5th June matinee
Fox/Jake/Fleur
Just to say that it was an absolute privelege to watch Electricity this afternoon. I have expressed in the past how I favour the ballet Billy's but Fox is absolutely incredible, second to none in this arena. Only the second time I have seen him but I sincerely hope it isn't the last.
The rest of the show was great naturally including B2B. Has there been some hoo-ha here whilst i've been away?
Alex.
Hope to see some members at both shows next Thursday.
June 2010 - Reviews - London
Re: June 2010 - Reviews - London
I can only agree with Deanfan5: I would certainly fly into London each and every time Fox is going to perform 
, but I think that it is not going to happen very often 
, but I think that it is not going to happen very often London: Fox - 6; Tom - 4.5; Dean - 10; Ollie - 7.5; Rhys - 7; Aaron - 3; Scott - 1
New York: Jacob - 3; Dayton - 1; Michael - 2; Liam - 1; Peter - 1; Alex - 1
Charlotte: Daniel - 1; Michael - 1
50 inspiring shows
New York: Jacob - 3; Dayton - 1; Michael - 2; Liam - 1; Peter - 1; Alex - 1
Charlotte: Daniel - 1; Michael - 1
50 inspiring shows
Re: June 2010 - Reviews - London
Ah, you could say that.AJ HOLDEN wrote: The rest of the show was great naturally including B2B. Has there been some hoo-ha here whilst i've been away?
Read from the top of page 25 onward in the "things that irritate you thread"http://www.billyelliottheforum.me.uk/fo ... &start=240
And then the continuation in:
http://www.billyelliottheforum.me.uk/fo ... &start=240
Basically, the B2B version in America has now reached London.
Re: June 2010 - Reviews - London
Me too with a bit of planningDeanfan5 wrote:I have said what I felt about Fox in the past cast section. Suffice to say a mature well rounded performance from him. I wish he could come back every weekend. I would be there for sure
An ex-Regular and someone who was Passionate about the show but who has now found the rest of the WEST END.
Re: June 2010 - Reviews - London
Saturday evening: Full principal adult cast, with the exception of Phil Snowden as Mr Braithwaite, Ollie (again) as Billy and Joe as Michael.
After the matinee which was a mix of the old and the new, in order to make things as easy as possible for the enforced recall of Fox, it was back to the new this evening. I’m not sure what the contingency plans were if Ollie got injured, as all the indications were that Fox was the back-up Billy. Presumably, if Fox had had to take over during Act 1, they’d have had to switch Mrs Wilkinsons and versions of the show as well.
It was a much fuller ensemble tonight, swelled, I think, by a couple of new faces. Shaun Henson and Sean Kingsley were both off as was Rhona McGregor; I think that Deborah Bundy was covering her part. Anthony Whiteman’s name has been taken off the billboard outside the theatre, with a couple of names added, one was the familiar Daniel Page, can’t remember the other. Aaron Watson’s name is on the new poster, so his debut is presumably imminent.
The show started very late, nearer 7.45 than 7.30, but I’m not sure what the hold up was. The theatre was quite full, although there were a few empty seats in the stalls, mainly the restricted view ones at the side. It was a very cute, ginger-haired small boy who climbed up onto the stage when the show eventually got going. You would never guess that Ollie was giving his sixth performance of the week. However, it was quite irritating that, at the point he started his scene with Michael, a few people from row B got up and moved to the free seats further back. (Whilst I’m on the subject of irritations in the audience, there was a large German group behind me, and one lady insisted on translating parts of the show into German, including the “You should see what my underpants can do” line!). Ollie sang his opening lines beautifully, anyway. In Ollie we clearly have one of those really all-round Billys: good at singing, dancing and acting.
