We Will Rock You Dernière – Colosseum Essen 30.06.2013

So the day was finally there: the very last show of “WWRY” in Essen for God knows how long. I expected it to be emotional; but what I experienced during that show was beyond my imaginations.
The girls and I were at the Stage Door hours before the show started, to see and talk to the actors before and mostly, to give them their farewell gifts, in case that after the show there won’t be enough time. I didn’t really get the chance to talk to any of them…mostly due to the fact that I concentrated myself entirely on Andrea Sánchez Del Solar, who had arrived quite early. We chatted along, and I asked her to sign my Copper Book, and…well, talking to her was wonderful again. Just like I knew her for ages, not from a few times at the Stage Door. And I realized it wouldn’t be that easy to say Goodbye today, as she had really grown to my heart. Big time. I know it sounds pathetic and needy and weak, but she’s the one I miss the most; I miss her utterly every day, and I really hope I will be able to built up some kind of a friendship with her. I have barely met people with such a wonderful, lovely, genuinely nice and unique character like her.

Anyways, somehow I got to talk to Anna Lidman just before she rushed in, and after she signed my book and let me take a picture with her, I told her that I would be seeing her on stage, and wished her an amazing last show. SHE really grew to my heart, too, such a wonderful person. The fact that she saw me crying from the stage like someone had just died is quite embarassing, though.

Just before we went in to gave everyone the little free glowsticks for the show that Nurhan had ordered, I took a last sneaky picture of some of the ensemble members – a picture I wanted for such a long time and am actually pretty proud of, sue me 😉 (sadly only know that the two guys on the right are Nathaniel Scott & Dan Keightley, the guy on the left is the gorgeous Tom Nihill). These guys – and all the ones I didn’t catch in here, – are so underappreciated, which is a shame. Biggest talents in dancing and acting I’ve seen in a very long time.

Then we went into the theatre. Somehow I managed to switch my seat at the left side of the stage, Row 4, Seat 14, to the one right beside my beloved Katharina – right hand of the stage, Row 4, Seat 2 – just at the center aisle, which allowed me to have not only a perfect view of the stage, but also gave me the opportunity to go through this last show right next to a friend.
I knew this last show would be kind of special, which was proven by a lot of things:

1. During the scene where Bap/Pop is telling about the past, when Live Music was still allowed, and he was talking about “real men” and “women throwing their knickers at them”…which was the exact moment dozens of panties were flying onto the stage. Stefan Müller-Ruppert, who was playing Bap/Pop that night was actually pretty startled, stuttering “Y…yes, yes, I remember that…”, and while he was caught in the Laser Cage, being interrogated by Khashoggi, he actually tried to grab more than one of them. Then, hell broke loose. “Radio GaGa” started, and the whole audience went mad; everyone was cheering as loud as they could, clapping through the entire song, and what was the most amazing thing: everyone stood up, giving the singers/dancers their Standing Ovations while they were still performing! It was stunning, and just looking at the actors’ faces was enough to know how much they loved this, how much they appreciated it; I believe seeing Andrea Sánchez Del Solar grinning as much as I had never seen anyone of the GaGa-Kids grinning 😀

2. Brigitte Oelke, on as Killer Queen in that last show, was on fire. In that scene where Khashoggi reports to her and she gets her bikini zone waxed, and shouts “Wax!”, she suddenly put her hand up on the screen, holding a huge tuft of red hair in her hand – it was hilarious. And different to the usual script, she didn’t say “We destroyed every rock on this planet…and of course, the Katzenberger-Remembrance-Rock on Mallorca!”, but instead, blurted out “…and of course, the Jürgen-Drews-Remembrance-Rock on Mallorca!” (this is something only germans will understand as hilarious)

3. There is this one guy, Austin Garrett, who plays Axl Rose in the german version, and in the Heartbreak Hotel scene where everybody introduces themselves, he usually runs forward, falling to his knees, shouting his own name 3 times in a row, until the Rebel Leader tells him to shut up. Now, I knew that the day before in the Matinée, Austin had been allowed to shout out at least 7 times, so I hoped for it this time, too…sadly, it were only 4 times, but still, I loved it – as I love the entire scene.

