We Will Rock You (Musical)
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| Title: | We will rock you |
| Original title: | We will rock you |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Queen ( Under Pressure with David E ) |
| Book: | Ben Elton |
| Lyrics: | Queen ( Under Pressure with David Bowie ) |
| Premiere: | May 14, 2002 |
| Place of premiere: | London, Dominion Theater |
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We Will Rock You is a jukebox musical by Ben Elton and the British rock group Queen , named after the song of the same name and produced with the participation of band members Brian May and Roger Taylor . Both musicians are actively involved as musical supervisors in the casting of actors and musicians in all international productions of the musical.
The action of We Will Rock You takes place in the future 50 years away and tells the story of a group of rebels, the Bohemians. In their world ruled by an all-powerful corporation, any individuality is forbidden. Everyone thinks and does the same thing, dress alike and listen to the same computer-generated music. Instruments are forbidden, rock music has long been forgotten. Only the bohemians still fight for freedom of thought, fashion and music.
Various productions of We Will Rock You existed and still exist around the world .
Productions
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West End production
The London original version of the rock musical comes from the pen of the theater, novel and screenwriter Ben Elton and was produced by Queen Theatrical Productions together with Robert de Niros Tribeca Theatrical Productions and Phil McIntyre Entertainment. The musical celebrated on 14 May 2002 at the Dominion Theater in London's West End its premiere .
The production was initially rejected by the critics, but developed into a veritable popular success. Although it was to be canceled in October 2006 or to move to a smaller London theater, it was abandoned due to the continued high demand for tickets.
We Will Rock You was played for the last time in London on May 31, 2014 . With a running time of more than twelve years and more than 6.5 million viewers in over 4600 performances, We Will Rock You is the production with the longest season at the Dominion Theater, one of the largest theaters in the West End with 2000 seats. In addition, We Will Rock You , the musical listed on ninth-longest in the history of London's theater district.
German-language production
A German-language version, produced by Fandango Musical GmbH together with Queen Theatrical Productions, Phil McIntyre Entertainments and Robert De Niros Tribeca Theatrical Productions, has been a guest at various stages in German-speaking countries since December 12, 2004 (date of the premiere in the Musical Dome Cologne ), temporarily in two different places at the same time. By 2015, a total of over 4 million viewers saw this production. The libretto was translated into German by Jörn Ingwersen, five of the lyrics by Wolfgang Adenberg .
- Cologne : Premiere: December 12th, 2004, Derniere: September 28th, 2008
- Zurich : Premiere: November 17, 2006, dererniere: December 31, 2007
- Vienna : Premiere: January 16, 2008, Derniere: July 13, 2008
- Stuttgart : Premiere: November 14, 2008, dererniere: September 16, 2010
- Berlin : Premiere: October 21, 2010, Derniere: October 21, 2011
- Tour I ( Basel , Essen ): Premiere: December 11, 2012, June 30, 2013
- Tour II ( Munich , Frankfurt am Main , Vienna , Hamburg , Cologne ): Premiere: September 9, 2014, Derniere: August 16, 2015
- Tour III ( Vienna , Zurich , Essen , Cologne , Basel , Leipzig , Berlin , Bremen , Hamburg , Stuttgart , Erfurt , Hanover , Frankfurt am Main ): Premiere: October 13, 2020
| We Will Rock You Germany | Premiere cast Cologne (2004) | Premiere cast Stuttgart (2008) | Premiere cast Berlin (2010) | Premiere cast Tour I (2012) | Premiere cast Tour II (2014) | Premiere cast Tour III (2020/21) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Galileo | Serkan Kaya / Alex Melcher | Alex Melcher | Mark Seibert | Christopher Brose | NN | |
| Scaramouche | Vera Bolten | Jessica Kessler | Jeannine Michèle Wacker | NN | ||
| Killer queen | Brigitte Oelke | NN | ||||
| Khashoggi | Martin Berger | Jon Agar | Reinwald Kranner | Martin Berger | NN | |
| Meat / Ozzy | Michaela Kovarikova | Julia Berger | Silke Braas | Anna Lidman | Linda Holmgren | NN |
| Britney | David-Michael Johnson | Markus Neugebauer | NN | |||
| Pop / Bap | James Sbano | Alexander Brugnara | Jörg Neubauer | Leon Van Leeuwenberg | NN | |
International productions
| city | Venue | Playtime |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 2003 | |
