Schenectady reviews

kport
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Re: Schenectady reviews

Post by kport »

It was a pleasure to meet up again with atreyu, and to meet michaelj, last weekend in Schenectady. Atreyu's list, posted above, is spot on.............as indeed is his observation that the cast seem to have turned up their performance a notch, if that is possible (remember the scene in 'This Is Spinal Tap', in which the band's amps have '11' as the highest volume setting, since '11 is higher than 10'? Last weekend's performances were all '11s'!).

The dialogue seemed to be delivered with even greater clarity and a slightly more deliberate pace by all, perhaps as a bow to preparations for Brazil. I thought the sound levels were a little subdued at this theater, but I tried the balcony and it was fine there. Perhaps the theater has a few 'dead spots'. There was a moment when the sound cut out during the Dream Ballet, but it was fleeting, though a few hearts skipped a beat. But it is a very impressive and historic venue, and clearly loved by the local community.

I would like to shine praise on Samantha Blaire Cutler, who continues to execute flawless performances as Debbie. It is not always easy to adapt her coquettish character to fit with Billys of different sizes and, dare I say, maturity, but she certainly did so against Mitch, Drew and Noah, who are all different. The Ballet Girls were also highly accomplished; how they maintain the stamina for eight shows a week is astounding. The same goes for Michael/Tall boys Jake and Cameron, and Small Boy Cal. Oh, to be young again!

The audience was very enthusiastic, to say the least. It was cheering when cast names were read out before the show, and applauding the first sight of Small Boy; laughing at even the smallest jokes; cheering when Michael says 'That's fookin' weird'; and roaring when George says 'We'll be supporting the Arts'. There were many prolonged standing ovations. I spoke to a number of people who had seen the show on Broadway; I suspect a lot of the audience were not new to BETM and knew when to react. I hope the same happens at Hartford, which is even closer to Broadway.

There was a publicity drive to attract interest in the show: go to the box office and say 'Billy Jump Ropes' and you would be given one. Being the incurable fan that I am, I had to claim mine. But, in my defense, so did two others who shall remain anonymous: Stand by, Hartford.......You may witness the first Forum Members' attempt to execute 'Born to Boogie' - sans piano flip!

To sum up: Schenectady was a treat. It is the corporate home of GE, which was founded by Edison, the inventor of the modern light bulb. It is common for the filament of an incandescent bulb to glow brightest just before the light goes dark for the final time. I think, perhaps, that it is both prescience, and quite appropriate, that some of the brightest moments I have seen were witnessed in Schenectady, a fortnight before the North American Tour extinguishes the light.....for now.
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porschesrule
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Re: Schenectady reviews

Post by porschesrule »

A wonderful review, kport. As you said about atreyu's list, your descriptions of what you saw in Schenectady were also "spot on" and brought the observations alive for me.

And I really liked your concluding paragraph, so much in fact that I'm going to repeat it:

"To sum up: Schenectady was a treat. It is the corporate home of GE, which was founded by Edison, the inventor of the modern light bulb. It is common for the filament of an incandescent bulb to glow brightest just before the light goes dark for the final time. I think, perhaps, that it is both prescience, and quite appropriate, that some of the brightest moments I have seen were witnessed in Schenectady, a fortnight before the North American Tour extinguishes the light.....for now."

Well said! Thanks for sharing your comments.
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Yorkie
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Re: Schenectady reviews

Post by Yorkie »

I enjoyed the review kport but I'm not sure about the light bulb remark - we seem to have a different version of history in the UK :D

I will be sad when the tour version comes to an end because I have looked forward to reading all the reviews - good and bad - as the show moved to each new city. Life will be a little emptier soon.
MRS WILKINSON IS A RIGHT COW!
kport
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Re: Schenectady reviews

Post by kport »

Yorkie wrote:I enjoyed the review kport but I'm not sure about the light bulb remark - we seem to have a different version of history in the UK :D

