August 2010 - Reviews - London

[Billy Whiz]

Thanks for the reviews Deanfan5 and burtond. Great stuff.

I'm going to have to get a Billy fix very soon - it's driving me mental

Keep 'em coming.

[*Lottie*]

Really need to see Rhys. The only current Billy i havn't seen, really feel like i am missing out

You are!. The young lad is amazing at the moment. Hope you see him soon.

thanks, me too!


Thanks for the reviews

... and 8 minutes only wow. The Stamina they posess is incredible

[burtond]

Wednesday 4th August 2010 – UK – London - Evening

Billy – Aaron

Michael – Joe

Debbie – Fleur

Dad – David Bardsley; Tony – Craig Gallivan; Mrs W – Genevieve Lemmon ; Mr B – Sean Kingsley; Grandma – Anne Emery; George – Phil Snowden; Dead Mum – Rhona McGregor; Older Billy – Sergio Guacomelli; Ballet Dancer in cream tights – James Foster ; Big Davy - John Coates: Musical Director .– Phil Dennis

Really powerful show last night – with his naturally low and compelling voice Aaron demonstrated to a captivated audience that he is now as confident in the role as all the other Billys. Furthermore, the confident approach to the Billy character is evident from the moment Aaron sets foot on stage. This is great news because, as I have said before, once Aaron feels the audience are behind him, he settles, relaxing into the part and this helps him deliver an outstanding performance for all to enjoy.

Aaron is a Billy with attitude. He delivers each line carefully but deliberately. The tone throughout ranges from the mildly to substantially aggressive and is totally different to the other Billy’s yet quite appropriate for the likes of Aaron as Billy. It really works well and the result is a very convincing, focused and strong Billy character that is not going to let anything stand in his way. Quite refreshing really.

Aaron brings many individual talents to the role including his dance expertise. I am no expert or anything but it is clear to see and appreciate just how competent a dancer he is and just how engrossed he gets in the construction of the various moves and stances. This is particularly evident in his signature dance, electricity where the transition from pose to pose, move to move is beautifully crafted and executed. Every second of the number involves numberous body shapes and positions and with Aaron, the shapes are finely constructed curves that roll effortlessly from one pose to another. As a dancer, Aaron has got considerable existing talent and lots of future potential in my humble and non-expert view.

Another talent is his newly found acting ability. From speaking to his Dad it seems that Aaron had very little experience of Acting before going into the Billy House – these skills have been acquired as a result of the expert tuition provided by those coaching him. Well Aaron, you seem to have picked up these skills with ease and as you progress with the continual development of Billy, you will only get better and better.

Something I do know about is singing having trained boys and girls and adults over the course of many years (25 years to be exact). My honest view is that you can sing well and competently for the role of Billy. No one should expect Aaron to sing like an angel – Billy is just an everyday lad with an everyday voice. I’m sure Aaron has no aspirations to become the next Pavarotti. I thought that the vast majority of his singing tonight was good. Clear, in tune, pleasant to listen to, believable and melodic. There were two areas where I thought he struggled; Deep into the Ground and the Letter Reprise. In both cases, he struggled to acquire the first note and as a result strayed a little with the intonation and in some cases the melody. I noticed that particularly in the letter reprise he finished up by speaking the final lines of the number – clearly because he would currently struggle to sing it – this works really well and is not a problem at all. A little work though on these two numbers would make a lot of difference. That said, IN NO WAY did it spoil the show or distract from his overall excellent performance because, a streetwise Billy from Easington wouldn’t be a trained singer.

Joe’s performance as Michael was simply excellent. He tries really hard and is introducing little bits here and they which help him make the Michael character his own. He’s quite small though when stood at the side of the Billy’s and occasionally, this interferes with some of the action required e.g the Billy kiss. Thankfully, his approach to Michael is very similar to Connor’s (I understand they are almost inseperable off stage) in that the emphasis is to ham the whole character up as much as possible and really play out to the audience. Connor is an excellent mentor in this respect and Joe will not go wrong by taking a bit of guidance from this particular master. A couple of words of advice for Joe though – 1) in the opening scene, don’t be too hasty with your opening line – give the audio team chance to turn the mic on a- nd 2) try to focus on precisely what you should be doing rather than how you can go that extra mile to make the audience lol – there was a little glitch which you and Aaron covered up perfectly in Express when you placed the wedding dresses over your head as soon as Billy had passed you it rather than hold it aloft directly in front of you. No one noticed apart from us saddies and as I say, you both covered it up perfectly. Well done Joe.

Fleur is an amazing and very talented girl and perfect in the role of Debbie. A talented actress and a talented dancer who uses all her skills to turn in a wonderful performance. She makes an ideal member of the trio and demonstrates confidence and competence in everything she does. Great work Fleur.

Oh well, have used up my eighteen lines now patc., could go on for hours but better post now otherwise we’re already in to tonights performance and tomorrows review.

[KeefyM]

Great Reviews Dave and Deanfan5 - keep 'em coming.

3 reviews coming up, for Monday 2nd August, Tuesday 3rd August and Wednesday 4th August/with a little bit about Thursday as well.


Here is the first.


Monday 2nd August 2010

Billy – Rhys
Michael – Connor
Debbie – Emily

I agree with Deanfan5 in his review that you knew it was going to be a great evening the minute you walked into the VP and seen Rhys, Connor and Emily’s names on the board.

