Dress Rehearsal BIC Bournemouth, UK Wednesday, 12 April 2006 On the Road with MaggieMay... The Dress Rehearsal successfully ended, the bows being so long and so innumerable that my teeth were starting to itch. It had gone VERY smoothly and any glitches were noticeable only to the WotW staff and not to the audience. We were unsure what to do afterward and decided to wait in our seats for the greet. It proved to be a good plan, for rather than being escorted to another room, the greet came to us! Angel and I noticed people lining up and we obediently joined the queue that led to Jeff Wayne. 
While we waited, I was very pleased to see Chris Thompson (singer of Thunderchild)
walking down the line and signing everyone’s program. The line moved
VERY slowly and it was great to have people come by to say Hi. I
had spied the Moody Blues second drummer and percussionist, Gordon Marshall
on the other side of the room and went over for a little chat and to get
his autograph. The line had barely moved when I returned, but soon
we reached other members of the cast: Daniel Boys (understudy for Watson
as The Parson) and Alexis James, The Artilleryman.
A fellow *tried* to sneak past me to get to the lovely Tara Blaise (Beth, The Parson’s Wife) but I nabbed him and sent him back with dire threats not to pull that again, even going so far as to ask him if he was American. I think Tony was just a little anxious. I did ask Tara for her mobile number for Tony! Tara is a very pleasant lady, petite, smiling and very gracious. Tara sings my favorite lines in the show (“There must be something worth living for...”) and I appreciated the chance to tell her that she sang them beautifully. Lovely gal! As we got closer to Mr Wayne, I realized why the wait had been so long. Jeff was taking his time with each person, signing whatever they had brought, adding personal notes to make it special, and answering any questions fans might have. He posed with everyone who asked for a photo and did it all very graciously, in fact, more than that, with ENTHUSIASM. I had brought a couple of unusual items from my Moodies collection for him to sign: a 1978 CBS promo photo of Jeff and a rare 45 pic sleeve for Forever Autumn (with “Justin Hayward” in huge block letters and “Forever Autumn” in unnoticeable script). 
Jeff actually laughed when he saw
himself almost 40 years before and pointed at his hair. Jeff (and
it seems natural to call him by his first name) immediately put me at ease.
He may be the most relaxed and natural person I’ve met in the music business.
I thought he was just dear, very sweet and funny and just a touch devilish,
too. Tony had nicely offered to take a photo for me with Jeff, and
rather than have him stand up with the stage behind us, I sat down beside
him. I was a little surprised when he caught hold of me in a great
hug, but it was right. Being around Jeff Wayne, even at first meeting,
is like being affectionately hugged. What a tremendous guy, and what
a sweetheart.
Justin did not attend the greet and a number of people seemed a little disappointed, but not us – he had warmly greet us earlier in the day. In a beautiful episode of synchronicity, Justin had expressed his hopes that the show would be all Jeff wanted and hoped it would be, later that same day at the greet, Jeff said how much it meant to him that Justin was doing the tour. It was after midnight when we left the BIC and the party was underway in the bar back at our hotel. MaggieMay “Even some things worth dying for...” 
Photos courtesy of MaggieMay |
