February 2015 Reviews

Reviews of the show
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Bridget40
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Re: February 2015 Reviews

Post by Bridget40 »

jmh2014 wrote:
patc wrote: Referring back to Bridget’s review above (thank you also for that) in answer to
he (Matteo) would finally be doing a Thursday matinee. (Has he ever done one?)
Yes he did at least 5 or 6 but not in recent months when I have been there anyway. You are not alone in not seeing him perform too often. Despite many visits I have not seen him for just under three months and others not since July.
Matteo is the only Billy I've not seen. Fingers crossed for the end of the month.

I see that last month Matteo was only on five times, so I guess you just have to be lucky to catch him!
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patc
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Re: February 2015 Reviews

Post by patc »

Not yet convinced about Deka's celebration as he leaps out of the chair at the end of Electricity. A bit OTT perhaps?
I love this, it's the culmination of a truly inspirational scene. IMHO, Deka has brought this whole scene up to new levels. This is the first time that Dad sees his son's dancing talent for real. He is in the process of being gobsmacked beyond belief. As the dance progresses and Billy puts on the style, Deka is clearly seen reacting to his every move with incredulity, pride and tears. I find it hugely emotional watching this both as a fictional story and at the same time a real boy gets to live his dream on a West End stage. The final flourish from Billy is brilliant enough to send Dad leaping to his feet to celebrate. I'd do the same if it were my son :D.

Pat
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OliverWaters
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Re: February 2015 Reviews

Post by OliverWaters »

I'll get an actual review out later, but for now I'll shake my fist at the sky and becurse technical difficulties.
Occam's razor: The simplest answer is the most probable.

Oliver's razor: The most boring answer is the most probable.
Westletonion
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Re: February 2015 Reviews

Post by Westletonion »

Thursday matinee 19th February.

In terms of weather lore there is an old adage ‘February fill-dyke – black or white’ indicating that that either the rivers would be flowing swiftly or there would be snow on the ground.
Black or White. Such was the situation regarding Billy’s childhood. It was a cold dismal atmosphere for him to grow up in. You were either a miner or a scab. Divisiveness, hardship and austerity everywhere. Have you ever thought what it would be like to live in a world without colour?
Where everything is black, white or at best fifty shades of grey. Billy is bereft that his mother has died and clings to her memory. Grandma emerges from a long and colourless marriage save for the occasional bouts of dancing and is now become forgetful to put it mildly. Dad’s few spare pennies are now going on ‘ballet’ instead of boxing or manly pursuits. There is plenty of red but this is only the emotional red of anger and frustration.
Eventually the world of colour emerges as Billy starts to realise and fulfil his passion for dancing and Mrs Wilkinson becomes a kind of surrogate mum in the process. He starts to experience a world of colour and eventually the whole spectrum becomes his. It is interesting that Billy, in the shape yesterday of Bradley should emerge for the finale in a turquoise shirt. Turquoise happens to be the newest colour in the spectrum and signifies freshness, youthfulness and effervescence. In the exploding and wonderful finale all emotional colours are revealed and one gets the impression that even infra-red or ultra- violet are not beyond Billy’s prism.
Being half term it was good to see and experience the buzz of a near full house. The whole show went with a buzz and there was a full standing ovation at the end, richly deserved. Apologies if this has seemed more like a lesson on colour but the greatness of this show is in the whole and not necessarily just the parts. Holism rather than reductionism.
Deka emerged at the very end to encourage voters to do their stuff and vote for the show in the latest awards. The audience award which the show won two years ago. Let us hope it does so again this time.
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patc
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Re: February 2015 Reviews

Post by patc »

Interesting thoughts, Westletonion. I recall reading somewhere many, many years ago in a film study that the colours (set and costume) in a film or stage production require a great deal of skill, thought and planning well in advance to complement the mood of the project. They are not random choices. So your precis of Billy Elliot colours is most appropriate.

Thursday Matinee 19th February

Benny Cumby acts. Mick Flately dances. Brucey “The Boss” sings. Bradley Perret does all three – A suitable hapax legomenon might be acdansinger but, perhaps, others could suggest a better one…and he has a most loveable and humble smile for his audience as he takes his bow. We saw them all in action at today’s Billy matinee. He doesn’t come out of character. He lives the part.

