Tuesday's class was on humor. We watched this show called Twenty Twelve and I thought it was hilarious. It was like watching The Office/Parks and Recreation but British and completely about the Olympics. I want to watch the whole series. It is simply brilliant. While I was watching this show, I was also enjoying some espresso and a chocolate croissant which made the experience even better.
Our teacher asked us if we want to go to the V&A for Wednesday (I've already gone) and then he threw around some other options that either cost some money or once again we had done. Then he asked us if we would just like to have Thursday off to pack or do what we want and wrap things up tomorrow. Of course, that was a crowd pleaser. So we were going to have a short class and then our fun "Grate Kultcher Kwiz" in which we would win prizes, and then have a "field trip" to whereever we wanted to go or not go on Thursday. That sounded fabulous to me!
After class Emily and I went to the ISA office for some beverages and internet at legit computers. Jourdan ended up meeting me there and then we went to Madame Tussuads. We spent some time there getting in all of our celebrity wax-ness ahaha. It was fun though! MJ was there but the lighting was so terrible for his. So hopefully I got a good one. There was an A-list room, sports, royal family, world leaders, music, Marvel characters with a 4D experience (that was really cool), a ride, and a Scream room (we didn't do that though). In the 4D experience, wind blew, water splashed us, we were punched in the back, there were lights going off, and vibrating seats. It was really sweet. Plus you have the 3D glasses and you are laying back in a chair looking at the dome. I enjoyed it!
Afterwards we went to Chipotle for some quick food and then stopped at Sports Direct so that I could buy my Team GB shirt. We dropped off some stuff at Jourdan's and then we rushed to meet everyone for "We Will Rock You". I should warn you that everyone has seen me just love everything and they all got a kick out of how much I hated this. (During one of the slow numbers I closed my eyes for a nice little rest, other times I was eye rolling, shaking my head and being completely disgusted.)
I don't think it is justified to call it a musical.
I don't know what it should be called.
If they wanted to just sing music they should have just had a tribute band, because the actually singing wasn't bad. Shows have the capability to pull off musicals based around songs, such as Jersey Boys and Mama Mia...there is a legit storyline and it works. This, however, was just stupid.
One of the biggest problems with this show was the lack of motivation for anything. There was hardly ever a purpose for anything that was done. The "Killer Queen" would start to sing a song and there was nothing better to do for staging, I guess, so she would just go on this platform, rise in the air, and it would spin. This happened A LOT. Now that would be completely acceptable if it matched the tone in the show or happened once or twice, or even if it was just to go all out and rock, but to me it was just to be flashy, nothing built up to it, and it was a lack of creativity for it to happen so many times. We the boy and the girl were arguing on stage for a song's length, all they could do was point his/her finger at the other and walk after them. Once they were on the other side of the stage, the other would do the same thing back to take them to the other side. This happened back and forth for five minutes. I am so incredibly sure that the director could have staged that better. I am just so sure.
I should back track here and go to the beginning when I knew that this show was going to be terrible. The intro was on a screen, Star Wars style. Here let me just post what they have on their website and if that doesn't just make it sound dumb, then my opinion will probably have no affect on you anyway.
"The time is the future, in a place that was once called Earth. Globalisation is complete.
Everywhere, the kids watch the same movies, wear the same fashions
and think the same thoughts. It’s a safe, happy, Ga Ga world. Unless
you’re a rebel. Unless you want to Rock. On Planet Mall all the musical
instruments are banned. The Company Computers generate tunes and
everybody downloads them. It is an age of Boy Bands and of Girl Bands.
Of Boy and Girl Bands. Of Girl Bands with a couple of boys in them that
look like girls anyway. Nothing is left to chance, hits are scheduled
years in advance.
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality.
But Resistance is growing. Underneath the gleaming cities, down in
the lower depths live the Bohemians. Rebels who believe that there was
once a Golden Age when the kids formed their own bands and write their
own songs. They call that time, The Rhapsody.
Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see.
Legend persists that somewhere on Planet Mall instruments still
exist. Somewhere, the mighty axe of a great and hairy guitar god lies
buried deep in rock. The Bohemians need a hero to find this axe and draw
it from stone. Is the one who calls himself Galileo that man?
He’s just a poor boy. From a poor family.
But the Ga Ga Cops are also looking for Galileo and if they get
him first they will surely drag him before the Killer Queen and consign
him to Oblivion across the Seven Seas of Rhye. Who is Galileo? Where is
the Hairy One’s lost axe? Where is the place of living rock?
Any way the wind blows."
It sounds like Mom and Dad are angry about pop music these days and they are just going to "show us" in their nostalgic, passive-aggressive way and make a show about it even though they don't know anything about theater. But don't worry, all of their friends will have the same passion and come to cheer them on and talk about "music these days". And they thought naming the main characters Galileo and Scaramouche was a clever idea along with Ga Ga cops and iPlanet which is also called Planet Mall.
The main boy, Galileo, for whatever reason is dressed as a 50's slicker, complete with jeans, a white tee, and leather jacket. Scaramouche is a "goth girl" with black hair and colors in it and some typical clothes. Everyone else has this ridiculous outer space look to them and if you ask me, if that is the norm then why would it ever make sense for these characters to look the way they do? How is this the only boy, or person, on the planet to find a leather jacket and jeans? Why would the girl color her hair if everyone else colors their hair too? And where does she find black goth clothes? It just doesn't make sense...they didn't commit to the world that they created.
And there is this one guy that just does karate moves for no reason at random. But he wasn't ridiculous enough to do it often enough or with a purpose or anything else that might be silly about him. If you are going to be weird, you need to go all out. If he is the comedic relief, then he better be funny and not just have you wonder "wait, what just happened? why'd he do that?"
When the show was done, they put these words on the screen:
"Do you want "Bohemian Rhapsody"?"
And you are supposed to say yes, I guess, and then it says "Oh, alright then" and then they come back out as an "encore". To me that is just a cop-out; that they couldn't fit it in to the rest of the show, so they just slapped it on the end. It could have easily been done in the show too! And I'm sorry but since when is he a poor boy from a poor family? You wouldn't know except we are told in the song. It is just not important information compared to everything else.
If I have mentioned this already, the story/plot/dialogue between songs is simply terrible. It's just like some people got together and tried to string it all together in a terrible fashion. I should also mention that the members of Queen that helped write this show had no interest in musicals before they started working on their own show. That should say something. That's like saying I had no interest in reading or writing but I'm famous and was told I should write a book because it would sell and then just threw in a bunch of pop culture references, ignoring all form and taste and other works. I guess lots of celebrities do that too.
And because I didn't like this show, many people asked if I liked Queen as if that would be the reason I didn't like the musical. So many people in our group only recognized a few songs! Of course I love Queen! I grew up listening to them and many other rock bands. I don't like the show because it is terrible theater. There was the cliche/pop reference in every other word crud, no motivation, no commitment, terrible staging, and a terrible storyline. It could have been good, it really could have. You could take this idea and make it into such a better show. I have never seen a show that I actually hated. I could have just stayed home and listened to Queen (which I had to do afterwards). Mind you, it was not the actors fault, they were good with what they were given. Though having an endless, five time bow was pretty ridiculous.
I'm sure Freddie Mercury would be so sad.
If not, I still stand behind everything I said.
No comments:
Post a Comment