Calling on the words of Freddie Mercury, Ben Elton described the experience as "dynamite with a lot of laser beams," paraphrasing a lyric by the late great frontman from the song "Killer Queen."
"We Will Rock You" is not a Queen nostalgia trip or a "Jersey Boys"-style bio-musical. Mr. Elton wrote an original story for the show that has been playing in London since 2000. Original band members Brian May and Roger Taylor have been involved in every note and orchestration, including auditioning and working with a cast that's 24 strong and with the eight musicians in the show.
3 comments:
I've never been to a rock concert or have had any interest in seeing this show, but after reading the description, I was very intrigued. I love how the original band members Brian May and Roger Taylor have had a major part in this production from the early stages of production. This is a critical element to this production because to do a rock concert based off a band you need representation from that band to make the show authentic. These men must be getting a ton of money from doing this, but without them the show would be practically nothing. Mark Fisher is the designer for the show who is an amazing artist. I was looking at his website and he has designed for TV, film, theatre, and even the Olympics. This show I think would be really great to see if you are interested in rock and roll, but for me that genre of music isn't my forte. I would however enjoy the show form a design standpoint and seeing the world become alive through costumes and scenery.
I have very mixed emotions about a show like this. I personally do not see how this music can turn into a compelling story. This is because the music is over-powering by nature and very unexpected for a musical. I'm very interested to see how Pittsburgh responds to the production. There are going to be audience members who will go crazy over it because of the music, but are they expanding their theater knowledge?
So Nathan just told me that this show is awful which is really sad. Just thought I would say that. In fact, it says in the article that London critics were not fans of the show. At the same time "We Will Rock You" has apparently been attracting audiences for 13 years. This show reminds me of the musical "American Idiot" because they are both trying to pay tribute to bands with a bad musical. With that "American Idiot" has also racked in A TON of money. These shows have such good potential but the shows can not ride on the music alone. The "Romeo and Juliet" theme is not even original.
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