Queen fan? Go see 'We Will Rock You,' the musical about “discovering the Freddie inside yourself”

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Annerin TheatricalsYou’ve seen Bohemian Rhapsody. You went to the Queen + Adam Lambert concert. Still want more Queen?  Then check out We Will Rock You, the Queen musical, which is currently touring North America.

We Will Rock You, created in 2002 by Queen, their manager Jim Beach and the British comic, author, playwright and screenwriter Ben Elton, uses 24 classic Queen songs to frame the story about a dystopian future where instruments are banned, rock is long forgotten, and a group of outcasts must fight for music, freedom and individuality.

“It was never remotely a sort of [Queen] tribute show,” Elton tells ABC Audio. “The characters don’t sing it like Freddie [Mercury]…a lot of the songs are sung by women in the show. And the songs are used to power a story: a story about discovering discovering the Freddie inside yourself.”

Elton says Queen and Beach came to him in 1999 and said they were developing a stage musical about the band and Mercury, and wanted him to add some comedy to it. 

“I said, ‘Look, Jim, I don’t think that’s the right thing to do,'” Elton recalls. “‘I think you should do a story which reflects the spirit of the band, which belongs to the world…It’s not just the band. It’s all of us.”

So, working closely with Queen, Elton created a story inspired by Arthurian legend and, he says, by Mercury’s “great crusade to be who he wanted to be.”

We Will Rock You became a massive hit, which ran for 12 years in London, and has been staged globally.

But, Elton laughs, “It’s interesting that with Bohemian Rhapsody, the movie, they’ve finally done the thing that, really, Jim Beach approached me with all those years ago.” 

Here are the We Will Rock You tour dates:

10/24 — Cedar Park, TX, H-E-B Center Cedar Park
10/25 — San Antonio, TX, Majestic Theatre
10/26 — McAllen, TX, McAllen PAC
10/27 — Sugar Land, TX, Smart Financial Center
10/28 — Jackson, MS, Thalia Mara Hall
10/29 — New Orleans, LA, Saenger Theatre
10/30 — Birmingham, AL, Alabama Theatre
11/2 — Wilmington, NC, Wilson Center (two shows: 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.)
11/3 — Jacksonville, FL, Florida Theatre
11/4 — St. Petersburg, FL, The Mahaffey Theater
11/6 — Charlotte, NC, Ovens Auditorium
11/7 — Raleigh, NC, Raleigh Memorial Auditorium
11/8 — Ocean City, MD, Ocean City Performing Arts Center
11/9  — Petersburg, VA, VSU Multipurpose Center
11/10 — Allentown, PA, PPL Center
11/12 — Oxon Hill, MD, MGM National Harbor
11/13 — Lowell, MA, Tsongas Center at UMass
11/14 — New York, NY, Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden
11/15 — New York, NY, Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden
11/16 — New York, NY, Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden (2 p.m. and 8 p.m.)
11/17 — New York, NY, Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden (2 p.m. and 8 p.m.)
11/19 — Rochester, NY, Kodak Center Theatre
11/20 — Lorain, OH, Lorain Palace Theatre
11/21 — Indianapolis, IN, Murat Theatre at Old National Centre
11/22 — Mt. Pleasant, MI, Soaring Eagle Casino
11/23 — Mt. Pleasant, MI, Soaring Eagle Casino
11/24 — Van Wert, OH, Niswonger Performing Arts Centre
11/26 — Cincinnati, OH, Taft Theatre
11/29 — Windsor, ON, Canada, Caesars Windsor Casino
11/30 — Windsor, ON, Canada, Caesars Windsor Casino (2 p.m. and 8 p.m.)
12/27 — Calgary, AB, Canada, Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
12/28 — Calgary, AB, Canada, Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (2 p.m. and 8 p.m.)
12/30 — Edmonton, AB, Canada, Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
12/31 — Edmonton, AB, Canada, Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (2 p.m.)
1/3 — Penticton, BC, Canada, South Okanagan Events Centre
1/4 — Abbotsford, BC, Canada, Abbotsford Centre
1/10 — Vancouver, BC, Canada, Queen Elizabeth Theatre
1/11 — Vancouver, BC, Canada, Queen Elizabeth Theatre
2/7 — Toronto, ON, Canada, Meridian Hall (formerly Sony Centre)
2/8 — Toronto, ON, Canada, Meridian Hall (formerly Sony Centre) (2 p.m.)

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