April 2010 Reviews - London

[butterfly33]

I hear that John Coates played George sometime last week due to other members of the cast being away ...did anybody see the performance?

[burtond]

Monday 19th April 2010 – UK – London

Billy – Tom
Michael – Connor Doyle
Debbie – Francesca

Dad – David Bardsley; Tony – Craig Gallivan; Mrs W – Caroline Deverill ; Mr B – Sean Kingsley; Grandma – Ann Emery; George – David Nellist; Dead Mum – Samantha Seager; Older Billy – Barnaby Meredith; Ballet Dancer in cream tights – James Foster; Big Davy - Phil Snowden; Musical Director – Matt Malone

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder – it certainly does, I’ve been absent from the show for just over a week due to holidays and although the holiday was excellent, its great to get back into normal everyday routine – providing of course that some of that includes the fabulous Billy Elliot Musical. Even though BE last week was quite eventful with all the technical issues and Billy changes, it was awesome this evening to see a show that can only be described as near perfection with masterful performances by the very talented Tom, a highly amusing Connor and a little vixen, Francesca. These three children, supported by a strong, lively and dynamic cast and crew provide an exceptional combination when working together – the performance is literally, something else and out of this world!

But to be fair, if it wasn’t for the back stage crew, the show couldn’t happen no matter how talented the cast are and tonight, I would like to pay tribute to the sound crew – I’ve slated them on many occasions, but tonight, I think they got it absolutely right. Levels were good throughout the show and both the spoken and sung voices of all the solo artists were clear and audible above the musical accompaniment. I read recently in a Forum review that there were new items of clothing introduced. This is true, I saw for myself the new, clean and crisp T shirts and low and behold, a new coat for the SCAB! Although sitting in Row B, I could not see evidence of the new Gola Trainers discussed. I have considered for the past few weeks that there have been changes to the lighting plan but have not been sure about what the changes were. Tonight though, I really noticed these changes – some of which (in my view) are not necessarily subtle – I would say though that the changes introduced have a very positive effect on the show which previously, in places, was far too dark.

Anyway, to the show itself: Tom was thrust onto the stage in the usual way and his opening sung words from The Stars Look Down were crystal clear and sung with precision. What a delight. This for me, sets the show up and a good opening number, generally means a good show.

Moving to We’d go Dancing’ the relationship between Tom and Ann was wonderfully crafted and delivered – both appear totally absorbed in the story here and this is boosted by a beautifully orchestrated and moving accompaniment which in the final verse peters out leaving only a solo acoustic guitar playing a moving and fitting semi improvised sequence filled with arpeggios and its own ‘obligato’ style melody professionally picked with slides and gliding notes in abundance.

Expressing yourself with Tom and Connor at the helm is an absolute scream. I am so glad that Connor is back for a second term (no matter how short this may ultimately be) as I seem to have missed him the first time round. He is a born entertainer. Like Rhys, he has an elastic face capable of an infinite number of hilarious expressions and he uses these to the full as the number proceeds. Clearly, Connor is older than the Billys, I would even say that he has entered pubity, his voice is almost broken and I would suggest that Expressing Yourself has been transposed down a key or two to make things a little more comfortable for him. Connor sings out Express.. following the tune note perfectly although Tom, seems to speak most of the number when coupled with Connor. One thing I noticed tonight was that the camera actually took a real photograph – this is evidenced by the fact that unlike normal when out of the camera pops a photograph with the image already developed, tonight, the photograph pos out and it is blank, only to review a surprised Billy as the number progressed. Both Connor and Tom seemed to be having great fun as they delivered the song and this culminated in a ‘high five’ at the very end.

In Born to Boogie, the scene really did benefit from much brighter and whiter lights. Sean Kinglsey as Mr Braithwaite gets funnier and funnier and in the past few weeks or so, he has introduced much more dancing in his own routine especially when he initially rips of his kegs. I’m sure that Mr Braithwaite is a latent Billy Elliot who has finally found a way of expressing himself. I particularly like this number because it includes what I call the Billy Elliot signature jump – you know the one where both legs kick up to the right hand side of the backside whilst Billy is in the air (badly described – probably better described as the picture of Billy on the new Billy sign on the front of the VP).

