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Don't Stop Them Now: WE WILL ROCK YOU Tour Cast Meets the Press!
Nov 10, 2022
Queen Theatrical Productions, Tribeca Theatrical Productions, Phil Mcintyre Entertainment and NETworks Presentations will launch the first North American tour of Queen and Ben Elton's We Will Rock You in Baltimore, MD, at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, in October 2013. The theatrical rock show, structured around 24 of Queen's biggest anthems, stars Brian Justin Crum as Galileo, Ruby Lewis as Scaramouche, Jacqueline Arnold as Killer Queen, P.J. Griffith as Kashoggi, Ryan Knowles as Pop, Erica Peck as Oz and Jared Zirilli as Britney. The company met the press yesterday, and gave a gritty, head-banging peformance of the title song - BroadwayWorld brings you coverage of hte meet and greet below!
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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World. The Queen musical We Will Rock You, which is now in its 11th year in London and seen by over 15 million people, is kicking off its North American tour in Baltimore on October 15th
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Written by celebrated comedian Ben Elton, it features 24 of Queen's biggest hits, and I'm here in the rehearsal room to meet the company and bring you a sneak peek
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We will, we will rock you We will, we will rock you
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Buddy, you're an old man, poor man With your eyes, gonna win the song
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Peace on day, got me wrong on your face Big disgrace, somebody better put you back
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We will, we will rock you Everybody! We will, we will rock you
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We will, we will rock you One more time now We will, we will rock you
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This has to be so exciting for you. The history of this show, 11 years in London, worldwide productions
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productions. Did you ever dream that We Will Rock, you would have the kind of journey it has
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I think you always allow yourself to dream, but we certainly didn't presume
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12 years ago when Brian, Roger, and myself, and John Deacon, to a certain extent
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although he takes a step back a little, were working on it. We committed ourselves to going
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the whole journey and to giving it everything we had, and that's why we're all still here
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Brian and Roger were in this very room auditioning the company you've been talking to a few weeks
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ago with myself. So no, we didn't, we didn't, we did dream, but we did not presume. And
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we still don't, which is why for this American tour, which is such a big new departure for
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We Will Rock You, we're here again, rebuilding the show, reinventing it, rethinking it for
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the road in America where rock and roll was born. And since the show is about a rebirth
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of rock and roll, well, we better focus pretty hard because we're coming to the place that
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knows all about it. Talk about the American cast. Oh my goodness, we were so bowled over
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I mean, the only sadness of the whole process was we could have cast it brilliantly three or four times from the wonderful talent
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I mean, musical theatre is such a... It seems to be in the DNA of this city, and indeed, America in general, everyone can sing and dance
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And we had a plethora... I mean, we were an extraordinary young talent to work with
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and of course, the people we found were our best choices. And we looking for such a diversity of ability because to be able to sing rock it different to singing you know with respect to say a show like The Phantom which I adore and I worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber a number of times
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but in a way with The Phantom, you're trying to sing it the same way it's always been sung
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whereas with a show like We Will Rock You, you have to find your own rock bones, because there's no one way to sing a rock song
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You certainly can't try and sing like Freddie, because you have no chance at all. And so we're looking for such individuality in their rock bones
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but we also need people who can do comedy, because it's a big comedy, this show
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It's got a real comic book. So it's a hard ask, but we think we've found the best
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You're getting ready to kick off this incredible North American tour. Duncan, tell me what you're looking for when you're casting We Will Rock You
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Is it a hard job? I mean, is it challenging? What are you looking for? It actually, to cast We Will Rock You is actually one of the hardest jobs we've ever had
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simply because you're not just looking for amazing singers, You're looking for amazing singers who can handle the music of Queen, and in particular, Freddie Mercury
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And those singers sort of aren't just, you know, born every day. It's something that's very, very special
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So in terms of actually trying to find these men and women, we went to L.A., we went to Florida, we went to, obviously, New York
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And I think what we've come up with is pretty damn spectacular. So how exciting was that for you
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What kind of talent did you see across America when you were looking to cast this? We saw a lot of people who couldn't sing Queen, to be truthful
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But we saw a lot of people who actually grew up with this music
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or whose parents grew up with this music. So a lot of the kids that we saw that came in for this
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were very, very well-versed in the music of Queen and just felt a passion for it
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And those who were able to sing up in the stratosphere are obviously the ones that we hired. And the great thing about this show is that at the end of the day
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not only do we find amazing singers, but the acting and the dancing was all part of it as well
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I think we found a real top-notch cast. I came to the project to We Will Rock You about seven years ago
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I was on the original company in Toronto, which happened up in Canada
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and was a resident director and choreographer on that production. And they were kind enough after that to have me redirect a smaller production
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and reconceive it for touring in Europe, and then asked me to be part of South Africa and New Zealand and the Asian tour to direct those
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And when this was in the works and came up, I was very flattered that they asked me to be a part of it again
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So I'm very grateful for it. This musical has already become this incredible worldwide phenomenon
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Why do you think that is? I think that it reaches a number of people
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I think the diehard rock fans are never, ever disappointed or haven't been so far coming to see this musical
