06-09-2005 – Daily Yomiuri – WWRY Musical Japan

Musical will rock those ruled by Queen

We Will Rock You

Shinjuku Koma Theatre, Tokyo, May 26

“I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike,” “We are the champions, my friend,” “We will, we will rock you!” “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?”

Had you taken a whirl around the radio dial back in the late ’70s and early ’80s it’s quite likely you would have heard any one of these Queen tunes emanating from your speakers. And whether you loved the band or hated them, or were even indifferent to the prolific British prog-glam rockers–although indifference is not a word usually connected with Queen–it is undeniable that at some point in your life your ears would have been inundated by their music.

Songs such as “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Under Pressure” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” are etched into the consciousness of an entire generation–not unlike like TV theme tunes stuck involuntarily in the mind.

And the music of the band was brought into the consciousness of an entire new generation when Mike Myers and Dana Carvey headbanged to one of the group’s all-time greats, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” in the hit ’90s comedy Wayne’s World.

Now, for better or for worse, the Queen musical We Will Rock You has arrived on these shores after having been launched in London in May 2002 and making its way around the globe.

The hit musical is the result of a collaboration between original Queen members, Brian May (guitar) and Roger Taylor (drums), and British comedian-writer Ben Elton that takes about 25 songs from the group’s catalog and builds a story around them.

The setting is 300 years in the future and Planet Mall (formerly Earth) is being controlled by a single corporation named Globalsoft, which in turn is controlled by the power-hungry Killer Queen and her right-hand man, Khashoggi. There is no rock music anymore–along with all instruments, it has been banned for centuries. All music, and just about everything else, is now produced by the corporation.

Things have become uniform, unimaginative and boring. Creativity and free thinking are things of the past. What is left of rock music exists only in the outlands, where the Bohemians guard the sacred texts that speak of a time when music was free and real and full of rebellion. This time was called the Rhapsody.

But there is hope. A legend persists that somewhere on Planet Mall a guitar owned by a former rock ‘n’ roll hero (May) is buried at the Place of Champions. It is also foretold that someone known as The Dreamer will come along and lead the Bohemians to this promised land; that is if he isn’t found first by the Ga Ga Cops who will “cleanse” his brain and drag him off to the Seven Seas of Rye.

The story begins with us meeting this savior, a high school boy who has taken the name Galileo Figaro because it came to him in a dream, before he knows he is the chosen one. He meets a girl, whom he names Scaramouche, and off they go on their adventure to find rock ‘n’ roll.

Now, it needs to be said at this point that to truly enjoy this musical you should be a fan of Queen, or at least have a good knowledge of their music. If you don’t, you won’t get a lot of the jokes and references to the people and places in the performance. It should also be noted that all this is rather silly, and at times shameless self-promotion for Queen. Not that anyone could ever accuse musicals of being high art, but no one would ever mistake this one for being anything close to that.

Elton tries to make some commentary on globalization, the homogenization of music and fashion, the environment and feminism, but ultimately this is all brushed over lightly as he relies on bawdry humor to keep our attention.

What We Will Rock You is really about is the music. So if you aren’t a fan of Queen, you’d probably best stay away.

But the music is performed wonderfully and powerfully by a full live band that was handpicked by May and Taylor. At times you think you are listening to Queen themselves–that is until the singing begins.

It’s then that you realize what a truly powerful and flexible voice charismatic frontman Freddie Mercury had. While the ensemble does a respectable job at singing such songs as “Radio Ga Ga” only one of the main performers, Pippa Grandison, who plays Scaramouche, comes close to matching the range that Mercury possessed before he died of AIDS.

Annie Crummer as Killer Queen can certainly belt out a tune, but she doesn’t have the range to do the songs justice. And Peter Murphy as Galileo neither has the presence nor the voice for a leading man. Only Ross Girven as Khashoggi comes close to matching Grandison’s performance.

While the singing fails to impress, the technology, set design and costumes are all winners. Six huge plasma screens and laser beams all give We Will Rock You the feeling of the future.

None of We Will Rock You should be taken too seriously, but if you are a fan of the band you’ll enjoy it. There are a few chuckles, some good special effects and some powerfully performed music. If you’re not a fan of the group, though, you’ll be left wondering what all the fuss has been about.

“We Will Rock You” will be performed at Shinjuku Koma Theatre in Shinjuku, Tokyo, until Aug. 24 (one or two performances per day at 1:30 p.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.) No performance on Mondays (except July 18) and July 12 and 19. For more information, call (03) 5457-3556 or visit www.wwry.jp.