WE WILL ROCK YOU US Tour to Launch from Baltimore in October 2013

Queen Theatrical Productions, Tribeca Theatrical Productions, Phil McIntyre Entertainment and NETworks Presentations just announced the first North American tour of the worldwide smash hit musical, Queen and Ben Elton's We Will Rock You.

The 'rock theatrical', built around 24 of Queen's biggest hits, will launch a national tour in Baltimore, MD, at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, in October 2013.

This hilarious, multi-award-winning and record-breaking phenomenon is created by celebrated British comedian and writer Ben Elton (TV's "Mr. Bean" and "The Young Ones"), and boasts a fantastic score of Queen's biggest songs including "Another One Bites The Dust", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "We Are The Champions," "Bohemian Rhapsody" and, of course, "We Will Rock You."

Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor are musical supervisors to the show, taking an active role in
casting the singer/actors and musicians for every production worldwide. On occasion, they have made surprise appearances with the cast to uproars of delight from the audience.

Unprecedented success around the world has now paved the way for We Will Rock You to launch its first North American tour.

The show is in its 11th year at The Dominion in London's West End, one of London Theatreland's biggest theatres, making it the venue's longest-running production ever. The previous record holder was the original production of Robert Stigwood's Grease which ran at the Dominion for 3 years and 3 months. We Will Rock You is now officially the 9th longest running show in the West End.

At the 2011 Olivier Awards, the UK equivalent of the Tony Awards, We Will Rock You was crowned the UK's favorite show. In the only award category voted entirely by members of the public, the musical came out on top, beating a shortlist including Billy Elliot, Jersey Boys and LES MISERABLES.

Outside of the UK, the show has now been seen in local productions in 17 countries, playing to an audience of over 15 million people.

The complete North American tour route will be announced in the coming months.

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.

"This show is all about legend," says Ben Elton. "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?"

"Creating the show with Ben was very much a three-way thing," says Roger Taylor. "It was great because he was a pleasure to work with and because he has such a fertile mind. He never stops churning out ideas."

Elton updates his book regularly, keeping the satirical edge of his script totally relevant to the time and location of the production.

Brian May adds, "The amazing bonus is that Ben's script subtly works as a metaphor too. People definitely come out of the theatre feeling that in a strange way they now know us, Queen, and our struggle, our journey."

The original production of We Will Rock You is a Phil McIntyre Entertainment, Tribeca Theatrical Productions and Queen Theatrical Productions presentation. 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 Aitken. Costumes by Tim Goodchild.

Queen Theatrical Productions is a production entity created especially by the band's parent company Queen Productions Ltd to handle the development and production of We Will Rock You.

Headquartered in New York, Tribeca Theatrical Productions was founded in 2001 by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal, the acclaimed producers of the Meet the Parents franchise, Analyze This and Wag the Dog. Through Tribeca Theatrical Productions, De Niro and Rosenthal co-produced, along with Queen Theatrical Productions and Phil McIntyre Entertainment, the theatrical musical We Will Rock You, based on the music of Queen.

Since 1995, NETworks Presentations, LLC, has produced and managed over 55 touring productions in the U.S., UK and internationally. Current productions include Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Billy Elliot The Musical, Blue Man Group National Tour, Elf The Musical, Flashdance the Musical, The New 25th Anniversary Production of LES MISERABLES, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh's Mary Poppins, Shrek The Musical and National Theatre of Great Britain's production of War Horse touring the U.S. Future productions include Memphis the Musical.

More Articles by This Author...