Dominion Theatre - We Will Rock You

Act One

The story of We Will Rock You is set exactly 300 years in the future in a Orwellian type of world. Earth has been renamed as "Planet Mall", and is competely controlled by the Globalsoft Corporation. (Innuendo) On Planet Mall, mainstream commercial conformity reigns supreme, in which Ga Ga Kids watch the same filmslisten to computer-generated music, wear the same clothes and hold all the same thoughts and opinions. Musical instruments are strictly forbidden, and rock music is unknown. (Radio Ga Ga)

One of the newest graduating class is Galileo, a black sheep who has dreams and hears strange words in his head, most of which are lyrics of rock songs that are long since lost.  Although he does not understand their significance and despite his teacher's advice, Galileo refuses to conform like the rest of his classmates. (I Want To Break Free)

Galileo is captured by Khashoggi, the commander of Globalsoft's police. The teacher also reveals a second anomaly, a young goth girl who is openly mocked and derided by her peers (Somebody To Love) and she too is arrested by Khashoggi.

Ruling Globalsoft Corporation is the Killer Queen. (Killer Queen) who has heard of a prophecy that instruments have been hidden away somewhere on Planet Mall in the "place of living rock", and a "bright star" will show the way to find them. She orders Khashoggi to get to the bottom of the matter and crush the rebel Bohemians who believe in this prophecy. The Killer Queen then basks in her power over Planet Mall. (Play The Game)

Galileo and the young woman wake up in hospital (Death On Two Legs). They realize that they are both kindred spirits, therefore feared by the rest of their society. (Under Pressure) and they flee together from the hospital.

Killer Queen has blown up all the rocks on Planet Mall, but cannot find any of the supposed hidden instruments. She insists that they have won, and the prophecy will not come true. (A Kind Of Magic)

Back on the streets though,the  Bohemians Brit and Meat climb out of the sewers, where they have been gathering materials to try to make musical instruments. Brit is a firm believer in the Dreamer who will fulfil the prophecy, and insists to the more cynical Meat that it's the key to bringing real music back into the world. (I Want It All)  Brit and Meat then hear footsteps approaching, and hide.

Galileo and the girl arrive, with Galileo talking about his belief that he has a destiny. He says that he has a name for the girl: "Scaramouche". Brit and Meat then reveal themselves, and accuse Galileo and Scaramouche of being spies for the Killer Queen, because Galileo keeps spouting words from the "sacred text". Galileo insists that he only hears those words in his head. Brit tries to test Galileo by singing the first few lines of "Bohemian Rhapsody". Galileo responds correctly with all the subsequent lines, and Brit realises that he is indeed the Dreamer of the prophecy. They bring Galileo and Scaramouche to the Heartbreak Hotel, which is located at the ruins of what was the Tottenham Court Road Underground Station where the Bohemians have made their new home. (Headlong)

The Bohemians explain that they all take their names after singers long gone, and mourn the deaths of those who died so young. (No One But You - Only The Good Die Young)  The group then celebrate the reason rock bands started playing music in the first place, which was for the love of it and also simply to find love. (Crazy Little Thing Called Love)

 Called LoveKhashoggi and his police suddenly storm into the Heartbreak Hotel, where they round up and capture the Bohemians but Brit breaks free and battles the police to try to enable Galileo and Scaramouche to escape, but in the process is killed. (Ogre Battle)

Act Two

The Ga Ga Kids of Planet Mall move on uniformly in their regular fashion. (One Vision)

Galileo and Scaramouche have now escaped the Heartbreak Hotel, and realise that back at the hospital, tracking devices were installed into their heads. They manage to remove them, and upon realizing that they are all that's left of the rebels, they confess to eachother that they love eachother. (Who Wants To Live Forever)

The few surviving Bohemians have been rounded up by Khashoggi to be tortured. (Flash) When he cannot get any information from them about the prophecy, he has them all brain-drained. (Seven Seas Of Rye)

Galileo suddenly wakes up, and tells Scaramouche that he had a dream that the Bohemians were sent to the Seven Seas of Rhye. Scaramouche agrees that they have to go there, but then Galileo insists that she stay because she's a "chick", to which Scaramouche takes total offense. They argue, and decide that both of them will go to the Seven Seas of Rhye, but their relationship must be purely professional.

Back at Globalsoft headquarters (Fat Bottomed Girls)  Khashoggi reports to the Killer Queen that the Bohemians are no longer a problem. The Killer Queen prematurely starts to celebrate. (Don't Stop Me Now)  Khashoggi then interrupts her and explains that Galileo and Scaramouche have escaped. Killer Queen declares this is the last time Khashoggi has disappointed her, and as punishment  has him brain-drained.( Another One Bites he Dust)

Galileo and Scaramouche are now making their way to the Seven Seas of Rhye, but arguing all the way. (Hammer To Fall)  At the Seven Seas of Rhye pub, Pop the librarian is serving up drinks to the lifeless Bohemians. (These Are The Days Of Our Lives)  When Galileo and Scaramouche arrive, Pop explains to them the full nature of the prophecy as inscribed by the three remaining members of the rock band Queen just before they were sentenced to death. Scaramouche figures out that the shining star of the prophecy is actually rock star Freddie Mercury's statue, and that it's pointing to Wembley Stadium which must be the "place of living rock". After initially preparing to travel by bicycle, (Bicycle Race)