The Angry Dance was expertly performed by Tom with angry expletives conveyed throughout and very deliberate and dramatic hand and foot movements on every single beat of music. In fact, with Matt Malone at the helm tonight it is like a double angry dance with Matts conducting gestures as aggressive and angry as Billy’s on stage as he keeps the band in toe. It really must tire the boys out – I would imagine after delivering this number, they need the interval to recoup. One thing that I considered whilst watching this number was what the room with metal sides that comes up out of the stage with Billy inside kicking at the walls is supposed to be. I saw the film on Saturday and they use an outside loo for this part of the sequence – I wonder if it is supposed to represent an outside loo too – if so, it needs a loo. If not, what is it?

During the Winter Scene near the beginning of Act II, there was a great scene between David Bardsley and Caroline Deverill (Dad and Mrs W respectively) – these two alternative main characters work brilliantly together and demonstrated passion and sensitivity. The more I see of David in the Dad’s role, the more he reminds me of the Film Dad.

As the safety curtain descends to progress to the audition scene I note again that both Billy and the Posh boy are wearing the same school tie. I have mentioned this before and it does get my goat – there is absolutely NO WAY that these two youngsters could wear the same tie, one is from the North East whilst the other is clearly from the Home Counties – come on wardrobe, this is such a silly little thing and so simple to resolve – its time to resolve it now.

Billy goes behind the safety curtain and onto the stage at the Royal Opera House. I have sat wondering for weeks how they construct the ‘on stage’ set behind the safety curtain. The main part of the construction spans the front and back of the stage at a diagonal – surely they cannot fly it in. Anyone out there know how they do this and can put my mind at rest? Shaun Henson continues to develop his camp stage manager role which is expertly done and delights the audience and Tom in the role of Billy too.

Electricity – was just wonderful – Tom at his very best – Tom seems to be getting better and better as he throws himself around the stage in complex acrobatic and hip-hop/street moves interposed with exquisite ballet sequences culminating in the signature back flip off the wall. Well deserved rapturous applause which continued on for some time and eventually provoked a pleasing smile from Tom.

The letter of offer arrives from the Royal Ballet School and following the usual drama and slapstick, there is a lovely, tender moment that only occurs when David Bardsley plays Dad. It is the interaction between Dad and Billy – indeed the closeness of the two characters – the touching and lifting – it makes so much difference to the scene and to me, seems a much more natural response to the news.

And finally, the last thing that I wish to expose tonight is something that I always felt should happen but have never seen until tonight. The curtain slowly falls and the music plays ‘love you for ever’ louder and louder, Billy places a final tender kiss to Michael and then departs his friend for ever. The curtain is just about down and Connor, playing Michael is visibly moved by Billy’s departure. Whether it was acting or real I have no idea, but it was a magic one off experience that I have never, ever, witnessed before and furthermore, about as appropriate as it can get at that point in the show. Well done Connor, that single final act, made this show, one of the best ever.

Off to Ollie Country tomorrow (Bath) and judging by the occupants of the Billy Bus this evening, would hope to see Ollie tomorrow evening. That would be great.

David

[Todd]

One thing I noticed tonight was that the camera actually took a real photograph – this is evidenced by the fact that unlike normal when out of the camera pops a photograph with the image already developed, tonight, the photograph pos out and it is blank, only to review a surprised Billy as the number progressed.

That is a surprise, especially since I thought I'd heard somewhere that they were no longer making Polaroid cameras, and I would assume that includes Polaroid film, too. Maybe the company bought up a big box of it to last awhile, knowing that it might soon be no longer available.

[NoDayButToday]

One thing I noticed tonight was that the camera actually took a real photograph – this is evidenced by the fact that unlike normal when out of the camera pops a photograph with the image already developed, tonight, the photograph pos out and it is blank, only to review a surprised Billy as the number progressed.