4. “(No-One But You) Only The Good Die Young”…was horrible. It was the most heartbreaking thing I had ever seen on a stage. Soon after the first few notes that Anna Lidman (Ozzy/Meat) had sung, I saw one of the Ensemble members, Walesca Frank, wiping her eye, and a few seconds after, it was Andrea Sánchez Del Solar who also started crying. Me and my friend Katharine noticed that and I was already tearing up, as I always do when I hear the song….but all composure I had left me when I saw Christopher Brose (Galileo) crying like a baby on stage; he couldn’t stop at all, and after a couple of seconds, while tears where streaming all down his cheeks, he turned around, with his back to the audience, and all I could see were his shoulders, going up and down, and Chris shaking from all the crying. When the song was over, even the other men on stage where crying, and Markus Neugebauer (Brit) pulled Chris into his arms, comforting him, and the entire audience gave them Standing Ovations longer than anything I had experienced before. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see someone so professional being so touched that he loses all of his composure during a scene.

5. During the scene where the KQ plays with the GaGa-Girls and Khashoggi shows up to tell her the rebellion is vanquished and the KQ thinks for a short moment that they’ve won and started that short part of “Don’t Stop Me Now”, she’s usually interrupted by Khashoggi after a few seconds, and the next song started. This time, it was different. As I was told by Brigitte herself later, she and the GaGa-Girls all had planned a special something that neither Martin Berger (Khashoggi) nor the Band knew about: when Khashoggi interrupted her, she just kept singing the entire song! The band was so startled that for a few seconds, not a tune of music was played, leaving them thinking “What the hell?”, while Brigitte was singing, until they finally caught up and played along – it was hilarious. When Brigitte had finished and we all stopped cheering like idiots after Martin waved his hands and arms to make us stop, he changed his usual sentence into “Madam, and again, you have not let me finish talking!”, and Brigitte answering “You have NOT let me finish singing!”

6. Just short before “We Will Rock You” started, and Bap/Pop asks the audience if anybody wants to see his tits, everyone in the room went mad; we all cheered and shouted yes, and Stefan was smiling like an idiot. It was so wonderful to see Jeannine Michele Wacker (Scaramouche) smirking all over her face, saying “Shut up, Bap…and miscellaneous others!”

7. The Band was flawless that last time, and the Standing Ovations we gave them were more than well-deserved. They all got to our hearts when they waved their hands and arms, pulling weird gestures to make us cheer even louder and longer.

8. There was this special encore song I knew had also been played at the last show of this Ensemble in Basel, Switzerland: “Show Must Go On.” I didn’t think about it at all, neither did I ever expect that it would be the song I would love the most about the entire show. The 6 Main Actors got their own parts; when one person was finished (standing in a Spotlight that was centered on them), it went dark and the next one got his/her spotlight. And their voices…man, they were flawless. I think I have never heard Markus Neugebauer any better than in his part of the song; it still gives me goosebumps, and so do the parts of Anna Lidman & Jeannine Michele Wacker. No one can imagine the atmosphere all around the room in these 4 minutes; honestly, I have never felt so close to a family as I did while standing there, enjoying every tune that came out of the Cast’s mouths.

It’s actually embarassing, but I have to admit that I cried through the entire last 4 songs without even a slight break: “We Will Rock You”, “We Are The Champions”, “Bohemian Rhapsody” & “Show Must Go On”. Everyone was standing, so was I, but while everyone around me waved their hands from one side to another or clapped, I was just gripping tight to the chairback right infront of me, not even being able to look up to the stage. I was crying, shaking, trembling, and from time to time, shook my head in disbelief that this was really over in a few minutes. I wasn’t able to smile when Jeannine saw me crying, or Anna, neither was I able to give all of them the credit they deserved so goddamn much. I was a sobbing mess, and I had lost all composure that was left inside of me. Considering that I had already started crying when “Radio GaGa” had started, or when everyone stood up during “I Want It All” or even a bit durign “One Vision”, and of course, through the entire song “(No-One But You) Only The Good Die Young”, I was really surprised I had been pulling myself together until the end of the show. It had honestly been the most wonderful, yet heartbreaking show I ever had the pleasure and honour to be part of, and despite all the tears and everything, I would never ever trade that day for anything.

