Audiences who want to spend some quality time with their “Best Friend” can attend “Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender” Thursday, June 21 at 7:00 p.m. at the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts, 540 S. Lake St., Gary, IN. A $12 donation includes admission to the screening, soft drinks, popcorn, and an introduction by Larry Lapidus. There will be a cash bar.
Classic rock fans may have fallen into that crazy little thing called “love” with Queen and its lead vocalist Freddie Mercury, but how well did they really know the flamboyant singer? Everyone will get the chance to find out on Thursday, June 21 when Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender screens at 7 p.m. at the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts in the Miller Beach section of Gary.
Born in Zanzibar in 1946, Mercury moved with his family to Middlesex, England in his teens. In 1970, Mercury, guitarist Brian May, and drummer Roger Taylor formed Queen. In 1991, at the age of 45, the rock icon died due to complications from AIDS, publicly confirming he had contracted the disease just one day prior.
A flamboyant personality and stage presence, Mercury’s four-octave vocal range can be heard on scores of ‘70s and ‘80s hits like “Killer Queen,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “We Are The Champions.”
Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender is a 2012 Emmy-award-winning documentary about Mercury’s attempt to forge a solo career. Reuniting the producer, editor, and director of photography behind 2011’s Queen: Days of Our Lives BBC documentary, The Great Pretender* unearths previously undiscovered and rarely seen footage to gain insight into the performer.
Extensive archival footage consists of rare interviews with Mercury, concerts, video shoots and personal material, much of it being seen for the first time. There’s also new contributions from Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor, Queen manager Jim Beach, lyricist Tim Rice, and many more. A portrait of a man who was very different from his flamboyant onstage public persona comes into focus.
“The Great Pretender” is part of our Screenings series.
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