We Will Rock You

It's easy to see the appeal of using Queen songs to write a musical.

There's an easy theatricality that could translate well in songs such as Killer Queen, Flash and Radio Gaga, but jukebox musicals are a delicate beast. It takes a lot of finesse to write a book around songs that are already written. The songs need a reason to exist in the plot and need to move the story along. Too often in We Will Rock You characters stand at the front of a bare stage singing songs that don't seem to be a part of the world Ben Elton has created. There are moments, such as the memorial to rockers who have died too young, No One But You and the organically grown Crazy Little Thing Called Love that really soar, but the lack of a set much beyond an LED screen and lighting rigs doesn't help. There are shining lights; Erin Claire's Scaramouche is an early injection of attitude and rebel defiance until Elton turns her into a shrill, post-sex harpy and Jaz Flowers and Casey Donovan inject real personality into Oz and Killer Queen respectively. There's a ready audience for We Will Rock You happy to relive these classic songs but they deserve better.