I’ve been fortunate enough to go to so many good shows and events this year. And last nights, I have been looking forward to the most. Therefore I am so sad with how the night turned out.
Earlier this year I went along to Singalonga Grease then I went along with my 7-year-old daughter Emily to Singalonga Greatest Showman and thoroughly enjoyed them both. Two fantastic evenings and couldn’t fault them at all. Therefore I had high expectations for last nights Sing-a-long-a Bohemian Rhapsody at Theatre Royal, Newcastle.
Like the two other shows, we arrived at the venue and were handed our bag of props. Props for the evening consisted of a party hat, a tissue, a tiny paper mustache and a candle glow stick. And again, the night kicked off with a warm up. During the warm up we were told when to use the props throughout the film and the crowd was encouraged to warm up their vocal chords to a verse of the number 1 hit ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Anyone in fancy dress or who would like to play air guitar, was then given the opportunity to go up on stage.
Only a small handful had gone dressed up to this event, but the couple I did see were fantastic. Two brilliant Freddies, a Brian May and a mini Freddie who’d I’d guess aged around 5 or 6 complete with microphone. Absolutely adorable.
But lets get on to the film..
The night didn’t get off to the best start. The film started to play, then the screen went off and the lights back on. Music then came back on in the auditorium for around the next 5 minutes until the issue was sorted and the film started running again, from the start.
I’m not going to go into much detail about the film itself. If you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it again and possibly even again. It is without a doubt the most fantastic film I have ever seen. My attention span for sitting and watching a movie is ridiculous. But I’ve seen Bohemian Rhapsody 5 times now. This being my third singalong.
Unlike Greatest Showman and Grease, I think the problem with Bohemian Rhapsody is there isn’t a full song played throughout the film. Only snippets. Therefore as soon as the crowd start to sing, the opportunity is over in seconds.
However, I’d overlook that as the audience did sing throughout the film and whilst waving their candle glowsticks. And lets face it, we were all waiting for the Live Aid scenes. Twenty minutes to get up on our feet, sing and dance to Queen Favourites ‘Radio Gaga’, ‘Hammer to Fall’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love‘, ‘We Will Rock You‘ and ‘We are the Champions‘. The real bangers.
However, the grande finale came around and everyone was excited during the scenes as Queen are about to take the stage. But, 18 seconds into ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, the screen froze. And then jumped to ‘We are the Champions’.
The most iconic part of the movie. The opportunity for a real Singalong. The scenes which have given me goosebumps every single time I’ve watched the biographical musical drama everyone has been raving about since it’s release almost a year ago. Cut from 20 minutes, to just over 3.
The credits rolled and I left the theatre and noticed other disappointed people in the foyer complaining and asking what happened to Live Aid.
My verdict..
I am GUTTED that this is my review. And disappointed for Sing-a-long-a. I feel this was perhaps an issue with Theatre Royal running over time with the technical faults at the beginning of the movie. The film was scheduled to finish at 10. Which it did. Regardless of the set backs and the interval ran longer than the standard 15 minutes for some reason.
This should have been another spectacular night like the previous Sing-a-long-as. But instead was a massive flop.
I’ve emailed Theatre Royal to ask what the issue was. But a reply could take up to 10 days and I wanted to get this review out today, as I suspect there were a lot of deflated Queen Fans leaving the Theatre Royal last night.
Were you there? And if so what we’re your thoughts of the night?
* This was a gifted experience and I was kindly given two tickets in exchange for an honest review