We Will Rock You (musical)

We Will Rock You
Poster for 2005 Tokyo Production
Music	Queen
Lyrics	Queen Ben Elton
Book	Ben Elton
Productions	2002 London 2003 Melbourne 2003 Madrid 2004 Perth 2004 Brisbane 2004 Las Vegas 2004 Sydney 2004 Moscow 2004 Cologne 2004 Spanish Tour 2005 Tokyo 2006 Johannesburg 2006 Cape Town 2006 Durban 2006 Zurich 2006 Tokyo 2007 Madrid 2007 Osaka 2007 Toronto 2007 Auckland 2008 Vienna 2008 Seongnam 2008 Singapore 2008 Hong Kong 2008 Bangkok 2009 Stuttgart 2009 Milan 2009 UK Tour 2010 Utrecht 2010 2010 Berlin 2010 UK Tour 2011 Italian Tour 2011 Oslo 2011 Copenhagen 2012 Basel 2013 Arena Tour 2013 Essen 2013 US Tour 2015 Anthem of the Seas 2016 Brazil 2016 Australian Tour
Awards	2003 WhatsonStage.com Best New Musical Award Theatregoers’ Choice Best New Musical Awards Capital Gold Radio 'Legends' Best Live Performance of the Year Award 2007 Dora Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical (WWRY Canada) 2011 Olivier Audience Award for Most Popular Show

We Will Rock You (often abbreviated as WWRY) is a musical based on the songs of British rock band Queen with a book by Ben Elton. The musical tells the story of a group of Bohemians who struggle to restore the free exchange of thought, fashion, and live music in a distant future where everyone dresses, thinks and acts the same. Musical instruments and composers are forbidden, and rock music is all but unknown.

Directed by Christopher Renshaw and choreographed by Arlene Phillips, the original West End production opened at the Dominion Theatre on 14 May 2002, with Tony Vincent, Hannah Jane Fox, Sharon D. Clarke and Kerry Ellis in principal roles. Although the musical was at first panned by critics, it has become an audience favourite, becoming the longest-running musical at the Dominion Theatre, celebrating its tenth anniversary on 14 May 2012.

The tenth longest-running musical in West End history, the London production closed on 31 May 2014 after a final performance in which Brian May and Roger Taylor both performed. A number of international productions have since followed the original, and We Will Rock You has been seen in six of the world's continents. Many productions are still active globally.

According to Brian May, Queen's manager Jim Beach had spoken with the band about creating a jukebox musical with Queen's songs since the mid-1990s. Initially, the intent was to create a biographical story of Freddie Mercury. About this time, Robert De Niro's production company Tribeca expressed interest in a Queen musical, but it found the original idea difficult to work with.

In 2000, Ben Elton was approached to start talks with May and Taylor on the project. He suggested taking the musical down a different path than initially imagined, creating an original story that would capture the spirit of much of their music. He worked closely with May and Taylor to incorporate Queen's songs into the story. Elton has also stated that he was in part inspired by the computer-controlled dystopia of the science-fiction film The Matrix. The script was eventually completed midway through 2001. Before working on We Will Rock You, neither May nor Taylor liked the musical genre.