September 2015 Reviews - Netherlands

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jtsw1
Tall Boy
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September 2015 Reviews - Netherlands

Post by jtsw1 »

I HATE HAVING A COLD!
But I really like Scheveningen and Billy Elliot The Musical. So I was a bit irritated when my nose started running away yesterday evening right after the stars looked down on me and a very well filled auditorium at the Circustheater. Well, shit happens, but let me tell you a few things about the show that prevented me from getting my beloved severe runny-nose-depression:

- Irene Kuiper, understudy for grandma on friday and saturday, was the first dutch granma who got it all right, the timing, the movements, facial expressions and the song. The other two are good as well, but this one really nailed it from the very first moment on.
- Small Boy Noah: he was on at both matinee and evening show, and both times he acted like a pro. It's rare to find a Small Boy who actually seems to have thought about every aspect of the scenes he's in that well. For example, he acts as if he doesn't like his christmas present and tries to get rid of it - he even offers it to the audience. And he has a lot of fun acting.
- Little Nick, youngest Billy ever worldwide, owned the stage with a lot of confidence and joy. You could see he actually found every scene with Michael (Tevin, showing his comedy skills perfectly another time) funny, it wasn't acted, it was just him. But he also is a good actor, all the serious scenes were done on point and with the right amount of expressions and tone. Sammy (evening show) made a more mature and professional appearance, although he's still only 11 years old, the homepage says. Both have a lot of potential!
- little Milan (Michael at the matinee show) and big Milan (Big Davey) once again proved that they are the best you can find for their roles. I saw "Big Milan" before the show on friday at the theatre, he had one his very few days off. Marc Dollevoet was on as Big Davey, and, well, Milan returned even stronger on saturday, as if he wanted to show Marc (who was on as Dad in the evening) how it's done properly. ;) They should move to London (well, Big Milan at least). I prefer Michael to be not too "clownish", and Milan just has that little something.
- The Debbies and the ballet girls delivered a masterful show. Mostly I saw new ones, I think, and they had great fun on stage and were on point all the time. Timing is a huge issue in this show, without proper timing both the tragic and the comic scenes don't work - and unfortunately there were a few timing issues on Friday (it was a good show, especially by Laurian as Billy, who already has added some little bits, maybe similar to Brodie in London, to his performance, and Lavita as Debbie - very confident, very funny -, but still...). However, on saturday both adults and kids delivered again perfectly.
- Finally I got to see an understudy Tony. It was Misha Kiek, and he did very well, very serious and angry, but vulnerable as well.
- Bas Grevelink's George may be my favourite by now, even though I don't get all the jokes at the lottery due to my poor dutch. I just love his, uhm, kinky voice, I guess. :D

What I still don't like about the dutch version: The trousers aren't allowed to join the dance! In London they are. It's just UNFAIR.
And Billy still doesn't kneel before the banner at the end.

Everything else is quite perfect. It's really a shame they have to close! It was my third (and, probably, last) visit to Scheveningen, and I just started to get that homy feel there. The combination of the beach and the Billy is just perfect, there's an affordable 4-stars-hotel (the Skotel, run by students) and the whole city of Den Haag, of course. This time I also enjoyed the great sculpture-museum Belden aan Zee which is just 300m away from the theatre, and "De Pier", which had a nice exhibition of "flags of peace". This picture shows one of them, depiciting a little refugee who "has not become a boy soldier and hasn't drowned" and who the artist wants to become "a messenger of peace". Kitsch, yes, but beautiful - and sad at the same time, just like the story of Billy Elliot, which for 15 years now reminds us that the world is still in pieces, divided in rich and poor, owning class and working class.

Will someone change that already?

Image
- A. -

- What do I do??
- Follow the others... marching forward to socialism!
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