After the show, we all went to the Stage Door that one last time, and I barely remember anything that I talked about with the actors; I was getting autographs and pics, mostly, and of course, gave my two presents to Chris & Jeannine – they both got a Plushie that were made by a friend of mine, Kim (from London), Jeannine getting a Scaramouche one and Chris a Galileo one; I really wanted to give them something special, something to remember their roles in WWRY, something to remember me. When I gave the Galileo one to Chris, he was staring at it for a couple of seconds, and finally, he said “How AMAZING is THAT?!?!?! Is that for me?!” and showing it around to his colleagues, pretty happy and proud. He hugged me and I knew he was really loving it, which was the greatest gift for me in that instant. I told him I needed a pic with him and the Plushie as a proof he loved it, and after a few complications (he almost left without taking that picture), he told me to come into the corridor with him where only the actors had access to, went to the reception and asked the receptionist to give him the doll for a second. Then he stood there, posing, while I took my picture with both of them, feeling all happy and special 🙂

Same goes for Jeannine. She was smiling from one ear to another when I gave my personal letter to her and the Plushie, and I have to say, I always loved her smile to pieces, because she’s just such a gorgeous young lady. She was totally touched, hugged me tight and thanked me. Later, a friend told me (when I saw the Scaramouche Plushie lying on the ground somewhere) that Jeannine had handled her with kid gloves, like she could break any second, while she was putting her right next to her bag. It was all I needed to know that this, too, had been just the right present for her 🙂 I even saw a pic on facebook where she had it tight in her arm on the bus when all the actors where leaving Essen – the biggest gift ever for me!

I took a lot of pictures with a lot of people, but barely remember a word I spoke to them; it was so much input, and it was so emotional to stand there and know this would be the last time for a very very long time, partly forever, with these people, and honestly, I never wanted it to end.
Walesca Frank:                                                                            Christopher Brose:                                                             

Isabel Trinkaus:                                                                 Brigitte Oelke:                                                            Jessica Kessler:

Marianna Neofitou:                                                                Lucy Wilkerson & Koco Zavaleta:

Jeannine Michele Wacker:

And now the only thing for me to say now is: THANK YOU to everyone who made these 3 months so absolutely mindblowing, wonderful, emotional, unforgettable! Everyone of them is SO talented, and I wish all of them the best from the bottom of my heart, wherever their way will take them. I miss you all so much, but I strongly believe we will all see each other again somewhere. These guys made me the happiest person alive for 8 weeks, and it’s something I will be forever grateful from the depth of my heart.

We Will Rock You – Colosseum Essen 28.06./29.06.2013

1. Friday, 28.06. 2013

Now I officially belong to that part of the Musical Fandom that calls the ticket organisation just less than 24 hours before the event, asking for a last-minute ticket for a show. It was a must-see for me, as I had deeply missed my favourite 2 main actors on stage 3 days before, and I couldn’t wait until the Dernière on sunday.

I don’t really remember if there was anything special this time, I just remember that it was a wonderful feeling to see Chris & Jeannine back on stage (again: I DO have the highest respect for Stuart & Jessica on tuesday, they were great, but just not my faves!), because I feel like the way they harmonize with each other is way more emotional; I always melt when during “Who Wants To Live Forever”, Chris embraces Jeannine so tightly from behind – no Galileo I have seen so far has ever done it that way, and I think it’s a very important little detail.
Anna Lidman being back as Ozzy was good to see – knowing that she was really getting better from her sudden deafness. And she was amazing, the best show I had seen from her. It’s always so touching when after “(No-One But You) Only The Good Die Young”, she turns away when she’s done singing, and everyone in the audience knows she’s crying; to know that she loves what she does so much that it’s really touching her soul is wonderful and an honour to be a witness of.
And the audience was wonderful! I feel like except for my 1st show at the Colosseum on May, 3rd, it got better and better with every show, they were really carried away with enthusiasm every single time, including long and loud standing ovations, cheerings and clappings – I’m very proud I’m a part of this fandom that was around in Essen!