Scaramouche protests that the method of transport  "isn't very cool", and so they travel there by motorcycle. (Headlong (reprise))

Wembley Stadium is in total ruin, with no instruments to be found. Reconciling and their love for each other rekindled (Love Of My Life), Scaramouche inspires Galileo to perform the opening of the song  "We Will Rock You", and suddenly an electric guitar is revealed. Galileo however cannot play it, but Scaramouche can. (Brighton Rock)  Pop hacks into Globalsoft's computer network so their music can be heard by everyone on Planet Mall, and Killer Queen is defeated. (Tie Your Mother Down- We Will Rock You- We Are The Champions)

After the curtain calls (We Will Rock You), a question appears that says "Do you want "Bohemian Rhapsody"?" Everybody in the audience is supposed to shoutl yes, and the answer appears as "Oh...alright then" and the entire cast perform the clasic song (Bohemian Rhapsody) as  an encore.

Theatre tickets to all performances of We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre in London are availablle to book securely online through this website.

The Dominion Theatre in London is a west end theatre located on Tottenham Court Road in the borough of Camden. 

The Dominion Theatre was built in 1928-29, designed by W and TR Milburn with a steel-framed construction and a concave Portland stone facade. It was built as a theatre for live shows, but after faltering business in the early 1930s, the building was converted to also allow it to show movies. The theatre was built on the location of the former Horse Show Brewery.

Despite its huge 2,858 capacity, the Dominion Theatre did well thanks to its excellent location where Charing Cross Road, Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road all meet. The cinema had to close temporarily at the height of the Blitz early in October 1940, but re-opened for good on 12th January 1941. After the war, it continued its link with the New Victoria, almost invariably playing with the Gaumont circuit programme for a pre-release week before it went into the Northwest London area to commence its suburban run.

In December 1956 Rank first considered making regular use of the Dominion Theatre for live shows again and had internal estimates of the cost involved for rewiring and refurbishing the stage facilities. The first major use as a live venue came when the Judy Garland Show ran from Wednesday 16th October to Saturday 16th November 1957. Movies continued to be shown at all other times, although the theatre restaurant had closed on 15th June 1957.

The Dominion was then selected to show films in the new Todd AO system. Two Phillips 70mm / 35mm projectors were installed in a new projection box at the back of the stalls, providing a 78-foot level throw to the screen and an immense 46-foot-wide screen, with a 5-foot-deep curvature erected in the 54-foot-wide proscenium opening. Stereophonic sound was provided and seating came down to 1,654 with the upper gallery being curtained off.

South Pacific inaugurated the new road show policy on 21 April 1958 and racked up the longest ever run of four years, 22 weeks, before closing down on 30th September 1962.

Samuel Goldwyn had patiently waited more than three years to open Porgy And Bess here, but the success of South pacific unfortunately did not rub off on it. Cleopatra was another mammoth attraction that opened here in August 1963, but it was The Sound Of Music which ran from 29th March 1965 to 31st June 1968 that confirmed the Dominion Theatre's pull as a home of musicals. However Star which followed redecoration on 18th July 1968, proved more successful at the Dominion Theatre than anywhere else. However, once Hollywood stopped making the big budget extravaganzas, the Dominion was in trouble. The Dominion was earmarked for live use only from 8th November 1981.

During the 1980s it became a popular venue for music concerts.  Tangerine Dream's album Logos was recorded there in 1982, and contains a song called "Dominion" written in tribute.  Dolly Parton's 1983 concert at the Dominion was filmed and released as a TV special, Dolly In London. In the mid-1980s the Dominion hosted the musical Time, and the interior was extensively reconstructed to accommodate the shows special effects.

Since the early 1990s the Dominion has played host to a variety of west end stage shows, Grease, Scrooge, Beauty And The Beast, Mathew Bourne's Swan Lake and Notre Dame De Paris have all enjoyed a run at the theatre. 

The Dominion now has a capacity of 2,182 in two tiers of galleries, following the closure many decades ago of the former upper circle. The theatre retains its 1920s light fittings and art deco plasterwork.

There has been lots of renovation work done in the theatre over the past couple of years. The large dressing room block at the rear of the theatre has its stone work cleaned and new exact replica windows fitted. Inside the building has also seen many changes with the reinstatement of the once derelict area originally occupied by the theatre's restaurant/tea rooms and which was utilised by Rank in its time at the Dominion as office space.

In 2002, the hit stage musical We Will Rock You, the musical based around the songs of supergroup Queen and created by guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor together with comedian Ben Elton opened. The show was due to close in October 2006 before embarking on a UK tour, but due to popular demand has been extended indefinitely. We Will Rock You is currently in its ninth year and as such is the longest running musical ever to play at the Dominion Theatre. The current booking period has recently been extended until March 2012, although it is not unlikely that the musical will continue to run after this date. 

Theatre tickets to all performances at the Dominion Theatre can be securely purchased through this website.