Imagine this… stepping out of your suite on-board Royal Caribbean’s inaugural sailing of Anthem of the Seas two hours before curtain-up, closing the door and swinging around to be face-to-face with Brian May, snuggling lovingly into the

neck of his partner, Anita Dobson, as they walked along the corridor, only for her to turn and look me straight in the eye and say, in her Eastenders cock-er-ney accent…

“‘ello darlin’, you alright?” 

At that point, I knew this performance was going to be special… the cast were playing, tonight, to the Master himself.  This company had to nail it.

I sit in the front row, I always sit in the front row, perhaps too close but I need to feel the emotion and the effort put in by the cast.  Months of rehearsal, careful application of costume and make-up cannot be wasted on a seat further back in the auditorium… just a general synopsis is not my style, I have to feel a production… cast vs me – game on.

Transferring a production from the West End to a cruise ship is no mean feat, the word ‘logistics’ is holy.  Fact one – you’re in the middle of the ocean, if anything ‘kicks off’, evacuation is gradual and there’s nowhere to run.  Fact two – the dressing rooms for the cast and the storage for the sets have to be compact and very bijou.  Fact Three – your audience is multi-cultural upon each sailing – colloquial ad-libs and audience cognition of dialects and comedic one-liners differs, depending on your demographic.  I could punctuate with more ‘facts’, but you get the gist… it’s difficult and this performance had to prove it was possible to bring one of the most successful productions from the West End to Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines..

I sat with Brian May’s eyes searing deep into my neck, haunting Mercury tones in my ears, the curtain went up…

We Will Rock You (often abbreviated as WWRY) is a musical based on the songs of Queen with a book by Ben Elton, a storyline set 300 years in the future. The musical tells the story of a group of Bohemians who struggle to restore the free exchange of thought, fashion, and live music in a distant future where everyone dresses, thinks and does the same. Musical instruments and composers are forbidden, and rock music is all but unknown.

Although the musical was at first panned by critics, it has become an audience favourite, becoming the longest-running musical at the Dominion Theatre, celebrating its tenth anniversary on 14 May 2012.  The London production closed on 31 May 2014 after a final performance in which Brian May and Roger Taylor both performed.

I have to open with the Royal Caribbean band, they had this sewn up, the cast were in capable hands and nurtured through every track.  Impeccable to the point of perfect interpretation of the true heartbeat of Queen, difficult to acclaim highly enough.

Amanda Coutts played Scaramouche, a sarcastic, hard-bitten cynical girl and Galileo’s love interest. A rebel, deeply introverted and complex, a goth teenager, an awkward loner, a misfit. She uses her self-deprecating wit to cover her sensitivity and vulnerability, brittle, hard and bitter, headstrong and stubborn,defensive. Amanda’s Romford-esque delivery enthralled the audience, perfect timing, cutting script, all made sense, making the character charmingly sweet with a vicious edge.

Killer Queen (Allyson Kaye Daniel), the villain, an iconic figure, ruler of the world with an amazing rock/soul voice. She’s camp, sexy, voluptuous, feisty, funny, powerful and power crazy, ruthless, the BOSS. Every man’s dream of an older woman with a strong bi-slant.  Allyson carried this character to the extreme, gorgeous and so 80’s-inspired… sexy!

Khashoggi (Preston Hammond), Killer Queen’s second-in-command, the head of Globalsoft’s police and carries out Killer Queen’s dirty work. A smooth operator, ruthless and heartless, attractive, sophisticated, intelligent, sinister, cruel, cold but charming.  Preston’s interpretation of this character had me enthralled, secretly my favourite.  Enticing with a ‘Las Vegas’ kind of spin. I wanted to know more about this character and doors were left open… very enticing.

‘Pop’ doubles as the Rebel Leader of the Bohemian movement, a rather pompous figure who has made himself an expert on the legend of rock and is perhaps a bit too pleased about it!  An elderly librarian trying to figure out the exact date the music died. Bar man, ex-rebel, a hippie stand-up comic, a cross between George Carlin and Robin Williams. Pop is worldly with a natural curiosity and passion for life and music.

I met Kevin Kennedy back in January when he was appearing in Norwich Theatre Royal’s pantomime production of ‘Peter Pan’, playing the evil Captain Hook, and it was during our conversation that he enlightened me of the forthcoming production aboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s Anthem of the Seas, playing the part of Pop, following his highly successful run at the Dominion Theatre, London.

