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Just one month
before the Premiere of the WWRY musical in Vienna I was
surprised by getting tickets for this premiere and the
afterparty.
(In the picture section on this site you'll find images of
tickets, VIP passes, pictures of the event)
Together with Mark I flew to Vienna on January 23rd. What a
beautiful city this is!
We had booked the Golden Tulip hotel that has the Raimund
Theater practically on it's doorstep. We couldn't have made a
better choice. At one moment we saw Pete (who takes care of Brian's guitar) in
the surroundings of the theatre so we knew for sure Brian would
be in Vienna too. (just as he had stated on his website)
final try-out - January 23rd
Right after arriving in Vienna we did some sight-seeing and late
in the afternoon we decided to get two standing tickets (all
other tickets were sold out) so we could attend the last tryout.
This proved to be a great appetizer for the Premiere the next
evening. What a show! Cast and musicians are superb.
PREMIERE - January 24th
During the day we saw the preparations for Premiere night.
Moving lights were placed around the front of the theatre and a
big one (laser beam or better some kind of Super Trouper) was
pointing it's lightbeam across the Vienna sky. A red carpet was
placed before the entrance.
During the hours before the start of the show the crowd outside
Raimund Theater grew steadily. Some camera crews and hot shots
were arriving. At 18.15 we collected our VIP tickets and also
the VIP tickets for the afterparty. Some Austrian friends helped
us to recognize the "who is who" of Austrian VIP's
like actors, actresses and politicians. We also saw Rudi Dolezal
and members of the Austrian Queen fan club. It was good to
see those members could be part of this premiere evening.
Having also attended the World premiere in London and the
premiere in Cologne I do know those evenings are different to
those where Queen fans attend. The VIP's hesitate to join in
during the famous hand-clapping of Radio Ga Ga. For a Queen fan
this is weird to witness I must say! But the audience was very
enthusiastic indeed! They completely fell for the jokes that
were adjusted for the Austrian public. A true compliment for the
ones responsible for this. Again the cast was really fantastic. Of
course when the song We Will Rock You began we stood up and
joined the "clap-clap-stomp" movements along with the
band and musicians. No one can stay in their seat at this point
of the show so everybody joined in. Press photographers and some
of the audience ran to the front of the stage to take pictures.
One cameracrew kept filming Roger in the audience.
We had expected Brian and Roger to take their places in the
audience shortly after the start of the show but alas no sign of
them within our view. But shortly after the start of the second
part of the show Roger walked in, together with Jim Beach. And
finally, after a mindblowing evening, during Bohemian
Rhapsody Brian came onto the stage and did his famous part. The
audience went wild! Three, four curtain calls and constant standing ovation.
Right after the show we went to the VIP shuttle busses that took
us to the special after party venue. One big hall (a three stock
high building with an open ceiling, completed with a huge WWRY
flag hanging down from it) for the guests. Or course with free
drinks and food that was constantly brought in. (Err... no
dwarfs, topless waitresses or mud-wrestling ladies though!)
Brian, Roger and Ben attended the cast and special guests in a
seperate room. Only entrance with special VIP passes.
Understandingly we did not have those kind of passes but we
stood right at the door and every now and then when that door
opened we saw Brian and Roger talking to their guests. When the
main characters of the musical arrived they were especially
announced and they got a warm welcome from all of us. AFter a
while Brian, Roger and Ben came into our hall and Ben gave a
short speech. Quickly the three of them disappeared to continue
their private party. When they walked by us we managed to say a
few words to Brian and in his well known way he replied.
At 3.30 the party was over and we went back to our hotel. The
next day we managed to find one newspaper with images and story
about this evening.
Our trip to Vienna proved to be a special one, having seen such
a great show and having met Roger and Brian again.
On January 25th we flew back to The Netherlands with sweet
memories of the show and ever so polite Austrian people we had
met...
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