WE WILL ROCK YOU 10th ANNIVERSARY GALA (Dominion Theatre) 14th May 2012

Monday 14th May 2012. 10 years ago exactly the Dominion Theatre hosted the opening of a new musical based on the hits of rock band Queen. The original creative team and producers who were all present on the opening night reunited at the theatre to celebrate the decade of rock.

(Writer Ben Elton, Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor, Robert De Niro in 2002 and 2012)

As well as the creative team from ten years ago many of the original cast came back to watch. Hannah Jane Fox, Kerry Ellis and Mazz Murray were among them. 

Robert De Niro in 2002 with Tony Vincent (Galileo), Hannah Jane Fox (Scaramouche) and Sharon D. Clarke (Killer Queen) and again in 2012 with the cast including Noel Sullivan (Galileo) and Sarah French (Scaramouche)

The atmosphere inside the Dominion Theatre was electric. As "It's A Beautiful Day" blasted out before the show an exciting introduction projected onto the front curtain charted the show's history throughout it's first decade. 

Stand-out performances came from all of the leads who gave everything all they could. Incredible riffs galore especially from Sarah French and Rachel John as Scaramouche and Meat.

Each seat in the auditorium had a We Will Rock You goody bag with a show comic book, postcard and glowstick. The finale looked amazing as the theatre filled with neon colours. As expected, guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May shot up through a cloud of smoke to riff the hell out of Bohemian Rhapsody. 

The promise of Freddie Mercury returning as an optical illusion was a bit of a disappointment. He 'appeared' only for a few seconds at the end of Bohemian Rhapsody, you could hear him, but could hardly see anything, maybe this was because there was a spotlight on the area, or it just didn't work...

Another disappointment for some in the audience (dressed as Bohemians) was the promise of a best dressed fan competition where the top ten fans decided for on the website won two tickets to the show where the ultimate winner would be called up onto stage to receive a "special prize from a VERY special guest" ... they were all there, dressed up, and nothing about the competition was mentioned and no award was presented. 

Those are the only negatives though, Robert De Niro's presence on stage again was a cue for the audience to erupt into madness. the celebrity guests in the audience kept everyone alert and excited. Spotted in the audience were Warwick Davis and his family, Tim Minchin, Samantha Fox, Chris Tarrent, David Baddiel, Bill Oddie, some 'TOWIE' girls (if you can count those) and supposedly Kylie Minogue (I didn't see her, and none of the press managed to get a picture of her. Maybe she played a similar trick to the Freddie illusion). 

The evening was truly unforgettable, this is another great cast and should you get the chance to see this 10th anniversary cast in action, make every effort to see them. 

Booking until 20th October 2012. Monday - Saturday 7:30pm. Last Wednesday of every month and Saturday's at 2:30pm.

Tickets: £62, £52, £47, £42, £32, £15 (Standing) (BEWARE booking and transaction charges of up to £12.25 PER TICKET do apply at this show when booking online) 

(Day seats available for £30 from 10am - 12 noon on the day of performance, in person from The Dominion Theatre Box Office) 

OFFER: Show Pairs '2 top price tickets for the price of 1' (www.showpairs.co.uk) Valid until 15th September 2012 (excludes 2 - 9 June)

Website: http://www.wewillrockyou.co.uk

GHOST THE MUSICAL (Piccadilly Theatre) May 2012

This was my third visit to Ghost The Musical. I think it's worth reviewing at this point as the show has undergone it's first cast change. Since opening in Manchester and transferring to London last year this April saw Richard Fleeshman (Sam) and Caissie Levy (Molly) transfer to the Broadway production. Mark Evans and Siobhan Dillon replaced them in London in January and the new ensemble in February.

Evans and Dillon are suitable replacements to Fleeshman and Levy, both of whom bring their own style to the roles. I found that both of new leads provide a more "musical theatre" tone to the songs than the rockier originals. But this is musical theatre and so it still works. 

The jewel of this whole production is Sharon D. Clarke as the psychic Oda Mae Brown. In the role made famous by Whoopi Goldberg in the 1990 film, Sharon D. Clarke manages to bring her own crazy characterisation to the stage. Her powerhouse vocals are enough to blow the roof off and both of her songs prove the much-needed comic relief to the show.

Understudying the part of Carl Bruner in replacement of Andrew Langtree was Paul Ayres. He gave us a great portrayal of Sam's 'best friend' and really captured the sinister twist in character with perfection.

Another performance worthy of note is Lisa Davina Phillip who provides comedy gold as Oda Mae's sister Clara. 

The illusions are expectably less exciting after a third viewing. The walking through doors and appearing from nowhere still work well. The letter opening also remains a point of amazement. The scene in which Carl is being punched and shoved by the invisible Sam is a little sloppy in that the workings of some of the 'illusions' are left on show to the audience. Also the lighting reveals the 'secret' as to how characters float away once dead. 

Ghost remains a spectacularly impressive show and one definitely worth seeing, even if for the set and illusions alone. Anything Sharon D. Clarke is in is always worth the money. 

Booking until 20th April 2013. Monday - Saturday 7:30pm, Thursday & Saturday 2:30pm. 

Tickets: £67.50, £45, £25 (Premium Seats £85) (Dayseats available Monday - Thursday performances at £25 on the day of performance at the box office.)

Website: http://www.ghostthemusical.com

(With Sharon D. Clarke after the performance)