We Will Rock You - musical review with spoilers (Paris Las Vegas) - November 13, 2004

The newest trend in stage musicals incorporates familiar songs from popular artists in a brand new story that ties the songs together. The first and most successful of the breed is "Mamma Mia", which utilizes the songs of Abba. "We Will Rock You" follows in the same vein, using the songs of Queen, and has been playing in London for several years now. There are also productions in Spain, Australia, Germany and Moscow. The North American debut is a production at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas which opened in September. I am a huge fan of "Mamma Mia", and when I first heard about "We Will Rock You", I was eager to see it as well but resigned that it would be many years before a touring company would come out to Southern California. So I was especially happy when I heard that the show was coming to Las Vegas, a mere hour away by plane. I had ordered the CD of the original London cast from the UK (after reading rave reviews) and had loved what I'd heard so was excited about seeing the show.

"We Will Rock You" is set 300 years in the future, where Earth is now known as Planet Mall, run by supercorporation Global Soft and headed by Killer Queen and her second-in-command Khashoggi. Society has been homogenized and controlled, and all music is now corporate generated, with all prior music and all musical instruments having been destroyed. However, there is one person, Galileo Figaro, who hears strange notes in his head, fighting alongside strange phrases to get out. He discovers that he is not alone in his non-conformity when he meets Scaramouche, a girl who also finds herself having difficulty fitting in. They discover that there is a small group of people, Bohemians, who have scavenged the last scraps of what was left of rock music, and together, they fight to bring rock music back to the world.

There are two performances on Saturday night, which I found unusual, with the earlier show starting at 7pm. That seemed inconvenient to plan dinner around, so we opted for the 10:30 show. We arrived shortly before showtime and took our seats, which were in the second row of the center section, several seats from the aisle. The two lead characters are played by two different sets of actors, and the sign in the lobby area listed the names of the actors in their respective roles.

The show started right around 10:30pm and ran for two hours with no intermission.

As a whole, I enjoyed the show. I thought the performances were good all around, but my biggest problem had to do with the story. I had been expecting something like "Mamma Mia", with a regular story that just happens to use the music of Abba, but there is no direct reference to Abba. "We Will Rock You" differs greatly in that it's not a regular musical but rather, part musical, part Queen tribute and part rock concert. Queen plays a significant part in the story, which to me is a problem, but I think even if they had played a small part, it would have been a problem. The story goes along at a good pace, explaining how music was suppressed and following Galileo's and Scaramouche's journey to find the last vestiges of rock music. However, about half-way through the show, the story completely turns, with Queen being responsible for stashing away some musical instruments that when found by the right person, will signal the rebirth of rock music. The story is made even worse by having the events in the later part of the show occur in Las Vegas, and even the musical itself is mentioned in the dialogue. Some people may regard this as tongue-in-cheek humour, but for me, it seemed much too self-referential and completely ripped me out of the story. They started to lose me the more they talked about Las Vegas, solidified when the two lead characters actually arrived in Las Vegas. Apparently, the original London version has them ending up at Wembley Stadium, which at least makes much more sense given that Queen has performed there, and it wouldn't be as self-referential since that's not where the musical is performed. In this case, the constant "wink-wink-nudge-nudge" of watching a musical that talks about itself really just started to annoy me. Aside from all that, even the main theme of the show gets a bit preachy, making you almost feel like you should like only what they tell you is good and nothing else, instead of embracing all kinds of music.

There are also numerous current pop culture references in the show, from Janet Jackson to Britney Spears to Jessica Simpson to Clay Aiken, to mention just a few. While that generally works fine for a contemporary audience, the references are also going to very quickly date the show as pop culture constantly shifts and changes. However, most of the references are in dialogue only, so at least they can be updated as time passes.

In general, I thought they did a terrific job of incorporating the songs into the story. The best example of this is "You're My Best Friend", which Galileo and Scaramouche sweetly sing to each other, cementing their burgeoning relationship. Some of the songs are sort of shoehorned in (like "Another One Bites The Dust"), and in the case of "Fat Bottomed Girls", I couldn't even begin to figure out how that fit into the story.

One mystery that is revealed towards the end of the show is the location of the band. Rather than a normal orchestra, they instead utilize an 8-piece band. They are not in their normal space underneath the stage, and for the duration of the show, I kept wondering where they were located. In the final scenes of the show, they are revealed to be high atop the back of the stage.

