The show will go on… and rock you

THE full season of Ballarat Lyric Theatre’s production of We Will Rock You will be staged next year, following the show’s closure in July due to a snap COVID-19 lockdown.

The cast and crew will bump back into Her Majesty’s Theatre in summer, staging the Queen musical from Friday, 18 February to Saturday, 5 March.

Lyric president Michael Whitehead said five more shows have been added to accommodate the production’s popularity.

“Queen is so well known, and We Will Rock You is so famous around the world, so we were lucky to get it,” he said.

“The box office has only handed back 300 tickets out of 6000, and a lot of those were Melbourne people.

“We’re currently sold at 75 per cent, but we’re very encouraged that we’ll be fully open by February, and it will be an even bigger show.”

Director Stephen Armati said the cast, creative and technical teams remain the same, bar one performer, and rehearsals from December will be a refresher for all on-stage and backstage.

“We’ll do a four-week sprint to rebuild the show very quickly over January, and we can’t thank Her Maj and the City of Ballarat enough for helping us get there. The show must go on,” he said.

“Out of a cast and crew of 140, to only lose one person is great, so we’re in good shape. Come along and let us rock you.

“Everyone deserves a good night out and we can offer that. People love Queen, the principal cast are phenomenal, and it’s a fantastic, funny show.”

Her Majesty’s Theatre manager Daniel Henderson said the venue is ready from a COVID-safe perspective, and will “do everything we can” to support Lyric.

“We’ve got a great working relationship with them as one of our important community theatre groups in town,” he said.

Tickets bought for last July will be honoured. Visit hermaj.com/events/rock to book.