There is so much skill involved in getting the pacing right and Bradley has this down to a tee. The light switches in his house will be the dimmer controllable type not on/off. Billy doesn’t have a short fuse. He always tries to reason first. Bradley’s control of the denouement scene in front of the Ballet Girls was a masterclass in acting only going into angry overdrive when all else failed. Powerful stuff. This was no playground for wimps. Neither we nor the Ballet Girls had sofas to hide behind. Deka’s gobsmacked facial expression was a sight to behold. On a minor matter, as things quietened down I noticed that when Mr. B snuck in again at the back he didn’t do his usual recoil from the ballet girl standing in the corner.

Bradley’s Letter is another example of spot-on pacing. As he builds up from the gentle beginning of the song to the point where his whole body is visibly shaking with emotion you feel like invisible claws are already ripping your heart out. “Don’t go” wrenches a goblet of tears from your ducts and Claudia and Ruthie’s beautiful harmonies finish you off.

Bringing on Born to Boogie at that point in the show is a master stroke and Mr. B (David Muscat) is just the very man to raise up your spirits. His first set of splits is forewarned with a knowing smile and enjoys warm applause but the second set that follows is an eyewatering spectacle of multiple tendon destruction. Most of us would never walk again if we tried that at home.

Billy’s big dance numbers were brilliantly performed with Mark John Richardson joining in with a stunning performance of Dream Ballet. His fluent and majestic momentum appeared to even make the smoke flow in a different direction than usual. He also played his usual hilarious Adult Dancer.

The Cumbrian fun-meister, Todd, whose first entry through the red door is always awaited with much anticipation, was effervescently excellent as Michael. Some lovely individual touches throughout and cut a really lonely figure at the end.

Kyria, in classic Debbie fashion, expressed her points of view and provided opinions with the exemplary lucidity that one has come to expect.

I really like Chris Grahamson’s Tony. The scene of his I most look forward to is the powerful and moving Pit scene with Deka. Chris seems to be able to produce tears on demand. Even when he wipes them away they re-appear moments later. This scene is probably the one that has been improved the most over the years from the first time I saw the show. It is breathtaking in its current form.

I can’t help thinking but can’t prove that the Ballet Girls’ routines have been increased in both actions and intensity. The one thing that is certain is if they were to be paid by the individual movements of each limb they’d be millionaires by Easter. On a beach you only have to watch out for the waves coming from one direction. At the VPT they’re cominatcha from all angles. As far as I’m concerned, keep ‘em coming.

For anyone with an interest in music BETM is the business. The various MD’s appear to have a licence to improvise some of the time, Take me Up being a typical example. As the show progresses your ear can pick up subtle nuances. In one of the shows I have seen over the past few weeks there was what sounded like a short but stunning piano cadenza in one number that brought a big smile to my face. There is no part of this show that doesn’t hold sustained attention.

A half term show is always a special occasion with lots of families spread throughout the theatre. I’d be willing to bet that some of the youngsters present left the theatre with strong ambitions to follow in the footsteps of those they saw on stage. They will need to have a bloodyminded determination aligned with all the exceptional skills to have any hope of emulating what they saw. The best of luck to them.

BETM deserves to win the Audience Award again. As Deka said at the end, “We should win the award for this kid alone”, pointing at Bradley. In any language Le garcon du Sud de la France était brillante.

Pat
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Terpsichore
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Re: February 2015 Reviews

Post by Terpsichore »

thank you for the review, patc!
especially the mention of the dream ballet, very happy to hear about it and I forwarded it to the man himself who was touched aswell. thank you!
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Billy Whiz
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Re: February 2015 Reviews

Post by Billy Whiz »

Two wonderful reviews. Thank you Westletonion and patc.

Keep 'em coming :)
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patc
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Re: February 2015 Reviews

Post by patc »

Wednesday 25th and Thursday Matinee 26th February

The main cast was the same for both shows except for Billy who was played by Ollie on Wednesday and Brodie on Thurs Matinee.

This was a double whammy fit for a king. Even King Joffrey Baratheon, had he not partaken of a goblet of poisoned vino, would have gone down on his knees in deference to the players in these two powerful dramas. Ollie Jochim and Brodie Donougher would now be sitting on his throne with not even a drop of milk spilt. Trying to describe the quality of these performances will be a difficult if not impossible task. The memories of both shows are still buzzing around in my head so much that I don’t know where to even begin and, of course, no way to cover everything. Billy Elliot The Musical is not just on fire it is blazing like a furnace fuelled by the most amazing talent on planet Earth and the universe beyond.

