Sunday, January 31st (matinee)
BIlly: Michael Dameski
Michael: Trevor Braun
(Phil Whitchurch as Dad)
I came into today's show very excited, having seen Michael's YouTube videos and knowing the caliber of Billy that OZ has produced... and he completely surpassed expectation.
I really can't say what Michael is best at, singing, dancing, or acting, because he is truly phenomenal at all three. He has incredible focus as an actor, which I find amazing in so young a performer, he is never in neutral, even when facing away from the audience. (I was sitting in A10 on the far right.) He had me completely sold throughout Grandma's Song, when he isn't the focus, completely invested in every moment, reacting to every line. It creates a wonderful chemistry with Kate Hennig as well, who tends to feed off the different energies of each Billy.
It was also interesting to see Phil as Billy's dad for the first time. Because they were both new, the performance felt very fresh. My favorite interaction of theirs was definitely Dad's entrance and scene post-Solidarity. Greg showed his anger very physically, it radiated out of his body language. Phil's is definitely a subtler more contained anger, though the way he grabs Billy and throws him around says a lot. Another really amazing moment for Dad, Billy, and Tony was right after the punch before B2B, usually the "stop it, stop it please" is said as one phrase as Tony is being struck. Tonight, Michael broke it up, and the second "stop it please" came after Will had already hit the floor, the line coming across so clearly in the silence, and with such a different inflection than usual, there was a great moment of quiet tension between the three actors.
The Letter.... absolutely heartbreaking. The emotion was free flowing, and Michael keeps his face up the entire time. You see the tears form and start to fall, he shows such vulnerability as Billy. His Billy in general is very well-rounded, very multi-dimensional. I kept watching him in scenes where he was more in the background, and you really can see the character progression throughout the show, he is so expressive. And of course my new favorite altered line from the OBC... "'cept I couldn't wait." Love it.
Angry Dance was an explosion of... well, anger, lol. I kind of thought he was going to break a rail or something up there, he was putting so much force into his movement. He let out a lot vocally too, a fair bit of cursing, and a lot of gut-wrenching screams. And I always hate the weird quiet audiences who don't understand that you're supposed to clap UNTIL Billy gets offstage and the curtain comes down. Drives me absolutely up the wall.
While I enjoy the Dream Ballet, its not usually one of my favorite numbers. I've seen a few mishaps with the chairs which make me always feel a little nervous for them. I've ranted on about how good of an actor Michael is, but his dancing is pretty breathtaking. He's incredibly fluid, and super flexible (will come back to this for Electricity), and very conscious of the synchronization between himself and Older Billy.
Oh heck, I'm just going to skip to Electricity, because I'm pretty sure his choreo is my new favorite. Its a wonderful blend of ballet and acro, and he flows seamlessly from crisp clean ballet into gravity-defying tumbling. Amazing extensions, very polished dancer. AND he can sing.
You can tell he's had training, he really sustains the notes, and even puts in some vibrato for good measure.
So yeah... short version: Michael's amazing. Go see him. Now.
Its pretty cool that you can see a Dad from the UK and a Billy from Australia on a Broadway stage. Thank you Steven Daldry for making this all possible.