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We Will Rock You
We Will Rock You
2002 | Musical
9
7.8 (5 Ratings)
Show Rating
I went to watch We Will Rock You at the Palace Theatre in Manchester back in February, and I had such a fantastic night.

It really is a genius marketing idea to announce a tour of this show not long after the release of the hugely successful Bohemian Rhapsody film. And boy is it a good show. I knew nothing about this other than it was Queen music, and I'm not sure what I had been expecting from the actual story but this wasn't it! The plot centres around a futuristic world where rock music is banned, and whilst the actual story element isn't particularly strong, it more than makes up for this by being downright hilarious. You can tell this is a Ben Elton written musical. The script is so funny and clever, and I love how it's obviously been updated over the years to still be relevant with modern pop culture. The acting and singing too are very strong. The two leads have stunning voices and whilst Ian McIntosh isn't quite Freddie, he still has an amazing voice. Although for me the two standouts were Adam Strong as Khashoggi (who really needed even more stage time) and Michael McKell as Buddy. McKell especially was amazing, really embracing the camp Jack Sparrow-esque Buddy and bringing the house down with his delivery on the jokes.

Whilst the plot may not be the strongest, this more than makes up for it in sheer fun and entertainment.
  
The Rite Of Spring by Igor Stravinsky
The Rite Of Spring by Igor Stravinsky
2012 | Classical
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I thought we ought to have one classical album as I do play a lot of classical music at home. I thought about Chopin’s Nocturnes but they didn’t change anything. The Rite Of Spring really was, for me, the first punk album. It was the most uncompromising vision. In the period it was done, no one was doing anything like Stravinsky. He was writing parts for instruments that didn’t have those notes, so they had to have new ones made with extra notes so the orchestra could play that piece. That’s forward thinking. The whole story of the making of the album is so fantastic – that Stravinsky has no money and Coco Chanel comes along and invites him to live at his house and Stravinsky sits in a room alone writing all these parts for all these instruments. It’s extraordinary and a remarkable achievement. Then, the fact that on the opening night in a swishy Parisian theatre the audience hated it. They think it is the most terrible row and now it is acknowledged as one of the great masterpieces of the 20th century. It’s too good a story and I admire his commitment and his inventiveness and his absolute passion to making that record work. You listen to it and think "how did anyone ever do that?" Anyone who hasn’t heard The Rite Of Spring and likes music should really take a listen."

Source
  
The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage! (2019)
The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage! (2019)
2019 | Adventure, Comedy, Musical
An overall good musical event, mostly deserving of its Herculean 12 Tony nominations (there should be a criminal investigation into how it only took home one). As someone who's been a die-hard SpongeBob fan since I was a fetus, not only does this capture the essence of what makes the show so great both in appearance *and* in spirit - but I wasn't vetting on this being as timely as it was (tackles prejudice, media vs. government, and takes a jab at climate change deniers just for the hell of it which of course I always endorse). The casting couldn't be better (Ethan Slater is pretty much the human embodiment of SpongeBob), the production is like a vibrant splashpad of childhood wonderment and SpongeBob trademarks brought to life - some of the best aesthetics the theatre has to offer, the songs are good (even if none really stick out), it's very funny, and most importantly it has a deep understanding of the source material and a selfless willingness to please the fans without pandering (they even reference Battle for Bikini Bottom [!!]). The introduction of Tom Kenny's Patchy the Pirate sent my kid self to the moon and back again. This is what happens when you want to make something that's good out of an existing IP. Never cared for Best Day Ever as an SS song but this may have just converted me.
  
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Ross (3284 KP) rated Cats (2019) in Movies

Jun 9, 2020  
Cats (2019)
Cats (2019)
2019 | Musical
I'd rather have licked my own bum
Just dreadful. I'm not much of a one for musical theatre at the best of times - trying to convey a story through only song is bound to fail and both the songs aren't good and the storyline doesn't land.
5 minutes in we are bombarded with use of the word "jellicle" without any context, repeated over and over again by haunting cat-people. To amuse myself, I replaced "jellicle" with "genital" and it brightened my mood somewhat.
But by that point the damage was done, I was annoyed by the film and the whole concept. I realised I was in for nearly 2 hours of different cats being introduced through the medium of forgettable arrhythmic song.
Luckily my wife had seen the stage show once (her words - "I saw it to say I'd seen it, never want to see it again") so had a little idea of the storyline (something to do with an annual competition to win an undefined prize which turned out to be a hot air balloon ride).
The visuals are not perfect and in order to detract from how hideous the idea was, they had to be.
So many decent actors (ok just Dame Judy and Sir Ian) wasted.
I have realised what sums this film up succinctly and appropriately:
If this film was a person, it would be Louis Spence.
  
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Sarah (7798 KP) Jun 10, 2020

This review made me laugh so much! Replacing "jellicle" with "genital" - genius 😂

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