Queen Is King in Vegas

For Queen fans who never had the chance to see the legends perform live, We Will Rock You, the Queen-inspired rock opera at Paris' Le Theatre Des Arts in Las Vegas, may very well be the best chance to see Queen's music on stage. With music as epic as Queen's, what better way to recreate it and give it a fresh face than in a rock opera. The title of the show states their intentions. And I was rocked. However, the play itself was no theatrical masterpiece.

(Full review after the jump)

Set in the future, in a world known as Planet Mall, where the corporation Global Soft is led by the sinister Killer Queen, played on the night we went by an amazon woman who had just won the Tina Turner Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome look-alike contest. She's outlawed all music not created by the corporation. Nothing remains but Radio Ga-Ga. All instruments have been destroyed, non-conformists have had their minds erased or have run away to live in exile. Those in exile are known as the Bohemians, and it's their quest for Rhapsody that is counter to the Global Soft's capitalist dominance, a one-government, one-mind, one-voice mentality. The hero is Galileo Figaroa and it's the voices in his head – rock lyrics from the past – that make him the chosen one. Along with his chick (I say "chick" because in the play it's the second highest form of flattery for a girl, second only to "bitch"), Scaramouche, he goes on a quest to find the legend of the axe in stone that is the only surviving musical instrument; of course, he doesn't know it until he runs into the Bohemians. They give him the push he needs to go on the quest and in the end rock 'n' roll and corporation duel it out for the minds of the youth.

The problem with this story is that it's just loosely strung together to get you from Queen song to Queen song.
It's all for the look and feel of the moment. All the jokes are for a laugh right then, but hurt the integrity of the story. The Bohemians who have chosen their names from rock legends they read about in salvaged issues of Rolling Stone is a good example of this. The muscular black man with the punk spiked mohawk, chains, kilt, and pythons he can't help showing off while flipping his tung calls himself Britney Spears. This was good for a chuckle, but he is the Bohemian bad-ass; his name and the rest of the Bohemians, Jessica Simpson, P Diddy, Donny and Marie, etc, are all named for the laugh. If it was really about the rock 'n' roll, they would have been Mick and Keith, Joan Jett, and other rebels of the genre. Not the names from todays pop stars which seem to be more representative of the corporate music that Global Soft is supposed to represent. Although the chick who played Ozzy Osbourne had a name fitting of a true Bohemian.

The musical performances were awesome. Fortunately the dialogue was short between songs, because the music and the choreography were great. The dancers were hot, the women showing off there muscular stomachs, the men wearing bulging cod pieces. The singing was right on, and the band was solid. I only wish the band had been visible the whole time instead of hidden behind a curtain until the finale.

If you're a fan of Queen this is a good show and a great time. If you're a theater fan looking for a Tony-caliber play, this is not for you. This is Vegas, where it's all about sensory overload. We Will Rock You delivers on its promise.

– Jason Bryan