After the show, of course, I went round to the Stage Door, where I was meeting Nurhan & Katharina (whom I had got to know 3 days earlier and already loved them 🙂 ), and we got to talk to Stuart for a while again, who was so lovely and nice, and then, Andrea rushed out of the door, being in a hurry, but still took a few seconds to stop, hugging me and telling me that sadly she hadn’t been on as Ozzy that night, but I just told her I didn’t care, because she was on stage after all, which meant a lot for me, anyways. The girls and me stood around a bit longer, and when Nurhan wanted to take a picture with one of the band members – Jamie Humphreys, a really nice person with an accent that kills me everytime *lol* -, I noticed Nikolas Heiber coming out. I told him I wouldn’t be calling him Madonna again, because I already recognized him a week earlier. He laughed, and I asked him if anybody has recognized him ever since, but he said no, but that it would’t be that bad. I can tell you, I really wanted to hug that one, feeling sorry for him…instead, I asked to take a quick picture (what a stalker am I?), and I felt his arm grabbing me around my waist tightly, and he pulled me onto him close, and we both did the “Rock-Gesture” – I really love the outcome of it, and of course, I liked Niko even more after that 😉

2. Saturday, 29.06.2013

Craziest day/night I have ever experienced, by far…not going into detail in public here, but if you wanna know, just ask. This show was one of my favourites of all the times I went to go see it in Essen. It would be the first and last time I’d finally see Tobias Bieri as Galileo on stage, and I had heard how fab he was. He was playing along with Jeannine Michele Wacker as Scaramouche, and isn’t it such a cute thing if you think about that these two are a couple?! Anyways, due to a promo thing in another city, the main cast wasn’t on that night, meaning that many roles were different this time: Brit would be played by David Michael Johnson (DMJ), who is a total legend for german WWRY fans, being the first ever Brit, Martin Werth would be playing Bap/Pop instead of Dieter Bohlen (dunno the Dominion version of the Bohemian leader right now, sorry :/), Nikolas Heiber would be playing Dieter Bohlen instead of Madonna, Nicole Malangré was going to be on as Killer Queen, and Marjolein Teepen, usually on as one of the Teen Queens, was going to be Ozzy/Meat.

The show was amazing, Tobi really surprised me. When I heard him in “Who Wants To Live Forever”, I was really impressed of how soft and at the same time strong his voice sounded; and with his version of “Hammer To Fall”, he simply blew me away. You gotta know I never got along well with the thought of a blond Galileo with curly hair; for me, it doesn’t fit to the role, for me he somehow needs to have dark, short hair (tell me why I’m so weird about that *lol*). But when I experienced him singing, especially the high and really powerful notes, I whistled inside, because he was so fabulous. And he has this special kind of acting that Chris does not have, something still really childish and cute, which fits him perfectly (should I mention how cute I thought it was that the Shirt that is worn in that role seemed way to small for him and always slided upwards when he raised his arms or moved alot? 🙂 ) And he and Jeannine harmonized SO goddamn well! I had never seen her that happy on stage (she had been very happy before, but I guess being on stage with your boyfriend is always really special 🙂 ), and you could see how much both of them enjoyed their last time together on the WWRY-Stage…they were both absolutely breathtaking, and I really regret that I never had seen them up there before. At the end, during the last few notes of “We Are The Champions”, the stage definitely was all Tobi’s: he encouraged the entire audience to sing along with him he shouted “Eeeeeeooohhhh…” more than once and everybody had to repeat it, and every time he did it, the notes got longer, until at the last one, – which was SO long that no one of us could actually hold it at all -, we all just stood there, laughing, and Tobi….he enjoyed this so much, it was amazing to see we gave him exactly that kind of last Galileo show that he must’ve hoped for. And Jeannine having tears in her eyes proved that she had loved it and was grateful for the audience once again.

