July 2010 - Reviews - London

Locked
User avatar
PaulWilly
Ballet Girl
Posts: 235
Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2009 11:04 pm
Location: Verden/Aller, Germany

Re: July 2010 - Reviews - London

Post by PaulWilly »

Todd wrote:
…if they thought it made the show better…
That is exactly the point, as the recent London changes don’t make the show “better”, but are at best “changes just for changes”. Even some of the long-time adult cast revealed that they reacted with “nooooo” - when something that worked was changed - for no reason! (Well, there might be one reason for the changes in B2B: that a certain main London adult actor can’t dance boogie properly. And of course the “rioting dance” is much less demanding for the Billys’ stamina than the real Angry Dance is…)

And true that many in the audience don’t know about previous versions, but the reaction of the current audiences to the changed “rope hopping / boxing gloves” B2B and the nearly spoiled Debbie - Billy toilet scene for example is much less enthusiastic than before. And the “rioting dance” in other BETM shows was mostly received with just a friendly applause at the end - and never got the ovation-like reactions that nearly always follow a well-done London Angry Dance.

To Pat, Barry, Born to Boogie, Thomas, Athina, and Deanfan5 very many thanks for all the recent reviews and especially to KeefyM for his so detailed and outspoken ones - please keep them coming all of you, it’s really the next-best thing to attending the show!! 8-)
“It is a great show that people do come and see. Because it's not
just a show for adults, or just for children, or just for people that
like theatre, I'd say for everyone, and it's got so much emotion
behind it. Because who ever comes and sees it, feels the story -
so I think: it's brilliant!" (GM)
User avatar
Billy Whiz
Gallery Admin
Gallery Admin
Posts: 5537
Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2009 11:26 pm
Location: England

Re: July 2010 - Reviews - London

Post by Billy Whiz »

Go home Billy wrote:I always wondered why a much older 'Billy Jump' figure began to appear on London publicity material
I've only seen the new B2B once so I'm not 100% sure if it has followed the NYC version "to the letter" but if it has then there is no such thing as a Billy Jump any more as this was the only time it actually took place in the show
.
Billy Whiz is the Gallery Admin. Please send your photos, articles etc to forum.gallery[at]billyelliottheforum.me.uk Please replace [at] with @

In the email can you also please let me know the date where and when the photo(s) was taken, who is in the photo(s) as well as your forum name.

When you send photos to the gallery can you also please PM me to let me know that you have sent them. If I don't receive them after a couple of days I can then chase them up.
Todd
Dad
Posts: 1664
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:05 am
Location: Kansas City, USA

Re: July 2010 - Reviews - London

Post by Todd »

Billy Whiz wrote: I've only seen the new B2B once so I'm not 100% sure if it has followed the NYC version "to the letter" but if it has then there is no such thing as a Billy Jump any more as this was the only time it actually took place in the show
Actually, I don't remember when there ever was a true Billy jump in Born to Boogie. I thought Billy always did the flip off the piano at the end, rather than the Billy jump, but maybe I'm not remembering correctly. I know fewer Billys do the flip now, however, after it seemed to be a cause for concern that Billy might get hurt.
Go home Billy wrote: I always wondered why a much older 'Billy Jump' figure began to appear on London publicity material some time back, and now of course graces (?) the frontage of the VP theatre. Much too mature to be a 12 year old and in my humble opinion completely out of place and unrepresentative.
I would tend to agree with this, as it doesn't seem to represent the age of the character that people will be seeing in the show. The body looks to be that of a 15 or 16 year old. George Maguire's face on the figure looks older than 12 too, although that picture was taken from an actual performance when he was in the London show. I think it's also a case of him looking quite a bit older to people than the much-younger looking Billys that have started performing in London the past year or two. . . . . compared to the slightly older boys who often used to play the role there.
User avatar
Billy Whiz
Gallery Admin
Gallery Admin
Posts: 5537
Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2009 11:26 pm
Location: England

Re: July 2010 - Reviews - London

Post by Billy Whiz »

Billy, Mrs W and Mr B all do (or should I say "did") a Billy Jump before he does the jump off the piano.
.
Billy Whiz is the Gallery Admin. Please send your photos, articles etc to forum.gallery[at]billyelliottheforum.me.uk Please replace [at] with @

In the email can you also please let me know the date where and when the photo(s) was taken, who is in the photo(s) as well as your forum name.