| Madrid | Spain | 2003 and 2007 |
| Perth | Australia | 2004 |
| Brisbane | Australia | 2004 |
| Las Vegas | United States | 2004 |
| Sydney | Australia | 2004 |
| Moscow | Russia | 2004 |
| Tokyo | Japan | 2005 and 2006 |
| Johannesburg | South Africa | 2005 |
| Cape Town | South Africa | 2006 |
| Durban | South Africa | 2006 |
| Osaka | Japan | 2007 |
| Toronto | Canada | 2007 |
| Auckland | New Zealand | 2007 |
| Seongnam | South Korea | 2008 |
| Singapore | Singapore | 2008 |
| Hong Kong | China | 2008 |
| Bangkok | Thailand | 2008 |
| Milan | Italy | 2009 |
| Utrecht | Netherlands | 2010 |
| Stockholm | Sweden | 2010 |
| Oslo | Norway | 2011 |
| Copenhagen | Denmark | 2011 |
| Antwerp | Belgium | 2011 |
| Edinburgh | Scotland | 2019 |
| Londonderry | Northern Ireland | 2019 |
| Jacksonville | United States | 2019 |
| Hengelo , Amsterdam , The Hague , Groningen , Apeldorn , Heerlen , Breda | Netherlands | 2019/2020 |
International tours
| country | Period |
|---|---|
| Spain | 2004-2006 |
| Great Britain | 2009-2010 |
| Great Britain | 2010-2011 |
| Italy | 2011 |
| 10th Anniversary World Arena Tour | 2013 |
| US National Tour | 2013-2014 |
| Great Britain (UK tour) | 2019-2020 |
| North America (North American Tour) | 2019-2020 |
| world | 2019-2021 |
| North America Tour 2019/2020: Premiere: October 4, 2019 in Las Vegas |
Variations of individual productions
The individual international productions differ only slightly from one another. Whole songs were rarely exchanged in order to better reach the target groups. For example, " Play the Game " in Australia was replaced by " Now I'm Here " and " Who Wants to Live Forever " in the Las Vegas production was replaced by " You're My Best Friend ", with the entire Vegas show suffered some cuts to meet the local 90 minute standard. Interestingly, the track "Fat Bottomed Girls" was only recorded briefly in the original British production, only later international productions decided to perform the song in full. Due to the positive response, this change was soon implemented in London.
The names and character traits of the protagonists were essentially retained on an international level, only the female Bohemian is known by two names - "Meat" and "Ozzy" or "Oz", depending on whether Meat Loaf or Ozzy Osbourne in the country concerned better known. Her friend "Britney" (after Britney Spears ) was renamed exclusively in Cologne to "JB", for Jeanette Biedermann . In addition, there are the constantly changing names of the individual Bohemians, which depend on the current level of awareness of the people concerned. For example, celebrities such as Paul McCartney , Robbie Williams , Dieter Bohlen , Mika , Aretha Franklin , Jackson 5 , Daniel Küblböck and Bob the Builder have made an “appearance” in We Will Rock You . In the Viennese production, for example, some names were often changed during the season.
In 2003 a soundtrack by the Original London Cast was released, but the tracks " Crazy Little Thing Called Love ", "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bicycle Race" had to be excluded due to lack of space. The original line-ups have released their own soundtracks in Spain and Germany, although “ Don't Stop Me Now ” is missing in the German production due to lack of space .
The plot
prolog
A film records the most important dates in the history of rock music. In a nutshell, they run across the screen, from their birth - until their death in 2040 (“Innuendo”).
first act
We are 50 years in the future. The earth has been renamed Planet eBay and is owned by the Global Soft Corporation. Musical instruments are prohibited, as is music that has not been programmed by Global Soft. The commercial mainstream has supplanted every other culture.
Once again, old hippie Bap narrowly escaped the police. Using a recording device, he immediately continued working on his “rebel archive”. It tells of the golden age of rock music and its downfall, which was closely related to an entertainment phenomenon called "Germany is looking for the superstar" and resulted in the absolute cultural supremacy of the Global Soft Corporation and "Gaga". Suddenly the commander of the Global Soft secret police, Khashoggi, appears with his henchmen. Bap is arrested and questioned by Khashoggi. Khashoggi learns of a prophecy according to which salvation is hidden beneath the “Classic Rock” on the “Olympus of Champions” and the way there will one day be shown by a “bright star”. Khashoggi has heard enough. He has Bap taken to a place called the Seven Seas of Rhye. All rebels are banished there after they have cleared their minds.
