I love musicals, always have done thanks to the influence from my mother and grandmother. I have seen many over the years, but the most recent one I have seen is We Will Rock You.

I saw this in August at Birmingham Hippodrome which for those of you that haven't visited before, is quite a stage and a perfect setting for a production such as We Will Rock You.

I always go once a year to see a production with my Mom and Sister at the hippodrome and this was the one that was there at the time. When I was told this is what I was going to see, I have to say I wasn't that overjoyed. There are far more productions I would like to see before this one but I thought I'd hold back my initial thoughts and actually watch the production before deciding what it was like.

All I knew before seeing it was that it was based on music by Queen, hence the title 'We Will Rock You'. I do like Queens music as they have some pretty powerful rock ballads which is just my style of music so was hoping the music would be enough to sway me.

I don't want to give too much away about the plot as I know you don't like spoilers, but the general gist is that it is set in the future and music has been banned with all life form being quite confirmative and robot like, apart from a few rebels who are determined to bring the music back to life. The story is told through Queen songs and it works really well.

There were only a couple of times throughout the whole production where I sat there and wasn't overly impressed and this was generally when the song at the time was one of Queens less dramatic songs. The power ballads stole the show.

There are a couple of famous faces touring with the production at the moment such as Rhydian from X Factor who played a good part and also Noel who used to be in pop group Hearsay, as well as ex-Eastenders actor Richard Cole (Tricky Dicky). Noels stand in played the main part when I watched it and I have to say I didn't miss Noel at all as his stand in was just absolutely fabulous (and rather fit too!). The music is obviously rather loud, and therefore it was really important that the lead vocals had big, powerful voices to get the storyline across, and they did so excellently. This is one of the best productions I have been too, vocal wise. The leading lady was equally as powerful and considering she was opposite a stand-in, there was a great on-stage chemistry between the two and although it was pretty obvious from the beginning that there would eventually be a romantic tryst between these two, it didn't look or feel forced at all.

I found the storyline to this production rather weak, and totally unbelievable, but then I had been warned about that before watching it. The storyline wasn't really important, this was about nothing more than the music really with the storyline just being an added extra to make the songs flow together. The poor storyline didn't matter in the slightest though as the quality of the acting was excellent, and the vocals, as said, were excellent.

If you are a traditional musical fan with pretty songs and lots of dancing, this may not be for you and I can't really see it appealing to the older generation much to be honest, but I thought a lot more of it than I ever expected too.

The end to the production was amazing. They saved the most popular and biggest Queen songs for the finale, and what a finale it was! It was big, dramatic and made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Again, this wasn't due to the finale of the storyline, which ended quite lamely, it was purely about the songs and it was a finale that you won't forget.

Its' not a huge cast, but each cast member that is there does their job well. No one stood out to me at all as being weak, both in their acting and singing capabilities which really helped me enjoy it more. Although the storyline is rather weak, it doesn't actually bother you when you are watching the production. It is really light hearted and quite comical in places and you learn from the beginning not to take the storyline too seriously and that the music far outweighs the story.

Overall, I may have had my reservations before seeing this production, but I am so glad I did and I would happily see it again and would highly recommend it. If you are not a fan of Queen or big music in general, this may not be for you, and I do think due to the lack of storyline, this may not appeal to people who prefer a more traditional musical, but personally I loved it. The music was overpowering, but in a good way and the vocals from all cast members were just amazing. The acting was quite basic, but what was done was done well.

In summary, if you like a big, loud musical that is quite light hearted and you like Queen music, then you will love this production and I would highly recommend it if it tours in your vicinity.