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because Brian May and Roger Taylor are still so involved in it in terms of the music
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and their supervision of it, that we really stay true to that
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I think the sound is amazing. And when we add the story, the movement, the choreography
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and the wonderful performances, I think a lot of people walk away going, wow, this is fantastic
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So what can audiences expect? What is the story of We Will Rock You? Well, it's set in the future
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There is no longer any individualism, thought, or music or creativity. We call it the I-Planet, and it's ruled by the Killer Queen
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who was once a video game and is now half human, half video game
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And it's the story of a young man, Galileo Figaro, who is trying to find his way in the world He been plagued by dreams and things that he doesn understand his whole life He meets Scaramouche the heroine
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and together they go on a journey to save rock and roll and bring it back to the iPlanet
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I'M GOING TO BE ABLE TO TELL YOU. I'M GOING TO BE ABLE TO
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TELL YOU. I'M GOING TO BE ABLE TO TELL YOU. I'M GOING TO BE ABLE TO
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TELL YOU. I'M GOING TO BE ABLE TO TELL YOU. HOW COOL IS IT WORKING ON
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THIS ROLE? I HAVE BEEN SINGING BOHEMIAN RAPSODY SINCE I CAN REMEMBER
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SCARAMUSH IS MY FAVORITE PART. NOW I'M PLAYING SCARAMUSH. journey that as an actor I am just through the roof with excitement to try
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to get audiences to see this and to try to do her justice because she is super
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cool. Take me back to your callbacks. Who was in the room, what you sang, and what
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was going through your mind? Well, I got to New York. I live in Los Angeles, so already flying to New York for a callback is really exciting and I've got my
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my script on the plane and I walked in as the last audition of the day, last
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callback of the day, you know, and I'm just waiting, waiting and of course I get
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and there are 30 people or something, including Brian, May, and Roger, and, you know, they're
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unmistakable. They still look the same. So, I had to just take a moment, and I think I'm
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really geeked out. But hopefully they thought it was endearing, I don't know. And I was just like
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I just have to say that this is really exciting, you know, okay, I'm over it, I'm over it, I'm
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gonna, like, do my thing. So. What'd you say? So, I sang Somebody to Love, which I had been
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auditioning with before anyway. So I felt very comfortable with it and you know just had to make
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sure I did their version as they liked it and they did and they liked it I think. I think they liked
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it. They hired me. So how cool is this working on this musical? It's so cool. I mean I'm so lucky to
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get to be a part of this amazing show and this incredible music. I get to sing every night for
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the next year. I'm so excited. So talk about the role. The role Galileo. He's the hero of the piece
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you know, he's a young high schooler who's been bogged down by this world that the Killer Queen
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has created. And he's very much like Freddie Mercury in that he had no interest in being like
9:30
everybody else. He wanted to be himself no matter what. So he's there the whole show fighting for
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music, fighting for rock and roll. And what you love about the story that Ben Elton's put together
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It's so quirky. It's so silly. It definitely doesn't take itself too seriously. But it's so fun
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you know it's it's this world that we could only imagine you know
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it's in the future and it's crazy but he did such a great job at creating a world that would incorporate Queen music the way that it should be done talk about your callback audition Who was in the room What you had to do Tell me about that It was so amazing
10:06
I mean, my final callback, I walked in and Brian May was sitting there and Roger
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And my heart was just pounding. But I had to sing I Want to Break Free and We Are the Champions
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And I looked down after I sang We Are the Champions and Brian May was teary-eyed
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and he put his fist in the air and shook his head, and I was like, all right, I think that went well
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So it was just incredible. I mean, I never pictured myself singing
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I mean, Queen's Catalog is in my audition book for a million years. So to get to sing it for them and to share that with them was so special
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On the edge of the night And long dare to change the world
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Can't think about ourselves This is our blessings This is our blessings
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This is the season Under pressure Under pressure
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Under pressure Under pressure What's been the best part for you
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when you see a performance of this and you see how crazy the fans are
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and how much they fall in love with the show? What does that mean to you? Well, I think the real joy is that
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when they start off, they're not necessarily fans. You can't, you know, this show is not
11:48
for Queen fans, because millions though there are, they couldn't make a show run 11 years in the West End
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in a very big theatre. So the fact that our show brings people together
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who love comedy, love music, but they don't know whether they particularly like me
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they don't know whether they particularly like Queen, they might know three or four that they can..
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But the show, by the end, everyone is always on their feet. They've had a laugh, they kind of come together
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they're hugging each other. Of course, it's about love. You know, every good rock song's about love at its heart
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and this is a love story, about two rebels finding themselves and freeing the kids, you know, all that
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So I guess the joy for me is sitting in those audiences and watching the show work its magic
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and above all the music work its magic, live rock music played in a human-scale venue
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not some 35-seat, 1,000-seat concrete auditorium, you know, in a theatre where people can feel it and touch it
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and it's all live, and it always brings people to a wonderful celebration at the end
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as champions and rock you close the show on Bohemian Rhapsody, and that's a unique thrill which is unique every time it happens
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