Chicago Opening Night

[porschesrule]

And the critic for the Chicago Herald adds her opinion of the show to the mix:

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=372558

[porschesrule]

A review from the Chicago Theater blog:

http://chicagotheaterblog.com/2010/04/1 ... go-review/

[ERinVA]

And the critic for the Chicago Herald adds her opinion of the show to the mix:

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=372558

The video with this review is GREAT!

[ERinVA]

A review from Theatermania:
http://www.theatermania.com/chicago/rev ... 26535.html

This is a good review, but I am completely mystified by this statement:

If a few elements from the movie have been greatly reduced in the process -- and even moreso in Chicago, where Grandma's one song, "We'd Go Dancing," has been cut -- it's a reasonable price to pay.

Grandma's song has not been cut, or have I missed something in the reviews by forum members who have seen the Chicago show?

[ERinVA]

Here's another good review from Chicago Magazine's blog:

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magaz ... -Corrales/

[Musical Fanatic]

A review from Theatermania:
http://www.theatermania.com/chicago/rev ... 26535.html

This is a good review, but I am completely mystified by this statement:

If a few elements from the movie have been greatly reduced in the process -- and even moreso in Chicago, where Grandma's one song, "We'd Go Dancing," has been cut -- it's a reasonable price to pay.

Grandma's song has not been cut, or have I missed something in the reviews by forum members who have seen the Chicago show?

No Ellen I have no idea what they are watching but Grandma's song is 100% the same.

[ERinVA]

Thanks for the reassurance, Sam. Without Grandma's song, there is hardly any point to having Grandma in the show!

[Geridith]

My two cents....

Billy Chicago - Opening Night
April 11, 2010
Cesar Corrales, Keean Johnson, Maria Connelly

I had the opportunity to see both shows Saturday prior from front orchestra (row B and row J), and the first half of Sunday from Loge A, which gave me a pretty good variety of viewpoints. The theatre itself is beautiful but cavernous, as others have stated before, I think the show suffers a bit from losing the intimacy of the Imperial or even the VP. The Dress Circle is a ridiculously placed seating area, practically over the back rows of the orchestra. I would NOT recommend buying tickets in that section. Loge is ok, but I would compare it to rear REAR mezz in the Imperial. The sound definitely suffers as well, as the dialogue and music sound a bit tinny. They pump up the bass too much in Angry Dance, I couldn't hear Billy at all, any of the three I saw.

What I did love about the Chicago production is how creative they were in adapting the set to a touring version. The slides on and offstage worked extremely well, with the one exception of the awkward climb down in Angry Dance as the stair unit leaves early. The "hut" is constructed in the chaos of the riot very quickly, and the pieces become some of the board that is projected on later. Very cool.

There are a couple of interesting changes in dialogue that almost return back to some things from the UK version. There is a distinct lack of trousers in the opening scene, except it is Tony rather than Dad, and the Scottish dancer also calls dad a prick before walking away, which is not in the NY version. (There are more, but Musical Fanatic's written an encyclopedia's worth of analysis, so I'm just doing a short overview.)

There's something refreshing about seeing a new cast member, and its multiplied when its an entirely new cast and production. There are new acting choices and interpretations, with the nice inclusion of a few NY cast members for a touch of familiarity. (Tommy, Keean, and Maria!) A few choices that deserve mentioning are first of all Cynthia Darlow as a very cheeky sassy Grandma, who flips off Dad in the final letter opening scene and Will Mann as Big Davey. You could see a struggle on his face during the Mrs W/Tony confrontation between wanting to step in and protect Billy and whether or not to agree with Tony's class views. I'll also give a shout out to Madison Barnes as Keeley Gibson, who gives this enormous smile when Mrs. W calls her name, like she's expecting love and praise... before getting shouted out about her shoes. Super cute. I actually kind of miss the two extra ballet girls, especially in Solidarity, where you see Billy struggling to pull two chairs upstage instead of his usual one. It also requires him to cut short the little scene with Mrs. W to be part of the hat swapping.

Audiences in Chicago overall seem to be very lethargic. Only on opening did they seem even close to a normal NY or London audience, and when seated in right orch in the midst of the press people, it was just weird. The man seated next to me was so not interested, he didn't clap for ANYTHING, and started looking through his playbill in the middle of Electricity!! I wanted to smack him. The press people in general were kind of unenthusiastic. I started clapping as usual in Maggie Thatcher and then looked around to see that me and hugsy were the only ones, lol. And we were the only ones standing for a LONG time after Electricity. The standing O happened at a snail's pace.

The finale was really the only special change for opening, as Cesar beckoned on Tommy, JP, and Giuseppe to dance a tap reprise of Express all together, complete with Billy jump ending and plenty of confetti cannons. Elton and Lee Hall made an appearance in their usual tutus, though no Steven. (See pix and vids!)

Overall while I enjoyed Chicago, and appreciated seeing the little changes here and there, it feels slightly diluted, mainly because of the house size. I think BE works in a big house, but not THAT big of a house. Totally not a fan of its seating layout. I'm interested to see how the cast settles in a few months time, as things gel and comedic timing gets tighter. And of course, I wish they had allowed Tommy his time in the spotlight on opening. While I liked Giuseppe and Cesar both, they're still settling in, as is the rest of the new Chicago company. Tommy and Keean would have been dynamite together as veterans.

In any case, I was really glad I decided to go last minute, and thanks to my fellow forum peeps, especially hugsy and olivejuice for great companionship and lots of fun times. And cheers to the Chicago company, congrats, and hope to see you again a few months down the road.

[CJ-Rochester]

A review from the Chicago Theater blog:

http://chicagotheaterblog.com/2010/04/1 ... go-review/

I love that picture of Guiseppe and Samuel Pergande (Older Billy) in mid-leap. It's stunning!

http://chicagotheaterblog.files.wordpre ... rgande.jpg

[porschesrule]

In one of the only pans of BETM -Chicago I've seen all day, Chicago Stage Review offers its two cents on last night's opening:

http://www.chicagostagereview.com/?p=11098