September 2014 Reviews - London

Reviews of the show
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porschesrule
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Re: September 2014 Reviews - London

Post by porschesrule »

Thanks, Jacob, for your insightful comments and to all who have offered their thoughts on the special Live show.
Barry Appleby
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Re: September 2014 Reviews - London

Post by Barry Appleby »

“Don’t worry” Pat come to Bridlington for your Blue Ray, you’ll get a bargain. I went down to our local Electrical Shop and asked the lady behind the counter about Blue Ray and their prices, she told me the costs, so I said what would I get off, if I paid cash, She said everything, but the earrings.
No, lets be serious Billy Whiz and Dancingboy missed their Ryder Cup Golf and I missed my Sunday Dinner for this fantastic weekend, I know I only saw it at the cinema at Hull myself, no problems there.But what disappointed me was that you guys and gals could not get over from the States to see the live show, after all the work you put in to the forum, I tell you what, you will not be disappointed with the film, to me it was outstanding as I said in my review Elliott was brilliant.
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Re: September 2014 Reviews - London

Post by srd17 »

A little late but here are my thoughts on Sunday...These are my personal impressions of course, as someone who has seen the show a million times but not in the past few years. I've made no attempt to make sense..!

Firstly I'm so glad I forked out for a theatre ticket and didn't just go to the flicks- it was amazing.
The atmosphere in the auditorium (Royal Circle- I'm a posh bird me) was weird at the start as obviously the vast majority of people present had already seen the show and were keen fans. After front of house got clearance nothing happened for a few minutes, so you had everyone murmuring to their neighbour. It felt rather like being at a wedding waiting for the bride to arrive!

Once the show progressed it was staged and performed just as normal- stupidly I had expected it to be played to the cameras but no, except that the dialogue seemed to be delivered a bit quicker (maybe that was just me- funny things happen to your perception of time when you're all excited). From upstairs where I was you couldn't see the cameras and you wouldn't have known it wasn't an ordinary performance- except I could see Wayne Sleep and Matthew Bourne! For me it was a surprise and delight for Ann Emery, Mike Scott and Phil Snowden to be on stage from the early days, and I believe Mike has never left!

It was SUCH a privilege to see Liam's Older Billy in the flesh after having seen him in the title role many times. No disrespect to the very talented people I've previously seen, but to my untutored eye Liam oozed class in a unique way. I'm no expert but all I can say is his precision and line were of a quality I've never seen in the role before. That and the significance of the occasion had me (and the young lady seated next to me) in absolute floods. We spent most of the 'winter scene' clearing up the snot.

I thought everyone's performance was excellent. Ruthie Henshall I loved and she's brilliantly cast (God I saw her in Crazy For You a quarter of a century ago!) All the kids were as miraculously talented and amazing as always. How do they keep making that miracle happen year after year? Elliott Hanna is as amazing as his predecessors (how lucky is he that his performance has been captured forever?) But speaking entirely personally I wish Deka would play the Ballet School scenes a bit straighter- the way he plays it for comedy jars with the tone of the rest of the show for me. And having the school secretary flirting with him? Noooo! It's just so wrong!

'Electricity' always seems to have a particular power at special performances I've been to and that was certainly the case on Sunday. I've been at a few where it was the Billy's last night and the audience went completely bananas (George Maquire's last night verged on hysteria). Well, we did it again!

The mash-up finale was so great and I fan-girled along with everyone else when the 3 originals came out. I shall need to buy the DVD to spot who was who, but all the tumbling felt like a firework display with the explosion of energy. A total joy.

I shall now be booking my ticket for the 10th anniversary next year. See you there!
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ERinVA
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Re: September 2014 Reviews - London

Post by ERinVA »

porschesrule wrote:Here's a review of the Billy Live performance published in Broadway World:

http://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/ar ... 4-20140929

Attached to this Behind the Scenes review, I discovered another one from 13 (and 3/4) year-old Linus Boselius:

http://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/ar ... w-20140929#
Ellen



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ERinVA
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Re: September 2014 Reviews - London

Post by ERinVA »

Thanks for all the September reviews, everyone. And special thanks for the reviews of Billy Elliot Live. For those of us who didn't get to see it either at the VPT or in a cinema, your reviews took us there. :D
Ellen



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angelenroute
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Re: September 2014 Reviews - London

Post by angelenroute »

srd17 wrote:It was SUCH a privilege to see Liam's Older Billy in the flesh after having seen him in the title role many times. No disrespect to the very talented people I've previously seen, but to my untutored eye Liam oozed class in a unique way. I'm no expert but all I can say is his precision and line were of a quality I've never seen in the role before. That and the significance of the occasion had me (and the young lady seated next to me) in absolute floods. We spent most of the 'winter scene' clearing up the snot.
:lol: Love this! Especially since when I saw the clip of it, I was blowing my nose for 20 minutes afterward as well! ;)

Sean

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CJ-Rochester
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Re: September 2014 Reviews - London

Post by CJ-Rochester »

Thanks for all of the great reviews from the Billy Elliot Live show. I don't think anyone has mentioned how Liam Mower did as the Scottish Dancer in the RBS scene. Would anyone who was there, or who saw it in the cinemas, care to comment?
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OliverWaters
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Re: September 2014 Reviews - London

Post by OliverWaters »

CJ-Rochester wrote:Thanks for all of the great reviews from the Billy Elliot Live show. I don't think anyone has mentioned how Liam Mower did as the Scottish Dancer in the RBS scene. Would anyone who was there, or who saw it in the cinemas, care to comment?
He did the accent really well. If I wasn't wearing my glasses, I wouldn't know it was him.
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Re: September 2014 Reviews - London

Post by dancingboy »

OliverWaters wrote:
CJ-Rochester wrote:Thanks for all of the great reviews from the Billy Elliot Live show. I don't think anyone has mentioned how Liam Mower did as the Scottish Dancer in the RBS scene. Would anyone who was there, or who saw it in the cinemas, care to comment?
He did the accent really well. If I wasn't wearing my glasses, I wouldn't know it was him.
From my seat near the front of the Dress Circle I am pretty certain that the Scottish Ballet dancer was played by the usual actor, not by Liam. Liam did the little bit of ballet/pirouettes, but not the front of curtain scene.
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ERinVA
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Re: September 2014 Reviews - London

Post by ERinVA »

Barnaby doesn't typically play the Scottish Ballet Dancer, does he?
Ellen



"I don't want people who want to dance; I want people who have to dance.”
-George Balanchine 1904 -1983


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