We Will Rock You – Frankfurt 09.01.2015 (Dernière Day)

Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought that this last day at the beautiful Frankfurt venue would be one of the best days of my life, two of the best shows I’ve ever seen – and that three of my biggest (show-related) dreams would finally come true.

Matinee
When I first stepped into the Opera House, to my delight, they finally had set up the Cast list for the performances at the reception. The even bigger delight came when I saw who would be on as Galileo & Scaramouche: Fabio Diso & Leoni Kristin Oeffinger! I took the list into my hands and stared at it with a shocked expression on my face and a loud squeak trying to make its way up my stomach, into my throat and out of my mouth – F***ing YES! I had come across the fact of how rare it was to get Fabio as Galileo, and to get Leoni as Scara was even more rare, and I never expected (although wished for it) to ever get to see either of them in one of the lead roles during that short run in Frankfurt – and now I had them both.
Leoni as Scara…uhm, holy moly. I had only known her as teacher so far, and whenever I thought about her as Scara after seeing pics of it, it felt weird, although if you’d ask me, I couldn’t give you a reason why. Maybe I’m too biased by always seeing Jeannine Michele Wacker as Scara 😉 Anyways, the moment Leoni stepped foot on the stage, it was totally hers. Her voice is totally different from Jeannine’s, but absolutely stunning nonetheless. It’s deep, with a slight rasping sound when she comes down to the low notes, but at the same time, all powerful, which left me completely speechless. I’d never guessed that this was lying dormant underneath that teacher role. From the acting point, her Scaramouche is adorable, she has this very headstrong and stubborn attitude, with what she makes the Galileo at her side – in this case, Fabio – look very tiny and small. If I think about it, if I was a guy and was to play Galileo next to her, I’d be pretty scared of her 😀
And now, to Fabio Diso…OH MY GOD. First of all: he is, without a doubt THE most adorable, cute and “Oh, I want to run on stage and hug him like a little boy” kind of Galileo I have EVER had the pleasure and honour to see on and off stage. He has this certain kind of way to style his hair…I mean….just look at him. (Fabio, if you see this: sorry that I borrowed the pic off your page, but I thought best to have people see what I mean, if that’s okay with you 🙂 )

Anyways, second thing: HIS VOICE. I’m honest, I had very high expectations of him after that short recording. And all of them were pretty much just by far surpassed! Even after his first few vocals of “I Want To Break Free”, I couldn’t keep myself from shaking my head, murmuring “Holy crap.”, because he was better than I had ever expected and thought possible. His voice is the most powerful any other Galileo of the german Cast has ever presented to the audience, and especially in the high vocals, he puts all his power, energy and talent into the notes, it was mindblowing. The moment he opens his mouth, you don’t believe your ears, if that makes sense. I could go on and on, keep praising him, but there are just no words to express HOW breathtakingly good and talented this young man is, you have to see it for yourself.
Third thing: the interaction/harmony between Fabio and Leoni. One word: WOW. I always thought there was no pair that seemed to be more made for each other on stage than Christopher Brose & Jeannine Michele Wacker, but those two proved me wrong. Every oh so tiny movement and word is geared to each other, and their voices just match. And as to how they play the characters, I think Fabio is the most talented Galileo of all. Each of them is dorky and insecure and weird in their own way, which is wonderful and a joy to watch, but he gives it the last touch that I think the role needs to be just perfect. He’s even more dorky and insecure than Chris or Stuart, and if you didn’t know the show as I do, you could never believe that that little boy is capable of becoming the biggest rock star in the history of the iPlanet, because hands down, if you look at that cute little face, you don’t buy it that he’s a hero or sort of a “guitar guy”. And seeing him proving everybody wrong – mindblowing. As to Leoni, she totally lights a fire under him, she has him in the palm of her hands and she bosses him around as she pleases. The way Fabio reacts to that is what I call talent. Whoever decided to put these two up on that stage together in the two lead roles has my deepest gratitude. Just wow.
The two other roles that were completely different than usual were Robert Meyer as Brit and Marjolein Teepen as Ozzy. Seeing someone else than Markus Neugebauer in the role of Brit was weird, but refreshing, and although my first thought was “He looks a bit like a milksop without a beard”, I was positively impressed by Robert. I only knew him as Madonna, one of the Bohemians, and I must say, he did a good job. I liked the way he tried to look extremely strong and macho-like, and also, that his voice is lighter than Markus’, it was a refreshing new touch to see in the role. There is a lot of potential in him, and I hope he gets to play the role a few more times during the running tour, because he definitely deserves it. As to Marjolein as Ozzy…let’s just be honest: I’m totally biased as to who plays this role. For me, there’s only one true Ozzy, and that is Andrea Sánchez Del Solar. Period. Marjolein‘s voice is stunning, no question, she has some killer vocals and a huge talent, especially on the high notes, but in comparison to other Ozzy’s, she just doesn’t touch me with them, not even during “(No-One But You) Only The Good Die Young”. I can’t explain it, maybe my mind is too gridlocked on my opinion, and I know people will think I’m a horrible person, but that’s how it is. I met Marjolein in person three times, and I know for a fact that she is a very loving, caring, nice, lovely & patient person who takes her time with her fans, and I would never diminish her talent in any way. But I guess once you have your favourites, and those favourites impressed you so much with their first performance, it’s hard for others to convince you of something else. I’m sorry for that.