Prior to the start of the Wednesday evening show a family with teenage children asked me how long was the show. When I said three hours I saw a look of reluctant resignation on the faces of the young ones. I could almost hear them saying “bloody ‘ell”. At the end of the show they were, like everyone else, speechless, blown away and could not believe that three hours had gone by so quickly. They simply could not take it all in that a boy of Ollie’s age could “do all that” and live to tell the tale. I’m sure that most, if not all of us, were the same on our first viewing.

I first saw Ollie perform at the end of July last year and it has been a thrilling, humbling and emotional experience watching him develop the role in his own individual style. I recall mentioning in an earlier review that someone in the audience was reported to have said that, during the show, they felt like running up onto the stage to give Ollie a hug such was his endearing character. Well, you wouldn’t want to be anywhere on that stage when Ollie is in Angry Dance mode. You’d be cleaned out. With those powerful flashing turbulent feet pounding out a beat that would turn a snare drummer green with envy you’d be well advised to back off. By an extraordinary coincidence, (or maybe not), while Ollie was over to the left of the stage tapping away and consumed with anger, a section of the floating smoke above his head briefly but appropriately took on the shape of a Cumulonimbus cloud.

In the pre-Angry Dance Kitchen scene there was an interesting situation that arose and added, not quite murder, but certainly mystery and suspense for those who are familiar with the show. After all the protagonists were in situ it became clear that the chair upon which Tony was sitting was some distance from the kitchen table and that, when the time would come for Billy to be hoisted onto the table via the chair, Ollie would need six foot springs on his feet to bridge the gap. When the moment arrived Ollie’s feet landed on the chair and remained there. As the confrontation continued between Tony and Mrs. W, it now became obvious that when Ollie would leap from the chair it would not be in position to go down with the lift and would remain on the stage. The problem was solved by Deka who, discretely in the background, moseyed over, gestured for Ollie to get down and moved the chair to its rightful place. So, Ollie’s angry jump had to be from floor level only.

In the second half Ollie continued where he left off with the same top-class acting we had seen in such as The Letter and the angry scene with Dad at the end of Solidarity. Electricity brought roars of appreciation from the assembled masses and the final goodbyes had no mercy on our emotions with that plaintive voice wreaking havoc on already overworked tear ducts.

And so to Thursday matinee with Brodie’s name on the Board greeting our arrival. Another spectacular was about to be unleashed on the latest gathering of the masses.

Way back in the 60’s there was a Disney film with the title of “The Absent- Minded Professor” in which the main man discovers a bouncing substance that can make objects propel themselves upwards and onwards as they hit surfaces. A Godsend for triple-jump Olympians. Packed with special effects (long before the days of CGI as we know it today) it was an amusing and jaw dropping experience. If this film is to be remade the special effects and CGI experts will not be required. They will need just one stunt man – Brodie. The almost 1500 jaws present at the VPT were left floundering on the floor at the conclusion of a quite unbelievable ballet Electricity. Before the final spins he performed three somersaults each gaining extra height on the previous one. A fourth would have landed him in the Dress Circle boxes. And we still had the wall flip to look forward to after the spins. The watching Deka nearly did his own somersault in celebration. But this was just the climax of a Billy journey that got off the ground (metaphorically speaking, of course) in the Boxing scene when Tomi’s hit sent Brodie flying backwards about ten yards through the air with a thumping thud sending his mic into overdrive. Thereafter, with consummate skill and expertise Brodie showed us that he has lost no time in bringing his performance to entirely new levels in his comparatively short time in the show. It was monumental in every aspect.

If Tomi Fry had taken to the stage in Expressing wearing a half dozen Elipsoidal Reflectors he wouldn’t have lit up the stage as well as he did without them. You can see that the hip-swinging and Full-of-Beanz Tomi was born to play this role, is living this role and his exuberant and roguish jolliness spreads like wildfire through the audience. With both Ollie and Brodie under his command all you could do was sit back, smile and enjoy him to the full – and wonder to yourself how do you get to have this sort of talent at such a young age. Then again he can very quickly wipe the smile off your face in an instant. The changes of mood required in the Winter Scene were beautifully and expertly done using those expressive eyes, pauses and voice intonations to the full and the final curtain left nobody in doubt as to Michael’s feelings at that moment in time.