At a school, some Gaga kids - all in the same clothes, with identical hairstyles and the same dance moves - celebrate their graduation (“Radio Ga Ga”). Shortly thereafter, Galileo Figaro enters the stage, stuttering, insecure and already visually - in leather jacket and jeans - not at all a Gaga kid. He stops while the other kids go to party. Galileo's teacher tries to cheer him up. Galileo tells her about his dreams in which he hears words and sounds that he does not understand. She tries to convince "her most talented student" to adapt to the Gaga world and work for Global Soft. But Galileo doesn't want to. He'd rather make his own music. ("I Want to Break Free"). Only a few minutes later he finds himself trapped in a laser cell.
The teacher denounced Galileo to Commandant Khashoggi. And she told him about another potential rebel, a stubborn girl dressed in black (“I can't stand it here” / “I Want to Break Free [Reprise]”). Like Galileo, she too is cut by the Gaga kids. But despite being an outsider, she believes in love ("Somebody to Love"). She too is arrested by Khashoggi.
The ruler of the Global Soft Corporation, the "governing chairwoman" Killer Queen, basks in the sheen of her power ("Killer Queen"). When she asks Commander Khashoggi whether the resistance against Global Soft has finally been completely broken, he has to report that the prophecy of old Bap should be taken seriously. Musical instruments still seem to be hidden somewhere on the planet - under the “Classic Rock”. Before going back to work - the complete commercial subjugation of everyone's imagination - the killer Queen orders Khashoggi to blast every stone on the planet ("Play the Game").
Commander Khashoggi interrogates Galileo. After he is sure that he neither understands the meaning of the words that haunt his head nor knows who the so-called "Bohemians" are - rock rebels and resistanceists - he believes that Galileo is the key to victory against the resistance of the To hold bohemians in hand. The Killer Queen orders him to finally wipe out the annoying Bohemians. The new age that the rebels dream of, the "Rhapsody", should never come true.
With their heads bandaged, Galileo and the unruly "Goth Girl" wake up in a hospital. Galileo tells her about his strange dreams and visions. The two realize that they are in the same boat - and the danger they are in. They flee ("Under Pressure").
Meanwhile, the order of the Killer Queen was carried out and every stone and rock on the planet was pulverized in search of the last instruments. But they were not found. The Killer Queen and Khashoggi are certain: the prophecy of the Bohemians will never come true. Because it is not just that the mythical instruments do not seem to exist. Khashoggi set a trap for the Bohemians. When it snaps shut, Global Soft's power over the planet will finally be complete ("A Kind of Magic").
Two strangely dressed figures roam a wasteland, clearly no gagas. Brit and his girlfriend Ozzy, two Bohemians, are looking for material from which musical instruments can be made. Brit is a firm believer in the "dreamer", the man who, according to the words of prophecy, will one day bring music back into the world. Ozzy doubts it, but Brit knows: one day he will find the man who brings music back to life ("I Want It All"). When they hear voices, the two hide.
The voices belong to the two escaped. Galileo tells of his premonition that he was destined for something special. His visions tell him that salvation can be found at "Olymp des Classis Rock" and that the way there will one day be shown by a bright star. And he wants to give his girlfriend a name he dreamed of: Scaramouche. Ozzy and Brit suddenly jump out of their hiding place. Ozzy and Brit accuse Galileo and Scaramouche of being spies because Galileo is constantly uttering words from the secret "holy text" of the Bohemians. When Galileo asserts that he only knows the words from his dreams, Brit puts him to the test. He sings the first lines of "Bohemian Rhapsody". Galileo replies with the correct following lines. Now Brit is sure that Galileo is the dreamer from the prophecy and they take him and Scaramouche to the "Heartbreak Hotel", the hiding place of the Bohemians ("Headlong").
In the Heartbreak Hotel, the Bohemians reveal their secrets to Galileo and Scaramouche: They give themselves their names after deceased heroes of rock music, find their clothes themselves (“Keinrueer Held” / Engl. “No One but You (Only the Good Die Young) “) and they know that the music of their presence is not true music. Because true music, as it used to be, is born of love and written with passion (“Crazy Little Thing Called Love”).
Suddenly the Heartbreak Hotel is stormed by Khashoggi and his secret police. The Bohemians are arrested. Brit is able to free himself from the laser cell and gives the police a fight ("Ogre Battle"), with which he enables Scaramouche and Galileo to escape, but in which he is killed himself.
