CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Colonel Gray High School students are ready to rock you.
The music of legendary British rock band Queen will come to life in the form of musical theatre as Colonel Gray students present “We Will Rock You” in the Homburg Theatre of Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, May 9-11.
“It’s a rock show, so the music is good throughout,” said Andrew Petrie, the musical’s director. “People will know the tunes. It’s not the story of Queen, so it’s got its own original story that will hopefully grab you, but the songs are familiar.”
The musical tells the story of a group of Bohemians in a distant future struggling to restore free exchange of thought, fashion and live music.
There are about 100 students working on the musical with 50 in the cast and 50 more as musicians, stage crew and makeup crew.
Auditions were in October and the final cast started rehearsing in February.
“There was a deep talent pool,” said Petrie. “There’s a lot of people playing secondary and chorus characters that could probably be leads but the leads are so strong, too.”
Some of the shows leading performers include Kristen Thompson, a Grade 12 Charlottetown resident who plays Scaramouche, Luke Vail, a Grade 12 North Wiltshire resident who plays Gallileo Figaro, and Allyson Ford, a Grade 11 Charlottetown resident who plays the villainous Killer Queen.
“It’s a rock show, so the music is good throughout. People will know the tunes. It’s not the story of Queen, so it’s got its own original story that will hopefully grab you, but the songs are familiar.”
- Andrew Petrie
Thompson said this musical can convert just about anybody into a theatre fan.
“It’s not your typical ‘Anne of Green Gables’,” said Thompson. “It’s something completely different where they take the songs from a band and make it into a musical. Kind of a lot like ‘Mama Mia’.”
Ford said it’s the music that really brings it all together.
“It’s all rock music, so it’s not like classical musical theatre,” she said.
While Thompson and Ford have musical theatre background, this is Vail’s first musical.
“For me it’s a whole new world that I’m getting to try out. It’s not something I’ve ever done before and it’s just so fun to learn new things.”
Queen returned to the forefront of a lot of people’s brains last year with the release of “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which won four Academy Awards and two Golden Globes, including the Golden Globe for best motion picture drama.
Petrie said they had picked “We Will Rock You” long before the new-found hype of Queen.
“That all was just serendipity, it wasn’t planned,” said Petrie. “I think people have remembered how good Queen is and are rediscovering it. Maybe a new generation is rediscovering songs that might not have been in the forefront until all that came out.”
Tickets for “We Will Rock You” are available at the Confederation Centre box office.
Each showing is at 7:30 p.m.
AT A GLANCE
- “We Will Rock You” is a musical written by playwright Ben Elton
- There are 50 students in the Colonel Gray High School main cast and 50 more students making up the stage crew, musicians, and makeup crew
- Tickets are available at the box office of Confederation Centre of the Arts
- The show runs May 911
