November 2009 Reviews - London

Dancer
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Re: November 2009 - Reviews

Post by Dancer »

Monday 30th November 2009

Billy – Dean Charles Chapman
Michael – George Maycock
Debbie – Emily Smith
Tall Boy – Ashley Cousins
Small Boy – Connor Donaghey
Dead Mum – Samantha Seager

A fantastic show and a great debut by Dean, Emily, Ashley, Samantha, the new team of ballet girls and several ensemble players including a new Scottish ballet dancer.

Thankfully there were no changes to the big numbers but there were many small changes (mainly instrumental), all brought from the Broadway production, and all worth it! Here they are, from memory!

1) Take Me Up – new instrumental, the MD’s piano in place of the Broadway harp.

2) Broadway Shadow Dance preceding Grandma’s Song. Billy makes shapes and movements of his arms and hands which are projected in shadow against the back wall, to the accompaniment of mystical music. Now we know what the new spotlights fitted at the edge of the stage were for!

3) Debbie saying, you look like a “dickhead” to me at the end of Shine. And thank goodness as dwallen has already said, that hand gesture has been removed. I’m sure that must have been embarrassing for the kids playing Debbie and Billy.

4) New instrumental when Billy winds up his alarm clock before the Angry Dance scene. This new music is the same as that played during Born to Boogie when Mr Braithwaite is counting out the steps sitting on his chair reading the ballet magazine. It is also similar (but not quite!) to the new Shadow Dance music.

5) At the end of the ballet Electricity dance, the music closes with a wonderful piano flourish by the MD a-la Broadway.

6) New music when Billy goes up to his bedroom to read the letter from the Royal Ballet School.

7) In the soup kitchen scene where Michael says to Billy, “Did you really hit one of the dancers?”, George tries to drum up some support for the strike by saying, “Maggie, Maggie Maggie” to the minors, but gets no response!

8) After Billy has packed his case and jumped into his dad’s arms, his dad gives him some pocket money (looks like a 50p!).

That’s all the changes I remember but Chris Hatt said there were one or two others – I’m sure patc will be able to fill in the blanks next Thursday!

Apart from that all the new cast were brilliant. Emily as Debbie chews gum at the beginning of the show, and Dean is just a sensation! As Billy Whiz has already said no-one would have known this was his first show if Nick Evans hadn’t announced it earlier. It was an amazing debut full of confidence and passion. Dean smiles a lot and at times even reminded me a little of George Maguire with his smiling face and blond haircut! His acting is very versatile but don’t be fooled by all that smiling and cherubic looks. Angry Dance was very powerful and noisy, but it was the Electricity song that transformed Dean into a little spitfire. He sang it very aggressively and angrily, literally spitting out the words, giving the auditioning panel and audience little doubt of how he was feeling. But then the mood changed and there were some very tender moments with his Dead Mum, superbly played by Samantha Seager.

All in all, a brilliant debut by Dean which drew three standing ovations. Talking of “drew”, little Drew Blackall was in the audience with his mum and it was nice to have a little chat with him after the show.
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Billy Whiz
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Re: November 2009 - Reviews

Post by Billy Whiz »

I think you have pretty much covered everything there Dancer.

I also noticed that George Maycock really built up for the punch to George in the nether regions by swinging his arm full circle a couple of times. It looked very effective - and painful :shock:
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iht
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Re: November 2009 - Reviews

Post by iht »

Dancer wrote:Monday 30th November 2009

3) Debbie saying, you look like a “dickhead” to me at the end of Shine. And thank goodness as dwallen has already said, that hand gesture has been removed. I’m sure that must have been embarrassing for the kids playing Debbie and Billy.
In your opinion, I personally thought it was a very funny addition to the show.
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Chris
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Re: November 2009 - Reviews

Post by Chris »

I'm another one who's glad the gesture's gone.

