The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Blank Canvas delivers on the promise of ‘We Will Rock You’
It’s silly, campy and, in the hands of local director, a really fun time
I kid you not. Ben Elton’s musical “We Will Rock You” tells the ridiculous tale of a small group of rebels in a highly corporatized dystopian future who are looking for a savior to revive the lost poetry once known as rock ‘n’ roll and save the souls of a lost world.
T he government, it seems, has erased culture and its creators from memory and replaced them with inanity intended to placate the masses and eliminate individual thought and expression. But those in a small Bohemian horde, which gathered in the ruins of Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Café, find inspiration in the random fragments of memorabilia they have unearthed. They name themselves after legendary rockers such as Ozzy Osbourne, Buddy Holly and, uh, Britney Spears, look to the sky and wait for the day when rock ‘n’ roll music will be restored by the Chosen One.
The show uses the songs of Queen as both its soundtrack and the resistance fighters’ sacred text.
And it borrows heavily from the 1930s and 1940s sci-fi motion-picture serials to build its vision of dystopia and fashion the dark evildoers who control it, as well as to generate the hero who will give them their comeuppance. Sounds horrible, right? When the show premiered in the West End of London in 2002, it was uniformly panned by critics. The Guardian noted that the show was “manufactured” and devised to create “unlikely ways to wring out another Queen song.” The Daily Telegraph wrote that the musical was “guaranteed to bore you rigid,” while The Daily Mirror suggested that the playwright be shot.
But this musical is a marvelous confection in the hands of Blank Canvas director Patrick Ciamacco, who has a history of turning idiotic, idiosyncratic works such as“Psycho Beach Party” and “Texas Chainsaw Musical” into surprisingly entertaining enterprises.
His sometimes-elusive formula for success i n works like these requires fierce high-caliber ta lent with tongues pressed firmly in cheeks, underbudgeted and over-the-top production values void of loftier aspirations and an intelligent audience that gets the in-jokes and popculture references, understands the irony of the actors’ feigned sincerity, is cool with camp and is willing to go along for the joyride.
This alchemy is in evidence in Black Canvas’ production of “We Will Rock You.” Added to the hardrocking ambiance on opening night was inadequate air conditioning, inoperable toilet facilities and plenty of beer at the bar in the back of the performance space.
Ciamacco, also ser ving as the show’s scenic designer, borrows heavily from the campy 1980 “Flash Gordon” film. He has constructed a multitier alter with psychedelic projections in the background that would have found a home in Ming the Merciless’ palace, around which all the show’s action takes place. Costuming by Luke Scattergood and lighting design by Jeff Lockshine seem similarly inspired.
Danny Simpson plays Galileo Figaro, a man who inexplicably hears rock lyrics in his head and is destined to be the reluctant savior the rebels have been are waiting for. And he plays him with the same humorously cocky-but-clueless qualities Bruce Campbell imbues on his “Ash” Williams character in “The Evil Dead” films.
Simpson is immensely charming and handles the Freddie Mercury portions of songs beautifully. He, like everyone in this production, is gifted with a rock ‘n’ roll voice that complements well-honed musical-theater sensibilities.
Neely Gevaart is Scaramouche, a strong-willed young woman with similar dreams and powerful pipes that turn Mercury’s solos in “Under Pressure,” “Who Wants to Live Forever” and “You’re My Best Friend” into beautiful twopart harmonies with Simpson.
“Powerful pipes” also can be tagged to Neda Spears, who plays the villainous Killer Queen. Her renditions of “Now I’m Here” and “A Kind of Magic” — along with sidekick Khashoggi, played wonderfully by Mikey Silas — nearly stop the show. Her performance of “Fat Bottomed Girls,” along with outstanding ensemble members BJ Colangelo, Amber Revelt, Bryce Evan Lewis, Julie C. Okuley and Tonya Broach, does, in fact, stop the show.
The hardest rockers of the evening are Kate Michalski and Tony Heffner, who play rebel soldiers Oz and Brit, respectively. Backed by a tremendous six-piece house band under Matt Dolan’s direction, which fills the small Blank Canvas theater with sound, their vocals have incredible range and tone, particularly when performing “I Want It All.”
The show ends with a company performance of “Bohemian R hapsody,” which is sung with immense passion and every last ounce of energy after a two hour show in sweltering heat and with no bathroom breaks. How very rock ‘n’ roll.
Audiences might be entering the theater with apprehension, but they will be leaving doing the fandango to the parking lot and out into the night.