As you may know I was a photographer again at this years ‘West End Live’ & after seeing the cast of ‘Knights of the Rose’ sing some top rock tunes on both Saturday and Sunday, I said to myself ‘I really should go see this show’.
I wasn’t at press night so this review is purely written from a paying customers point of view.
The cast are all powerful vocalists and they are singing some of my fave rock anthems, but I did wonder how a story would fit around this collection of songs.
Some of the songs that feature in this show include hits by Bon Jovi (even with an odd lyric reordered), Muse, Bonnie Tyler, Meatloaf, REM and No doubt, all of which are in my CD collection (remember CD’s? Ha I may have even had some on tape).
My thoughts before going were ‘well at least if nothing else I will enjoy the songs’. I am not sure what I was expecting from the story, just an old tale of Knights of the realm I guessed.
I had seen some of the cast in previous shows so I knew I would be watching fantastic actors, singers and dancers.
What I ended up taking from ‘Knights of The Rose’ was far more than just a fab cast and some of my favourite songs.
The script is full of literary references (that are all listed in the program) from Shakespeare , Chaucer and many more.
When the story begins it instantly gives you a clear idea of each character. I found myself really engaged with the story and when I got over some of the cheesy script lines/lyrics that launched in to song, I ended up really moved by all the actors beautiful storytelling.
‘Knights of the Rose’ has everything you may want from a theatre show. Love, loss, betrayal and some light comedy too. Also to the stories credit it wasn’t always obvious what would happen next which kept the show interesting.
The set in Act 2 excels its self (especially for the size of the theatre) with some really beautiful stage & screen work. The fight scenes choreography is fantastic, only being enhanced by the impressive lighting and music.
The guys and the girls in the cast all had more than impressive vocals but I must give extra credit to Matt Thorpe. His rendition of ‘Always’ by Bon jovi was outstanding! like goosebumps good! and I must have seen Bon jovi live over 100 times throughout the years, and being as this is a favourite song of mine it is not an easy task for me to fall in love with it like it was new.
Also I’ve heard Oliver Savile sing beautifully before but wow where has he been hiding that top high rock voice! I’m well impressed.
So to sum it up I really enjoyed this show. I was with my mum who got so involved in the story she was moved to tears. The characters were really well developed each with their own traits and I may even pay the theatre another visit before the end of its run.
As a purely shallow side note the guys and girls in the show are all beautiful and the guys are ROCKING that guy liner. 😉 so a big all round thumbs up from me.
Photos below are all from West End Live 2018
