REVIEW: Kings Theatre has got a killer Queen show on their hands

When it comes to music in the car, there are few things we as a family can agree on

But you can’t go wrong with the first two volumes of Queen’s greatest hits.

And so, Portsmouth Theatres’ latest production should be right up our alley – We Will Rock You, the jukebox musical based on the regally-named rock group’s songs.

The plot, written by comic and author Ben Elton, revolves around a futuristic 1984/Brave New World dystopia, where Earth is now the iPlanet, and creativity and individualism have been crushed, leaving a dull world devoid of music.

Our heroes Galileo (Charlie Frame) and Scaramouche (Megan Parkes) are the square pegs who refuse to be banged into the round holes society has in mind for them.

They team up with The Bohemians – a rag-tag group of rebels seeking to revive rock’n’roll, even if they’re not entirely sure what that might be...

Emma Hall is fabulous as the despotic diva, Killer Queen, who rules the iPlanet – feisty and casually cruel, and she can belt out a tune – notably her self-titled theme song.

Matt Gibbins as her right-hand man Khashoggi is suitably toadying when dealing with his boss, and bullying when dealing with the Bohemians.

The story has something to say about the power of music and of the individual in a bit of a ham-fisted way.

But it’s all secondary to the songs, so embrace it, go with the flow, and you’ve got 20-something great songs, well performed, wrapped up in a big dose of daftness.

Sure, some songs fit better than others, and it is all rather silly. In fact some songs appear to be shoehorned in, just because, like Fat Bottomed Girls, or One Vision. At the other end of the scale, Frame and Parkes’ Hammer To Fall is turned into a brilliant narrative duet. Somebody to Love by Scaramouche and the Ga Ga girls was particularly enjoyable, too.

The leads are uniformly excellent – Parkes’ Scaramouche in particular, balancing sarcasm and biting comments with flashes of vulnerability.

Elton’s script is littered with pop-culture references and it’s fun picking them all out, particularly when Frame is rattling through them.

And of course, the climax of the show teases us by asking us on the big screen if we want to hear Bohemian Rhapsody. The full cast provide a fantastic rendition that also gives the live band its due.

The show is billed as being for ages 10-plus, and there is some sexual innuendo that went over my 11-year-old boys’ heads (thankfully), so be warned if taking children.

If you want it all, and are prepared to lean into director Sean Smith’s one vision, then rush headlong to see this, or it’ll be gone in a flash...

Until Saturday.

Tickets from: kingsportsmouth.co.uk.