WE WILL ROCK YOU National Tour Heads to Palace Theatre, Now thru 1/12

The worldwide smash hit 'rock theatrical,' Queen and Ben Elton's We Will Rock You, built around 24 of Queen's biggest hits, opens at the Palace Theatre today, January 7-12. We Will Rock You is produced by Queen Theatrical Productions, Tribeca Theatrical Productions, Phil Mcintyre Entertainment, and NETworks Presentations.

Tickets begin at $28 and are available at the CAPA Ticket Center (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com. To purchase by phone, please call (614) 469-0939 or (800) 745-3000. Orders for groups of 20 or more may be placed by calling (614) 719-6900. Performance schedule, prices, and cast are subject to change without notice.

The performance schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, January 7, 8 pm
Wednesday, January 8, 8 pm
Thursday, January 9, 8 pm
Friday, January 10, 8 pm
Saturday, January 11, 2 pm & 8 pm
Sunday, January 12, 1 pm & 6:30 pm

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.

The show is in its 12th 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. We Will Rock You is now officially the 9th longest running show in the West End and was crowned the UK's favorite show at the 2011 Olivier Awards (the UK equivalent of the Tony Awards) in a category voted entirely by members of the public.

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

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 has produced and managed more than 55 touring productions in the US, UK, and internationally. Current Productions include Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Blue Man Group national tour, Elf the Musical, Flashdance the Musical, The National Theatre of Great Britain's production of War Horse, Memphis the Musical, and Cameron Mackintosh's spectacular new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera.

For more information about We Will Rock You, please visit wewillrockyou.com and schoolswillrockyou.com.