08-04-2004 – Amusement Business – WWRY Vegas

Scaramouch, will you do the fandango in Vegas?
QUEEN’S Stage show musical “We will Rock You,” which has been playing to sold-out crowds in London since 2002, soon will be making its North America debut — not on Broadway but in Las Vegas.

“It’s been very successful to a very wide demographic in London, and we had a good feeling about Las Vegas because it’s really a sample of the whole United States,” Queen guitarist Brian May says. “It’s real people and very mixed in age, profession, sex and color. In a way, it’s more real than a Broadway situation, which has an established theatergoing audience and probably has an expectation that will be different.

“We have a show that is a different animal. Maybe in time Broadway will be ready and we will be ready, but at the moment, we thought, ‘Let’s jump in and do what we do in London. We play to the people.'”

The show, which previews in August and opens Sept. 8, will be presented at the Pans Las Vegas in association with Tribeca Theatrical Prods, cofounders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal as well as May and Queen drummer Roger Taylor. The story, written by Ben Elton, is set in a homogenized future society where a group of rebels set out to find out what rock ‘n’ roll is.

“We really didn’t think about anyplace else first,” Rosenthal says. “We wanted to come to Vegas. So we’re here.”

Bobby Yee, president of Paris Las Vegas, which is a Caesars Entertainment resort, says the Paris Le Theatre des Arts has added 350 seats to bring the capacity to 1,470. Additionally, the theater features laser-light effects and six plasma screens. “We Will Rock You” will stay at Paris for 10 years, with options to extend to 20. Tickets are S80.50, S97 and $113.50.

Caesars Entertainment has become expert at bringing high-profile, long-term shows to the Strip as seen with Celine Dion’s “A New Day” and Elton John’s “The Red Piano” at Caesars Palace.

“When you talk about Celine or Elton, you associate it with Caesars, and now when you talk about ‘We Will Rock You,’ you know it’s Paris,” Yee says.

This marks Tribeca’s first foray into theater, and Rosenthal says there also are talks to do a Queen film.

The show is all live, and May says he and Taylor were very involved with choosing the cast. The show features such hits as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Are the Champions” and “Another One Bites the Dust.” There are also plans for a North America touring production of the show.

May says “We Will Rock You” is a great way for Queen’s music to live on, even in the absence of their beloved singer Freddie Mercury, who died of AIDS in 1992.

“Freddie would love (the show); he would adore it,” May says. “We all feel that he’s very much with us.”