WWRY Toronto - Opening Preview

Are we supposed to know what WWRY is?

Pictures are now up from a photoshoot.

http://www.wewillrockyou.ca/gallery

Enjoy. Opening preview is less than a week away!

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Here's a review of the the show's Opening Preview, on March 14th, 2007.

There's hardly anything bad that I could point out about the Canadian cast of We Will Rock You. The cast as a whole is very strong, and I would never believe that it was their first performance in front of a paying audience. They seemed like they had been performing for years. They were very comfortable on the stage, as well as when they made interaction with the audience.

Suzie McNeil is a standout in the show. She is perfection as the character "Oz". I was unsure if she had the chops for the role, particularily the acting- but she pulled through phenomenally. I was blown away. Her performance provided shivers, laughs, it was just.. brilliant. My father turned to me at intermission and said "I really think Suzie should be playing the lead role." That speaks for itself, I think.

One of the things that made the show for me was the various Canadian Pop-culture references, and just general Pop-culture. My favourite has to be a poke at Britney Spears and her shaved head. A lot of them included Celine Dion, Clay Aiken, Avril Lavigne, Maple Leaf Gardens, American Idol, Newfoundland, Zellers, etc. I love that they adjust the script according to what city the show plays at.

I wasn't expecting to be blown away by the show, I thought it may be a little too "Rock-ish" for me. But the only "fault", if you could call it that, is that it was a lot more... robot-like than I had expected. It takes on a very futuristic context, but they made it work. Some things I also found unconvincing for me, personally, were that some actions were poorly motivated (but that would be a problem on the scripts behalf, not the actors). Other than that, I was pleasantly surprised. A very big change from Wicked, but something tells me I'll be able to make the transition with ease. (Haha)

As for bloopers, it was just a bit of fumbling-of-lines by Yvan Pedneault ("Galileo," the male lead). I think it's just because of his evident French-Canadian accent, but it's nothing that can't be easily remedied with practise. During "Bohemian Rhapsody," Alana Bridgewater (who played "Killer Queen") took the microphone for her part to sing, but didn't realize she was holding it upside down, so the first few words of the phrase were lost until she turned it around. The cast had a little laugh to themselves over that.

Overall, it was a great night. I plan to see the show again and see how it's developed since it's first performance. I would recommend the show to everyone (especially the Canadian's out there) who enjoy a funny, close-to-home show. And of course, for people who just love to rock out.

All in all, I was "rocked" by We Will Rock You.

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Thanks for the review HatBoy. I'm going tonight! :d

I just got back and all I can say is wow. I did indeed have a blast. The show was solid - completely amazing from start to finish. The cast was able to captivate the entire audience (including the annoying and immature school group that occupied most of the mezzanine) thanks to the overall strong vocals, and dance sequences. Whoever thought of selling the glowsticks is a genius, IMO. The audience had really high energy tonight and was waving them around through almost every song.

Umm... I don't have too much more to add to HatBoy's review... I personally liked Yvan Pedneault's French-Canadian accent. I think it added a little something extra to the character - a little Canadian flare maybe? I don't know...

I can't really point out any faults from tonight's performance. The only thing I didn't like was the pictures slideshow during "Only the Good Die Young". I thought the pictures were going a bit too fast for the music, but maybe that's just me. All in all it was an excellent production and I will definetely be seeing it again in the near future and I recommend it to anyone and everyone.

I saw the show March 16th and I have to completely agree. I was expecting this show to really be filler with a lot of good music, but the storyline actually worked and I was more than happily on my feet by the end of the show.

Erica Peck (Scaramouche) was exceptional in the role. Her voice is out of this world. Yvan adds a whole new dimension to the character of Galileo, and I loved that he was French. The point when he breaks out in a French spiel to express his love for Scaramouche was priceless.

All of the singers were great as was the band. The only negative aspect of the show I could find was that they played up the Toronto/Canada/Celebrity jokes a little too much. While some were hilarious (Britney Spears shaving her head, clay aiken etc...) some were just over the top and not needed to get the audience laughing. Especially the Canadian panties/undershorts on Scaramouche seemed a little much.

However, the show was AMAZING and I'm definetely going to try to go back. This will be a much better sit-down than LOTR (even though I really enjoyed parts of LOTR).


Anyone know what performances Danny Balkwill plays as the Galileo alternate? I'd love to see him in the role

Updated On: 3/17/07 at 11:41 PM

My review is here if anyone wants to read it. I went the to the 2nd preview: https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=928810