We Will Rock You

North Shore Theatre Company

Zenith Theatre Chatswood

The rights holder David Spicer enjoyed watching his fifteenth (or thereabouts) different production of the musical by Queen and Ben Elton.

I almost auditioned for the role of Buddy – the aging rocker in the musical who has one solo – and my daughter who attended the tight and energetic performance by the North Shore Theatre Company was so relieved I chose not to.

My reasons for cold feet were that I was recovering from Covid and was struggling to reach the top note at the time of the audition – plus I had so many commitments that I would have missed too many rehearsals.

I feared they would give me the role because I was the rights holder and be awful. (Ben Elton played this part he wrote in a recent West End revival.)

When Buddy says the line about taming his wild beast whilst snuggled up against a Scaramouche and Galileo on the motorbike my daughter expressed extreme gratitude that I was sitting in the audience and not on stage.

We settled for a goofy picture in front of the media wall.

Luke Brattoni – long-time committee member in the role – was a more credible fit for the part.

Occasionally sitting next to us in the audience was the Director of the production Sarah Webster. Her role was to turn on and off the cold fireworks special effects. This was a very exciting feature of the production which was a great example about how to stage the show with authenticity on a budget.

There was one set piece – a platform surrounded by the letters R for rock n roll and flashing lights. Images were projected onto a screen. A motorbike was wheeled onto the stage.

The ensemble of 23 moved extremely well – including those rare creatures on some community theatre stages – men. The best mover was Lachlan Ceravolo as Brit.

I was told that the Loud and Clear audio company had 23 radio microphones geared up for the production and every syllable was audible.

The excellent balance was aided by the fact that the company used backing tracks instead of live musicians for the production – giving them excellent control.

Backing tracks are now available as an option for We Will Rock You through-out Australia and New Zealand through Right on Cue as a rehearsal aid or for performance. 

Live music is of course preferred.  A highlight of many a performance over the years have been a thrashing live guitar rendition of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, which so many companies and schools have produced with brilliant Brian May impersonators.

However, my daughter who had never seen the musical before did not notice. She told me how entertaining the whole production was, and how she enjoyed it more than several other arty farty musicals I had taken her to.

When it came time for Buddy to sing his solo ‘These Are the Days of Our Lives’, I acted very unprofessionally and sang along (pianissimo).

Reaching that top note was easy! What might have been.

The final two performances of North Shore Theatre Company’s We Will Rock You are on Saturday October 26.

https://www.northshoretheatrecompany.org/