That is a surprise, especially since I thought I'd heard somewhere that they were no longer making Polaroid cameras, and I would assume that includes Polaroid film, too. Maybe the company bought up a big box of it to last awhile, knowing that it might soon be no longer available.

I heard another company bought polaroid so it is still going I think!

[Thomas]

One thing I noticed tonight was that the camera actually took a real photograph – this is evidenced by the fact that unlike normal when out of the camera pops a photograph with the image already developed, tonight, the photograph pos out and it is blank, only to review a surprised Billy as the number progressed.

That is a surprise, especially since I thought I'd heard somewhere that they were no longer making Polaroid cameras, and I would assume that includes Polaroid film, too. Maybe the company bought up a big box of it to last awhile, knowing that it might soon be no longer available.

I heard another company bought polaroid so it is still going I think!

Polaroid film is back since three weeks or so: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/22/impo ... this-week/.

Regards - Thomas

[burtond]

Tuesday 20th April 2010 – UK – London

Billy – Ollie
Michael – Jake Pratt
Debbie – Francesca

Dad – Jo Caffrey; Tony – Craig Gallivan; Mrs W – Jo Riding ; Mr B – Sean Kingsley; Grandma – Ann Emery; George – David Nellist; Dead Mum – Samantha Seager; Older Billy – Sergio Guacomelli; Ballet Dancer in cream tights – James Foster; Big Davy - Phil Snowden; Musical Director – Matt Malone

Well – this is a significant milestone for me – 50 awesome shows since September 2009 and I have to say I am absolutely delighted that it was in the company of Ollie Gardner in the role of Billy. I have said all along that as soon as the show stops providing me with those exhilarating moments or leaving me at the end with a tremendous feeling of well being I’ll move on - quite honestly, I am surprised that this still has not happened. But I think that that says a lot about this wonderful show.

I’ve said it before but I want to say it again at this special time for me – I love the show, I love the people in the show and I love the people I have met as a result of the show. Tonight was a special experience for me and I thoroughly enjoyed the show even though throughout the whole performance it was a very trying and testing time due to a small and uninterested young boy sat next to me in B16 who never sat still for one minute, was up and down on his chair, was muttering throughout the performance and sometimes even communicating with his elder Brother at normal volume – my seat was caught up in his animated antics and it felt like I was on some sort of pleasure park ride. Needless to say, I kept my cool throughout and even refrained from giving his Mum a piece of my mind. Happy Days!

Anyway, to the review - oh and by the way, great to see a general refreshing of the Billy outfits with new T shirts and School shirts worn throughout tonights performance – their clean and almost starched appearance looked excellent on stage.

I’ll start with a question. During the Boxing Scene, Billy arrives late – in reality he is already on stage following the previous breakfast scene – but how does George get hold of Billys shoulder bag and why does he present it to him upon his late arrival (Billy certainly does not enter the scene with a bag) I appreciate that there is a bit of licence here but it does seem very odd and out of place for George to pass the bag to him.

At the end of the Boxing scene George throws the Keys onto the floor in order that Billy can give them to Mrs Wilkinson. Usually, Billy uses both feet to lift the keys into the air whilst he catches them in his boxing gloves – tonight however, Billy couldn’t achieve this so he got down onto the floor and picked the keys up with his mouth.

Something happened to Billy during the Boxing scene - I cannot explain what but the result was that he hurt his right foot. For a period he was limping around and during the conclusion of this scene, ‘Shine’ and ‘Grandma’s Song’ it was clearly bothering Ollie throughout. It was so noticeable in places that I was anticipating a pause in the show and a ‘stand in’ Billy being substituted. Thankfully (how selfish I am) this didn’t happen and by the time we got to ‘Solidarity’ Ollie’s foot seem to be repaired. Horray! By the way, I counted nine complete turns from Ollie in Solidarity which given his earlier foot problem, seemed outstanding to me.

