Now, don't get me wrong, tonight's opening night performance of "We Will Rock You," a Queen tribute jukebox musical, wasn't as bad as the Leonard Pinth-Garnell level "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" from a few years ago, but it kinda came close.
Just like then, the only shining light in the whole thing was Anthony Toler's performance. I guess this young man is stuck here in Sebring, because frankly, Sebring doesn't deserve him. He could do much better.
Toler played the lead, Galileo Figaro, and very competently belted out some of the most iconic Queen's hits including a solo (I Want To Break Free), primary lead of the ensemble in (We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions and Bohemian Rhapsody) and a a pretty decent duet with with the "just ok" Mattie Bond as Scaramouche (No One But You). The only critique I have of him is he has this way of overusing a scratchy-voiced (Think the Beaver squinting and creaking-out: "Aw, Gee Wally") opening to his lines which I'm sure he's been trained imparts a more realistic tone, but when you use it almost non-stop, it becomes awkwardly noticeable.
But unforgivable was the abomination of such beloved songs as (Radio Ga Ga), (Under Pressure), (Crazy Little Thing Called Love) and (Another One Bites The Dust) to name a few. All cast members other than Toler and Bond really had trouble with these songs. Libby Brewer as Killer Queen had good projection, but you can tell she's not used to singing rock. She's probably classically trained and her tempo was way too slow. The ensemble was pretty much the same group that played in Jesus Christ Superstar and not only acted and sang like they have no aspiration in the business, but almost gave off a cynical "screw you if you don't like me" attitude.
The troupe had a lot going against them actually. It was opening night. The blue hairs in the audience comprised at least 80% of the seats, and in true blue hair fashion, their frail, sickly, liver spotted hands could not for the life of them find the energy to make clapping noise with one another. They just sat there Easter Island like. And finally they had to deal with the fact that, as she announced at the start of the show, their director is bowing out and this is her last performance. Well I guess she means this show for the next week or so of it's running. Then she and her husband who also played the role of Buddy (who, by the way, did okay in his spoken dialogue and as comedic diversion, but his one singing role was gut-wrenchingly cringy), are on the way high-tailing it out of Highlands County to live in North Carolina.
Other issues affecting my "enjoyment?" This little guy in my row who literally got up to go to the restroom and made me stand to let him by no less than six times. Even with my Farxiga I was able to hold out until intermission to pee. This guy must have a pea sized bladder. The recorded audio was too low in volume again and it seemed it was missing a lot of the solo guitar riffs that are iconic of these songs. I wonder if it was specifically omitted in order to allow more competent performance venues to offer a live guitarist to belt these out. And again, set design. Now I believe a show like this doesn't need a very elaborate set but with cheap background elements, sad costumes, and crappy props, it all adds up to the underwhelming sum of its parts. I've long held that this is the biggest problem with this theater. They leave nothing in the budget for this and they're left with crap. If they don't want to spend in this area, I would suggest they go totally 1970s minimalist and have no set design other than the blank stage. The finale where the leads and The Ensemble all gathered together on the stage with no other silly props to get in the way singing Bohemian Rhapsody as a parting gift to us, could have been the model for the entire show.
This theater has Brighton Beach Memoirs coming up this summer but frankly, now that it's priced at 25 bucks a pop minimum, I just don't see the value in it so I'm not sure when I'll be visiting here ever again.