Over all, this show left me in total awe, and with a new favourite Galileo – Fabio Diso, with whom the current Cast has THE most talented one in their midst, someone who definitely has the talent to take over the lead role, and I sincerely hope he gets to play it much more during the tour.

Evening
It seems like destiny saved the best thing for the very last show in Frankfurt: Andrea Sánchez Del Solar as Scaramouche. Ever since I had seen her as Ozzy and learned that she was also one of the three understudies for the roles, it was one of my dreams to see her as Scara at least once. And there it was, where I least expected it. When she told me about it right after the Matinee, forgotten was the migraine I suffered from for the entire 2nd Act, pumped full of pills against the headaches and the terrible nausea – nothing in the world would keep me from witnessing my favourite WWRY alumni doing her thing in the biggest lead role. And hell, what a show it was.
The moment she stepped foot on stage in that purple wig and the black dress thingy, belting out the few german lines of “I Want To Break Free” that Scaramouche sings at the beginning…I was feeling like a proud mother. Or friend. I know it sounds strange, but that’s how it is. I felt tears welling up in my eyes when I heard the vocals coming from her, and they almost overwhelmed me. And a few big fans across the aisle that cheered her on loudly proved my point: she deserved this role. Her “Somebody To Love” was absolutely beautiful; she can hold notes for as long as not many people I’ve met (who are in the theatre business) can, and it’s so wonderful and refreshing to have a complete different intonation, a much deeper voice than any of the other Scara’s. And still, even more so, her high vocals are breathtaking, from what I could gather in the first row, she left the audience in complete awe with her amazing singing talent (not that it surprised me, though). As to her acting, her way of displaying Scaramouche…wow. I know that the role is supposed to be cheeky and mean to Galileo, bossing him around, taking the lead and such, and I’ve seen quite the ways of doing it since last year…but without a doubt, Andrea‘s way was just beyond hilarious, adorable and cuddly! The way she intonates some of Scara’s sentences, how she behaves around and with Galileo (Christopher Brose, in this case) is just…whoa. And it looked like she enjoyed herself in that role so much, which is wonderful to see – when an actor gets the opportunity to play big roles and do it with such a naturalness, because that’s what they all work really hard for. No surprise she got some of the biggest applause after that last show, it was more than deserved, and still, after over two weeks, I feel really proud of her. Although it still feels surreal that I really witnessed it.

Thank you, “We Will Rock You”, for amazing 7 shows in Frankfurt, for giving me so many beautiful memories, and I hope to maybe see all of you again in Hamburg – or at the latest, in Cologne, where it all began! THANK YOU for being such a talented, lovely & wonderfully crazy bunch!

