We Will Rock You.. for an entire day!

What a day!
All i can say is thank god i checked my email this morning after breakfast.. or else today would have been a disaster!

I jumped online after 10am to have a chat to the family if they were online and checked my email at 10.30 after many distractions. Lucky i did as i got an email from WWRY asking me to attend the public tour at 11.30am instead.. which was in an hour!
Totally freaked out, ran to my room, quickly got changed and jumped on the next train out there. Freaking out the whole way there that i wasn't going to get there on time. But i made it with 5 mins to spare thank god.. and my pass was waiting for me at the door :-)

I had so much fun on the tour.. but it didn't live up to the hype as the Wicked tour which was sad. I think they were a bit restricted with this tour not only because of numbers (there were a lot of people there today) but because the past few weeks have been hell for them apparently.
It was all in german.. again. But this time i did warn them about not being able to speak the language, but being able to understand some words. The girl said she was happy to translate some of what she was saying to me.. then totally forgot to the entire tour! haha

The tour started on stage. The first thing i noticed was the band location. In london, they can be seen in the wings (on purpose) but here in Stuttgart they are at the back of the stage on a raised platform! There was a guy testing out the pecussion section when we were there so it was nice to go on a tour with music haha. Very minimal sets which meant only 3 tracks max (i think) and one giant trapdoor. The video screen was suspended as too were the drapes. The main track down the middle of the stage is used for the focal point props like the motorbike and killer queen's chair.
I got to stand on the white steps featured in Ga Ga World, got to hold onto a popcorn container and GA GA girl bag, got to touch the statues usually found on the steps, got to walk up the set of Heartbreak Hotel, touch the walls of Wembley where the guitar appears and try on one of the orange helmets used in the show.
What fascinated me was Killer Queen's chair. This does not feature in the London production as they have a permanent setting that has been built to accommodate for the show. The chair in stuttgart replaces all the bulding required to pull off certain scenes. All full of pink feathers, red velvet chair and tv screens. And the front of the chair set rises which is mad. If you've seen the show, you'd know what i was talking about.
Wandered around the wings for a bit viewing all the props until i hit the sound box stage left. This was where before each show and tech run they'd organise the mics for all the cast members and fix them if required. They had photos of each member up on a wall with a peg under it to hold all the gear.
Next to that was another black box, but this time for where ensemble members could do quick changes but still sing in the show.. it contained standing mics and tvs to show what was going on on the stage whilst the ensemble were off.
What took up a lot of room on stage left was the costuming tent. This was where all the ensemble costumes were kept, including wigs and shoes. Most of the costumes in there were the quick change ones i think.. but sadly we couldn't go in to see them up close which was a pain.

After seeing all around the stage, we walked up a few flights of stairs to the wig department. Like Wicked, it was a mini salon full of wigs. It was great to see them all up close.. especially the more detailed ones. There were variations on Meat's/Ozzy's wig depending on the cast member. Some of the wigs were completely blonde, others had brown evident regrowth.
It also looked like from the photos present that it was also where the leads got their makeup applied too.
We then walked up another level to the costuming floor and this is where i got a bit disappointed. There waiting for us was a rack of costumes which was cool.. don't get me wrong. But they were costumes from ensemble members and one recognisable piece from Killer Queen.. a lot of the people on my tour wouldn't have known that as most hadn't seen the show. There were maybe 5 pieces on the rack which most weren't allowed to touch (of course i snuck a hold.. why not!) so the costume section of the tour didn't last long. We weren't even allowed into the tailoring room which was shattering haha
I was desperate to see Scaramouche and Meat/Ozzy's costumes up close.. but no luck.

After the costume section, she took us back down to stage level and we went under the stage. Like wicked, it was huge! And again it didn't look like a permanent floor.. just metal structures to build onto. The only trapdoor was huge.. it had to fit a prop (a car) onto it! The funny bit was, next to the lift/trapdoor was a sign saying plan b shoes.. and they had 2 sets of shoes (like crocs) next to it. From what i could understand, the girl mentioned that sometimes the lead characters shoes go missing in the car if they're not careful.. so they are there for incase they can't find them. Also gives the costuming department enough time to bring down a spare pair of shoes from a few floors up. Also under the stage is a green screen and camera which is used for scenes involving Killer Queen and Khashoggi when they appear on the giant tv screens. There was also a mirror and makeup chair for touch ups too which was funny.

We then moved into the seating area of the theatre to watch the tech run, but were asked to leave as they had a lot of sound checks to do which i was a bit sad about. I would have loved to have seen their tech run.. but after seeing tonights show totally understand why we were kicked out.

I headed back home after the tour (made a detour into the city to see if they could fix my phone.. no luck. they were so rude about it i ended up walking out), had a bite to eat, checked my emails.. then headed back to the theatre for the night time show.

The show here was amazing! All the dialogue and songs written specifically for the show may be in german, but all the queen songs were in english which was great.. and they even included a twist about the language into the story which was smart! In london it was just about the songs reappearing.. but here in stuttgart it was about the songs returning, but also about them returning in english! haha
The storyline was pretty much the same too.. but the sets were different.. so it made the show feel different. They also renamed 2 characters to make them more relatable to the audience in specific countries/towns (meat is now ozzy.. as in ozzy osborn, and Pop is now known as Bap). They also renamed the area that it is set in.. from Planet Mall to Planet Ebay.
What was good was that to replace a cast board, if you purchased a program you got a list of the entire cast performing that night. I had fun searching through it to see if i had a full cast or not.. and boy was i in for a surprise. No wonder we got kicked out of tech!
They only had 2 leads on for the show (scaramouche and killer queen), all the remaining lead positions were filled by principle walk-ins (it's a confusing system here.. they not only have principle walk-ins (who i think are the standby's.. but not all the lead characters have walk-ins) but they also have about 3/4 covers per role too!), all the swings were on as a lot of ensemble members were out due to illness and/or injury.. and 4 people who aren't even listed in the program were in tonight's show to help out.. including a replacement (Conchita Zandbergen.. who was amazing) for the lead character Meat/Ozzy. Talk about crazy! Made the show an event!

After the show, went to stage door but after a little while (and after a chat with a few of the brit ensemble members) i decided to head home.. as wed nights are 'free drink nights' at the theatre bar.. so i could either wait for hours for them to come out, or head home.
Jumped on the train and got to spend the entire ride back sitting next to half of the cast of Wicked. The guys were absolute gold.. complaining about the girls and having to lift them in routines. One mentioned about how he was having a NYE party at his place after the show and that Willemijn and her husband were invited.. and that he hoped she'd be on her best behaviour.. unlike christmas. haha

I think that is all from today's tour and show.. well it's all i can remember for now.. super tired.
Last day in stuttgart tomorrow.. and spending it at Wicked :-)