Review: Whitby School's We Will Rock You - 'A triumph of talent, teamwork and energy'
This week saw the first whole school production by Whitby School, since the coming together of students and staff at both Eskdale and Caedmon schools - and what a fantastic success it has been!
Initial auditions for We Will Rock You took place in November and the cast had been rehearsing hard with the Director of the show, Mr Gaulter, since Christmas.
One of the aims was to include as many pupils as possible and this resulted in a strong chorus, dancers, pupil-run backstage crew and dual cast for the lead roles - all who put on a total of four final performances over three days!
The story of the show is one of disillusioned youth, lost in a quagmire or artificial music created by powerful AI … anyone thinking about ChatGPT right now?
Among these lost adolescents is a pair of misfit musical creatives that seek to find the true music, the lost music of Rock!
Set in a near but slightly dystopian future of evil AI and secret police, the show cleverly utilises the music of Queen to tell the story of their battle and eventual triumph.
Our cast were simply fantastic with two students playing Galileo and Scaramouche respectively.
Moses and Jack stunned the crowd as the rocking ‘dreamer’ Galileo and Lola W and Skyla S delivered soaring vocals as Scaramouche.
They were joined by the kooky guardian of the secret history - Buddy - who was played ever so skillfully by Valentine.
He presided over a rock n roll strong hold, the Hard Rock Cafe where the outcast ‘Bohemians’ lived: Zack, Rosie, Isla, Sophie, Nicole, Caitlin, Isabelle, Maya, Anna, Evangeline, Sophie, Morgan and Mia played these epic dudes that took their names from the heroes from the Rock Hall of Fame.
Joining these Bohemians were the pair of Oz and Brit who searched everywhere to find their ‘dreamer’ - Abbie and Elliot gave brilliant performances despite being in quite a few years apart in age!
We then move on to the baddies.
The duo of the sentient AI and her simpering lackey - Killer Queen and Khashoggi were played by the wickedly fantastic Molly and Emily who shared the role of Killer Queen and Safiya who successfully drew the hatred of the crowd as Khashoggi.
Rounding off the cast were our fantastic chorus members - Cheyenne, Sarah, Macie and Grace who joined the Bohemians not on duty that night to belt out the choral parts of Radio Gaga, Killer Queen and Another One Bites The Dust to name but a few.
On top of this absolutely stellar cast of characters, Mrs Alderson also choreographed a massively talented and graceful group of Y10 dancers: Maddie, Lily, Mya, Maddie, Amelia, Isabel, Macie, Eva and Anna.
They danced up a storm starting the show off with Radio Gaga and performing to Headlong and Crazy Little Thing.
All together this led to a fantastic on stage performance - but nothing happens without the backstage crew and Miah, Poppy, Betsy, Holly, Zahnoor and Elijah made sure it all came together.
The show couldn’t have occurred without the wider support of the school and too many to name have offered and given support.
Worthy of individual note however are Mr Matthewson who hand-crafted the giant Brian May guitar and Mrs Winspear who created Killer Queen’s throne!
Mrs Beattie was nothing short of amazing in ensuring the vocals were top notch and Ms Dakin did an amazing job as our prompt, rehearsing with singers and cutting and editing songs to suit our needs.
Mrs Alderson not only choreographed the dancers, but all the movement on stage and brought great enthusiasm to the cast as a whole.
We had huge audiences each night, starting with our upcoming Year 6 pupils who were treated to a sneak peak on Tuesday afternoon.
Audiences only grew in number as each night progressed and on Thursday we welcomed nearly 130 people.
Our audiences loved the show and ended each night with thunderous applause - including a richly deserved standing ovation on the final night.
The cast and crew have commented that they have made friends with people they never would have spoken to, in different years and from different backgrounds. Our aim to make the show ‘all inclusive’ has therefore been a great success.
Here’s what some people had to say about Whitby School’s performance of We Will Rock You:
“It was amazing, all the kids did brilliant and thank you to the teachers”
“It was really fantastic, thank you! The cast and crew put on an amazing performance!”
“This was ace - all involved should be proud of what they put on for us all, especially the students who did a fantastic job”
“What an excellent show it is!”
“Brilliant show! Well done to everybody involved”
“We loved it, fantastic”
Headteacher Gareth Davies said: "Whitby School’s first-ever musical, We Will Rock You, was a triumph of talent, teamwork, and energy.
"With a rotating cast to showcase the incredible ability of our students, and huge effort from staff behind the scenes, it was a truly unforgettable production.
"We couldn’t be prouder."
The next show will be current Year 10s doing SIX the musical in Autumn 2025 … so watch this space.