Special Service For Rob Guest

castmates from WICKED sing 'For Good'

Terry Brown
October 14, 2008 12:00am

A GIANT metal dragon rears above the Regent Theatre crowd. For five days a week the theatre is a place of fantasy - an escape from the world for $100-plus a seat.

At a Monday matinee that nobody hoped for, the tickets are free.

It is 11 days since Rob Guest died from a stroke that wasn't remotely in the script.
For one show only, the Regent becomes a place where reality is inescapable and hits hard enough to make grown men weep.


About 400 performers, stage crew and fans come for the memorial service.

Some look dressed for a theatre show, with their cocktail wear and sequins.
And they all bring memories of a man who owned the spotlight.

TV and theatre veteran Bert Newton is in attendance with wife Patti.
Marina Prior is there to speak, and Anthony Callea to sing.

Most faces in the audience, however, would be unfamiliar to other than keen theatre-goers.
Rows are filled with performers from the many shows Guest put his stamp on; Les Miserables, Jolson and, of course, Wicked.

Callea shared a dressing room with Guest.
He sings, almost hauntingly, the song Now That You've Gone.
"I know you had a good life. It doesn't make it any easier," he sings -- and tears well because for many there it is so true.

Slide shows mix respect and gentle ridicule.
To fond applause, Guest is shown in his New Zealand pop star days, with hippy hair, a banjo and even mingling with a Playboy bunny.

Performers who worked beside Guest in Les Miserables walk slowly on to the stage in a kind of funeral procession.

Some sob. One man weeps into his hands.

They struggle through the show's anthem, Do You Hear The People Sing? , then salute a huge picture of Guest behind them.

Speakers recall the practical joker who used a Bert and Patti Newton LP as a cheeseboard; who locked a castmate in a dressing room and then pumped theatrical smoke through the vent.
Prior remembers warming her icy feet on Guest in the backstage Green Room, and him pretending to mind.

"As his leading lady you felt cherished, gifted, supported and special," she says.

The real-life leading lady, Guest's partner Kellie Dickerson, feels more special still.
"I loved you and you knew it. You loved me and I knew it," she says to the man she lost.
"There's nothing left unsaid," she adds, then recites a litany of memories that live with her.
"Thank you for holding hands as we just walked down the street, just being happy," she says.

Guest was never happier than when he was on stage -- and took a lot of getting off.
Understudy Rodney Dobson jokes: "It seems we finally found out what it takes for Rob Guest to miss a show."

Speakers at the memorial aren't keen to vacate either.
The show must go on -- and it certainly does.
A running sheet has it pegged for an hour. After a series of actors and theatrical workers say their bit, the service nudges 2 1/2 hours.

Then the Wicked cast sing For Good.
In the show it is a duet between witches. For Guest, it is a hymn they struggle to force through tears.

"I have been changed for good," they sing.
"I do believe I have changed for the better because I knew you . . ."
It's an epitaph that fits perfectly as the stage lights dim for Rob Guest.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24491953-662,00.html

ROB GUEST FAREWELLED

Lucy Durack and Anthony Callea farewell their castmate

Entertainer Rob Guest has been farewelled at a "sombre" private funeral in Sydney ahead of a public memorial event in Melbourne on Monday.

Friends and family gathered at St Peter's Presbyterian Church in North Sydney on Friday for the service to farewell Guest, who died last week aged 58.

It was followed by a private burial.

One mourner, who did not wish to be named, said it was a very private affair."It was a packed church, very sombre," he said."And nobody that went is happy to talk about it because it was a very private and moving affair."

Kellie Dickerson, Guest's partner of 10 years, is understood to have been among the mourners, as was his publicist Suzie Howie, who worked with the star for 20 years.

Guest, who was best known for playing the lead in the hit production of Phantom of the Opera for most of the 90s, died in a Melbourne hospital after suffering a massive stroke.

Guest was starring in the musical Wicked, playing the Wizard of Oz, in Melbourne at the time of his death. Dickerson is the show's musical director.

Monday's public memorial event, to include a video tribute to his life, will be held at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne at 12.30pm, his publicist confirmed.Long-time friend and co-star Marina Prior, who will recount memories of Guest and read a letter from Andrew Lloyd Webber. All the Wicked cast will attend.

Others speakers will include Bert Newton, Dickerson and Wicked producer John Frost, and there will also be a recorded tribute from British theatre producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh.ANZ chief executive Brian Hartzer is set to make a "significant announcement" in Guest's honour.

Anthony Callea will perform Now That You Have Gone.

The professional and charismatic entertainer played more than 40 roles during his career. He holds the record as the longest-playing Phantom, with a record 2,289 performances over seven years.Born in Birmingham, England, Rob Guest grew up in New Zealand, where he began his career as a singer in the pop charts. He later became an Australian citizen.

Courageous Cast Perform To Honour Their 'Theatre Father'

Let's go on with the show

Roger Franklin
October 03, 2008 12:00am

THEATRE will always be about illusion, but last night at the Regent it was the rarest species of courage that also trod the boards.

Throughout the day, as news of Rob Guest's fatal stroke sank in, shaken performers were stealing themselves for the rough night ahead.

Like friend and fellow thespian Marina Prior, they did it by recalling his warmth and humour and laughing between tears about Guest's funny little ways, like his habit of playing his own songs to "warm up" before a show.