We Will Rock You – Dominion Theatre 17.05.2014

My very last ever “We Will Rock You” at the Dominion – that day definitely came way too fast. It had been my very first show back in 2008, and since then, had always been my absolute favourite. But even if people will slaughter me after reading this: I wish my very last memory/experience of this show would be the Cast Change on October, 5th, 2013, and not this show. The reason for this is simple: the Cast. I am not someone to slate new Casts when I see them first, when I am used to an old Cast, because I know it’s all hard work and a tough job to step into big footsteps, and everyone deserves a chance. Maybe I expected too much from my last show, as I already walked down the aisle to my seat with tears in my eyes. But from the beginning.

I arrived in London at 12pm that day, and my friend Sarah had told me that if I wanted to catch Oliver Tompsett & Katie Paine before the Matinee to give them their farewell gifts, I should head right down to the Dominion. Safe to say I rushed into the tube to Piccadilly Circus with my heavy suitcase and the bags, and from there, ran for my life, as it was getting later and later and people seem to love stepping into my way as if they had no care in the world. Thankfully, I reached the Theatre just in time, because after 5 minutes, Katie arrived, greeting me from afar, hugging me and apologizing for not replying to my tweet that morning, asking when she’ll arrive. She then told me that Olly would probably be already in, as they had rehearsals at 1pm, so I did not only give her her own present (she was absolutely taken aback, thanked me a couple of times and told me what a very nice thing to do it was), but also the one for Olly, which she promised to give him. Before she went inside, she asked me where I was sitting in the evening show, and when I told her that I’d be seated in C20 in the Stalls, she smiled and said she’d wave at me from the stage. Such a sweetheart 🙂

First thing that shocked me when I got into the theatre that evening and checked the board – Rachael Wooding (Scaramouche) wasn’t on. Safe to say my heart sank, because I couldn’t have imagined a better Scara to end on than her. Plus, the actual cover, Catriana Sandison, wasn’t on, either, as I noticed when the show started – after the Matinee, she had felt poorly and Sophie Ayers had to jump in, and apparently, the Dominion Staff hadn’t had the time to change the board (which is not a big deal, really, just confusing 🙂 ). Thankfully, the wonderful Oliver Tompsett was on as Galileo, and that was the thing that mattered to me the most.

When the show started, I was already in tears. During every song, every scene, the fact that it would be the last time I see them was in my head, and it broke my heart. What I noticed pretty soon was that since the Cast Change last October, they had changed a lot of the script, which was confusing at first, as I thought maybe the Cast had forgotten some of their text (which is highly unlikely, as they know what they do, but they’re just humans, after all), but as the changes kept happening, I realized it were no mistakes – which I didn’t like, to be honest. For me, it felt like some of the jokes were taken away (like when Olly/Galileo tells Sophie/Scaramouche that he had been tweeting the entire time – what was left out at that point was him saying “Only important stuff, what I had for breakfast and stuff”, which is basically the thing that makes this scene work the most!). Plus, for someone who knows the show by heart, it’s a confusing thing, it actually made me feel like I haven’t seen the show in years instead of only 6 months.