By the time Expressing Yourself came around, everything appeared fine and both Ollie and Jake had a great fun time delivering this lively and entertaining number. There was nearly a mishap at the beginning of the song when Michael grabs a rail of his Mothers clothes to try against Billy, half the clothes got stuck in one of the wardrobe hooks but Jake cleverly manipulated the dresses and get them speedily released. Well done Jake. Another little blip in this scene was when the guys are putting on their tap shoes, Jake got his on OK (first as usual) but Ollie had some difficulty and almost missed the next segment of the song beginning ‘…five, six, seven, eight…. A real bonus in the routine this evening was the fact that the Joke about the Piano falling down the pit was expertly delivered and responded to by the boys, in all my 50 shows, I’ve never hear this joke in full. Well done guys – this must be so difficult when you are trying to get lines out whilst dancing and singing – it only goes to prove just how capable you both are.

The letter scene was tender, sensitive and emotional and undertaken to perfection by Ollie, Jo Riding and Samantha Seager. In my view, it is only Ollie that has mastered the art of saying ‘No, she was just me Mam’ with the correct intonation and inflection and his delivery of the line doesn’t generally get a laugh where it often does with the other Billy’s (just a view guys).

Francesca is a little gem and performs her role of Debbie with such fire and passion – I am definitely a fan – one thing though, the last few times I have seen Francesca, we have almost lost in the delivery, one of the funniest lines in the show i.e ‘…I’ll show you me fa**y…’ At the moment is is said too speedily and as such goes right over the audiences head.

Ollie’s Angry Dance was simply superb. This small guy has tremendous stage presence and great confidence. His dancing is terrific and volcanic in the amount of energy used. Well done also to Matt Malone who conducted the whole number from memory – wonder what happened to the Angry Dance music???

In ‘He could be a Star’ I have just realised that Tony’s final shout of ‘Dad’ is a digital sound file and not live – this is the one that echos around the stage and auditorium.

Thankfully, in the Audition scene, Billy and the Posh Boy had different School Ties – does this mean that the wardrobe dept do read the reviews or is it a fluke? And later in the second Act, I found both Billy and Michael to be wearing the same School Tie to my delight – these little things make all the difference to me (sad or what?) . Another question though, when Dad is speaking to Posh Dad about where he is from, why does he repeat the sentence in the same accent/dialect as first delivered except much louder – surely, in real life, faced with this situation , you would repeat yourself toning down the dialect not accentuating it! Later in the same scene, when Billy offers the tape to the camp Stage Manager, Ollie did a fantastic double take as Shaun Henson minces off – it was hilarious. And finally in this scene, when Posh Boy tries to console Billy having gone through a poor audition, Billy’s eyes could be seen rolling around his eye sockets as if to say p*** off. Great bit of improvisation from Ollie albeit, only for a few seconds.

Electricity – it was like watching Fox all over again – particularly impressed by Ollie’s ability to summersalt in the air without using his hands.
Well that’s it really – another fabulous and awesome show. Ollie, you are simply amazing and awesome and deserve great respect for your talent and ability.

Off to Dean’s County tomorrow (Essex) and already looking forward to tomorrow’s show. Looks like it could be Rhys tomorrow.

David

[Thomas]

Well – this is a significant milestone for me – 50 awesome shows since September 2009 and I have to say I am absolutely delighted that it was in the company of Ollie Gardner in the role of Billy. I have said all along that as soon as the show stops providing me with those exhilarating moments or leaving me at the end with a tremendous feeling of well being I’ll move on - quite honestly, I am surprised that this still has not happened. But I think that that says a lot about this wonderful show.

Congratulations David, you started late, but are obviously determined to break some records

Glad to hear you had a good time with the show. Pity with your seat neighbors, though.