Second act
The Gaga kids continue to live in their perfect world (“One Vision”) while Galileo and Scaramouche, after escaping from the Heartbreak Hotel, realize that they have been implanted with tracking devices in the hospital. You yourself led Khashoggi into the hiding place of the Bohemians. They remove the microchips and when it dawns on them that they are the last of the rebels and that everything depends on them, they realize that they have changed. Finally there is something worth living for: their love. And this love will stay with them, even if they probably have to die soon (“Who Wants to Live Forever”).
Khashoggi tortures the surviving Bohemians in order to find out what they know about “Classic Rock” and the “Olympus of Champions” (“Flash”). It turns out that they understand the prophecy just as little as Galileo or Khashoggi himself. Nevertheless, Khashoggi lets the rebels' minds wiped out and banishes them to the "Seven Seas of Rhye" in order to finally break the last resistance against Global Soft (" Seven Seas of Rhye ").
Galileo and Scaramouche wake up after their first night together. Galileo dreamed that the Bohemians had been kidnapped to a place called "Seven Seas of Rhye". Scaramouche is not surprised and even knows that the "Seven Seas of Rhye" is a pub on the banks of the great lake, because she manipulated one of the tracking devices and bugged the police headquarters. Now she wants to go to the Bohemians with Galileo to save them. But Galileo wants to go alone. After all, he is the man the world has been waiting for. Angry, both get into a dispute and finally agree on a joint search, but from now on on a purely “professional basis” (“hammer to fall”).
In the meantime, Khashoggi reports to the killer queen at Global Soft headquarters about the capture of the Bohemians and the destruction of the Heartbreak Hotel ("Fat Bottomed Girls"). The killer queen's joy over the good news (“Don't Stop Me Now”) is quickly over when Khashoggi mentions that Galileo and Scaramouche were able to escape. Disappointed, the killer queen gets rid of the loser Khashoggi ("Another One Bites the Dust").
In the "Seven Seas of Rhye" pub on Lake Geneva, the old bap serves the other, completely apathetic Bohemians drinks ("These Are The Days of Our Lives"). When Scaramouche and Galileo arrive, he - the former librarian of the Bohemians - tells the two of them the story of the demise of music and of the band Queen, who hid their musical instruments in order to leave weapons for future rebels against the threat of harmonization of music. He explains to them how the prophecy emerges from the first lines of the Bohemian Rhapsody, and even before the three of them understand what is happening, they discover the meaning of Galileo's dreams. When the statue of Freddie Mercury emerges from the water of the lake, Scaramouche realizes that the “bright star” from the prophecy can only refer to this statue - the statue of the greatest rock star of all time. It quickly becomes clear to everyone that it shows the way to Wembley Stadium, the Olympus of champions, where the last musical instruments must be hidden.
Immediately Galileo, Scaramouche and Bap make their way there ("Headlong [Reprise]"). But when they get there, they find nothing but rubble and ashes, not the slightest trace of instruments. Galileo collapses disappointed. But Scaramouche doesn't want to give up and encourages him to just make music without instruments. Galileo takes heart. He declares his love for Scaramouche and begins to “stomp the beat” (“We Will Rock You”). The music reveals the lost instrument, the greatest weapon of freedom that has ever existed, “the mighty ax of the long-haired man”: an electric guitar. Galileo can't play it, but Scaramouche is all the better (“Brighton Rock [Solo]”). Bap hacked into Global Soft's computer system, broadcasting the music across the planet. The power of real rock defeats the killer queen ("Tie Your Mother Down") and the Bohemians (and Khashoggi) are freed ("We Will Rock You" and then "We Are the Champions").
Track list
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first act
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Second act
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Awards
- Olivier Awards, UK, 2011: BBC Radio 2 Audience Award winners
- Olivier Awards, UK, 2010: nominated "Most Popular Show", "Audience Award"
- Dora Awards, Toronto, Canada, 2007: "Outstanding Production of a Musical"
- Theatergoers' Choice Awards, UK, 2003: "Best New Musical", "Best Actor" (Tony Vincent), "Best Actress in a Musical" (Hannah Jane Fox), "Best Supporting Actress in a Musical" (Sharon D Clarke) , "Best Director" (Christopher Rentshaw)
- Capital Gold Radio “Legends” Awards, UK, 2003: Best Live Performance of the Year
- WhatsonStage Awards, UK 2003: Best New Musical Award