Featuring a book by Ben Elton, We Will Rock You is in its 11th year at London's Dominion Theatre. A new European arena tour, separate from the U.S. touring production, launched in late February.
The U.S. tour of the two-and-a-half-hour musical is presented by Queen Theatrical Productions, Tribeca Theatrical Productions, Phil McIntyre Entertainment and NETworks Presentations. Designed for a proscenium stage, it will launch at Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center Oct. 15-20.
Complete North American tour dates have not been revealed; however, original Queen band member Brian May, who is also a co-producer of the show, stated in a previous blog post that We Will Rock You "will sit down in NYC for a while too!"
We Will Rock You has book and direction by Ben Elton, music and music supervision by Queen/Roger Taylor and Brian May, musical staging and choreography by Arlene Phillips, design and lights by Mark Fisher and Willie Williams, sound by Bobby Aitkenl and costumes by Tim Goodchild.
"This show is all about legend," Elton said in a statement. "We take the legend of Queen and create our own fantastical story of young kids battling the mighty corporation who wants to suppress their individuality and their love of music. They need a hero who can help them in their struggle, and we have two – the dreamer Galileo, and the sassy rock chick Scaramouche. Guess who ends up winning?" Elton regularly revises the book for the long-running show to keep it relevant to new audiences and cities. We Will Rock You is also available for licensing to school groups in the U.K.
Here's how it's billed: "We Will Rock You takes place in a future age on a planet once called Earth that is now controlled by a mighty corporation. Globalization is complete. Individuality is taboo. Everyone watches the same movies, wears the same clothes and thinks the same thoughts. Music is generated by the corporation's computers, rock music is unheard and all musical instruments are banned. The hope of breaking free rests with an unlikely resistance – an alliance of rebel Bohemians, waiting for a hero to lead the battle to bring the power of rock back to the people."
