I should have known
earlier that on 14th of May 2007 the 5-year-celebration would be
held because I was present at the premiere at 14th May 2002.
But as annual celebrations of this show in the past were held on
different dates I overlooked this possibility.Luckily, Hannie (who manages the Dutch Queen Fan Club for over
25 years now) told me she had some spare tickets for this
evening. There was no hesitation from my side anymore and I arranged the
flight and hotel immediately.
My friend Mark and I walked from the Tottenham Court underground
station to our hotel, so at 12:00 o'clock we passed the stage
door of the Dominion Theatre. Empty spaces. (meaning,
no one around). After leaving our luggage at the hotel we
decided to go to Oxford Street what meant passing the stage door
again at 12:30 hrs. There we saw our friends Maaike and Yvonne.
A couple of minutes later Brian May arrived! He quickly went
inside the theatre but not without turning around and giving us
the two "thumbs up". A nice gesture and having seen
him after just having arrived in London made our trip worthwhile
already. The main event would be tonight's show of course :-)
Shortly after his arrival the other musicians arrived
and we had a little chat with Spike Edney. Mark had seen him
perform recently in Rotterdam with his SAS band and referred in
a very positive way to that performance. Spike was clearly
pleased hearing this. He asked us how "Eindhoven" was
doing - referring to PSV, the Eindhoven Football Club. Then Tony Bourke arrived and walked straight to us. "Do you
still have the drumsticks I gave you?" (last time at the
WWRY musical we sat front row and during the encore of the show
he gave us the drumsticks). We had a nice chat and would meet
again before the show.
Shortly before the show we teamed up with a group of Dutch fans
(who travelled together with Hannie and Anja) and while waiting
at the stage door, Brian came out to go to a restaurant nearby. From a distance we also saw Roger
Taylor walk to that restaurant.Later on Brian returned to the theatre and did some signing. We
didn't wait for Roger because the show was about to start, but
now we were sure Roger would attend.
We bought some new merchandise, a T-shirt and programm book
especially printed for this day, and some other stuff. The
amount of merchandise is clearly expanded now the show will run
for a considerably longer period. Key-holders, playing cards,
t-shirts, picture frame with 3D Freddie, pins etc etc. Prices
are much too high in my view but it's a fact that the fans will
buy it all...
The show was great, the cast were at their best, the musicians
played "as never before" and the
atmosphere was overwhelming due to the fact a lot of Queenfans
were in the audience. During We Will Rock You and We Are The
Champions Brian and Roger joined the crew and
played their bit. They were both ON FIRE. The Red Special roared
through the Dominion and Roger gave it all. The audience
went wild.
After the show Brian spoke to the audience while Roger was
standing beside him. Also Ben Elton gave a short speech making
clear that the critics were allowed to say whatever they wanted
(and had done from the start in 2002) but the audience had that
freedom of speech as well. 2000 performances of WWRY in London
with standing ovations every night only proved the success of this musical whatever the critics
would say.
As an encore the cast together with Brian and Roger performed
The Show Must Go On.It's obvious the show WILL go on!
Afterwards the cast, musicians and Brian went to a bar opposite
the stage door of the Dominion. There we greeted Mazz Murray,
who plays Killer Queen, and it was nice to see she recognised us
from previous visits. Brian took time to sign items and get
pictures taken. Tony Bourke was accompanied by his father and we
had a nice chat with him and his dad. Roger had entered the bar
through the other entrance, avoiding contact with the fans. Too
bad he did not take the effort of meeting the waiting fans but
as always he does as he pleases. His performance during the show
made up for it.
It was about 1.30 hrs in the morning when Brian left. And again
he took time to sign items (I managed to have him sign a vinyl
sleeve of a Japanese single from Mark. It had already Roger's
signature on it from a previous visit or after a Q+PR concert, I
forgot, but Mark was very pleased as you will understand.)
What a day, what an evening, what a show. Thanks Brian for
being so kind to us, again!
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