I was paying greater attention to how the show has changed tonight. As well as the changes with David Nellist coming on eating a Mars bar and the exit of the tall boy through a different door, the boxing scene seems to be one of a number of scenes to have been shortened. The line about “Hit him or I’ll tell your dad on you”, “Michael’s Dad doesn’t even like him coming to boxing” seems to have gone, along with the stuff about “I don’t see why I should spend my Saturday morning getting bashed in as well”. However, these changes don’t disrupt the flow of the scene, really.
Shine was performed with great enthusiasm by the team of ballet girls. A few reviewers have criticised Gen Lemon’s portrayal of Mrs Wilkinson. It is certainly very different from Jo Riding. Gen had great charisma and sing the role very well. I didn’t find her accent too bad at all. Her dancing was not the greatest, but we’ve being spoilt having a couple of very good dancers play the role recently (Jo and Kate Graham), but in the past neither Gillian Kirkpatrick or Jackie Clune have been fantastic dancers. Gen’s Mrs Wilkinson doesn’t go through the transformation softening to Billy as some others have done. In this case I think that it’s because she’s not overly harsh to begin with. She is tired and world weary, but not too fierce with her pupils at the start. Therefore, although Billy continues to develop a bond with Mrs W, less of a softening is required on her part. Gen and Ollie seem to be developing a good relationship, but this is to be expected given the number of shows they’ve done together this week (five, I think, which is about three weeks worths of shows for a Billy-Mrs Wilkinson pairing normally).
Ann Emery remains a joy to watch in Grandma’s Song. Solidarity was performed well as ever. It really is a powerful number and moves the story on well. At the start, Mrs W instructed the girls whilst reading a magazine. Gen’s voice really dominated the bit with her, the chairs and the policemen at the end. However, she is somewhat tentative in climbing up and getting down from the chairs. I wonder if the “I hate you, you’re a b*****d” line has been redirected, as Billy didn’t seem to shout it this time, he said it more genuinely upset.
In the first toilet scene, Gen chewed gum rather than lit a cigarette. Express was a joy to watch. I’d not seem Joe’s Michael before: he’s another great find brining his own little touches to the role. Ollie managed to maintain his great panache and enthusiasm in his dancing, despite his marathon week as Billy.
The Letter was delivered beautifully by Ollie, Gen and Samantha. Then, of course, we were on to the new Born to Boogie. This version doesn’t send me into apoplexy like some members of the forum. Obviously it’s a different, more complicated way of doing it and given the complexity of the new dance, it’s inevitable that there are going to be mistakes. I don’t have a problem with the boxing gloves. It’s possible that Billy could have them in his bag to disguise the fact he’d been dancing rather than boxing, but there is still a great sense of fun in this number. It’s all about having the freedom to express yourself through dance and that still comes across in this number. Gen messed up her skipping a bit, but that wasn’t too much of a problem. Ollie and Phil did great. I didn’t notice the offending gesture, however.
The second toilet scene has also had a few cuts. Debbie looked under the cubicle but didn’t climb up the wall. The dialog now runs something like “I wouldn’t listen to her she’s sexually frustrated. My dad was doing it with this wife from work, but now he’s an alcoholic”. I’m not sure that missing out Billy’s line (and “he got made redundant” bit, if that’s gone as well) improves the flow of the scene. In terms of the "If you want line", yes, Debbie does move to the centre of the stage, but she clearly looked around and at the red door, so I thought she was doing this to check that there was nobody else around in case Billy said "Yes". In this context the change didn't bother me.
In the kitchen scene, Gran no longer says “Hello” to Mrs W when she walks in. I still love the “What are you afraid of speech” by Mrs W and Gen delivered that bit really well. Then we were on to the Angry Dance, delivered with passion and great aplomb by Mr Gardner. He was really on fire last night.
After the interval, the curtain scene was very truncated. I hope this was to do with the fact that the start was delayed rather than a permanent change. David, Ollie and Craig came on together through the curtain. David said something like “Welcome back to the second half of the Easington and District annual Christmas pantomime. We may be eight months into the strike, but are we down hearted?” Then Craig delivered the “Hey Santa, can you hear it in the distance” line and we were into Merry Christmas. There was no banter with the audience or announcements.