I will be sad when the tour version comes to an end because I have looked forward to reading all the reviews - good and bad - as the show moved to each new city. Life will be a little emptier soon.
*I know!* :o And I expected someone would challenge that historical *fact*. But since we are discussing the musical in NY, let's give the light bulb's history a bit of a chance..... and let it Shine!
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ERinVA
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Re: Schenectady reviews

Post by ERinVA »

Thanks to all forum members who reviewed the Schenectady show. It makes me look forward even more to seeing it again in Hartford, while I am also feeling very sad in advance of the tour coming to an end here in the US. :cry:
Ellen



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michaelJ
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Re: Schenectady reviews

Post by michaelJ »

I saw the four shows Friday-Sunday. It was great to meet some fellow forum members and I agree with kport - the audience was very enthusiastic, particularly on Saturday night. There was applause and cheers at points in the show that I had not heard at other cities. When leaving the shows I overheard several different people commenting to their friends using words like fantastic and outstanding. As far as Billy performance reviews go: Noah was good on Friday night but to me he seemed slightly off. On Sunday he confirmed my suspicions of being "off" on Friday by turning in a fantastic performance. Good job Noah! Mitchell is a joy to watch. I love the way he moves when he dances, so natural and seemingly effortless - and the tap dancing!! Drew: what an absolute pleasure to watch Drew. His acting was top notch, his singing was emotional, and his dancing was phenomenal. I could write another page here about Drew's dancing but I won't get carried away. Instead I'll just repeat myself: phenomenal!
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Re: Schenectady reviews

Post by muck912 »

More random thoughts after a Billy Pentathalon in Schenectady:

To add to Atreyu's post regarding recent changes in the show:

There is no longer a duet at the conclusion of "Deep into the Ground". Billy sings the last few lines solo.

Debbie no longer says "I didn't have a sodden choice" but to attend ballet class with her mom. The word sodden is gone.

Rich Hebert used to lighten his tirade after bursting onto the scene of Mrs. W's ballet class by saying the words "fruit" and "tights" in a falsetto. The new harsher Jackie says those 2 words in the same loud, stern tone he uses in the rest of this scene.

Note that many of the changes chronicled here and by Atreyu involve Jackie. How would you like to have been a little bird in the room when someone sat Rich Hebert down to tell him he needed to change all these things after 3 years on the job? And why with just a few weeks left in the show do you make so many changes? I like Rich's old Jackie better than the newer, harsher Jackie. When BETM, Inc hires me to run the 2014-15 revival of the tour my first hire is going to be Rich, and I'm going to give him free reign.

After hiring Rich, the next thing I'm going to do is go through the BE video archives to create a training video for the 4 new Billys. To illustrate the correct way to do the goodbye kiss scene i'll use a clip from Noah's performance on Sunday. In my book he is the only Billy I've ever scene who does it absolutely perfectly every single time! When he comes back up the stairs he heads towards Michael, stops, thinks about it, & then plants the kiss. He heads back to the stairs, stops at the top of the stairs, TURNS TO MICHAEL, and says see ya Michael. Perfect, absolutely perfect in every way. Noah adds so much meaning to this solemn & emotional scene.

In my instructional video for the trip down the stairs & down the aisle to London I'm going to splice in either Drew or Mitchell from Saturday. Both guys were emotional wrecks as they walked down the aisle after the kiss. Both had tears in their eyes, and Mitchell was even sobbing. It just doesn't get any better.

In my non-review of Thursday's shows I wrote that Ben Cook's leaving didn't mean that he took the piano flip with him. Drew now does a great piano flip & he stuck the landing on both Thursday & Saturday.