Most of all they did it by reminding each other that Guest was a trouper who never missed a curtain during more than 2000 performances in the Phantom of the Opera.

"Rob was the ultimate professional. He would go on whatever," said Prior, Guest's Phantom leading lady.
"He was the sort of person who would lift everyone else, no matter what went wrong."

And last night, even in death and with his name already removed from the cast list by the door, that same magic remained a shining light.

"We are grieving as a family for our wonderful 'Wizard'," producer John Frost told the audience before the show.

"Tonight we are dedicating this performance to the father figure of this company."

Before the show, some patrons were a little dubious.
"Disappointed? Of course we're disappointed," said Nicci Ramsay, who flew from Sydney with her husband to catch the show. But she had little to worry about.

Within seconds of the first bars rising from the pit, where Guest's partner and musical director Kellie Dickerson normally conducts the orchestra, the illusion was working.
Greasepaint hid the tracks of the actors' tears and the glare of footlights made it impossible to notice eyes turned red from grief.

On a cloud of stage smoke, Collins St was lifted all the way over the rainbow to Oz, where understudy Rod Dobson now fills the Wizard's shoes, and the night ended with a two-minute standing ovation.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24439423-2862,00.html

CAST RALLIES FOR ROB

Tears and prayers: standing ovation for Rob Guest's Wicked co-stars

Marika Dobbin
October 2, 2008 - 10:22AM

The cast of sold-out musical Wicked received a standing ovation in Melbourne last night and cried backstage knowing that star Rob Guest was on his deathbed.

Producer John Frost broke the news that Guest had suffered a massive stroke to the cast after yesterday's matinee performance at the Regent Theatre. He said it was one of the hardest moments of his career.

"It was really painful,'' Frost told Radio 3AW. "There were genuine tears and prayers ... The youngest is 17 in the show and a lot of these kids have never had to face death or pending death ... It wasn't a very nice place to be backstage yesterday.''

However, in accordance with showbiz tradition, the show went on last night despite both audience and performers knowing Guest was not expected to live through the night. He died this morning in Melbourne's St Vincent's Hospital after being taken off life support .

Frost said last night's performance was electric with emotion and the audience embraced Guest's understudy Rodney Dobson, who played the role of the Wizard of Oz for just the second time.
"It was a terrific one, so I think you know, they all rallied knowing that Rob was waiting for them somewhere,'' he said.

Friends say there was no indication Guest was ill despite a gruelling performance schedule of eight shows a week.

"He never smoked, he had the odd drink like many of us to but never to any excess, and he was reasonably fit,'' Frost said.
With no performances scheduled on Monday or Tuesday, Guest, 57, was with his partner Kellie Dickerson, who is the show's musical director, when he collapsed at home on Tuesday at about 10pm.

He reportedly talked to a friend on the phone and then sat at his computer before telling Dickerson he felt ill and ``a bit wobbly''. He then collapsed on the floor.
The couple had been together for ten years since working together on The Sound of Music.
"She stands in that orchestra pit every night looking up at the stage at him singing his songs,'' Frost said.

"My biggest fear is that she will eventually have to come back to work and have to look up onto that stage and he won't be there. In his costume will be somebody else ... that is going to be really painful and personal.''

Guest was placed on life support to allow his family from New Zealand to fly to his bedside and say a final farewell.

Frost, who is a long-time friend, said Guest would have been thrilled by the media attention and public reaction to his death.

"I remember I sat there, and held his hand and told him how much I loved him and how much everybody's going to miss him and that things would be fine and enjoy the journey.''
"To see somebody in hospital you know all wired up ... and not conscious, you go in and see them and they don't look real.''

Guest played the lead in the Australian production of The Phantom of the Opera for a record 2000-plus performances over seven years.

The English-born star started his career as a pop singer in New Zealand in the 1970s and featured in popular television shows before moving to Las Vegas in the '80s.

His career moved up a gear when he was cast as Jean Valjean in the Australian production of Les Miserables, winning a Green Room award in 1991 before taking on the role of the Phantom.

In 1994, Guest received an OBE for services to the New Zealand entertainment industry.
After leaving Phantom he played Jean Valjean again in the 10th anniversary Les Miserables production that toured Australia and New Zealand.

Wicked set a box office record from its first week when it took $1.7 million after its July 12 opening.
The return now stands at nearly $27 million with more than 300,000 tickets sold. Another 80,000 tickets have just been issued and Frost says each show is a sell-out.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/tears-and-prayers-standing-ovation-for-rob-guests-wicked-costars-20081002-4sc2.html?page=-1

WICKED STAR SUFFERS MASSIVE STROKE

ROB GUEST DEAD AT 57

Rob Guest dies after stroke

Renowned theatrical performer Rob Guest has died in a Melbourne Hospital after suffering a massive stroke overnight.

His family released a statement saying the 57-year-old died peacefully with family members by his side.

The British-born performer has enjoyed a long career on the stage.

He was best known for his record seven years playing the title role in the Phantom of the Opera, in both Australia and New Zealand.

Guest was a music star in New Zealand in the 1970s, and later moved to Las Vegas where he worked in the entertainment industry.

He was currently starring in the Melbourne stage production of Wicked, as the Wizard of Oz.
Guest relocated to Melbourne from the Gold Coast when he took the role in Wicked.