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Musical is full of humour, rock music and love

Show goes on as 'We will Rock You' returns

A scene in the musical 'We will Rock You', about the music of rock band Queen, really rocks audiences at Teatro Monte Casino.
A scene in the musical 'We will Rock You', about the music of rock band Queen, really rocks audiences at Teatro Monte Casino.
Image: Supplied

After postponements due to Covid-19 regulations, multi award-winning rock musical We Will Rock You  is back in SA. 

Featuring an all-South African cast, the show opened on Sunday night at Teatro Monte Casino to a packed theatre. We Will Rock You continues to provide what its audience demands – energetic performance, glittering digital stage designs, amazing costumes, choreography and highly talented actors and vocalists. 

From the moment the lights went dark until the last song, the cast delivered a thrilling performance. Directed by Christopher Renshaw and choregraphed by Arlene Phillips, the original cast opened at West End in London in 2002. The show became the longest running musical and it closed its run at West End in May 2014.   

We Will Rock You is a jukebox musical based on the songs of British rock band Queen and a book by Ben Elton. This revolutionary rock musical tells a story of a group of bohemians attempting to Break Free from their conformist reality, ruled by the Killer Queen in a world with no instruments or rock music. The story is set exactly 300 years ago in the iPlanet World controlled by Globalsoft Corporation. During that time, musicians and musical instruments are forbidden. The script has been updated and loadshedding has been fused into it. 

The show opened with the song Innuendo and followed with Radio Ga Ga, I want to break Free, Killer Queen among others. The whole story is told through with a lot of humour, which keeps the audience in stitches until the show ends. The audience become part of the show as they sing and clap along in most of the songs, especially the theme track We Will Rock You. 

The greatest performance of the night came from the always wonderful Londiwe Dhlomo who plays the villain Killer Queen, showcased her singing and acting talent. Other stars of the night includes Craig Urbani (who plays Khashoggi) Stuwart Brown (plays Galileo), Nicolette Fernandes (plays Scaramouche) and Tiaan Rautenblach (who plays Buddy). 

The audience was dominated by people who were young when Queen was enjoying popularity. The band was formed in 1970 by Freddie Mercury, Rodger Taylor, Sir Brian May and later joined by John Deacon. 

After the interval, they came back more recharged and energetic, taking the audience deep into the struggles of Bohemian team as they battled to bring back the “dead” rock music. The second stanza of the show opened with One Vision, followed it up with Flash, Another One Bites The Dust and closing the showing with Bohemian Rhapsody. 

The show runs until April 16.


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