We Will Rock You was scheduled at 730, so we had to go to the Oh-so-famous Harrods. And whoah. A while ago, V&A was a museum-gone-fashion store. This was a department-store-gone-museum. Mikki and Dad thought it was overdone, and it probably was; still, I thought it was the prettiest department store…evah. Besides the rooms that perfectly matched their wares, there were also themed escalators (the Egyptian one was covered in hieroglyphics, and mannequins peered out from the balconies), and poignant Diana memorials. We didn’t get the chance to linger long however, since we had to go catch the musical.
And off we went to Leicester Square.
When we reached Dominion Theatre, it was already teeming with people. At first it annoyed me—I didn’t like the idea of being with so many other fellow kids. But that quickly changed.
How do you describe one of, if not the best cultural highs of your life? I’ve loved musicals ever since I was a little girl, and with my obsession with glam rock (particularly Queen), this was manna from heaven.
Plot: Hundreds of years into the future (year 3000?), rock music is banned. The world, ruled by the Killer Queen, is under the control of pop, conformists, and Internet Gaga. The rebel Bohemians (led by Paul McCartney) have an unearthed a prophecy stating that ‘The One’ is coming soon, to bring back Rock and liberate the world.
Galileo Figaro, a teen with a James Dean look, hears voices inside his head. Scaramouche is a girl screaming a big ‘Eff you!’ to the world. Since they both had the gall to replace their number names with actual letters (and oh, attempt a bit of reform), they get arrested. Upon their escape, they meet a pair of Bohemians: Meat (short for Meatloaf) and her lover, a really macho angas guy called Brit. Brit (named after the baddest, most kickin’ rocker ever, Britney Spears) gets convinced that Galileo’s ‘the one’, and they take the teens to Heartbreak Hotel. Underground they meet the rebels. Khashoggi, Killer Queen’s Darth Vader, had implanted homing devices on the teens’ heads earlier, which leads to the capture of the Bohemians. Galileo and Scaramouche are forced to escape.
The best line in the play: “Britney Spears died to save us.”
After admitting their love for one another, and then fighting, Galileo discovers the hidden treasure—Freddy’s guitar, buried with magic under the ruins of Wemberly Stadium, and fulfills the prophecy.
End plot.
I’m sorry. Bentang-benta ako. All throughout the play I was laughing and laughing, especially with such choice lines as the Britney spears bit and “Keith Richards? He’s invincible!” my sisters and I were singing along to every line as well. Unlike most musicals I’ve watched the theatre was packed, brimming with kids my age. The energy we gave off was even better than most rock concerts I’ve been to.
Melt.
To Filipinos, and Rockstar INXS viewers: did you know that Mig Ayesa was the 2nd Galileo, who some say was even better than the 1st (Tony Vincent. <3)? Near the end of the show, my sisters and I spotted the cast sort of honoring this lone guy in the balcony. We couldn’t decide if it was Mig or not. We made fools of ourselves gawking up like that. And frankly, I don’t care.
That was a PERFECT evening.