We Will Rock You

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 6/10/04 at 12:37am

Has anyone heard of this musical?
Apparently it's based on Queen songs......which is pretty exciting for an old-school rock geek like myself.
The show is coming to Toronto for a little while and I'd like to know if anyone's seen it and could offer opinions.

......still waiting for a Meatloaf musical.......

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 6/10/04 at 12:48am

(Meatloaf musical? Just rent Rocky Horror Picture Show. It's as close as you're going to get.)

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 6/10/04 at 1:21am

I was pretty excited to get ahold of the CD, as Queen has always been my favorite band and probably the only rock music I consistently listen to. From what I can tell from the London CD, the music is of course a lot of fun but the plot is some ridiculous construct about computers and a futuristic society that attempts to restrict the release of "real music". As much as I love the theatrical element so strong in Queen songs the lyrics in most of the songs don't lend themselves well to much of a story. I can't say for sure since I haven't actually seen the show, but it seems that this is the reason it's hitting Vegas for its first U.S. stop. It's less of a conventional musical and more of a spectacle-based sci-fi rock concert. I'd love to hear from someone who's seen a production.

[ozboy]

Posted: 6/10/04 at 3:00am

I've seen it in London and Melbourne. It's okay. I mean, the story and book are ridiculous, the jokes/dialogue just plain cringe-worthy. There's really no substance to the writing at all, and being a fan of Ben Elton's writing I was bitterly disappointed by that. But the score (i.e Queen's music) really makes it fun. It's the next best thing to seeing Queen live - the band are phenomenal. Also, the sheer size of it makes it more of a concert, that and the fact that the "sets" are little more than 8 giant LCD screens that fly in and out.

The thing that makes the difference between really bad to quite fun is the music and the cast. With a good cast (like the original London cast) the performances are excellent. You can hear it on the OLC cd and not be bothered by the story! The Australian cast, not quite as good, but they had their moments. Plus, the whole thing was scaled down by half (from 8 to 4 screens) in Australia, so it sort of lost the concert feel a bit.

If it gets to Broadway, expect it to be the next Wicked - it's a show for teeny-boppers who will overrun the boards with questions about when [cute leading man's name] is out or how WWRY was robbed of the Tony... urgh.

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 6/10/04 at 4:00am

i really wonder if it'll make it to Broadway or if it's just more of a Las Vegas kind of show. if it does, what'll set it apart from Wicked is that there is simply no way to mistakenly interpret WWRY as having substance. it is smart in not pretending to be more meaningful than it is. also, if it were to become the next darling of the Broadway teeny-boppers, it would at least introduce them to some great music. Queen is awesome!

[ozboy]

Posted: 6/10/04 at 5:47am

Thats very true. And not only that, if they promote it the way they did in London it'll introduce a lot of people to theatre in general. The show was initially tanking, but they managed to get the cast onto some high profile concerts & TV shows (Party in the Park, the Queen's golden jubilee concert, Parkinson, etc) and that got a lot of young non-theater/non-Queen fans in who were more interested in seeing Tony Vincent than the show itself. It grew by word of mouth from there and now it's got quite a big base of hardcore fans.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 6/10/04 at 8:35am

PLeas make it stop! This "juke box of our lives" that seems to be the hot ticket in producing "musicals". What about creativity & originality and even *whispers* a decent book? Sigh.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/10/04 at 9:18am

There have always been fluff musicals. There will always be fluff musicals. Once you accept it, it is much easier to deal with. If people enjoy it and it employs actors, what is the big deal?

[Deena Jones2]

Posted: 6/10/04 at 9:50am

WWRY was one of the WORST shows I have ever seen. The choreography was HIDEOUSLY embarassing. The book rots and the jokes are even worse. But, oh, that splendid Queen music! Some really strong singing from the performances that I saw in London. That was the saving grace. Except really, for the Killer Queen who was just plain awful.