Magical. That’s the easiest way to describe my experience last night at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium. See, my middle son is a big Queen fan and last night watching the jukebox musical ‘We Will Rock You’ was his first real ‘live’ music/musical experience. Admittedly, I don’t think he followed the story of the rebellious teens trying to break free from the corporate overlords running the planet, but he definitely enjoyed the singing and dancing! Every time the lights came up on stage, just a little, he was smiling and waving to the cast. Any chance to clap, he clapped, when people stood, he was up well before anyone else in our aisle. At the end of the show, members of the cast came out into the audience and he was absolutely blown away by the fact that he was so close to them. Before the show, and at intermission, he was talking to any of the members of the TBCA staff who would listen about how he first learned about Queen. AND THEY ALL LISTENED! I cannot thank the staff of the TBCA enough for being so kind to my, very excited, little boy. Particularly Lauren who was working merch for the show and not only walked him through the merch buying process but was also so kind in trying to explain to him that the actors don’t often come out after the show to sign autographs (he was SUPER excited afterwards and was really hoping to meet some of the cast).
A huge thank you is also due to the cast and crew of the musical itself. I loved the fact that so many ‘in-jokes’ were written into the story referencing popular music and musicians (including some jokes that I am sure were added in specifically for the Canadian run). The musicianship of the live backing band was superb and the cast vocals were impressive! My only complaints about the entire evening was that there were too few people in the audience and too many people who didn’t know (or couldn’t get) the timing for the clap along segment of ‘We Will Rock You’.
I’m sure that many were surprised by what the musical actually was, I’m sure a number of people were expecting a tribute show as opposed to a jukebox musical. I don’t think many people left disappointed though, that’s for sure. Thank you again to everyone involved with last night’s amazing show, we thoroughly enjoyed it and I’m sure it’s a memory that will stick with both my son and I for many, many years to come!
Oh, and as an aside, my son discovered Queen when ‘Stone Cold Crazy’ came on the radio in our car one day. He made us all be quiet, asked me to immediately find it on my phone and play it again so he could listen over and over. He then asked me if I could invite Freddie Mercury to his birthday party because he wanted to meet him so badly. That’s the short version of the story he was telling everyone last night!
