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The Nottingham Royal Concert Hall, February 2007


Now I'm waiting for the sunset borderline, every sun's gotta set with time. But I'll remember those moments forevermore as the days where nothing had changed at all.
- Sandi Thom, Sunset Borderline

Some of the most magical days I have ever known: The Nottingham Concert Hall was the stage door we became residents at and the last stop on the tour before the cast we had fallen in love with changed...there were a lot of laughs and a lot of tears - it was bittersweet but close to perfect all the same. We got to spend a lot of time talking to our favourite cast members and soaking in some of the best performances we had ever seen from them, and we were extremely touched to know that our presence at a Monday night show could help lift their spirits and also extremely entertained to discover the kind of antics that go on during a final matinee before a cast changes (lyric changes, unexpected Jellicles getting picked for the Mistoffelees magic trick and other hijinks which added an extra layer of fun and games to proceedings, even if we did cry when Chris Howell's Gus the Theatre Cat sang "touring is certainly not what it was" as one of the little changes!) I will always remember the lovely ladies who sat next to us on the front row on that night of the final cast change, seeing us crying at the interval and overhearing us talking they asked us what the occassion was and after we explained it was the cast's last night together they really go into the spirit with us, joining us for a little mini standing ovation at the end of the show as we cried and cheered at the final bow.

Confirmation that we were, in fact, in the right theatre on our first trip (of many) to the Nottingham Concert Hall.
For once, Kevin was one of the first of our stage door, grateful to see an enthusiastic face in the Monday night audience.
Christopher Howell, grateful and kind as ever.
Sandwiched in by two Scots! Liz and I with John McManus and the lovely Callum Nicol, on of the finest Admetus/Macavitys I have ever seen on stage.
The Scots and ourselves, deciding there was better lighting on the other side of the stage door alcove.
Never leave it to two exciteable stage-doorers to co-ordinate something...
Much better!
"You again?!" - how many times has Dean spoken those words to me! I think half of those times will also have been in Nottingham, actually...
Kevin McGuire, partially disguised as Carbucketty.
Kevin is still one of my favourite people to ever play Carbucketty, and his way of doing the make-up is also still one of my favourites to this day as it was so unique and utterly adorable.
"Are you still here?!?!" - Our reward for waiting 2 hours in the rain and getting half the cast to go and look for John McManus: a hug from our Johnbleshanks!
Fresh from the physio's table - us and John McManus.
John was kind enough to stay and chat with us, determined to make up for our long wait.
The lovely Alex Durrant...
...and once more with flash!
Our Special Agent kept us so well informed and his reward was to keep running into us. At the stage door. In the street. Even in the pub! EVERYWHERE.
Dean and I displaying the level of co-ordination it takes to pull off a beautiful stage door photo...
...almost there...
...and SMILE!
This is me gushing. I make a total idiot of myself at stage door half the time, especially in front of my favourites!
Scarf-twisting: my only tell that I'm not normally half as bold as I am at stage door!
Kevin and me, finally both concentrating on the camera!
This photo is Liz being happy for me and me hardly believing what had just happened, as I had just met and been lucky enough to get the official stamp of approval and gratitude from Kevin's mum and family: this was spotted by Gary Watson as he and Kevin and family were still stood at the top of the stairs.
Peter Tyler: The Quiff Diaries!
Ok, so it wasn't a quiff - but we definitely were astounded by Pete's new haircut!
Trevor Schoonraad, failing to properly operate a scarf...
...he and I did not co-ordinate scarf choices that day on purpose!
With everyone out for the night, our brains reduced down to jelly. This is the post-stage-door adrenaline crash, for sure!

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


Picture

“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...
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.

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