Freddy Lives Forever: A Magic Night In Berlin

As the Tech’Ed is about to close I decided to spend my last evening in Berlin in a different way. Instead of the usual geek talk going on until late night in the city’s excellent restaurants (don’t get me wrong, I love these talks), I went to see the “WE WILL ROCK YOU” musical at the Theater Des Westens. And believe me, they did rock!

This German version of the show exceeded all of my expectations. Having seen the original at the Dominion Theatre in London (which by the way is in its 9th smash-hit year there) I was kind of moderately enthusiastic about seeing a German version of it. I can tell you, it was … a kind of magic. The actors/singers were nothing short of fabulous. By the time the show was approaching the end, everybody was standing,singing together with them, and applauding frantically.

The crowd was an interesting mix covering all age categories and, dare to say, all social categories too. I was truly moved to see teenagers together with old-timers singing Queen hits.

I guess almost all of Queen’s great hits were featured on the show. And yes, the grand finale was Bohemian Rhapsody  

There’s one particular scene in the musical that brings emotions to the highest level. It’s the one when the Bohemians (a kind of resistance in Ga Ga World – BTW they also call the Ga Ga World in the German version Planet eBay which is kind of funny) are remembering a long list of illustrious rock stars. Obviously, the list ends with Freddy. It’s really emotional, even for the toughest rockers

You know, this fantastic show made me think how great personalities live forever in the collective memory… I’ve seen teenagers at the show that weren’t even born when Freddy died. You could tell by their attitude that this kind of music resonates with them. He and his band colleagues left permanent marks in the hearts of all generations who saw or heard them singing live. And it seems they are in a sense immortal.

As they say, “show must go on…”