If there was ever a band that lends itself to the spectacle and pageantry of the theater stage, it’s Queen. The legendary rock band, which was fronted by iconic bisexual singer Freddie Mercury up until his untimely death in 1991, continues to be massively popular and influential to this day, as evidenced by the musical production “We Will Rock You.” The show is still on a record-breaking streak in the U.K. and currently generating a buzz with its U.S. production, which pulls into Philadelphia Jan. 14-19 at the Academy of Music.
“I think it’s taking a while to get the word out here,” actor Ruby Lewis said about the show’s popularity in the States. “Once the show is over, the response is the same as in the U.K.: It’s taking people back. There are a lot of Queen fans in the U.S., and I think the music is what really turns people into super-fans of the show.”
Lewis said that she herself was a super-fan of Queen’s music long before she auditioned for the show.
“I grew up with Queen’s music,” she said. “I sing ‘Somebody To Love’ in the show and it’s a dream to sing it on stage each night. The arrangement is beautiful. It’s great to be singing Freddie Mercury stuff. He’s such a legend.”
“We Will Rock You” was written by British comedian and writer Ben Elton (TV’s “Mr. Bean” and “The Young Ones”) and features a score of Queen’s biggest songs.
Lewis plays Scaramouche, one of a number of characters in a futuristic society who finds inspiration in Queen’s music.
“They chose not to have the story be autobiographical,” she said. “So now it’s a wacky fantasy world that is really cool. The audience isn’t expecting it at all. It gives the audience a chance to truly forget about their lives and escape. It’s chock-full of cool, interesting rock ’n’ roll stuff. Scaramouche is an individual in a futuristic society full of clones. She’s a teenager. When she realizes that she is not going to be able to express herself in life, she kind of gives up. She meets Galileo, a young guy, and they decide to run away and take their chances. They end up finding a group of Bohemians in the underground and they’ve dedicated their lives to collecting rock ’n’ roll memorabilia and figuring out what rock ’n’ roll is all about and try to bring it back. Galileo ends up being the Freddie Mercury incarnate and Scaramouche ends up being Brian May incarnate. She’s really good at the electric guitar. The two of them go on a journey and they rock out.”
Lewis added that while the show carries the bombast of Queen’s music, it also has the band’s humorous side on display.
“It’s so campy,” she said. “Their humor can be just so wacky. It’s very tongue-in-cheek. It’s constantly commenting on itself and poking fun at current pop culture. We create a real world but it is very Jim Henson-influenced. It’s very campy and out there.”
Much to her delight, Lewis said she, along with other members of the cast, found herself rocking out with and for Queen’s May and Roger Taylor, who are musical supervisors of the show.
“Brian May and Roger Taylor were part of the final call-backs,” she said. “I first met them there. They were very hands-on. They came to the opening and the final run-through. Brian May played the show opening night. I had a chance to hang out with him. They are gentle, thoughtful people. We forget having idolized these people. It’s really cool to see how down-to-earth they are.”
Lewis added that May and Taylor wanted the production to emphasize the rock songs of the group, as much as the theatricality of the show.
“Brian and Roger didn’t like calling it a musical,” she said. “They called it ‘rock theatrical’ because it uses a lot of lights and projections and elaborate costumes and wigs. It’s very theatrical in that way. The band is insane. We travel with a full band and they cover the full instrumentation of the songs as you are used to hearing it. The voicings are different but it’s the staging itself that is truly theatrical. It’s an interesting reminder of how many genres Queen was able to span and their sound was so unique from one year to the next. That was important for them to include the early stuff as well as the later stuff.”
Mercury, who was known for his flamboyant stage presence and sexually charged image, is alive and well in the show’s characters.
“Galileo is just a rock ’n’ roll kid,” Lewis said. “The spirit of Freddie and his beautiful individuality really does come out in a lot of the numbers, more in the character Killer Queen’s numbers. They celebrate individuality and sexuality in those numbers. You see more of Freddie’s style.”
Even though the height of Queen’s popularity was from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, Lewis said she noticed that the majority of audience members are younger fans.
“I see more kids that are familiar with the music than adults,” she said. “They know every single word and they are so psyched about it. It’s cool to see. It’s already been passed on to the next generation.”
Lewis, who also has appeared in television shows like “Desperate Housewives” and “Brothers & Sisters,” as well as numerous stage productions, said that while she misses the familiarity of home, the thrill of being on stage in a rock spectacle more than makes up for it.
“I miss being in L.A. and the rat race,” she said. “But when I’m on stage or when the show is over and you look out and see the audience and see how you’re going on a journey together, that’s what originally set me to do this. I like to be there with the audience. TV is fun. I do like doing it. But I prefer to have the full journey in one night.”
“We Will Rock You” runs Jan. 14-19 at Kimmel’s Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad St. For more information or tickets, call 215-790-5847 or visit www.wewillrockyou.com.