The next chunk of the show was as we all know. Joe delivered Deep Into the Ground well and then there was a beautiful dream ballet from Ollie and Barnaby. The confrontation in “He Could Be a Star” is always very intense when Joe and Craig perform. I wonder if this will be the next part of the show to be transformed and if it will become “He Could Go and He Could Shine” before too much longer.
The scene between Dad and Posh Dad is another one to which they have taken the scissors to. After the “It’s wor first time like, ya know”, Billy interrupts to say “I’ve changed my mind”; the dialogue about Durham and the beautiful cathedral has gone. Again, this isn’t a great problem as the scene works perfectly well without it.
Electricity was just beautiful tonight. There was some really lovely singing by Ollie who sang the song in such a way that it really did look like he was thinking of the words to describe how he felt and some fantastic dancing, by a Billy who has been on top form all this week despite the pressure placed on him. I do wish Joe would tone down his performance in the interview scene, however; he could do with being a little bit more understated - perhaps he could take a lesson from David Bardsley here.
Grandma continues to show Dad the finger when Tony shoos Dad and Dad shoos Grandma. The Goodbye scene was sensitively handled by Gen and Ollie and Gen’s portrayal of this scene didn’t leave me in any doubt that her Mrs W cares for Billy. She was obviously hurt by the fact he hadn’t come and told her before.
Once We Were Kings was delivered well, with some particularly enthusiastic singing from the small boy, as was the reprise of the letter. Huge cheers for Joe and Gen when they came on for their bow and, quite rightly, for Ollie after his sterling efforts this week. There was a lively dance in the finale and then as the curtain fell, Mr Gardner could finally get a well deserved rest. I hope that he gets some time off after his marathon week. It does show the problem of being reliant on three Billys (I think that it was for this reason James Lomas got a recall), so I hope Aaron is ready to make his debut soon and relieve some of the pressure on the rest of the Billys. Whilst there is no doubt that Ollie was the star of the show, it’s also worth giving credit to the rest of the cast who had to perform two different shows yesterday: the hybrid matinee (which included some of the changes, but most of them were undone for the afternoon) and then the current version in the evening.
After the matinee which was a mix of the old and the new, in order to make things as easy as possible for the enforced recall of Fox, it was back to the new this evening. I’m not sure what the contingency plans were if Ollie got injured, as all the indications were that Fox was the back-up Billy. Presumably, if Fox had had to take over during Act 1, they’d have had to switch Mrs Wilkinsons and versions of the show as well.
It was a much fuller ensemble tonight, swelled, I think, by a couple of new faces. Shaun Henson and Sean Kingsley were both off as was Rhona McGregor; I think that Deborah Bundy was covering her part. Anthony Whiteman’s name has been taken off the billboard outside the theatre, with a couple of names added, one was the familiar Daniel Page, can’t remember the other. Aaron Watson’s name is on the new poster, so his debut is presumably imminent.
The show started very late, nearer 7.45 than 7.30, but I’m not sure what the hold up was. The theatre was quite full, although there were a few empty seats in the stalls, mainly the restricted view ones at the side. It was a very cute, ginger-haired small boy who climbed up onto the stage when the show eventually got going. You would never guess that Ollie was giving his sixth performance of the week. However, it was quite irritating that, at the point he started his scene with Michael, a few people from row B got up and moved to the free seats further back. (Whilst I’m on the subject of irritations in the audience, there was a large German group behind me, and one lady insisted on translating parts of the show into German, including the “You should see what my underpants can do” line!). Ollie sang his opening lines beautifully, anyway. In Ollie we clearly have one of those really all-round Billys: good at singing, dancing and acting.
