‘We Will Rock You’ says actor Christensen

“As somebody who went to the theatre a lot as a kid with my family, I think this is certainly one of those shows I would have been really excited to see. It really rocks.”

That from Brian Christensen, who plays the character of Brit in We Will Rock You, a theatrical production featuring the music of legendary rock group Queen, which plays at GFL Memorial Gardens in Sault Ste. Marie starting at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29.

“This is certainly the largest production I’ve been involved in. We’ve been touring since September. We toured across America in the fall, and in January and February, we’re in Canada. I’ve been to a lot of places where I never thought I’d find myself. This is a new adventure for me,” Christensen said, speaking to SooToday Wednesday in a telephone interview from Saskatoon.

“It’s been really cool. We’ve been playing to audiences bigger and more diverse than I’ve ever had an opportunity to play for. When we were in New York we played the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, and we played the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. I was pinching myself all day when we were there.”

Born in Victoria and now based in Edmonton, Christensen, 27, said he considers himself primarily a singer/songwriter/musician, though he has had previous theatre appearances in Rent, Miss Saigon, The Full Monty and Xanadu.

He released, in 2014, his EP entitled Blue Museum, playing guitar and singing lead vocals in what has been described as “a rich sequence of pop hooks rooted in the spirit of alternative and indie rock.”

After high school, Christensen graduated from MacEwan University’s music program in Edmonton.

“It’s a pretty unique program that focuses on contemporary music. There aren’t many post-secondary programs that have that sort of focus. I really enjoyed that.”

Originally intending to continue his musical studies at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, Christensen completed a political science degree at MacEwan.

“For the last several years I’ve been living a double life. I’ll gig on evenings and weekends, but I’ve also been working as a political staffer (first working for an Edmonton MP and now on leave from his current post as an assistant to an Edmonton city councillor).”

“Then, this audition came up for We Will Rock You and I landed the gig.”

The musical We Will Rock You, which first played in London, England in 2002, tells the story of a group of Bohemians who strive to restore freedom of thought and expression under an oppressive regime in which musical instruments and composers are forbidden and rock music unknown.

Over 20 Queen hits, including We Are the Champions, Somebody To Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Another One Bites The Dust and We Will Rock You, are played by a supporting live band as the performers act, sing and dance out the story.

Christensen's character Brit is one of the rebels, fighting for freedom against a restrictive society.

“The writer (Ben Elton) used 1984 as an inspiration. It builds on that theme,” said Christensen, who, as Brit, sings I Want It All with a duet partner and the lead in Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

“I think everyone has their own connection with Queen.”

"When I was a kid I heard a CD with We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions on it... they’re on the top rung with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in my mind,” Christensen said. 

“Their music is so ubiquitous by this point in time. There’s so much variety in their music. One thing we’ve been discovering on this tour is that there are a lot of songs by Queen that a lot of people don’t actually know are by Queen. Crazy Little Thing Called Love is a good example. A lot of people think it’s an Elvis song. It reminds them of Elvis but it’s Queen."     

“I like to think of it as a show that can appeal to a big cross-section of people. We have a lot of the older generation that grew up with Queen, a lot of younger people that maybe just saw the movie Bohemian Rhapsody discovering their music for the first time, we have a lot of people who maybe don’t go to musicals very often but are inclined to come for this show because of the music, and we’ve got conventional theatregoers who know We Will Rock You.”