I hadn't seen the show for a few months until last night. I saw Jo not long after she'd returned from her maternity leave, but I was much more taken with her portrayal last night. It seems to me that every actress taking on the role of Mrs Wilkinson plays her a bit too harsh at first, and then softens as she relaxes into the role. That was certainly true of Sally and Jackie before Jo.

Of the changes.. some I saw last time. I think it's much better that Billy now reverts to saying "For f.... sake, I knaw", when Mrs W tells him not to be late, it makes the next line flow better; my favourite change is the one to Craig's speech when Big Davy and George tell him the strike's over. It's now more sorrow than anger, which adds to the poignancy of it all.

I liked the shadow boxing and the new orchestrations. Dean as Billy is a star: he fumbled with the chair a bit in the dream ballet and fluffed a bit towards the end of the show in the reprise of The Letter, but it was a confident, assured debut. I thought the new Dead Mum was absolutely fine, the new alternate Mrs Wilkinson, Caroline Deverill, reminded me very much of Gillian for some reason, it will be interesting to see her take on the role.
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patc
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Re: November 2009 - Reviews

Post by patc »

dwallen wrote:The suggestive hand motion from Debbie has been removed
Dancer wrote: And thank goodness as dwallen has already said, that hand gesture has been removed.
Chris wrote: I'm another one who's glad the gesture's gone.
I applaud the removal of that nonsense. This great show doesn't need to have gutter "humour" included in it.

Thanks to everyone for your fantastic reviews. Can't wait to see the show again.

Pat
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tzwicky
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Y'all had me quite nervous .......

Post by tzwicky »

Lordy,

All the talk of changes to the show had me right at the edge of the vapors, till I read all the comments here and agree, they're all quite small tweaks. The shadow-boxing scene seems to be a return, with with extra lighting, to the way the scene was a couple of years back. Maybe I just imagined that scene several years ago .....

If London's version of Billy kept on getting more and more Broadway'd up, I'd just freak out totally.

And some day I might even get to NYC to see if the Fabbed-up Broadway Billy is all that different.

Having only seen Debbie with the now-deleted "stage movement" a few times in my most recent Billython, I'd have to agree .... it was a bit jarring the first time I noted it. Seeing it from the Grand Circle might be one thing, but sitting in Row B and she's right there .... yeah, gotta agree, better off without it.

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andrewcraig
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Re: November 2009 - Reviews

Post by andrewcraig »

If London's version of Billy kept on getting more and more Broadway'd up, I'd just freak out totally.
And some day I might even get to NYC to see if the Fabbed-up Broadway Billy is all that different.
I was unimpressed with the Broadway version, and hope that it does not go down that track.
The particular changes I do not want to see

The skipping scene in born to boogie. Childish. look at the youtube of the original.

The angry dance was watered down in NY and the language and accents were also dumb downed.

The ballet girls replacing the adult cast in Maggie Thatcher.

The loss of the Royal Ballet interview, an extremely funny part of the UK deleted in the NY version. The intro of the ballet girls parading across the stage in this scene detracts from Billys dramatic moment.

The "He Could Be a Star" seemed to be shorter.

The finale seemed to be different but I could not put my finger on it.

I have seen the show in four locations for a total of only 10 times. I know that others are close to 200.
But that is my opinion.
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dwallen
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Re: November 2009 - Reviews

Post by dwallen »

Although the changes I saw on Monday night were, I thought, good additions I am concerned by the potential for more 'Broadway' changes in the future. Billy started here and is a British Show and surely does not need to be changed in line with the Broadway version. It is great as it is.
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Billy Whiz
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Re: November 2009 - Reviews

Post by Billy Whiz »

andrewcraig wrote:The finale seemed to be different but I could not put my finger on it.
In the NY finale as Billy and the first of the ballet girls start their moves the rest of the cast all lie down at the back of the stage and bang their hands on the floor.
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pexcornel
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Re: November 2009 - Reviews

Post by pexcornel »

Billy Whiz wrote:bang their hands on the floor.
I'll bang my head on the floor if they change the finale.
The music from the beginning of the finale is crap in NY.
The music should stay just as it is on the original cast recording.

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