So how was this show at the cash strapped Coliseum in 2023?  The production is frankly terrible.  The choreography is messy, the original Gaga dummy footage fails to work as a backdrop to new Gaga costumes and Ben Elton as Pop is embarrassing and in no way a draw.  

I might have enjoyed it more with my eyes shut.  Ian Macintosh is outstanding as Galileo Figaro as he can deliver the great Freddie Mercury hits with full force but my favourite was Christine Allado who plays the transgendered named Meat.  Allado’s rendering of “Can Anyone Find Me Someone to Love?” is fabulous.  In 2002 it was faintly amusing to hear the big boy called Britney and the girl Meat after Meatloaf but in 2023 it is merely cheesy.  Lee Mead is miscast as Khashogi.  Brenda Edwards is a creditable Killer Queen.

The beautiful song “These Were the Days of Our Life” is given to Ben Elton whose singing voice is not good enough.  Elton’s humour is sometimes bad taste and it all feels a bit desperate but I suppose the 12 long years at the Dominion followed by tours has made him rich.  He breaks the fourth wall often which of course undermines those singer/actors trying for something believable.