Now to the Cast. I feel bad for stating my opinion like this, but I have to say that from all the different Casts I have seen over the last couple of years, that one was the weakest for me. Not the “old” ones (Alasdair Harvey, Oliver Tompsett, Brenda Edwards & Katie Paine), but the “new” ones. Maybe it’s like I said, I was used to the 2012/2013 Cast, they grew to my heart, and with them being gone, it was bound to be different. But the voices weren’t giving me goosebumps, to be honest. Amanda Coutts (Meat) was probably the one I was most excited about, as I heard a couple of good things about her voice and performance, and I was more than looking forward to her “(No-One But You) Only The Good Die Young”, which had always given me tears when the former Meat, Rachel John, had sung it. I have to admit, Amanda was okay, good, actually, because she has a lovely voice, and you can really see her talent shining through, you can see why she was cast as Meat in the first place. But it’s fair for me to say that she didn’t touch me inside my heart with her performance. Plus, maybe it was only me being spoiled by Rachel John & Wayne Robinson in the roles of Meat and Brit, but to me, it felt a bit cold between her and Rolan Bell, can’t put my finger on it. Rachel and Wayne always had a special connection, you just bought it that they were a couple madly in love, living for the dream of real music coming back one day. I just didn’t feel that about Amanda and Rolan. His voice was good, too, and I have to admit, it was way better than the one of Wayne when I first saw him in 2012, Rolan had much more strength in it, and he was able to sound louder than the orchestra. But I didn’t have that certan special feeling inside of my stomach that I can’t quite put my finger on.
Sophie Ayers (Scaramouche), what can I say about her? I think for people who know the show by heart, the role of Scara, and her songs, it’s obvious that she is the 2nd Scara cover. I’m not saying her voice or performances were bad (because they weren’t, none of the new Cast one’s were, if they were, they wouldn’t be part of the show, after all), but it’s just that she hasn’t got what Rachael Wooding displays in that role; one essential and important thing for me, personally, about this role is to hold notes for a bit longer than usual – especially during “Somebody To Love”. A powerful voice is what makes this song so beautiful, what makes the actor singing it grow to your heart. I am truly sorry, but that just didn’t happen for me with Sophie. I felt like something was missing. I can imagine that something like this can happen if you’re thrown onto a stage on such a short notice, you have to work in your role and work with the other actors on stage, and I know it must be difficult. And I am not saying that Sophie isn’t talented, because she most definitely is, and I can see how amazing she can be with a lot more stage experience as more than a 2nd cover, which I wish to happen to her. I just didn’t warm up to her as much as I did with any other Scaramouche I’ve seen on stage in my life.
The “old” ones were fab as always – I absolutely love how Brenda Edwards & Alasdair Harvey interact with each other on stage as Killer Queen & Khashoggi, there’s nothing like it, really. I know some people don’t agree on that, but for me, Alasdair is Khashoggi, he has been my first one and will always be my favourite; he lives the role. Brenda isn’t my favourite Killer Queen, I have to admit, but I have barely heard such a powerful voice on stage than hers, she just gives me the goosebumps whenever she hits the high notes.
And Oliver Tompsett…what a man, what a talent. I knew he’d blew me away once again, and it’s safe to say he was on fire that night. It doesn’t matter which song he sings or how dorky he dances, everything he does on that stage gives me the biggest goosebumps. Once again, from “We Will Rock You” until the end of “Bohemian Rhapsody”, he had me in tears, and during every second of these songs, you can see how much he loves playing the role of Galileo; to me, it seems like he is actually born for that role. He’s a limelight hog, he enjoys playing with the audience, he enjoys drawing them in, and his “Day-Oohs” are legendary. I have never heard a more powerful voice, or seen more talent on a stage than the one he has. He’s one in a million for me, and having him as my very last Galileo at the Dominion was more than a gift for me. It’s too sad the show is closing in a few days, but I think it’s safe to say that it couldn’t end on a better Galileo Figaro than Oliver Tompsett.

The Stage Door afterwards was barely busy, which surprised me, as it was a saturday and it was getting closer and closer to the end. Thankfully, a lovely woman from Norway stood with me, so I wasn’t completely on my own. I got to talk to the ones I wanted to – Olly & Katie, mostly,- got my pics and therefor, wonderful memories. Olly said he was sorry for it having been my last WWRY show, and he and Katie thanked me again for my gifts, gave me a couple of hugs and were generally the most lovely people you can ever meet at a Stage Door.

I also got a few words with Amanda Coutts, Alasdair Harvey & Brenda Edwards, and I had a funny moment when Alasdair signed my ticket book. Apparently, he had put his autograph into it, writing a bit over the one Olly had written down just moments before, and he apologized, and I told him I didn’t mind, which came out a bit like “Oh, never mind, it’s just Olly!”, and Alasdair pulled a shocked face and went “I’m going to tell him that!”, which was hilarious, as I know he was joking (I had never seen him anything else than serious at the Stage Door before, so that was a nice thing 🙂 )

All in all, yes, I was a bit disappointed by my last show, which was probably my own fault due to high expectations and a lot of emotions inside my body, sue me. But seeing all the familiar faces one last time, talking to them one last time and properly saying goodbye to them was all that mattered. And to everyone in that Cast/Show, I hope they’ll continue to do amazing things, to improve their talent, and to have a bright future!

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.