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Theater review: 'We Will Rock You' is a kind of magic

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Vladimir Bunoan, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="The cast of " We="" Will="" Rock="" performs="" Little="" Thing="" Called="" Vladimir="" ABS-CBN="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/11/05/11052022-rock-1.jpg"/><figcaption>The cast of &#x27;We Will Rock You&#x27; performs &#x27;Crazy Little Thing Called Love.&#x27; Vladimir Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA — “We Will Rock You,” the popular jukebox musical that features the music of the iconic British rock band Queen, has finally made its way to the Philippines, 20 years after making its debut in London.Plans to bring the crowd-pleasing musical to Manila have been brewing even before “We Will Rock You” ended its original 12-year run in May 2014.And now seems to the perfect time for this musical hit to rock local audiences.Not only is this the first international touring production to open in the Philippines since “Matilda” had to cut short its run back in 2020 due to the global pandemic, Filipino theater fans will also be the first ones to see this brand new staging, as it makes its world premiere in Manila before traveling to Singapore and New Zealand next year.As soon as audiences enter the Samsung Performing Arts Theatre of Circuit Makati, they are immediately brought to an Orwellian future, as Matrix-like green graphics flash on a giant screen while an AI-voice reminds audiences to turn off their cellular phones.This screen, which occupies practically the entire stage, is at the center of director and choreographer Nick Winston’s radical reimagining of “We Will Rock You,” along with set designer Tom Rogers and costume designer Sarah Mercade.These changes were obvious from the get-go. As the ominous intro of Queen’s “Innuendo” blared throughout the venue, the musical opened with a scene straight out of “Blade Runner” with its rainy, neon-lit cityscape.<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="The cast of " We="" Will="" Rock="" performs="" Vladimir="" ABS-CBN="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/11/05/11052022-rock-2.jpg"/><figcaption>The cast of &#x27;We Will Rock You&#x27; performs &#x27;Radio Gaga.&#x27; Vladimir Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</figcaption></figure></div>For the first major production number, “Radio Gaga,” the ensemble wore VR headsets, while guards zipped around on hoverboards.In a musical already teeming with pop culture references, from Elvis to Nirvana, Winston, a self-confessed fan of sci-fi movies, added a whole lot more — from “Star Wars” and “Mad Max” to more recent ones like “The Hunger Games” — as it tells the story of a dystopian world called iPlanet which is controlled by a corporate giant Globalsoft and where rock music is forbidden.There we meet two outcasts, Galileo and Scaramouche, who join a bunch of rebels called Bohemians, who are waiting for the Dreamer who will lead them to the mighty axe and bring real music back into the world. But out to stop them are the evil Killer Queen and her head of police Khashoggi.Ben Elton’s campy storytelling has always been this musical’s weakest link and, despite the changes made in this production, it remains woefully silly, especially obvious in Act 2 with its forced romance and lazy resolution.It also didn’t help that the supporting cast of Bohemians led by Tianne Rautenbach, Richard Gau and especially Danielle Cronje proved to be more winning than the leads. <div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Richard Gau and Danielle Cronje perform " I="" Want="" It="" Vladimir="" ABS-CBN="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/11/05/11052022-rock-3.jpg"/><figcaption>Richard Gau and Danielle Cronje perform &#x27;I Want It All.&#x27; Vladimir Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</figcaption></figure></div>But the music of Queen more than compensates for the book’s shortcomings. Even with the sometimes corny cues — when asked “You live in a perfect world. What more could you want?” Galileo sings “I Want to Break Free” — one can’t help but smile when the music kicks in. Queen’s brand of arena rock has a natural rabble-rousing quality such that one of the signatures of the original production was a giant crane that allows Killer Queen to tower over the audience — a gimmick that has become standard in large concerts. In fact, “We Will Rock You” has a powerful, concert-like wind-up with the one-two punch of the title track and “We are the Champions,” that’s guaranteed to energize crowds, pumping them up for the obligatory encore that is “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Couple this Big Brother tale and Queen’s nostalgic anthems with the addition of many modern touches from fun little tweaks in the dialogue (“We are never ever ever getting back together,” Scaramouche tells Galileo) to the choreography that incorporates hip-hop and contemporary dance moves (the exciting Act 2 opener “One Vision”), and what you get is a heady mix of past, present and future that”s, to quote Killer Queen, pure alchemy.Or a kind of magic.<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="The cast of " We="" Will="" Rock="" performs="" Vladimir="" ABS-CBN="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/11/05/11052022-rock-4.jpg"/><figcaption>The cast of &#x27;We Will Rock You&#x27; performs &#x27;Killer Queen.&#x27; Vladimir Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</figcaption></figure></div>“We Will Rock You” runs until November 20 at the Samsung Performing Arts Theatre in Circuit Makati with performances at 8 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, and 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Plans to bring the crowd-pleasing musical to Manila have been brewing even before 'We Will Rock You' ended its original 12-year run in May 2014.

Theater review: 'We Will Rock You' is a kind of magic

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Theater review: 'We Will Rock You' is a kind of magic

Vladimir Bunoan,

ABS-CBN News

Published Nov 05, 2022 08:20 PM PHT

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Updated Nov 05, 2022 09:51 PM PHT

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We Will Rock You

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GMG Productions

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