Writer of the We Will Rock You stage show, Ben Elton says, it doesn’t matter if you’re a Queen fan or not, because if you enjoy a good laugh and like to rock then this show is for you. A busy man, Ben is currently working on a new novel, a new play and a new musical with the famous Andrew Lloyd Webber.

What first made you decide to be a part of the We Will Rock You show?

I loved the music of course and as a comic writer I always loved Queen’s sense of fun.

What were some of the challenges you faced?

The biggest challenge was coming up with the basic idea. I knew that a biography of Freddie or the band was not the way to go; Queen’s music belongs to the world and certainly doesn’t tell their personal life stories. I wanted an idea that reflected the sprit of the group, which is of course legendary, huge in scale and laced with dark humor. Eventually I decid ed on an Arthurian tale (the sword in the stone) and began thinking about a guitar buried in rock.

What’s the secret behind the suc cess of We Will Rock You?

It’s no secret; we deliver a massive live rock extravaganza with great characters, a fun story, loads of laughs and 26 of the best songs ever written.

After being involved with the mu sical for so long do you ever get bored of it?

Never. It always thrills me to see the wonderful companies we’ve as sembled over the years bringing their own individual touches to our show. Every Galileo is different and every Scaramouche, all the charac ters are created afresh each night. Like any good rock gig, no two We Will Rock You shows are ever exactly the same.

Is there going to be anything dif ferent during in the performanc es here compared to the show in the UK?

Of course, we will add one or two lo cal references to the script, we al ways do. The story is about a group of rebel Bohemians rediscovering the culture of pop and rock and we like to pay tribute to local talent.

If you could do things differently, what would you change?

I’d bring Freddie back so that he could see what we did. Brian, Rog er and John are certain that he would love it. So is Freddie’s mum who wrote us a wonderful letter saying so.

I’m a pop diva, not a rock fan, am I going to get bored?

I’ll bet you’re not as big a pop diva as Freddie was! Queen were never just one thing, not rock, not pop, not opera either, they were Queen and no, you won’t get bored.