'Ga-ga-GAH, Ga-ga-GAH! That's a language that transcends every culture. It's neanderthal - it's a battle cry.'
Miguel 'MiG' Ayesa is demonstrating the rhythmic opening to the title song of We Will Rock You, in which he stars in Hong Kong next month. 'By the end of the show every single audience in every single country is always the same, they're all up on their feet and screaming for more,' he says.
We Will Rock You is a collaboration between Brian May and Roger Taylor of rock band Queen and writer/director Ben Elton. The show, which features more than 26 of the group's hits including Bohemian Rhapsody, We are the Champions and Another One Bites the Dust, has been running in London since 2002 and been performed all over the world. Hong Kong is part of an Asia-Pacific tour that includes New Zealand, South Korea and Singapore.
Ayesa, 38, played the lead role for two years in London. 'When I started doing it I realised, 'This is the greatest job I've ever had'. Every single night I do the show I feel like I'm doing it for the first time.'
The show is set in a future world ruled by a company called Globalsoft. 'People are not allowed to make music for themselves, or think for themselves. It's a very sanitised, boring world and their only friends are their Facebook friends,' says the singer.
Ayesa plays Galileo, who receives psychic messages from musical heroes of the past and joins a group of rebels called the Bohemians to defeat the evil Company and set the world free through rock'n'roll. He loves the message behind the show: 'It's a very good moral ... you need to fight all the people who tell you you must not be yourself.'