Spend a ‘Night at the Rock Opera’

In the world of Boston’s Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra, Queen is king and David Bowie is queen. The dukes are The Who and the Beatles. URO - a 19-member band co-led by singer-guitarist Sal Clemente and drummer Alan Ware - set up shop at the Stuart Street Playhouse on Friday, kicking off an ongoing series of shows called “A Night at the Rock Opera.”

The early to mid-’70s is URO’s primary stomping ground. Friday’s show started with The Who’s “Who Are You” and climaxed with Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the penultimate, perplexing multilayered rock song. It had pomp, petulance, triumph, defeat and, ultimately, indifference. It was breathtaking when it was released in 1975; it remains so in URO’s hands with Clemente and Fatima Elmi sharing lead vocals, supported by 12 other singers. They closed their second set with it, coming back for encores of Wings’ “Live and Let Die” and Queen’s “Somebody to Love.”

URO played the second side of “Abbey Road,” bringing the Beatles’ crazy quilt of song structure and emotional range to life. Bowie’s glam-rock period provided room for sharp-edged guitar riffs with “Suffragette City,” “Moonage Daydream,” among others. The funky Queen/Bowie collaboration, “Under Pressure,” made clear the link between the entities. Presented by the Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra, at the Stuart Street Playhouse, Friday night through Dec. 31, then Saturdays starting Jan. 17 2009.

URO played three originals from its rock opera-in-progress, but the group specializes not so much in rock opera as theatrical songs culled from concept albums made by superstars. Strong vocally and instrumentally, URO is a classic-rock repertoire company - the only one with this scope and ambition, with these precise harmonies and orchestration. Nuance plays a role, but no song is turned away because it’s too bombastic. They will - they will - rock you.