With the recent Oscar-winning film, Bohemian Rhapsody, the music of Queen is more popular than ever. But before the movie came out, WE WILL ROCK YOU—The Musical was touring Europe. “It has been on tour in Europe, and it did really good there,” said Michael Tipton, General Manager of Spectra Venue Management. “It is a rock musical, basically kind of like Mamma Mia with the music of Abba, but this is with the music of Queen. There are at least 24 songs by Queen in the musical, so you are going to get a walk down memory lane with this.” The show will take place on October 21st at the Memorial Auditorium.
Before you jump to conclusions, this isn’t a remake of the Bohemian Rhapsody movie. It is actually a fictional story. WE WILL ROCK YOU follows two revolutionaries on a quest to save rock n’ roll in a post-apocalyptic world where there are no musical instruments and rock n’ roll has died, according to the show description. The two heroes will join a small group of outcasts from society, the Bohemians, as they fight to take back the iPlanet from Globalsoft, led by the Killer Queen. They fight for freedom, individuality, and the rebirth of rock n’ roll.
“The music is live and there is a band. I know in Europe there were a couple of shows in which one of the original guitarist from Queen sat in, but I don’t think we will get that here,” he said with a grin. “I think we all, no matter what age, remember Queen, and we all love their music. It is going to be a great night for music for some classic rock and for young people who watched Bohemian Rhapsody to see another theater production based on Queen’s music.”
“It will appeal to people who love classic rock and those that love the theater,” Connor Floyd, Marketing Director, said. Michael added. “If you have a husband or a wife, and the husband doesn’t like to go to the theatre, he is still going to have a great time at this show, because he is going to hear some Queen that we all remember from our younger days.”
With the movie Bohemian Rhapsody opening last year, it created new Queen fans that were too young to remember seeing Queen when they were in their heyday, and this production will appeal to them also. The musical is based on the songs of Queen and a book by Ben Elton (The Young Ones, Blackadder, Popcorn). He fashioned this futuristic story around more than 24 of Queen’s biggest hit songs including We Are the Champions, Killer Queen, Someone to Love, Under Pressure, Bohemian Rhapsody and, of course, We Will Rock You.
Over 16 million theatergoers in 19 countries have seen the musical and WE WILL ROCK YOU reflects the scale and spectacle that marked Queen’s live performances and earned the band its position in rock history. WE WILL ROCK YOU promises to rock as fiercely as an original Queen concert. Freddy Mercury, Queen’s late lead singer, was quoted as saying, “A concert is not a live rendition of your album. It is a theatrical event.”
Come and enjoy a one of a kind show that you won’t soon forget.
-Cindy Kahler Thomas