Ben Cook's leaving doesn't mean that he took jump-rope crossovers with him. Noah now does crossovers in his B2B and he did them flawlessly on Sunday (the only day I saw Noah.)
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ERinVA
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Re: Schenectady reviews

Post by ERinVA »

Debbie no longer says "I didn't have a sodden choice" but to attend ballet class with her mom. The word sodden is gone.
Okay.... I just have to address this, as it's not the first time I have come across the misunderstanding of the word: It's not "sodden" (as in soaked). It's "sodding" or "soddin' " (the equivalent of f**king). Just thought that might be important to know. 8-) One more profanity eliminated, I guess. :roll:

When I first started seeing the show in London in 2005, I thought that the word "sod" in Grandma's Song (I hated the sod...) was "sot," which made sense to me, because the word means "drunk" or "alcoholic." I was quickly set straight by some British forum members that the word was "sod," which is short for "sodomite," a rather more insulting term, but right in keeping with the attitudes expressed in the community in the show: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodomite

The slang term "sod" can be a noun (as in Grandma's Song) or a verb (as in the policeman's line telling Billy to "sod off"), and "sodding" is used as an adjective, as in Debbie's line, or an adverbial intensifier in front of an adjective.

Sorry, it's the English teacher in me. :?
Ellen



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-George Balanchine 1904 -1983


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BEtourfan
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Re: Schenectady reviews

Post by BEtourfan »

I like the changes to Jackie's performance ... see it as a return to the character's original intensity from when the Tour began in 2010.
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atreyu
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Re: Schenectady reviews

Post by atreyu »

Two more items for the change list plus a few comments on the wonderful weekend.

The tank shooting nerf balls sure seems like it got a power upgrade. The projectiles have some velocity, although George makes sure to shoot at an upward angle so that the ball will balloon and then gently fall down. Some of the previous tour shows, the balls wouldn't make it past the pit, but they will now.

The brief rendition of Copacabana now has musical accompaniment. A nice touch. Also, the singer does not interrupt Jackie's Deep Into the Ground so much as merely singing along for a phrase until quieted. Also an improvement in my view.

But of course, by far the best thing about the show is not a change: Excellent Billys! Noah's singing, truly a delight. Drew's amazing pirouettes and triple spins. Mitchell's aerials. Excellent rapport between Michaels and Billys for Expressing Yourself and the Winter Scene. Not a single misstep with the jump rope, which included Noah's crossovers, as muck912 reported, and similarly with the Billy jump (Noah) and Billy flip (Drew) off the piano.

One aspect is pure speculation on my part: Noah's attention to every detail on stage just might be evidence of Ben's lasting influence there. I can remember Ben as Tall Boy on Broadway never taking a second off even for that relatively minor role and I would say that professional approach is evident with Noah too.

A couple quibbles. With Chris Howard and Max Baud alternating for Older Billy through the 4 weekend shows, it became real easy to compare performances. I have not been that big a fan of Chris' work and I think it comes down to two factors. One could very well be perception since Max Baud is noticeably taller and bigger (just like my other reference, Stephen Hanna on Broadway, was). Chris is "average" height and build. This can make Chris' handling of the Billys appear more of a struggle, particularly with the bigger Billys.

The second factor is not perception though. Max is better synchronized with Billy, plain and simple.

It may be that Kilty Reidy's Mr. Braithwaite is a work in progress. And this may only matter for BETM veterans, being that Kilty got decent reactions from the crowd. However. For some of us, the current interpretation serves as a reminder of how predecessors did it better. Attempting the split, but only getting to the 85% point. Okay, that's better than most, but on the heels of Patrick Wetzel's 100%, it pales.

I forget if Patrick was able to keep pace with Billy on the jump rope following "Faster!" Kilty does not. Thommie Retter could match Billy and that was quite impressive, but admittedly master tap dancers as "big" men are rare.

Those bits aside, the cast is in fine form, especially in the critical relationships, Dad, Mrs W, Billy, Michael, Tony and George. If the Tour has to end, it will go at the top of its game. Which will make Hartford quite the bittersweet affair. Ah well, c'est la vie.
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