March 2015 Reviews - Estonia

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ERinVA
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March 2015 Reviews - Estonia

Post by ERinVA »

Here's a thread for March reviews for the Estonian production.
Ellen



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Darth_Revan
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Re: March 2015 Reviews - Estonia

Post by Darth_Revan »

Please note, when I write about Billy's part it's not about Kaspar's talent. He's a good kid, he made me cry during the Letter (both time), I was happy with him. If he was given proper training and a choreography suitable with his dancing skills I'm sure he would have performed great in the dancing as well.

I saw the Estonian Billy on the 18th April (both the matinee and the evening performances) The same cast performed both times.

It was not easy to find the NoorTheatre as it was not called like that, and there's not a single giant Billy Elliot poster outside.
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After a little confusion (I was given direction to the Estonian National Ballet / Opera House), I finally found Nordea Kontserdimaja (Nordea Concert Hall). It's a modern building, the auditorium is quite big and the seats are comfortable.
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The conductor and the orchestra were under the stage, they were not visible.

The matinee started quite early, at noon.

The theater offered a special service: English translation was available for the show. I did not try it, and it was only provided in selected rows of seats (9-15 I think)

When I entered into the auditorium I immediately thought of the Oslo production: there was the very same projected Billy Elliott logo on the curtain. Later I found out the entire set was the same as in Norway. It was a simple design, but it was all right, most of the time they were able to rearrange it quickly in the background, while something else was going on in the front. Some scene changes weren't that smooth, but nothing major disruption.
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The show started with the background story of the miner's strike, no small boy appearance. Then some late comers arrived, with flashlights. Grrr. But it turned out they were the miners :) They marched through the room towards the stage. At the end of the show they left the same way.

During The Stars Look Down Billy climbed up on one of the mobile platform (it was used as mining tram). It wasn't very tall, but on the second show I saw, Billy lost his balance and almost fell from it. It's something they should cut out the show, as it is an unnecessary risk to Billy.

Nobody joined my applaud at the end of Stars Look Down, I thought it was a local custom, but it proved to be random when the audience applauded during the show (there was a big applaud here during the second show I saw)

In Billy's kitchen Tony was making a banner, which said 'FAKK Maggie'. I wasn't sure if it was in Estonian or the English word written in Estonian way :)

Instead of big Davey, grandma played the gag with the salt.

George had 6 boys for the boxing practice. When Michael hit Billy he said 'Sorry Billy', in English. George repeated in English as well.

The shine was beautifully presented by the ballet girls, they all seemed very well trained, Billy did not join the girls, he was standing at the edge of the stage and watching the girl dancing. Anyway, Mrs Wilkinson still demanded the 50p. The next time they met, Billy only gave her one 50p coin though

As I sat in row 4 on the stalls I did not get a good view of the shadow dancing, as it was projected onto the stage, you have to sit on the circles to see the shadow.
Billy was very respectful with his grandma, he asked for the letter, not just grab from her hand.
The grandma's song was similar to the West End version: the men entered the stage from the right and while grandma sang they slowly moved with their chairs to the left. Grandma did not dance with any of the men, but at the end, she did a little 'crazy dance', she was funny.
And she did not show us the finger.

During solidarity the ballet girls showed us their talents again. There was a nervous laugh when Mrs Wilkinson said 'Marching towards socialism' Knowing the history of the country, no wonder :)
Billy's involvement was minimum. While the girls were doing the "little fairies on top of the music boxes", Billy was standing in the middle with his hands up in the air. Then Mrs Wilkinson get hold of him, and then he was standing on one leg (while Mrs Wilkinson still holding him)
At the very end of solidarity, he did some spinning.

At first I thought, Michael (Jaagup Tuisk) was too tall, and Expressing yourself wouldn't work, because of the big height difference, but the acting of the two boys was very convincing and it came through that two best buddies were playing together.
The tapping routine was simple, but very well performed by both boys, and they got a well deserved huge ovation at the end.

The Letter was great! There were real tears in Billy's eye, his performance was very moving.

The born to boogie was 'interesting'. Neither Billy nor Mrs Wilkinson did much dancing there, they were practising the 'elementary level'. I liked when Billy did the rope skipping. He was wearing a pair of ballet shoes, so no tapping here, but he was doing it very fast. Actually he did not really skipped the rope, he was just rotating the rope in one hand and skipping simultaneously, but we so him from the side and from that angle it was convincing and that what it counts :)
As the finale of this number Mrs Wilkinson and Mr Braithwaite was just standing there, while Billy was jumping off a chair then lay off on the stage and throwing his limbs up in the air.

It seems like Kaspar's only training included tapping, because the Angry dance was good. Again, simple routine, but performed great. At the end he wasn't alone on stage, the policemen were closing on him and surrounded him closer and closer (half circle actually)

The second act started with George, Tony and two of the Ballet girls. There was a raffle, the audience could win a goodie bag (I don't know what it contained as I did not win :( and something in an envelope. They asked a two random audience member for each prize to say a number, and the person sitting in that row and seat won the prize.

During the Christmas scene the ballet girls wore Maggie masks, then Billy and the girls played a shadow theater on a overhead projector.

