Thats what they said 30 years ago and indeed they still rock. I’m talking about the rock band Queen, whose songs were repackaged in 2002 into a musicalWe will rock you.
We Will Rock You is a jukebox musical, based on the songs of Queen and named after their hit single of the same name. The musical was written by English comedian and author Ben Elton in collaboration with Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor. The story takes place in a tongue-in-cheek dystopian future where originality and individualism are shunned, and a lone “Dreamer” appears who can fulfill a prophecy that will enable the return of rock ‘n roll. – Wikipedia
The original London production premiered on May 14, 2002 at the Dominion Theatre. The show is currently still playing there, where it recently celebrated its 5th year anniversary. This speaks volumes about how awesome the play is.
Plot: The story is set in the future (Earth is called as ‘Planet Mall’) around 2300 AD, a time when the world is governed by a totalitarian mega corp called Globalsoft. ‘Killer Queen’ heads the corporation that enforces all citizens of Plant Mall to listen to computer generated music and lead a conformist life devoid of individual freedoms. Predictably, there is a tribe of rebel ‘Bohemians’, who aim to bring freedom symbolised by rock n’ roll music back to planet Mall. However, all music instruments have been banned, anyone suspected of having a rebellious thought is quickly captured into submission. Finally, there will emerge a messiah ‘Galileo’ who will crush the killer Queen.
Watch this video please. Repeat. Watch this video;):
About 26 songs (all by Queen of course) weave this 3-hour musical together. The number might sound intimidating, but the songs were quite apt and wonderfully performed (as you might see in the preview). At the end they left the audience craving for more. As a wannabe artist myself, I couldn’t but express my awe at the amount of hours the guys put in to create this wonder.
This was the first time I saw a western musical and I had goosebumps till the next day. If you happen to be in a city where they are playing, DO NOT miss it 
Oemar posted this video on his blog sometimes back, prompting me to write this.
Wikipedia defines subtitles as ‘textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen’.
Subtitles
Subtitles can be (a) Translation, or (b) Caption – text version of events on screen.
Here in Canada, Hindi movies shown in movie halls always have subtitles to them. These are, expectedly, English translation of Hindi dialogs. I have a nasty habit of reading the English subtitles ahead of the dialog delivery in Hindi. The minute the subtitles appear on screen, I digest them, and by the time the Hindi dialog ends, I am already reacting to it. Especially while watching Om Shanti Om, often I was laughing all by myself, because I read the subtitles but the Hindi dialogs were still getting spoken 
Captions
In US and Canada, the words ‘captions’ and ‘subtitles’ have different meanings. Subtitles are only a textual version of the dialogs on screen – assuming that the viewer can hear the sounds. On the other hand, Captions mean a little more than that. The symbol CC (not to be confused with Creative Commons) seen in the picture stands for ‘closed captioning’ and is specifically aimed at people who have hearing disability. The CC’s transcribe speech and all the relevant sounds in the video being played.
Captioning has progressed immensely and eventually it aims to describe all non-speech information – such as the identity of speakers and their manner of speaking, along with music or sound effects using words or symbols.
Me
I know it would be foolish to ascertain ‘which disability is the highest disability’, but I feel more for the hearing disabled. Probably because sound takes me close to myself more than anything else. For me, voice is one of the important things that makes the other person sexy Finally, I’m overly musically oriented.
Among the games I like to play, Half Life 2 and Doom 3 feature CC. The best thing I can do is – switch off the noises sounds in the game, turn on the CC’s and play my favorite music in the background instead. That way I get the best of both – my music and my game. Even on TV shows, it would feel funny to read stuff like (phone rings), (serious music in the background) and things like that, but once used to it, I find it equally enjoyable. Expressive content, such as Bollowood movies, rely solely on the background score to enhance the intensity of the scene. Think about shehnai music, and it reminds you of either a marriage or something tragic, doen’t it?
The sense of hearing is something I always took for granted, until few years back when I made a new friend. Now I see it in a different perspective altogether.
It’s too noisy out there. Try to read the sounds sometime
Me loving a Shah Rukh Khan movie?
The movie must have been reeally good. Yes it was
Om Shanti Om, directed by Farah Khan, stars Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles as the protaganists while Shreyas Talpade and Arjun Rampal feature in supporting roles. It is a typical yes-nonsense Bollywood masala movie. It is also the kind of movie that I seldom watch.
If you want to watch this movie, there are three prerequisites. First, you need a gang of noisy and enthusiastic friends who scream, sing and dance along with the movie. Second, you need to leave your left brain behind (you know, the one which thinks logically). Finally, you must not expect to learn a thing or two from the movie – thats because you won’t, there is nothing to take home.
The movie promises total fun, as it transitions swiftly from Bolywood in 70’s to Bollywood now. Kiran Kher’s deliberate melodramatic scenes and SRK+Shreyas’s retro outfits combine with some smacking satire on the movies of those times to make an interesting watch. There’s lot of talk about Shahrukh’s six pack, and he flaunts them in the only totally un-required song (making it uglier) – but then thats Bollywood.
One of the best parts of the movie was the Filmfare awards ceremony – with all the nominations and announcement of awards. The other astonishing part was the item song with several filmstars – present and past. As a MBA student who finds it difficult to schedule a meeting of 8 people at the same time, same place, I wonder how this was done.
On a side note, this movie makes the de-Sankritization of Hindi movies complete. Increasingly the movies are filled with English, or, Urdu words, that often leave me wondering with what the guy on screen just said. Ah…
Highly recommended watch. Never believed a reincarnation story could be that entertaining
It had been a long time since I read William [tag]Shakespeare[/tag]’s romantic comedy – ‘A [tag]Midsummer Night’s Dream[/tag]‘. Yesterday I saw the play at the Canadian Stage ([tag]Canstage[/tag]) season. The show runs daily at High Park, in an open-to-air setting.
I’d read the play centuries ago and I had to read the plot summary yesterday again to revive the whole thing. I hadn’t seen it being performed live before, so I was really excited. My favorite character, [tag]Puck[/tag] (Robin Goodfellow servant to Oberon, King of fairies) was played amazingly by this dude whose name I unfortunately don’t know. His closing speech was delivered perfectly:
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber’d here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to ’scape the serpent’s tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
The rest of the characters were also outstanding. I loved the way the director blended Caribbean hip hop, synthesizer music, cellphones and skateboards into the play. It was done in a way that didn’t offend my friend who usually swears at anything that is a fusion (especially old Hindi songs that are remixed), so I have a reason to believe that it was a remarkable balance. Being an open stage, people arrived early and grab strategically advantageous places. I was late to arrive, barely 2 minutes before the play started (don’t blame me, I’m new to the city) but I found a place in the very first row (my friends were just a row behind). It was so close to the stage that I thought I was a part of the play! Bruce has more interesting things to say.
I have no clue how anyone could remember Shakespeare’s lines. But then, these guys perform daily, and for weeks together. I bet their conversational English is also affected! There is indeed no better reward for a stage performer than the audience giving a thunderous applause. I thought I could clearly see a sense of achievement and satisfaction in the eyes of all characters when they saw us clapping and cheering.
Looking forward to more events this summer, this one was awesome
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