Reviews September 2014

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Darth_Revan
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Re: Reviews September 2014

Post by Darth_Revan »

thm wrote:
Darth_Revan wrote: who actually managed to drop Billy
Did they not perform swan lake at all? Maybe a precaution??
He was dropped at the end of Expressing yourself. It was scary, but he was very professional and continued the show.

The dream ballet was performed, but unlike in London there was no flying part.
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István
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Darth_Revan
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Re: Reviews September 2014

Post by Darth_Revan »

Tonight they managed to catch Billy at the end of Expressing yourself and this time Billy was flying during dream ballet.
I saw the same children cast today, I wonder if they did the matinee as well.

I really liked the voice of Billy and his acting too, he made me cry when he was singing the Letter.
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István
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thm
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Re: Reviews September 2014

Post by thm »

I see you catched the same team twice. There's a schedule on the production company's website : http://www.scenekvelder.no/nyheter/2014 ... eling-barn

You did see the red team twice; for the matinee the blue team was scheduled to perform. I assume you'll be in London or at least at a cinema on sunday but in case your're still in Oslo: For the matinee (only show on Sunday) the yellow team should be on.

Btw. I wonder how 4 men/women can all fail to catch that Billy-light-weight :shock:
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Re: Reviews September 2014

Post by kport »

Btw. I wonder how 4 men/women can all fail to catch that Billy-light-weight
I do not know; but I know that two ensemble police caught Billy, forty times over forty performances, leaping off a wall into their arms during Angry Dance, dropping about 6 feet, with nary an incident. That happened at Ogunquit.

I also recall seeing a Tony throwing a Billy so hard upon the table that the Billy crashed to the floor, behind. That happened at the VPT late last spring. It did not happen at subsequent performances.

These sorts of things are what techs are about. Accidents need not happen, if techs are frequent and kept up to date. I doubt it will happen again, in Norway.
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Darth_Revan
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Re: Reviews September 2014

Post by Darth_Revan »

thm wrote:I see you catched the same team twice. There's a schedule on the production company's website : http://www.scenekvelder.no/nyheter/2014 ... eling-barn
I left early Sunday morning to watch Billy Elliot Live in the cinema in Dublin :)

thm wrote: Btw. I wonder how 4 men/women can all fail to catch that Billy-light-weight :shock:
I did not see what happened as I was focusing on Micheal at that time, I just caught Billy's fall out of the corner of my eye. When I focused on him he hit the stage already. The fall looked scary, but he just jumped up and continue as nothing had happened. I really admire these great young actors.
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Re: Reviews September 2014

Post by Darth_Revan »

When grandma showed her finger it was her index finder, not her middle one. Is it a special Norwegian thing or she was just family friendly? :)
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AJ HOLDEN
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Re: Reviews September 2014

Post by AJ HOLDEN »

Privileged to have watched both shows Oct 18th (sorry it's late).

Mat blue team
Eve red team.

Needless to say Kevin was outstanding. He most reminds me of Rhys Yeomans from the London Billy's. Faultless dancing, beautiful singing voice and a fantastic actor to boot. he is given ample opportunity to shine and doesn't disappoint. I love his acting. In the breakfast scene, he comes down from the bedroom and puts the mouldy pie on the table. He then sits at the table talking to grandma, slumped on the chair in typical teenager style, priceless.

My Norwegian is next to nothing but you can easily follow the show since they have kept faithfully to the London script. We lose esquire, being replaced by Billy being called William on the envelope which is posh. Nutcracker survives and got a good laugh. The pasty is replaced by a pie in foil.

There are far to many changes to each scene to mention so I will just mention a few things I particularly liked. My favourite was the shadow dance after shine. Billy starts by doing the shadow bird against the back lit wall but unlike London then picks up his bag and does a lovely dance. This represents the skipping and dancing down the road in the film demonstrating he has just had his first lesson and realises how much he enjoyed the lesson. There are many other examples of Billy showing many happy emotions during his tuition, notable during boogie where he will laugh out loud or high 5 Mrs W as he learns a new move or makes progress etc. This emotion is almost entirely lacking in the London production. Electricity ends with Billy extending his right arm and putting his left hand on the left shoulder, just like the community centre Xmas scene from the film where he finishes up in front of his dad.

Stand out dances for me were Boogie which is back to the original London version and no skipping ropes. After watching Liam Mower last month in Live i thought I had seen the best ever Swan Lake. However, this version is much slower. Billy more floats than flies, there is very little movement from side to side, just very little movement, but it totally works. Older Billy has a lot more to do. I hope London producers or other European producers working on their versions will look at this Swan Lake and adopt it.

I liked the revised express with the Vegas girls, mostly they reminded me of Les Girls from Priscilla? I thought Michael was too camp but nevertheless the scene was great fun.

Just a note on the sets. There is now barres and low walls replacing the chairs. I like the changes. In Take Me Up, Billy hops along a low wall, probably representing the back yards from the film. it makes more sense than the London version where Billy just hops over the floor.

The theatre was full both shows. Both packed full of kids including many clearly under 8. There are no warnings about the bad language and several parents I spoke to were surprised at the amount and level of the swearing. But that was nothing but positive reviews from the audience.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit. I do hope the forthcoming new productions take some of the many positive changes I have seen here from the London original and I can sense that the new European shows are going to go down a storm. I have already booked my tickets for The Netherlands Dec 6th and 7th and I will almost certainly go to Estonia with some potential mouth watering ballet.

Alex
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