Even though not officially invited, I was eager to take the day off and spend half of the day driving to Tartu and back so I could take photos at the rehearsal of musical Grease in Theatre Vanemuine.

Differently from taking photos at the ballet rehearsals where I  am always warmly welcomed by friends, I received many suspicious looks while walking around as a stranger at the back stage. The few people I knew I was afraid to distract with my chitchat as I was sure they were likely pretty stressed out in the atmosphere of having premier in few days.

Due to the (small) size of Estonia, it is inevitable that paths may cross at different venues and times. Last summer I myself shared stage with Kristiina and Dmitri, at times being close enough to accidentally sing into their microphones, so it was very exciting for me to see them performing on a bigger stage. Yet, with all the fluffy and greasy hair dues, I was having hard time recognizing even the familiar faces. I hesitantly approached one character and was happy to find out that I had addressed “Hey, .. Dima?” to the right guy. After having a quick look around at the rest of the singers preparing for the performance I felt lost and had to ask him: “Could You tell me, what Kristiina looks like today?”.

While trying not to sound like a groupie, I think I can not be judged for the excitement of being greeted and acknowledged by Uku. Despite the titles like the charmer and the sexiest man he has been granted the recent years, he is still surprisingly ‘earthly’ to thank and credit the ‘little people’ (me) for the photos I have shared with him.

As always, I am grateful to Theatre Vanemuine and also to Georg for the permission allowing me to run around at the theatre shooting the photos.

Director: Georg Malvius
Stage Designer: Ellen Cairns
Lighting Designer: Palle Palmé
Choreographer: Adrienne Abjörn
Official page of the musical Grease in Theatre Vanemuine
Photos: Ranno Rätsep (unofficial photographer)
Photos taken on April 30th, 2013.