You works best when it behaves like a concert, when it breaks down the forth wall and becomes what it should be about: Queen's music performed live, Queen's music here and now. Who cares about the computerised future when, in this show, it hardly rings true? Not that the jokes, filled with music references aimed to lovingly wink at the fans of certain artists of past eras and jab at more recent pop stars, aren't funny and charming. However, there do exist music artists who today create music that does not conform to the mainstream. There has always been that species of artist - a reality that makes the show's premise rather insulting and its nostalgia a tad too pungent.
With such unappealing and paper-thin lead characters, the pain, the tortuous situation and the romance of Galileo and Scaramouche don't feel genuine and hardly evoke sympathy. In fact, as the musical progresses, it only further italicises its own conventionality and how it sloppily slaps on such tiresome components - the cool children versus the losers, the predictable romance that blossoms between the supposedly kindred spirits, the younger versus the older generations. The entire time I was watching We Will Rock You, I couldn't stop thinking about two other works that have similar ingredients yet pierce deeper with more grit and heart: Grease and The Breakfast Club. The struggle for freedom of the fellow Bohemians only touches a chord during the No One But You (Only the Good Die Young) number, led by the captivating Graeme.
It will be interesting to see what West End or Broadway musical will be coming to Bangkok next. For the past three years, we have been graced with one production each year: West Side Story in 2006, Cats in 2007 and now We Will Rock You - three vastly different musicals.
West Side Story, a poignant musical, was staged without Thai subtitles at the Thailand Cultural Centre, a poor venue of choice. Then the Muang Thai Rachadalai Theatre opened. A space designed for musicals, the playhouse welcomed Cats as its first imported production. Although an old musical in every sense of the word, having Cats in Thailand, I think, is about fulfilling a curiosity and that irresistible urge to feel more akin to history. As for some generations, when you think of Broadway or the West End, you can't help but think of Cats - whether you love it or hate it.
With We Will Rock You, we see an event that attracts both theatre-goers and Queen fans. Although the Bangkok audience is probably one of the more reserved crowds, this musical-cum-rock-concert saw, on the afternoon of its premie're, how Bangkokians were quite willing to clap their hands and wave their arms - urged on by the performers. Although they didn't move their bodies the way they would normally at an actual concert, you could, however, hear a soft singalong and sounds of joy as the band's timeless classics began, which could only come from true Queen fans.
'We Will Rock You' is on every day except Mondays, at the Muang Thai Rachadalai Theatre, at 7:30pm (with 2:30pm matine'es on Saturdays and Sundays). Until July 27. Tickets are 4,000, 3,000, 2,000 and 1,000 baht. Visit http://www.thaiticketmajor.com/ or call 02-262-3456.
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