WWRY Toronto - Opening Preview

[HatBoy]

Posted: 3/2/07 at 5:54pm

March 14th is the first performance of "We Will Rock You," and I'm very excited for it.
I will be in the audience, and I'm curious as to who else will be attending?

Opening Night is sometime in April (9th I believe? I could be wrong though.) but it's an invite-only performance, for the press. I suppose the members of Queen will be there too, as well as maybe a few other special guests.

I know the cast was already mentioned in a thread a while ago, but I thought I'd post the cast list again just for those who would like to see it again.

THE CAST

Yvan Pedneault - Galileo
Erica Peck - Scaramouche
Alana Bridgewater - Killer Queen
Evan Buliung - Khashoggi
Jack Langedijk - Pop
Suzie McNeil - Oz
Sterling Jarvis - Britney
Danny Balkwill - Big Macca
Jewelle Blackman - Teacher

THE ENSEMBLE

Matt Alfano
Breanne Arrigo
Adam Bolton
Nicole Bourgeois
Lindsay Croxall
Peter Deiwick
Kelly-Ann Evans
Kelly Fletcher
Brittany Gray
Deidrea Halley
Bryan Hindle,
Melanie McInenly
Lindsay Owen Pierre
Jesse Robb
Talia Schlanger
Jason Sermonia
Valerie Stanois
Sam Strasfeld
Darren Voros
Scott Walters


Also, I talked to Sam Strasfeld and he said that today is their 4th day of Tech Rehearsals.

Lastly (I promise), a little tidbit about Kelly Fletcher, she was in the ensemble for the Hairspray movie and I believe she's captioned in one of BWW's pictures with Brittany Snow.

:)

Updated On: 3/2/07 at 05:54 PM

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/2/07 at 6:01pm

Are we supposed to know what WWRY is?

[HatBoy]

Posted: 3/2/07 at 6:06pm

Hehe, Sorry. I didn't want the title to be too long.

WWRY - "We Will Rock You".

I'm glad you were polite about it, though.

[HatBoy]

Posted: 3/8/07 at 3:40pm

Pictures are now up from a photoshoot.

http://www.wewillrockyou.ca/gallery

Enjoy. Opening preview is less than a week away!

[HatBoy]

Posted: 3/14/07 at 11:07am

https://www.playbill.com/news/article/106482.html

Today's the day!

[HatBoy]

Posted: 3/16/07 at 2:49pm

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.

[tazber]

Posted: 3/16/07 at 3:12pm

Awesome review Aaron! I'm so glad you liked it. Was the song Friend Will Be Friends in the show?

[today4u:proofpositiv]

Posted: 3/16/07 at 3:13pm

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

[HatBoy]

Posted: 3/16/07 at 3:19pm

No problem guys, I'm glad somebody enjoyed. :-P

Rick, "Friends Will Be Friends" was not in the show, unfortunately.
Today4U, enjoy the show. You should have a blast.

[today4u:proofpositiv]

Posted: 3/17/07 at 12:59am

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.

[musical_devotee]

Posted: 3/17/07 at 3:12am

It's great to hear you're all satisfied. An excellent review, HatBoy; it brings back memories.

I saw it in London last year and was blown away by it. Wouldn't mind seeing it again.

[Justin_]

Posted: 3/17/07 at 11:41pm

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

[Dancin Thru Life]

Posted: 3/18/07 at 1:00pm

Thanks HATBOY, TODAY4U, and JUSTIN!

Glad to read your review and find the show doing well!

I saw it in Vegas and loved it! Looks like its time for another road trip to catch this one!

:)

[MissElphie]

Posted: 3/18/07 at 1:19pm

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