I really liked Dad's performance of Deep into the ground. So much pain and sorrow.

Michael did not wear red underpants in the matinee, and he did not do usual routine of the deep bow wearing the tutu, but in the evening he had his red pants on and he did do the bow. And he got a very big applause as he left the stage.

And then I saw a very special dream ballet performance. it was basicly Older Billy's (Rudolf Bauman) solo. Billy's part was minimised. There were a long part where he was sitting on the chair while Older Billy was dancing alone. When Older Billy left the stage I thought now, Billy would start his routine, but no, Older Billy just went out to grab the cable. After Billy got his final spin in the air, older Billy continued dancing on stage. Finally Billy was lowered to the stage and both ran out to disconnect the cable, but only Older Billy came back and performed the final pirouettes in front of Dad.
Dad's performance of he could be a star was a great one, made me cry, he was desperate to help his son to fulfil his dreams.

The posh dad at the audition sounded like he had a Russian accent. (Estonian is not a Slavic language, so I think I heard it right - Estonian is a Uralic language as my mother tongue, Hungarian)

Billy gave a shockingly big slap to Thomas, well, no, but I just realised it when I saw it the second time, that Thomas had his hand in front of his face. It was very convincing (the audience saw Thomas' back)

And we arrived to Electricity, I was not sure how Billy would do it, I was a little bit afraid that it would be a big disappointment. Well, the answer was shocking. He didn't do it!!! he didn't do the dancing part. He started Electricity, he sang nicely and when it was time for dancing, he ran out of the stage and older Billy came in!!! He was great, beautiful ballet performance, flawless! then Billy came back, sang the rest of the song, then swapped places again. older Billy finished on stage, but the choreography seemed unfinished. The dancing ended while the music still went on (it's like Elliott finished Electricity before his final spinnings)

During the finale the younger members of the ensemble did some great street dancing moves, very acrobatic. I was like, WOW. When Billy came on stage he did the Billy Jump.

The orchestra came on to the stage as well.

The audience brought flowers and gifts to the stage (in the evening Kaspar got a dog from his mother) They didn't bring gift to everybody, so I'm not sure I liked this idea.

I don't understand the director/choreographer decision. He chose Kaspar for the role, then not giving him a chance to 'shine'. He did not even give him a chance to show what he was capable of. Mostly he just had him standing on the stage, or replaced by Rudolf.

But when he was given the opportunity (expressing yourself, angry dance) Kaspar showed us he was doing his best making an effort and give the audience a memorable performance.

Either he should have been given a proper choreography and an extensive training or maybe Rudolf should have been chosen for the role, as he is an excellent dancer, fully trained and not too old.

Overall I enjoyed the show and my night was not ruined by the parking ticket I got (who would have thought you have pay for on street parking on Saturday night?!) :)
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Re: March 2015 Reviews - Estonia

Post by kport »

Thank you so much for such a wonderful and comprehensive review! It is as much a sociological analysis as it is a review of the performance. I can imagine that performing it in Estonia presents political realities that are far different from those encountered when performing it in Peoria, Sydney or London.

Now, how can I get that BETM/Noor mug to add to my collection................???

Sorry you received a parking ticket. Take heart....that could happen in Peoria, Sydney...or London, too!
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Re: March 2015 Reviews - Estonia

Post by Darth_Revan »

kport wrote:
Now, how can I get that BETM/Noor mug to add to my collection................???
You should write to them, they might send you one in the post (it was €5 only). They also had a program for €2, but it was only in Estonian and I did not buy it. The Billy Elliot flyer next to the mug is from the restaurant next to the theater, each table had this triangular ad of the show (in Estonian and Russian). I asked the waiter if I could take one with me, he said he wouldn't look :)
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Re: March 2015 Reviews - Estonia

Post by JaneLeeD »

I agree! With everything, almost.

As I am Estonian, The dad didn't have a Russian accent.
Billy was supposed to be played by a ballet school student, and Maximo got cast. But as the castings were in September, age took its toll by December and they swapped him and Kaspar, so that Maximo played Michael in the end. I saw both Michaels and Maximo (ballet school student) is an amazing singer, actor, (and as you would expect, given his ballet experience) dancer!
But as Kaspar's voice started breaking around December as well, I don't know why they swapped them. If I asked the theatre they said that Kaspar is new to dance and Billy doesn't have to know how to dance. (That made me angry)

Like you said, the director did not let him shine! Feels like they didn't teach the children anything at all!

You said the grandma was good, but in my opinion, she was boring. She looked bored and like she wanted to run away from the stage.
Oh you saw the same matinee as me.

How did you like Debbies?
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Re: March 2015 Reviews - Estonia

Post by Darth_Revan »

JaneLeeD wrote: As I am Estonian, The dad didn't have a Russian accent.
The posh dad spoke differently than the rest of the cast, ok, it's not a Russian accent, an Estonian dialect perhaps?
JaneLeeD wrote: How did you like Debbies?
the same girl, Lisette was playing Debbie for both shows I saw. She was good, and I was happy with the ballet girls, they did a great job
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