If anyone from the New York area hasn't already seen it, now is your last chance to do so. The play closes on March 21. I've seen it already and am seeing it again on the 21st. Amir Darvish, who plays Freddie, is absolutely amazing and this show is a must see for any Queen fan and especially Freddie fan! It will absolutely put chills up your spine!
Hi --
I saw the play. It was really good. Amir Darvish was amazing. I was a little moved by it, mostly because it seemed like a nice tribute. There is a review of it here: link
The review is pretty much on target except that I would say the play isn't really very accessible to non-Queen fans. Nonfans I went with were a bit lost. The play assumes you know Freddie's life story.
I am new here, but have been a Queen fan since News of the World. I've been lurking a few days but this is my first post, so hi everyone.
--Emily
Sorry, Malina, but I don't agree. My friend saw the play years ago and he said it was obviously written by somebody who didn't know much about Queen. Many assumptions and lies.
Yeah ... I thought that he made Jim seem a little too nice, rather than the pompous somewhat-fame-wanting ass I feel that he was. There was a lot of Twoo Wuv talk, and a bit of Mary dissing. (Come on, he may have been gay, but that doesn't mean that his female best friend was ONLY his friend to act as a beard, like the play implies.)
Yes, the whole tone of that speech sounded off, I thought. It oversimplified complex human relationships, ironically in the context of a play about individual complexity. It is probably inaccurate, since it's impossible to know the "inside truth" of other people's relationships. So it's too bad the play had those few off lines.
But, those lines are perhaps five minutes of a ninety minute play which is set in the afterlife/purgatory -- so it's not exactly billed as realism. As a whole, the play is an interesting portrayal of Mercury as an important twentieth century artist/performer. It's a play, a fictional drama -- not a documentary.
In that vein, I wonder if anyone has read the Daniel Nester's small book of prose poems, each one keyed to a Queen song? (It's called God Save My Queen and it's on Soft Skull Press in Brooklyn.) It's of varying quality, but I liked some of it. Or really, I liked the questions it asked about what this band or music in general means to people.
--Emily, obviously wandering through derivative works :)