Powering onto the school stage this years’ Lower School production of We Will Rock You had the audience clapping and singing along to their favourite Queen hits.

Set in the future in a place that was once called Earth, Globalisation is complete. Everywhere the Ga-Ga kids watch the same movies wear the same fashions and think the same thoughts. All musical instruments are banned, but resistance is growing and ‘The Bohemians’ are holding out for a hero to bring back ‘Rock ‘n Roll’. The cast and backstage crew of over eighty students drawn from Years 7 to 9 rocked the school to its very foundations!

Don’t be fooled by his stature, Ben Wells, in the title role of Galileo, packed a punch and charmed the audience with his belting rendition of I Wanna Break Free. Hearts melted when he fell for Scaramouche, played by Elle McHale in her first leading role at the school.

Kiera Bennett, as the vile Killer Queen, always attended by her servant Drapes (Mocca Arape), commanded the stage with such ferocity that young audience members cowered behind their chairs in fear. Her Chief of Police, Khashoggi, played by Robbie Whittock, was both menacing and stealthy as the personification of authority.

Ethan Salvidge and Nancy Smith showed unique individuality and flair in their roles as MeatLoaf and Britney Spears. In the number I Want it All, they managed to rouse the audience in a vibrant rendition of the Queen hit. Other notable performances came from Louis Walker (Puff Daddy), Emily Lane (Madonna) and Isla Mulvaney (Beyonce) and Daisy Dawson (Bob the Builder).

Played by the live band, other big show stopping, foot stamping numbers included We Will Rock You, Radio Ga-Ga and Crazy Little Thing Called Love, where the whole company of dancers took to the stage with complex choreography and fantastic performance energy.

The bright and colourful lighting design by Luke Barnes enhanced the impressive and detailed Freddie statue (painted by Clem Jennings) that ‘rose from the dead’ to bring back music and life to brainwashed futuristic world.

Norton Hill Arts Faculty, with its reputation for high quality and challenging musical theatre projects, is mow preparing to announce next years’ Upper School Production in January 2017. The audience and students await with baited breath – and it won’t be ‘Shrek’ or ‘Fiddler on the Roof’!