The famous Lockheed Super Constellation airliner was known as the “Super Connie” with its three tails a reflection of its “character”. We have our own Super Connie Fisher with two (pig)tails flying along superbly in character at the VPT - yet another example of inspired casting. I’m pretty sure that the Debbies would savour more stage time and Connie uses up every second of the precious time they have with non-stop quality acting. Both her toilet scenes with Billy were absolutely priceless. Despite some effort at lip-reading I can’t quite make out what she mouths to Ruthie as she exits the stage near the end of the show but whatever it is you can be sure it’s not complimentary. I’ll keep working on it.

Chris and Deka threw everything into another powerful and deeply moving “He Could be a Star” and Gillian is revelling in her first-billing Grandma role.

The Ballet Girls get most of their fame ticket in the first half of the show. Their boundless energy and the colour and skill level they bring to both Shine and Solidarity time after time must be very inspirational to any young girls in the audience aspiring to a stage or a dance career. There should be a Guard of Honour lined up for them in Allington Street after every show.

In the RBS audition scene the Pencil Man and pianist were played by different Ensemble members this week who shall remain nameless. The wigs chosen for both characters on this occasion must have been an in-joke so much so that the tears of laughter in my eyes almost hid from my view Billy’s rewind of the tape.

With Alan Mehdizadeh not on duty in either show we had two different Big Davey’s, Spencer Cartwright and Craig Armstrong respectively although, per Grandma, Spencer assumed the identity of “Young” Davey.

It was great to see Lucinda Collins and Lee Hoy both back in the fray after short-ish absences with Lucinda presenting us with her very subtle and posh/reserved RBS receptionist and Lee delivering his hilarious Essex Adult Dancer.

On previous occasions when Billy has been included in the Audience Award, Deka has, after the Finale, promoted voting with some back-breaking somersaults. Time has moved on and another genial way has been thought out for the promotion which involves, and I quote, “shameless exploitation of a small child”. This came as such an hilarious surprise on Wednesday evening that I won’t spoil it for anyone who has yet to see it. Suffice to say that, in both shows, it was Lewis who was the “exploited one” and he gave it his all in typical style.

So, to sum up, I can only reiterate that, for me, the enjoyment, entertainment value and total emotional involvement in this unique show cannot and never will be equalled. With an accompanying musical score of such quality and variety it is unbeatable. It is my contention that the already superbly talented adult cast are themselves inspired to an even higher level by the performances of the young cast and this week it was Ollie and Brodie's turn to sit high on the throne of respect and admiration. I profusely thank them all. The standing ovations at the end of each show were just reward for all involved in delivering this miracle of theatre.

Pat
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MsRF
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Re: February 2015 Reviews

Post by MsRF »

I too was at Wednesdays show, Pat. I love Ollies interpretation of Billy, he is so unwaveringly normal and utterly lovely. I want to give him a hug too!

I was sitting on the far stage left near the biscuit tin,and when mrs wilkinson and tony were having their slanging match, someone offstage was talking to Ollie, I presume telling him not to get on the table (perhaps they were worried about stability or a technical problem) which is why Ollie resisted Chris when he tried to force him onto the table. Amazing how the kids can adapt to changes so readily and with no more notice than a whisper from a stagehand!
Barry Appleby
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Re: February 2015 Reviews

Post by Barry Appleby »

THURSDAY 26th FEBRUARY (matinee)

Just a quickie, yes Pat as usual, in your great style, your review has covered it so well. The whole casts enthusiasm is so prominent, they soon had the audience in their grasp, they were really a great audience enjoying the whole show, starting off with plenty of gasps, when Tomi gave Brodie a right good punch in the Boxing scene, then George, David Bardsley, got a good punch in the whatsits, surprised his voice didn't change, I bet his eyes watered, the show went from strength to strength.
I thought Brodie's Electricity was outstanding, his ballet movements so graceful, then topped up with his jumps and twists, then that wall flip, even Spiderman would have been jealous of that, in fact his whole performance was a credit to him. So well supported throughout by Tomi and Connie, like you Pat, I loved to know what Connie was muttering when she was leaving the room in the Goodbye scene with her mum and Billy.
Deka's few words about the Olivier Awards is brilliant, really en-gauges the audience and bringing small boy Lewis into it was the final touch!, loved his facial expressions, he so enjoys being on stage. So “Thank you Again to All the Cast”
Great tonic for me has I'd only had a couple of hours sleep, night previous, such great memories, for that long and warm, and it was, comfortable journey home, thanks to my train driver Kelly. Lovely home coming text “don't forget to get the bread in the morning”

Barry's corny joke – a woman at work is always boasting about how beautiful she is, and that she got her looks from her father. Her father is a plastic surgeon.
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