We Will Rock You – Dominion Theatre 05.10.2013 (Cast Change)

There it was, Cast Change day. The day I would sadly have to say Goodbye to the 4 most inspirational theatre people that I ever had the pleasure and honour to meet: Rachel John, Wayne Robinson, Emma Hatton & of course my first and one and only Galileo – Scott Monello.

And boy, would that night be a special one. A very special one.

On twitter, there had been that rumour spread that the legend himself, Brian May, would be at the Dominion that night, as he usually always is when there’s a Cast Change, or Freddie Mercury’s birthday, or the Dominion’s birthday – on special occasions. Somehow, I knew this wasn’t a hoax at all – I bet the theatre would’ve gotten a lot of nasty letters if that would’ve been just a campaign to sell more tickets!

And for God’s sake, what an emotional show it was. Right at the beginning, when “Radio GaGa” came on, mine and my friend’s Alison’s view went straight over to the right side of the stage (after I was looking for Scott in the GaGa boys, I admit that) – to Emma Hatton. They weren’t even more than 30 seconds into that song, and we both saw that Emma was already crying, trying to pull herself together. In her eyes, at the same time, there was so much pride and sadness that it was absolutely heartbreaking – no surprise I already had started crying and sobbing myself, same as Alison. There are no words of how emotional, breathtaking and amazing that show was – no words. I will not lie to anybody – through the entirety of the show, no matter who was on stage at that moment, my eyes kept being glued to Scott Monello, with sometimes switching to Emma. I just felt like I needed to take every last possibility to have a look at that one man who had been my 1st Galileo one year ago, who had me fallen in love with this cast in the first place, and who I desperately wished would be staying forever.
I don’t think that throughout that show, I stopped crying or holding back my tears for even an instant – but when it was Rachel John’s turn to sing “(No-One But You) Only The Good Die Young”, it was absolutely over for me. Even seconds before she started singing, I was a complete mess, sobbing away. And there are no words of how goddamn beautiful that last time of Rachel was – NONE. She was on fire, she was on her best, she killed the song in ways I had never heard anyone singing it, she touched me deep down in my heart, in places I thought had already died in the past – and simply EVERYONE in that audience felt the same – the minutelong applause she got after the song was over was proof enough of that. Rachel was standing with her back to the audience, her shoulders rocking back and forth, Wayne comforting her, hugging her, standing with her in the back of the Heartbreak Hotel as she wasn’t able to keep it together anymore. It was the most heartbreaking thing, and it seriously topped everything I had expected for that moment to be like.
Of course, Oliver Tompsett as Galileo and Rachael Wooding as Scaramouche were at their absolute best again, and the mindblowing “Day-Oh’s” Olly gave us at the end of “We Are The Champions” was priceless, amazing and one thing I’ll definitely never forget.
And then, the big moment came. Just before that well-known guitar solo of “Bohemian Rhapsody” started, that automatic hole/elevator in the middle of the stage was opened, and very slowly, BRIAN MAY got lifted up onto the stage, doing the most amazing and best guitar solo of that song that I have ever heard in my entire life – and I don’t even have to tell you that the entire audience went completely mental. I have never heard an entire room screaming SO loud, and singing along to that song SO loud that you could barely hear the actors on stage singing! And of course, Brian ended that unbelievable night with a personal speech on  everyone of the actors leaving that day, while me and everyone around me and Alison either recorded the whole thing or took pictures of the stage – it was nuts and the best thing I had experienced in a long time.

At the Stage Door after, it was insane, it was so crowded because everyone wanted to see Brian May, while my actual and most important goal was to see Scott Monello, Rachel John & Emma Hatton to give them their farewell gifts I brought them, and Oliver Tompsett to have him doing me a huge favour for Simon Lipkin. With Alison sadly being on crutches, it was even more difficult, and don’t ask me why, but we managed to have an amazing time there! 30 minutes passed and everytime, Brian’s bodyguard (Mr. Sontaran, what Ali and I called him the entire time *lol*) came out, telling us all to stay calm, etc. Thankfully, I caught everyone I wanted to – Scott came out, and when I told him again that he had been my very first Galileo at the Dominion and gave him my present, he was so touched and pleased and thanked me over and over for my support, hugged me tight, and even after I took my pics with him, before he left, he repeated how thankful he was for all my support. No surprise I really really really didn’t want to let him go 😦 Wonderful, beautiful man.

Then it was time to talk to Rachel John, to give her my gift and say Goodbye. While Alison and I were waiting at the Door for Brian May to come out, we decided to give Ali’s mum our tickets to be signed, as we doubted anyways that we would get a picture with him. Rachel was so lovely, I can’t say it any other way. And she was so absolutely lovely and touched by my gift, gave me a hug and thanked me over and over again. It’s truly more than a shame I will never get to see her as Mimi in “RENT”, because I just know she will be absolutely kickass.

While Alison and I were still talking to Rachel, suddenly her mum called us over, asking if we wanted a picture with Brian May – we hadn’t even noticed he was already out! We shoved ourselves through to him – or at least tried to, which was too difficult for Alison, being on her crutches. So without even thinking twice, I shouted “Let the disabled girl through!” and everyone turned around to us, making space for us – that way Alison and I got my picture, and I think I made her pretty happy that night, according to the happy tears she shed after finally meeting her idol (I look awful on my pic, but the man is a legend, so I’m proud of it anyways).

The excitement around fell apart after he had left – thank God – but we sticked around a bit more, especially as finally Oliver Tompsett came out. He greeted us with a big smile, asked us how we were, and instantly, I grabbed him and asked him to do me a huge favour for his buddy Simon Lipkin – which he did, then somehow thanked me for letting him doing it, hugged me, and it was a real surprise that after that, I didn’t start crying out of sheer relieve (I will not tell on here what he did, because I think a lot of people know what Simon means to me and I don’t want anybody to kind of steal my idea for his last day at “Rock Of Ages” – call me childish, but sorry)! We chatted away with him, took our pictures and told him with laughter that we expected to get a birthday cake with our faces on our birthdays next year, too (inside joke between some WWRY/RoA Fans), plus a shirt with our names on it, and he laughed and said “Alright, will do that!” – that man is a piece of gold, even if it was all just a joke…and he finally smiled on my pic *lol*

After that, it all went so fast….Emma Hatton, Katie Paine & Rachael Wooding all came out together, and I was not only desperate to give Emma her gift, but also finally get a pic and chat with Katie and Rachael…and man, these three were/are the most lovely girls you can imagine. I have barely seen actors or people in general having such an amazing time with their Castmates and fans, I have never seen them so happy and grinning the entire time like little kids on christmas. They are honestly the most amazing ladies you will ever have the honour to meet in your entire life.

The last persons we caught were Jeremy Taylor (Understudy Galileo, who left that day, too), Harriet Bunton & Wayne Robinson (he also left that day). All were absolutely lovely, but Wayne…oh God. Not only did he smell like heaven – I love men who smell nice, can’t help it – but no, when we stood at the corner to get a picture together, I felt his grab around my shoulder, and it took all my composure to not turn around to him and say “What the hell are you doing, Mister?!” Seriously, his grab was so firm and tight like I have never been grabbed before, he pulled me SO close to him…and no, I won’t complain about it, because I admit it, I loved it, and I love the pic even more 😀

This night was so absolutely breathtaking and surreal that I still have problems to properly process it. It was heartbreaking to see so many lovely faces and talents leave, but I’m more than sure I will soon see them again!