My biggest problem with the show was that it wasn't done as a straight story. While it was definitely a tribute to Queen simply by virtue of using their music, I think the tribute was much too blatant. There were times where it almost felt like I was at a church revival meeting, except that they were singing the praises of Queen. I am a Queen fan, but I'm not a hard-core fan in that I only know some of the songs in their catalog, so maybe someone who's a die-hard fan who doesn't care as much about having a story as you would in a traditional musical would enjoy the show more.

According to the ticket, children must be 6 and over to attend (though there was no such restriction indicated on the website). There is quite a bit of adult humour in the show, so anyone bringing young teens and children are forewarned.

Cameras and recording devices are prohibited.

Tony Vincent originated the role of Galileo in the London production and reprises the role in Las Vegas, and he has a wonderful voice, beautifully handling the vocals. I liked the choice of "I Want To Break Free" as his first song as he definitely makes an impressive entrance. For the most part, he does an excellent job with all the songs, though his interpretation of the beginning of "Bohemian Rhapsody" wasn't quite to my liking, though I don't remember thinking that when I was listening to the CD. He makes some acting choices that I found interesting but not necessarily satisfying, playing Galileo as quite effeminate at times. If you specifically want to see him in the production, go to his website to see when his performances are scheduled.

Aspen Miller played Scaramouche, and she also has a beautiful voice. She makes a similarly grand entrance with "Somebody to Love". In general, she's a good actress, though she plays it too cutesy at times.

Ty Taylor played Brit, one of the bohemians, and he has a great voice and great energy. Carly Thomas played Oz, another bohemian, and she is definitely hard to take your eyes off when she's on stage. She does an especially good job with the song "No One But You". Patti Russo played Killer Queen, and while she was good, I was a bit disappointed because the woman who played her in London and is on the CD is tremendous and much more commanding.

The set design was good, with some fairly impressive sets, including one for "It's a Kind of Magic" where the center area lifted up and then rotated with Killer Queen and Khashoggi at either end. The costumes were imaginative and eye-catching and very much contributed to the feel of the story. In the early part of the show, where more conformity is shown, the costumes reflected that, with the exception of Galileo and Scaramouche, who were immediately set apart from the rest even by what they were wearing. Their costumes as well as those of the bohemians resembled make-shift pieced-together outfits, and I would imagine they are hard to maintain.

"We Will Rock You" is performed in Paris Las Vegas' Le Theatre Des Arts, a 23-row, almost 1,500 seat theatre. It's a fairly small venue so there really aren't any bad seats (except perhaps far left and far right, which would give a mostly side view of the stage). Curious, though, that the stairs leading into the theatre are placed where some of the best center seats normally would be. Note that there are no restrooms inside the theatre area. The restrooms are right outside the theatre entrance, so if you're in need of the facilities, I would recommend you use them prior to entering the theatre.

The seating is divided into four sections. When we had purchased our tickets, they only had three sections (which the website still incorrectly shows), but when we arrived to pick up our tickets, we noticed from the seating chart that the larger middle section had been divided into two smaller sections, so there were now four price ranges rather than three. We had ordered our tickets online, the downside of which is that you can't pick your exact seat. You pick a section, and the tickets are charged, and you then pick them up from the Paris box office (located in the hotel check-in area, just to the left of the theatre itself). There is a phone number through which tickets can also be ordered, but I don't know if you can pick exact seats using that method. It might be that the only way to pick exact seats is to buy your tickets in person at the box office. Since this was our first time seeing the show, and since the middle price range at the time covered from about the 6th row through the 19th row, we decided to splurge and get seats in the front section. We figured we were at least guaranteed a close seat, though we were hoping it would be in the center section and not in the front row of one of the side sections. If we were to go again and for anyone seeing the show for the first time who doesn't want to pay the premium price, I think the second price range would guarantee a fairly decent seat.

The CD of the London version is now available for purchase in the United States. Here is the amazon.com link that I'm including for referential purposes, but the CD is also available at Tower Records, Virgin Megastore, Best Buy and other retailers. After seeing the show, I did note that the CD doesn't have all the songs, missing about 3 of those performed during the show.

Note that a store especially dedicated to selling merchandise associated with the musical and Queen has been built at Paris Las Vegas. Available merchandise includes show program, t-shirts and other apparel, glassware, magnets and CDs, including the one mentioned above.

I would recommend the musical to anyone who knows going in what to expect. Someone who is expecting a more traditional musical (as traditional a musical as you'd expect using Queen music) is surely in for something different.

Back to the Entertainment Reviews.

Back to home.