QUEEN and Ben Elton global hit musical opening soon at Basel Musical Theater
Limited run from 14th December 2012 until 24th March 2013!
Basel, December 2012.
From 14th December 2012, Basel will be rocking again: WE WILL ROCK YOU, the original QUEEN musical with twenty-one of the legendary band’s greatest hits, finally returns to Switzerland after five years!
Over thirteen million spectators worldwide, five million alone at the Dominion Theatre, one of the biggest theatres in London’s West End, make WE WILL ROCK YOU one of the most successful musicals of all times. No wonder that WE WILL ROCK YOU won the prestigious Olivier Audience Award 2011. The spectacular original London version was written by the award-winning best-selling author Ben Elton (Mr. Bean) and was produced by Queen Theatrical Productions together with Robert de Niro’s Tribeca Theatrical Productions and Phil McIntyre Entertainment. Music and lyrics were of course written by QUEEN. The show is written and directed by Ben Elton. In Basel too, rock icons Brian May and Roger Taylor themselves are in charge of the music, as the legendary QUEEN songs do not only form the framework for the story, but also guarantee its absolutely sensational, extravagant Rock sound.
Brian May: “We are thrilled that we can present WE WILL ROCK YOU in this latest technically revised version in German for the first time in Basel. It is impressive to see the audience jump and sing along, swinging their hands, simply having fun. We are very proud of this Swiss production. It is like no other in the world. The ensemble and the group have their very own style. But what matters most…the show is live, dangerous and more than anything else: it rocks!”
Between December 2006 and December 2007, during its one-year run at the Zürcher Theater 11, the bombastic rock show wowed almost 400,000 spectators. Already back then the production (especially adapted for the Swiss) fascinated the audience. In Basel, however, a completely updated Swiss version will be performed. And there is more: The audience in Switzerland will be the first to enjoy the technically revamped video animations, newly re-mastered by production designer Mark Fischer who has been in charge of staging the breathtaking shows of U2, the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” in the past.
The story of QUEEN is one of the most remarkable in pop culture: More than 170 million albums sold worldwide, eighteen number-one albums, numerous number-one singles and DVDs, joining the Rock & Roll and the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame, over 700 concerts all over the world, including the historic appearance at Live Aid and a Guinness Book of World Records Award for the most successful UK chart album in history. QUEEN was and is one of the greatest rock groups of all time. 2011 marked the mega-group’s fortieth anniversary. WE WILL ROCK YOU crowns the group’s incredible success story in an impressive way.
WE WILL ROCK YOU tells the story of a globalized future without musical instruments. A handful of rock rebels, the “Bohemians”, fight against the all-powerful Globalsoft company and its boss, the Killer Queen; they fight for freedom, individuality and the rebirth of the age of rock. Scaramouche and Galileo, two young outsiders, cannot come to terms with the bleak conformist reality. They join the Bohemians and embark on the search to find the unlimited power of freedom, love and Rock!
From 14th December 2012, the year that marks the tenth anniversary since its premiere in London, the very first “Rock theatrical”, as the legendary QUEEN guitarist Brian May calls it, the show is coming to Basel’s Musical Theater in its original production, in a German-language elaborate version.
With a wink and many ironic sideswipes WE WILL ROCK YOU is more than just a show title, more than a musical and more than a rock concert – it is a promise: WE WILL ROCK YOU!
Tickets: www.wewillrockyou.ch