The words ‘Kevin Kennedy – Family Man’ run through the core of Kevin like a Blackpool stick of rock – his family values are never far away from his thoughts and the household of three giddy females rocks his world.  A Mancunian, married to Clare, became infamous as  the character ‘Curly Watts’ in ITV’s Coronation Street, falling in and out of skittish catastrophes, including the scatterbrain marriage to Raquel Watts (Sarah Lancashire).  Kevin appeared for 20 years in the UK’s longest-running television soap as the UK’s favourite supermarket-worker.  Kevin and Claire now live in Brighton with their two beautiful girls, and promoting their alcohol recovery charity Addiction Management UK Limited.  As I disembarked, the family were due to join Kevin for a few days, and to say he was excited… an understatement.  Life on the floating city makes you value your family and home, Kevin was certainly feeling the draw.

If the costumes didn’t give it away, then the music certainly did.  So slash up your pussy bows and consign your neat little A-line skirt right to the back of the wardrobe… the 80’s aggro chic, cod mod, naughty fashion and punk frock – aggro chic, was played out  with a vengeance.  The costume design of the production thrived on schizophrenic tension and the ‘up yours’ style was the perfect Hyde to ladylike chic’s Jekyll.  Inky black ‘goth’ lips, distressed suits and long silver chains, spiky hair and heavy black eyeliner… every street style from punk to goth to mod to rudeboy to biker was plundered with all the enthusiasm of Sid Vicious raiding the minibar at the Chelsea Hotel.

The supporting cast consolidated the production.  Every conceivable angle, from the audience’s point of view, was covered.  Enthusiasm, professionalism, vocal co-ordination and costume intricacy was accomplished to perfection.

Galileo (Alex DeLeo), a young man, a rebel and the central character.  Attractive and sexy, vulneraable, sensitive and doesn’t really fit in, restless, headstrong and stubborn.  Tense, living on his nerves, a dreamer.  Alex vividly portrayed a young man, a dreamer, on a mission to accomplish something with his life, trying to find the right way to fulfil his dreams.  This character required strength but with a thread of vulnerability which Alex completely radiated.

The production, produced by Alex Marchant, directed by Tony Edge with Tim Hammond as Musical Director, under the management of Nick Weir, Vice-President of Entertainment for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, achieved a challenging goal, to put a superior show on the high seas, achieved previously so successfully on the safe ground of blighty, without running adrift with logistical anomalies associated with cruise productions.

And what did Brian think?

He joined the cast on-stage at the end of the performance and was visibly moved … the new production of ‘We Will Rock You’ is in safe hands.

Images copyright Shane Finn at Visual Devotion

www.visual-devotion.co.uk

Royal Caribbean Productions creates, produces, and manages the largest premium entertainment operation at sea! From full Broadway musicals, to Las Vegas style production shows, and even ice and aqua spectaculars; no single production company provides more exciting opportunities to both entertainer and audience member. Our core team is always seeking the best talent from around the world as we constantly strive to create inspiring shows, events, and spectaculars onboard Royal Caribbean International and Azamara Club Cruises.

At Royal Caribbean Productions you will find so much more than a gathering place of unparalleled talent, but also a comfortable working environment created specifically to foster new talent alongside seasoned professionals from every background. The production staff consist of award-winning creative professionals from Broadway and West End Theaters, to Broadcast TV and Film, and even Themed Entertainment, they strongly believe that bringing together different points of view and challenging themselves everyday is the only way to consistently create the future of the Cruise Entertainment Industry.

www.royalcaribbeanproductions.com/

About Brian May…

Brian Harold May, is a British musician, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band . He uses a home-built electric guitar, called the Red Special. His compositions for the band include “We Will Rock You“, “Tie Your Mother Down“, “I Want It All“, “Fat Bottomed Girls“, “Flash“, “Who Wants to Live Forever” and “The Show Must Go On“.

He was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2005 for “services to the music industry and for charity work”.  Brian attained a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College in 2007 and was Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University from 2008 to 2013.  He is an active animal rights advocate and was appointed a vice-president of animal welfare charity the RSPCA in September 2012.

In 2005, a Planet Rock poll saw May voted the 7th greatest guitarist of all time.  He was ranked at No. 26 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time“.  In 2012, May was ranked the 2nd greatest guitarist of all time by  Guitar World

www.brianmay.com

About Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B76ublmS8B0