I was paying greater attention to how the show has changed tonight. As well as the changes with David Nellist coming on eating a Mars bar and the exit of the tall boy through a different door, the boxing scene seems to be one of a number of scenes to have been shortened. The line about “Hit him or I’ll tell your dad on you”, “Michael’s Dad doesn’t even like him coming to boxing” seems to have gone, along with the stuff about “I don’t see why I should spend my Saturday morning getting bashed in as well”. However, these changes don’t disrupt the flow of the scene, really.
Shine was performed with great enthusiasm by the team of ballet girls. A few reviewers have criticised Gen Lemon’s portrayal of Mrs Wilkinson. It is certainly very different from Jo Riding. Gen had great charisma and sing the role very well. I didn’t find her accent too bad at all. Her dancing was not the greatest, but we’ve being spoilt having a couple of very good dancers play the role recently (Jo and Kate Graham), but in the past neither Gillian Kirkpatrick or Jackie Clune have been fantastic dancers. Gen’s Mrs Wilkinson doesn’t go through the transformation softening to Billy as some others have done. In this case I think that it’s because she’s not overly harsh to begin with. She is tired and world weary, but not too fierce with her pupils at the start. Therefore, although Billy continues to develop a bond with Mrs W, less of a softening is required on her part. Gen and Ollie seem to be developing a good relationship, but this is to be expected given the number of shows they’ve done together this week (five, I think, which is about three weeks worths of shows for a Billy-Mrs Wilkinson pairing normally).
Ann Emery remains a joy to watch in Grandma’s Song. Solidarity was performed well as ever. It really is a powerful number and moves the story on well. At the start, Mrs W instructed the girls whilst reading a magazine. Gen’s voice really dominated the bit with her, the chairs and the policemen at the end. However, she is somewhat tentative in climbing up and getting down from the chairs. I wonder if the “I hate you, you’re a b*****d” line has been redirected, as Billy didn’t seem to shout it this time, he said it more genuinely upset.
In the first toilet scene, Gen chewed gum rather than lit a cigarette. Express was a joy to watch. I’d not seem Joe’s Michael before: he’s another great find brining his own little touches to the role. Ollie managed to maintain his great panache and enthusiasm in his dancing, despite his marathon week as Billy.
The Letter was delivered beautifully by Ollie, Gen and Samantha. Then, of course, we were on to the new Born to Boogie. This version doesn’t send me into apoplexy like some members of the forum. Obviously it’s a different, more complicated way of doing it and given the complexity of the new dance, it’s inevitable that there are going to be mistakes. I don’t have a problem with the boxing gloves. It’s possible that Billy could have them in his bag to disguise the fact he’d been dancing rather than boxing, but there is still a great sense of fun in this number. It’s all about having the freedom to express yourself through dance and that still comes across in this number. Gen messed up her skipping a bit, but that wasn’t too much of a problem. Ollie and Phil did great. I didn’t notice the offending gesture, however.
The second toilet scene has also had a few cuts. Debbie looked under the cubicle but didn’t climb up the wall. The dialog now runs something like “I wouldn’t listen to her she’s sexually frustrated. My dad was doing it with this wife from work, but now he’s an alcoholic”. I’m not sure that missing out Billy’s line (and “he got made redundant” bit, if that’s gone as well) improves the flow of the scene. In terms of the "If you want line", yes, Debbie does move to the centre of the stage, but she clearly looked around and at the red door, so I thought she was doing this to check that there was nobody else around in case Billy said "Yes". In this context the change didn't bother me.
In the kitchen scene, Gran no longer says “Hello” to Mrs W when she walks in. I still love the “What are you afraid of speech” by Mrs W and Gen delivered that bit really well. Then we were on to the Angry Dance, delivered with passion and great aplomb by Mr Gardner. He was really on fire last night.
After the interval, the curtain scene was very truncated. I hope this was to do with the fact that the start was delayed rather than a permanent change. David, Ollie and Craig came on together through the curtain. David said something like “Welcome back to the second half of the Easington and District annual Christmas pantomime. We may be eight months into the strike, but are we down hearted?” Then Craig delivered the “Hey Santa, can you hear it in the distance” line and we were into Merry Christmas. There was no banter with the audience or announcements.
