We Will Rock You is a musical so right to any Queen fan’s heart, but this unique stage production is not a tribute to the iconic musical group.
Rather, it is a celebration of Queen’s music in a fun game inspired by science fiction. This is how Dirk Joubert and Nadine Grobbelaar, members of the We Will Rock You– cast, in Rhewal’s studio.
The South African cast of director Ben Elton’s award-winning rock musical is currently on stage at The Teatro at Monte Casino in Gauteng. From there the play will be performed to the Artscape Theater in Cape Town for four weeks.
“Before us in Johannesburg with We Will Rock You started performing, we performed in Manila, Singapore. We are also going to present the show in Israel from the Cape for a few weeks.
“We are very excited,” say Dirk and Nadine, who add that they already signed contracts to be part of this production before the pandemic.
The set consists of 24 of Queen’s most famous songs, including hits like “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “Killer Queen”, “We Are The Champions”, “Bohemian Rhapsody” and of course, “We Will Rock You”.
This is not the story of Freddie Mercury’s life, but rather a story told to the beat of these iconic songs mainly penned by Freddie.
We Will Rock You is about a group of bohemian people in a dystopian future without musical instruments. A handful of rock rebels, the Bohemians and the two socially misfits Scaramouche and Galileo, go on a journey to find the unlimited power of freedom and love and the rebirth of the era of rock.
“The audiences who have already seen the play are responding really well. They are always on their feet and we can see that people are hungry for good music and stage productions,” say Dirk and Nadine.
The cast consists of 27 extremely talented South African artists. Londiwe Dhlomo plays the role of Killer Queen, while the award-winning Domestics-actor Craig Urbani is seen as Khashoggi. Tiaan Rautenbach is Buddy, Richard Gau is Brit and Danielle Cronjé is Oz. Nicolette Fernandes is Scaramouche and Stuart Brown is Galileo.
The 7 main roles and 20 supporting roles are accompanied by a 6-piece orchestra.
“We Will Rock You is truly something for everyone. It’s a big show that is ultimately a rock concert.”
Tickets for We Will Rock You is available at www.showtime.co.za of by Ticketmaster.
- Listen to the full studio interview with Dirk Joubert and Nadine Grobbelaar at the top of the report We Will Rock You.
- The Ga Ga Kids. (Photo: Provided)
- Craig Urbani and Tiaan Rautenbach can be seen in We Will Rock You. (Photo: Provided)