When you send photos to the gallery can you also please PM me to let me know that you have sent them. If I don't receive them after a couple of days I can then chase them up.
User avatar
johnnyc
Mr Braithwaite
Posts: 804
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:22 pm
Location: West Virginia, USA

Re: July 2010 - Reviews - London

Post by johnnyc »

Billy Whiz wrote:Billy, Mrs W and Mr B all do (or should I say "did") a Billy Jump before he does the jump off the piano.
I suppose I'm getting old and forgetful, but I don't recall ever seeing what I would consider a Billy Jump by either Mrs W or Mr B at any point during the original London B2B. :?
User avatar
Billy Whiz
Gallery Admin
Gallery Admin
Posts: 5537
Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2009 11:26 pm
Location: England

Re: July 2010 - Reviews - London

Post by Billy Whiz »

johnnyc wrote:
Billy Whiz wrote:Billy, Mrs W and Mr B all do (or should I say "did") a Billy Jump before he does the jump off the piano.
I suppose I'm getting old and forgetful, but I don't recall ever seeing what I would consider a Billy Jump by either Mrs W or Mr B at any point during the original London B2B. :?
Go home Billy is quite correct. Billy used to do a proper jump whilst Mrs W and Mr B "tried" :D :D :D
.
Billy Whiz is the Gallery Admin. Please send your photos, articles etc to forum.gallery[at]billyelliottheforum.me.uk Please replace [at] with @

In the email can you also please let me know the date where and when the photo(s) was taken, who is in the photo(s) as well as your forum name.

When you send photos to the gallery can you also please PM me to let me know that you have sent them. If I don't receive them after a couple of days I can then chase them up.
User avatar
patc
Mrs Wilkinson
Posts: 1406
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:26 pm
Location: Dublin, Ireland

Re: July 2010 - Reviews - London

Post by patc »

Todd wrote: The body looks to be that of a 15 or 16 year old. George Maguire's face on the figure looks older than 12 too,
It is also a very poor attempt at "photoshopping" and looks awful. Unfortunately, it now "adorns" the front of the theatre as well as the posters all over. To cap it all, the shot of the jump is taken from the wrong angle.

Contrast the two pictures here. Each one tells a different story.

The original jump shows all the joy that Billy gets from dancing. He's a boy jumping for joy.
Image

The new one looks like a teenager in a denim "suit" who has just been paid 20 cents to perform a skateboard leap off a wall and is conveying the impression of being utterly bored by it all. Not a shred of enthusiasm or joy on view.
Image

Pat
Image
User avatar
PaulWilly
Ballet Girl
Posts: 235
Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2009 11:04 pm
Location: Verden/Aller, Germany

Re: July 2010 - Reviews - London

Post by PaulWilly »

Well, just that George was still quite young, as for the second logo they just took George's face from the following pic - a BETM performance from early 2005, it's the moment in "Expressing Yourself" when Billy discovers that Michael (Brad Kavanagh) is taking that photo of him - hence his look of total surprise 8-) ;):
Image Image

And here another pic of the two from that "Expressing Yourself" performance:
Image

As the current logo was originally introduced with the advertising for BETM on Broadway, the management obviously thought that the previous BETM logo might have given Amercian Broadway audience a misleading impression that BETM is just a show for young kids - so they changed it to an a bit more mature, more serious looking Billy... - and then that logo was taken for Chicago and London as well, whereas in Sydney and Melbourne it had been still the previous one... :( :).

Well - as this is the July London reviews thread, we might better have this discussion in the Changes thread, ha-ha.
“It is a great show that people do come and see. Because it's not
just a show for adults, or just for children, or just for people that
like theatre, I'd say for everyone, and it's got so much emotion
behind it. Because who ever comes and sees it, feels the story -
so I think: it's brilliant!" (GM)
Locked

Return to “Reviews Archive”