At the Stage Door after, first one to come out was Marjolein, and she was so nice! I told her it was nice to see her in a different role this time, and she concluded with “…not so evil, right?” When I had first met her a few weeks back, she must’ve been in a hurry or sth, because she seemed so distant and impatient and kind of annoyed, and I was glad I got to talk to her once more to see that my first impression was wrong 🙂 Then I finally caught Martin Werth…gosh, I had waited so long for this, as I had never recognized him at first, or just didn’t see him coming out…only to see him on SO many of my Stage Door pics with the other actors, actually photobombing almost all shots *lol* I told him that I was really impressed because I hadn’t expected his voice to be so fantastic and good, and that he had really blown me away. After that, I saw Nurhan, one of the 3 girls I had met 4 days earlier, talking to one of the Ensemble Members, Austin Garrett, who played Axl Rose (who oddly looks EXACTLY like Joey Primo in “Rock Of Ages”!!!!), and he was so lovely and cute, I can’t even. He was so touched when Nurhan gave him a small present, and it was really heartbreaking seeing that he had been crying for a couple of minutes, that he actually had a hard time pulling himself together…and it didn’t take long until the poor Nurhan, not being able to see others cry, started crying herself. That was the first moment I realized that the Dernière the next day wouldn’t be a walk in the park – for none of us. If only I had known then HOW much it would be killing me.

After that, Tobi and Jeannine finally came out, and I walked up to Tobi, telling him how breathtaking he had been, that he had really impressed me and that I absolutely had loved his performance, though nobody could hold this last high note of his 🙂 It was so lovely to talk to him and Jeannine, seeing them together (seriously, they must be the cutest couple I’ve ever seen). When I first took a pic with Tobi and then one with Jeannine (I told her how breathtaking I thought Tobi had been, and she laughed and said “Go tell HIM that, he never believes me when I tell him!”), I actually really wanted one with both of them, and somehow, at first, Nurhan ended up taking a picture with ONLY both of them, and it was hilarious and cute at the same time 🙂 After that, I got my pic with both of them, and that one is actually one of my favourite of all pics I took over the past 8 weeks. It’s one more wonderful memory that no one can ever take from me 🙂

We Will Rock You – Colosseum Essen 25.06.2013

This would be the first of the 5 shows I had seen so far that I would NOT see Christopher Brose as Galileo & Jeannine Michele Wacker as Scaramouche. A few hours before, I got the news that it would be Stuart Sumner as Galileo that night, and it made me very happy; I had heard how amazing he was, and I had talked to him 4 days earlier, and I was really excited to see him on stage. Scara was being played by Jessica Kessler, who I was also excited to see, after I had seen her on stage on TV a while back and thought she was great. And of course, the best message I got that day: Andrea Sánchez Del Solar was going to be Ozzy/Meat one last time! She had posted sth on facebook, and I had answered that I hoped she’ll be rocking her last few shows, and when she asked me if I would be coming that night, because she was playing Ozzy, I was seriously over the moon. I think I haven’t smiled so widely in a very long time 🙂

The first moment Stuart opened his mouth for “I Want To Break Free”  was amazing. I expected alot, due to everything I had heard about him and his voice, and he was breathtaking! He was capable of holding the notes for so many minutes, and he gave me goosebumps more than once…that man has a damn lot of talent! And he reminded me that nobody is perfect, when he forgot his text two times during the show: once, in the scene where Galileo & Scaramouche become friends, just before Scara tells Galileo that she had always wished for a friend, and the second time, just before “Who Wants To Live Forever”, where he stood there, stuttering for a split second. It was nice to see something so humane 🙂 And Jessica…well, I will be honest here: at first, I didn’t like the fact that when she talked, she put in her accent…which is one I absolutely HATE and disgust (it’s one spoken in some parts of my county, and I always refer to that accent as coming from people who are…well, not well-educated). But the more the show went on, I thought that it fits into Scara’s rebellious and cheeky character, and she was really funny in her role. Plus, her voice was great, too. Well, and my Andrea…she definitely KILLED IT! It was the best show I had seen of her, the voice coming out of her mouth was mindblowing! It was almost like…well, she knew I was sitting in the audience, she knew the seat I was sitting in, and I love to think that she was actually doing everything so it wouldn’t just be a special last Ozzy/Meat show for her and the entire audience, but especially for me, as she knew how she is my absolute favourite in that role, how I love her to pieces. And honestly? It’s a really nice thing to think that she gave her best for me, to impress especially me. Probably insane and ridiculous, but who cares? It’s what made and makes me happy, and that woman deserves every support she can get, even if it’s just through some stupid words/texts from me.

