About the work
We Will Rock You is a jukebox musical based on the songs of the British rock band Queen, with a book by the writer and comedian Ben Elton. It premiered in 2002 at the Dominion Theatre in London; since then it has run worldwide and returned in a new staging to Stuttgart in 2025. In a satirical science-fiction framing story, the musical celebrates the liberating power of live music — carried by Queen hits such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "We Are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You".
Plot
In the distant future, the Earth has become the conformist "iPlanet", where the mega-corporation GlobalSoft has banned all individual music; only computer-generated uniform sound is heard, controlled by the powerful Killer Queen. A group of rebellious "Bohemians" keeps the memory of real rock alive. The dreamer Galileo, in whose head enigmatic song lyrics keep echoing, and the headstrong Scaramouche set out to find the lost instruments and the legendary guitar — to bring music and freedom back to Earth.
Cultural significance
We Will Rock You became one of the longest-running jukebox musicals of all, playing in London alone for over twelve years. Despite mixed reviews at its premiere, it grew into an audience phenomenon and carried Queen's music to a theatre public. As a tongue-in-cheek homage to rock and nonconformism, it ranks among the most internationally successful musicals of the 2000s.