Best regards - Thomas

[Born to Boogie]

A really special show tonight from Ollie, Connor Doyle and Fleur. Having had the privilege to see the show in three cities in the past three weeks it was good to be back at the Victoria Palace watching the show - by coincidence from the seat where it all began for me almost 5 years ago. After the expanse of the Oriental Theatre in Chicago the Victoria Palace seems positively tiny in comparison - and although I gather from the reviews that I was one of the most positive about how the Chicago show was played it was reassuring to feel as emotionally attached to the London production tonight as ever. Ollie has developed so much since I last saw him in the Summer and his performance tonight was a real joy to watch. He clearly loves every moment of the show and I can honestly say that his interpretation gave me a new insight into some parts of the show - something which I have learnt not to expect but am delighted when it happens! To say that the performance tonight left me so immersed that I was watching Billy, Michael and Debbie instead of Ollie, Connor and Fleur to me says it all. I have commented on Connor's role in particular in his thread and I have been a real supporter of Fleur since the very early days in her role. A real 'dream team' tonight.

[burtond]

Wednesday 21st April 2010 – UK – London

Billy – Ollie
Michael – Connor Doyle
Debbie – Fleur

Dad – Jo Caffrey; Tony – Craig Gallivan; Mrs W – Caroline Deverill ; Mr B – Phil Snowden; Grandma – Ann Emery; George – David Nellist; Dead Mum – Samantha Seager; Older Billy – Barnaby Meredith; Ballet Dancer in cream tights – James Foster; Big Davy - Craig Armstrong (I think); Tall Boy – Luke Merry; Small Boy – Rudi Goodman; Musical Director – Andy Massey

Well I have to say what a wonderful show it was tonight. What a delight to see Ollie performing again – second night on the trot – must be a bug in the Billy House! And what fun it was to see Connor Doyle again in what was his last show for me – The amazing, versatile and hilarious Connor is due to leave the show this coming Saturday and I have completed my weekly BETM fix. Still I can wish him all the best for what will undoubtedly be an exceptional future. Good Luck Connor and thanks for the few words as you boarded the Billy Bus at the end of the show.

For those of you who have not seen Ollie yet, you must. Ollie has simply got better and better as the weeks and months have passed and he delivers a 100% believable Billy throughout the show. He’s only a small guy but he has serious stage presence and great interaction with all the key characters, Dad, Mrs W, Mr B, George, Michael, Debbie, Tony and particularly Dead Mum. The letter scene tonight was very touching an extremely sensitive to watch. Ollie has just completed ‘Expressing yourself’ and is literally dripping with sweat pouring from his forehead. To the uninitiated, this, in the letter scene provides a very convincing and tearful Billy with what look like real tears but are actually (and cleverly) drips of perspiration. But his interaction with Dead Mum (Samantha Seager) is just heartwrenching. Sat there watching all this all you wanted to do was get up there and give the guy a big hug – poor lad – what he has had to go through. At this very special point tonight, you could have heard a pin drop it was so intense. No rustling bags, no whispers – absolute silence and a focus from the audience on these two characters experiencing a moment of embrace. Absolutely lovely. So, if you haven’t seen Ollie – get booking – it will be a wonderful, exhilarating and emotional experience.

I’m not intending to do a full review today as I believe this is being generated by another forum member but I would like to single out Phil Snowden in the role of Mr Braithwaite tonight. Phil has been around the show since the beginning and is clearly a dab hand at many of the secondary characters. His interpretation of them is always unique and generally extremely funny. His acrobatic style dancing in Born to Boogie was just fun from beginning to end. Great work Phil – would love to see more of you in these roles – when are you going to learn to play the accordion though!!!

I’ll let others provide a more detailed account of this exceptional evening – needless to say, smashing, super lovely. More, more more.

David

[Westletonion]

Thursday matinee 22nd April

Delighted to have had the first opportunity to see Rhys (with Jake and Fleur) and was most impressed. Regrettably the show was stopped immediately after Express with the announcement that Rhys was indisposed and henceforth his place would be taken by Tom Holland, who aquitted himself brilliantly at such short notice. As mentioned it was the first time I had seen Rhys and had been very impressed with his acting, facial expressions and dancing and one wouldn't have guessed from observation that there was anything wrong. And he wore a multicoloured shirt in Solidarity.

I understand Tom was also to do the evening show - so a big day for him.