As it was the last show of Stuart as Galileo (he would still be on for the rest of the shows as Mick Jagger) and Leon Van Leeuwenberg‘s last show as Bap (I only heard it just before the show, I had no idea he would be leaving already), a few things were different:

1. When at the beginning, Bap talks about the old times, about hairy men being real rockstars and women “throwing their knickers at ’em”, a few girlie underpants were flying onto the stage! Leon was startled for a second, and he smiled widely from one ear to another. And when he was interrogated by Khashoggi, being trapped in the cage of laserlight, he tried to grab the panties, which was hilarious. Also, normally, Bap said “Love & Perestroijka…sexy baby!” (don’t know how to better describe it, sorry) just before he gets dragged away from Khashoggi’s men, but this time, he pushed his hand up into the air and shouted “Love & Perestroijka….you sexy motherfucker!” in a singing voice, just like Prince is doing it in his song – the audience freaked out!

2. Just before the part where the Killer Queen is being defeated, and Bap asks the audience if anybody wants to see his tits, Scara normally said “Shut up, Bap!”, but this time, Jessica & Stuart absolutely killed it: Stuart blurted out “Bap, pack in your breasts…” and Jessica concluded “…Bap, please put some clothes on!” You have to know, there’s a song in Germany that was pretty popular a while back, and it went like “Bettina, pack in your breasts, Bettina, please put some clothes on!” Therefor, you can imagine what was going on in the room at that moment 😉

It was quite an emotional show, and Stuart definitely got his moment for himself during “We Are The Champions”, when he encouraged the entire audience to sing/shout along with him, and these sounds reminded me SO much of his engagement as Cover Tarzan in Hamburg a few years back. And as the last few notes of “Bohemian Rhapsody” sounded, Jessica & Stuart walked up to each other, just when Stuart sang “Nothing really matters…” and Jessica/Scara is supposed to sing “…to me….”, she held out a red rose to him and her voice broke, so that she wasn’t able to sing her part – it was heartbreaking and beautiful together, and a wonderful end to their last show together.

After the show, I went to the Stage Door, though I didn’t really had much time to. I was lucky, as I got to catch Stuart, Andrea & Leon (with whom I wanted a pic so badly since my first time in the show, but never had the guts to walk up and talk to him!). It was amazing to talk to Stuart, just like old friends, and he was so nice and patient, it actually felt like he wanted to stand there and talk to his fans for the entire night. Such a lovely man!

And Andrea, of course…my little Latina girl…words can’t express how overjoyed I was, everytime I got to see her on or off stage. She always walks up to me with the brightest smile and pulls me into her arms, while hugging me so tight…it actually always feels like a friend, and that is the most beautiful feeling ever. Talking to her, I always just want to freeze time, because she’s such a wonderful person.

Leon was even nicer than I thought, he pulled me so tight up to him, just like a Daddy *lol* It was a shame that this would be the last time we would be able to see him, but I wish him all the best in the world, that man has talent!

My resumé: it was a good show, but…well, my least favourite from all the shows I’ve seen. I have to admit, I was really missing Chris and Jeannine, and I realized that no one – no matter how mindblowing and amazing they are, – will ever be able to replace these two for me as Galileo & Scaramouche. NO ONE. I have the highest respect and appreciation for everyone who has such a talent as Stuart & Jessica definitely have, I really do; but hands down, you all have your favourites, and no one can reach them.