Rock Anthems Of the Seas

"We Will Rock You" headlines the entertainment menu on Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas for good reason.  This two hour show has a few corny laughs following --- SPOILER ALERT --- a musical journey of Bohemians seeking a Rhapsody.

I think the music of Queen may be more popular today than before Freddie Mercury died, so the two-hour musical is a true crowd-pleaser requiring multiple performances in the Royal Theater, the largest venue on the ship.  The cast all have great voices, and the house orchestra rocked it all perfectly.

Another can't miss show is "Spectra's Cabaret" in Club Two70, which requires reservations for its multiple performances in the considerably smaller venue.  On opening night, Julie and I took seats in the front row near the center for this show, and that proved to be a fantastic place to view the stellar performances.

The only caveat I have if you sit in front is to not stretch your legs out, as the acrobatic dancers often landed their leaps within a couple of feet of us.  While the singing is again great, I felt like the art of dance really made this show special.

The large LED screen video backdrop wraps around the front of the theater to give a wide angle of view, though not really 270 degrees even from the front row.  However, dancers and singers were sometimes behind us.

In Club Two70, we also watched a couple of virtual concerts, including a symphonic performance of great American composers like Aaron Copeland and John Williams on one of the formal nights.  It made us smile to see a young family with their little girls all dressed up for the occasion.  The sound system is great, and so while not as riveting as a live concert, it makes for a nice secondary show.

Aeromyth, an Aerosmith cover band including lead-singer with hair and mannerisms very much like Steven Tyler, also played at Club Two70 one night, and they're amps were turned up to rock concert decibels.  So loud, in fact, that we left soon after entering, partly because it was our bed time but also because fifty years after attending our first big rock concerts, our ears no longer seem to appreciate that volume.

Plus, we've never purchased any Aerosmith albums because only their hits appeal to us.  However, Aeromyth does flawless renditions of the originals.  The band played other times, including at the Music Hall, a retro two-level concert venue in between the other two.  Other than walking in briefly a couple of times, we only went to the Music Hall for a Good Friday service, which as conducted by a South American Catholic priest who at one point laid on the floor in front of a little crucifix seemed frankly pretty weird to us.

Back to the Royal Theater, one of the best shows of all was "Frankie and the Dreamers," sort of a spin-off from "Jersey Boys" although repeatedly disavowed as not affiliated with "Jersey Boys" says it was not authorized as such.

The singers did an excellent job not only harmonizing but also duplicating crisp dance moves "in the style of" Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  Lead singer Ryan Malloy was personally hand-picked by Frankie Valli to play Frankie in the West End production of "Jersey Boys," in which Ryan starred for seven years.  Therefore, it isn't surprising that Ryan is truly superb, and he has surrounded himself with great background singers.

On the stage of Anthem of the Seas, Frankie and the Dreamers branched off into music by other bands, including a rousing version of "Relax," which was one of the highlights of the entire cruise, with "Frankie" heading into the crowd that was on its feet to dance with ladies and then prance between arm rests like a young Mick Jaeger might have been choreographed to do in a movie.

This was what Ryan Malloy called his other Frankie, saying he had also been lead singer for Frankie Goes to Hollywood, although obviously he was not the original singer for that 80's pop band based on his current age.

A lot of great entertainment takes place in smaller lounges around the ship, with various performers in different genres.  We often went to hear jazz guitar played by the leader of the orchestra backing "We Will Rock You" and other shows.  I spoke with him a bit about England, learning he lived close to the Lake District where our family went on a vacation back in 2019.

My favorite lounge band was High Voltage, a classic rock cover band with an engaging young female singer.  I had been reading John Fogerty's autobiography, so they pulled us in initially to Boleros lounge with some old Credence Clearwater Revival songs when we went to the Promenade for our afternoon coffee.

Anyway, entertainment on each ship is unique but engaging, and even different sail dates will have a rotating cast of performers, so you generally have something new to anticipate which likely will be considerably different than what we saw.  We did miss having a string quartet or other small classical ensemble onboard for pre-dinner music, but we found lots of great music aboard Anthem of the Seas.