QUEEN guitarist Brian May, a co-producer and musical supervisor on "We Will Rock You", fashioned around 31 of QUEEN's greatest hits, revealed in an interview with Whatsonstage.com that his team have been approached about doing a similar TV program for their musical, which celebrates its fifth birthday at the West End's Dominion Theatre (London) this month.

"We were asked," said May. "But we said no. We all feel that TV auditioning would be contrary to the spirit of our show. I's actually an appalling lowering of standards, this whole TV-dominated culture. I promise you will never find us on some panel bullying and ridiculing young performers — I personally detest that kind of thing, and I think it's a shame that the public puts up with it."

Programs like "Any Dream Will Do", "Grease Is the Word" and last year's prototype, "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?", are unhelpful and unhealthy for both the performers and the productions involved, according to May. "The idea that you can just pull people in off the streets to audition in public, and cast your show from this process, is a huge insult to all those young men and women who have devoted their whole lives to developing their talents, preparing for performing in a live stage show eight shows a week. How could you possibly expect to get the best performers this way? No self-respecting professional actor or actress would lower themselves to go in for this kind of humiliation. The best actors and singers will stay away."

Read the entire article at BrianMay.com.