The next chunk of the show was as we all know. Joe delivered Deep Into the Ground well and then there was a beautiful dream ballet from Ollie and Barnaby. The confrontation in “He Could Be a Star” is always very intense when Joe and Craig perform. I wonder if this will be the next part of the show to be transformed and if it will become “He Could Go and He Could Shine” before too much longer.
The scene between Dad and Posh Dad is another one to which they have taken the scissors to. After the “It’s wor first time like, ya know”, Billy interrupts to say “I’ve changed my mind”; the dialogue about Durham and the beautiful cathedral has gone. Again, this isn’t a great problem as the scene works perfectly well without it.
Electricity was just beautiful tonight. There was some really lovely singing by Ollie who sang the song in such a way that it really did look like he was thinking of the words to describe how he felt and some fantastic dancing, by a Billy who has been on top form all this week despite the pressure placed on him. I do wish Joe would tone down his performance in the interview scene, however; he could do with being a little bit more understated - perhaps he could take a lesson from David Bardsley here.
Grandma continues to show Dad the finger when Tony shoos Dad and Dad shoos Grandma. The Goodbye scene was sensitively handled by Gen and Ollie and Gen’s portrayal of this scene didn’t leave me in any doubt that her Mrs W cares for Billy. She was obviously hurt by the fact he hadn’t come and told her before.
Once We Were Kings was delivered well, with some particularly enthusiastic singing from the small boy, as was the reprise of the letter. Huge cheers for Joe and Gen when they came on for their bow and, quite rightly, for Ollie after his sterling efforts this week. There was a lively dance in the finale and then as the curtain fell, Mr Gardner could finally get a well deserved rest. I hope that he gets some time off after his marathon week. It does show the problem of being reliant on three Billys (I think that it was for this reason James Lomas got a recall), so I hope Aaron is ready to make his debut soon and relieve some of the pressure on the rest of the Billys. Whilst there is no doubt that Ollie was the star of the show, it’s also worth giving credit to the rest of the cast who had to perform two different shows yesterday: the hybrid matinee (which included some of the changes, but most of them were undone for the afternoon) and then the current version in the evening.
"In everything you do, always be yourself"
Re: June 2010 - Reviews - London
Great review Chris even though I don't care for the new versions
An ex-Regular and someone who was Passionate about the show but who has now found the rest of the WEST END.
Re: June 2010 - Reviews - London
Great review Chris!
Aus
22.03.09 - Michael.Joel.Isabelle
14.06.09- Josh D.Landen.Nina
UK
2.10.09 - Brad.Connor D.Francesca
It's like that there's a music playing in your ear, and I'm listening and I'm listening, and then I dissapear
22.03.09 - Michael.Joel.Isabelle
14.06.09- Josh D.Landen.Nina
UK
2.10.09 - Brad.Connor D.Francesca
It's like that there's a music playing in your ear, and I'm listening and I'm listening, and then I dissapear
Re: June 2010 - Reviews - London
Super review, Chris. Thanks for keeping us up to date. It does beg the question why are they bothering to remove tiny portions of the script that probably make an overall time difference of less than 60 seconds.
Pat
Well, well.Aaron Watson’s name is on the new poster,
Pat
Re: June 2010 - Reviews - London
I have not been able to see the show since Friday 21st. May, and it seems I am missing all the fun and upheaval. Thank heavens for the reviews and comments. It seems to be pretty confusing at present due to the Billy situation, but the overriding impression I get is that the jury is still out on GL as Mrs,Wilkinson and some of the changes are not going down too well. Can't wait to see my next show.
Re: June 2010 - Reviews - London
Do you also look forward to a dental appointment? That next show might be almost as painful.Bungie wrote: Can't wait to see my next show.