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