The Night Of The Cast Change - AT THE STAGE DOOR

The Night Of The First Cast Change, The Nottingham Concert Hall,
February 24th 2007

“It felt like I’d taken everything for granted up until just right now, when suddenly my entire world and all in it became precious and fleeting. I should have paid more attention, soaked it in more. Which you always realize once it’s getting too late to do just that.”
- Sarah Dessen, The Moon & More

Posing for a photograph on our last ever day with the cast pre-cast-change. That is, until I spotted...

...something in the window we just both had to study...

WIGS! Lovely to have a game of Wig Guess Who before a matinee!

After the evening show, cast members were going back and forth with stacks of boxes and suitcases and framed souvenir photographs to commemorate their time with the show. There go Sarah Meade and Gary Watson...

Our Portuguese friend was lucky enough to spend lots of time with her favourite cast member Philip Comely.

Trevor Schoonraad kissing goodbye to two of the tour's leavers - John McManus and Gary Watson whilst another leave - swing Tim Hodges - waited in the background. Trevor himself stayed on for the entire remainder of the tour.

Emotional hugs goodbye from John as Callum Nicol looked on. Liz and I were still crying at this point and we almost set John off too, though he swore he wouldn't miss the skintight lyrca!

Out of shot, Callum Nicol is mildly teasing us, so I teased him back. Liz and John were oblivious!

"Oh, come here, doll" - being hugged fiercely during one of our most emotional moments at stage door: Chris Howell comforting us as he said goodbye to us and the tour.

Both trying to hold back the tears as we waited for Rachel Ensor to notice us.

Finally we got a photo with Rachel Ensor! Luckily foe us, though, she was staying with the tour right through to its end and into another one in Germany.

A surprisingly emotional goodbye to someone we had only managed to speak to rarely during the tour: Carrie Sutton.

The wonderful, funny, talented, tiny and kindly Lorraine Graham, known to us as Jenny Lorraine due to the character she played. She always looked out for us at stage door and helped us find people we were looking for.

Swing Jean-Claude Pelletier. I have NO idea what was happening here and probably had even less at the time as I tried hard not to start crying...again!

Lorraine Chappell and me, with Zak Nemorin in the background wearing a cheeky look that say he KNOWS he just managed to bounce away from us before we got a photo yet again!

"Sorry, there's no one left inside" - an inaccurate stage door keeper. I lost it when it seemed as though Kevin had left for the night - and left the tour altogether! - without saying goodbye to me.

Surprise! There were people left in the building after all, Gary Watson and Kevin McGuire and his family, who you can see in the background here.

This is me flicking my hair and shaking off the tears before Kevin appeared!

"I'm so sorry, you must be so...like...pissed off!" - Kevin McGuire, making me laugh and cheering me up no end.

He had no idea I was still there and had been celebrating his time with the tour ending with his family up in the dressing room.

When it was finally all over for real: crying on the Nottingham stage door steps.