Review: Act Three Productions' We Will Rock You takes on the world

Andrew Jamieson, Jason Chasland, Danica Manson and Erica Ward star in We Will Rock You. Photo / Ben Pryor

We Will Rock You
The Musical by Queen and Ben Elton
Produced by Act Three Productions
Directed by Phil Anstis
Regent on Broadway
Thursday, August 12
Reviewed by Damian Thorne

Act Three Productions have another smash hit on their hands.

Unlike the very original Chicago we saw in April, this one rolls off a conveyor belt. It fills the Regent with huge energy, bigger lighting, a thrilling flying set, and brilliant sound which mixes the live rock band and vocalists almost to perfection.

Writer Ben Elton, collaborating with Queen, has said that royalties from We Will Rock You have bought him several luxury homes. The shame is this is absolutely the worst writing of his career, the story is so inane and incomprehensible in places I was praying for the cast to just stop talking and move on to the next song.

As a product it only succeeds because the music being strung together by patchy, woeful dialogue is the music of Queen, and every time the band strikes up and another huge number kicks in we forgive the story for its awfulness and start moving about in our seats like the teenagers some of us were when we first experienced Queen - in all their glory.

Things got interesting for me as Danica Manson (Scaramouche) expertly plucks notes from the air at the start of Somebody to Love setting a literal tone for her vocal performance, one of the best I've heard in recent trips to the theatre.

Melbourne-based Jason Chasland leads the cast as Galileo and has a range and quality to his voice necessary for some of the commanding Freddie Mercuryisms that nobody can get away from. He cleverly goes his own way in places, and that is entirely okay with me, because I've seen Mercury mimics before, and it so often ends in tears – definitely not the case with Chasland.

We know what to expect from Amy Hunt, and as Killer Queen she does not disappoint with signature oomph in her vocal. Hunt is in her element in this genre with the only bum note being her exclusion from early choreography that left her literally marking time during trademark Queen instrumentals – kind of like putting Baby in the corner.

Her work with Lachlan Ferguson (Khashoggi), channelling Palmy icon Malcolm Hopwood in a wonderful full-length grey trench coat, is delightful, although enough of the maniacal laughing – we get it, you are the villains!

Andrew Jamieson is back, and looking half his age as Brit, he sounds terrific, does some kung fu fighting and gets to die on stage, only to be resurrected like Jesus in that other show where he played Judas. Teamed with Erica Ward as Oz I enjoyed their scenes the most, and it doesn't hurt Ward can sing like the divas other characters are named after, like Mariah, Katy Perry, and Beyoncé.

Niggles for me were These Are The Days Of Our Lives, my absolute fave, coming out flat by being spoken instead of sung, and a sub-par Bohemian Rhapsody. There were opening night queuing issues, trucks driven through some gaps in dialogue, but in the end I just gave up caring because around every corner is another Queen number performed in concert quality by the aforementioned nine-piece band, led by musical director Barry Jones, towering above the stage on a riser the size of their talent.

Buy a ticket. Lean in. Enjoy the spectacle.

+ INFO We Will Rock You continues until August 28.