It’s a kind of magic

IS this the real life of is this just fantasy? Escape from reality with this blockbuster Queen-fest show, a real feelgood night of rock.

It’s been packing them in around the world for years, but Manchester was chosen for the premiere of the UK’s touring version.

And it was given the red carpet treatment as the statue of Freddie Mercury, astride the Palace entrance, looked down on TV and soap stars flocking to the first night — including Robbie Williams.

And it really was Queen guitar legend Brian May with Roger Taylor on drums, belting out the Bohemian Rhapsody riffs as the audience rose to their feet as a mass for the encore.

Queen fans were in raptures for Rhapsody and the rest of the hits, belted out by a superb group of musicians led by David Beer. Some were there simply because they were starstruck the rest of us wanted to see if We Will Rock You lives up to the hype.

It did. Suspend your disbelief, and ignore the fact that Ben Elton’s script is a device to string together all the Queen hits into a contrived tale of a land where young people exist on internet and broadband, communicating by hand held devices, fed a download of synthesised pop produced by manufactured boy and girl bands, to rigid formulae. Surely that couldn’t happen? But then Dreamer Galileo (Alex Gaumond) searches for the meaning behind the words which keep coming into his head, with sparky Scaramouche (Sarah French-Ellis), the girl who’s different from the schoolgirl pop clones.

Together they meet up with the Bohemian outcasts, and overthrow the land of Globalsoft, the worldwide corporation responsible for banning all musical instruments and original thoughts.

Kevin Kennedy, lately Curly Watts on Coronation Street, becomes Pop, stuck in his hippy past, but holding the key to the way the music died. He’s surprisingly wry and funny, even if his big scenes descend almost into pantomime. Brenda Edwards as the Killer Queen head of Globalsoft fills the stage with her presence and voice, in really big numbers, Gaumond has a fantastic voice, and he’s well matched by French-Ellis who’s perky, pretty, and pugnacious as the rebel teenager.

OK, some of the scene changes were a bit clunky and Brian May and Roger Taylor won’t be there every night, and if you don’t like loud thumping rock with smoke, lights, lasers, glitterballs and strobes, better stay away.

The rest of you children of the 70s get down their quickly — it runs until June 6, and tickets are bound to be in short supply.

JB