First time I have seen Rhys in a while and he was his usual brilliant and fantastic self. A stunning performance and his Angry Dance & Electricity – WOW, just astonishing. I don’t think I have heard a Billy scream in frustration as much as Rhys does during Angry Dance – he screams the place down and it is brilliant. Plenty of swearing (hurrah!) and the anger on his face – bloody hell I wouldn’t like to cross Billy at that point as he is liable to kill you with the anger and frustration Rhys Billy shows throughout.
Another fantastic Angry Dance performance from Rhys leaving the stage very p***ed off and with his very expressive facing saying it all about how Billy feels.

I have always loved Rhys’ Angry Dance and his Electricity (one of the best ever Electricity’s I have seen in the last 5 years was from Rhys just days after the 5th Anniversary and only a week after he started – it was phenomenal and left most of the audience including me stunned and speechless).
In fact, it was so good that people who were seeing the show for the first time on that Saturday in April thought I was lying when I told him he only started the previous week. His Electricity’s have always been great, but tonight that stunning Electricity from April was back - sheer perfection throughout, with a few little street/acro moves thrown in amongst the ballet with the usual perfect singing voice from Rhys that we have come to expect.

I have said that various Billys are masters of certain scenes(although they are all great in every scene), well for me Rhys is the master of Electricity, his ballet is stunning with perfect poise and technique – it is no wonder that there are a lot of people wanting to come to the show and see Rhys in particular and it is understandable why a lot of people are disappointed at missing Rhys and his great Ballet when they think he is on but have got the wrong information.
Such great ballet technique from Rhys, I’m no expert on Ballet but it looks and seems fantastic to me in what little I know about Ballet.
All 4 Billys Electricity performances are fantastic with great little differences from each of our Ballet Billys and great that we still have a Street Billy with Ollie. But for me at the moment Rhys Electricity is ahead of the others, he stunned me on his second ever show with it, he done it again on that Saturday in April and he continues to do it. For anyone coming to the show and wanting to see a great Ballet Electricity then you wont be disappointed with Rhys and his phenomenal Electricity performances.

One thing about Rhys is that he does have remarkable presence and stagecraft that makes his shows so watchable and believable. Such a great acting Billy with a very expressive face that conveys perfectly the many emotions & reactions Billy goes through – from the really really angry and screwed up face in Angry Dance to the constantly smiley Rhys during the Finale where it is fairly obvious he is really enjoying himself and reminding the audience I am Billy and this is my show. At times during the Finale he is so smiley (which is great) that again I keep thinking I have gone back in time a few years and another great billy Corey Snide is on the stage. Although Corey obviously wins by a mile from any of the other 22 London Billys for the most smiliest Billy ever.

Anyway, It was a great show tonight and as Deanfan5 says as soon as little Aaron Lynch as Small Boy came on stage the audience started applauding, which after the god awful audience last Saturday evening was a great start.
I have said previously that Small Boy Paddy Hewitt might be a future Billy but I think Aaron could be as well – after all he knows the words to all the songs already as he brilliantly sings everything and has always done.
Except for tonight, I couldn’t believe it – for the first time ever young Aaron wasn’t singing anything, I was so disappointed. He eventually sang a few lines in Once We Were Kings but that was it. However he made up for it with some great dancing in MCMT and great acting throughout especially in the opening scene. Rather worryingly while Billy was singing, Aaron stuck the lollipop in his mouth and didn’t hold on to it while copying Billys moves.

Myself and the lovely family I was sitting next to were getting very concerned in case the lollipop slipped down the back of his throat as its white stick seemed to be disappearing further and further into his mouth while copying Billy.
He doesn’t normally do this as he is usually singing the words to the song. We were sitting there worried as hell wishing he would hurry up and hold on to the lollipop, which he eventually did before brilliantly shouting “cush” at Billy where Rhys’ Billy tells him to “Piss Off” rather than shutup.

B2B was brilliant again (see, I do like it) with great skipping from Genevieve, Sean and Rhys who perfectly skipped his way across the stage to some applause from the audience once his skipping finished. A great piano jump from Rhys cumulating in him doing the usual “c’mon” hand gesture to the audience for a little while before he flopped to the floor. God knows what the hell was happening backstage during B2B but there was a lot of banging and clattering going on.

Rhys’ & Barnaby in Dream Ballet – stunning and absolute perfection from both, so in sync with each other and such great Ballet from Rhys with perfect poise and posture throughout. Dream Ballet and Electricity really show how great a Ballet Billy Rhys is and how great his dance skills are.

A great emotional Letter scene from Rhys with his very expressive face perfectly showing Billys loss and how much he misses his mother. Rhona McGregor has done a great job as Dead Mum while Samantha Seager has been away although at times I have felt she has shown too much of a grumpy face rather than a friendly/emotional face during her various scenes with Billy, but still great performances though.
Disappointed Rhys has stopped playing with the Rubik’s Cube when he puts it back in Billys Bag in The Letter as it was very short and simple but a great little touch. However still some great unique touches from Rhys including how he gradually fades his laughter out when George and Big Davy come to tell Dad the strike is over rather than just suddenly stopping laughing as most Billys do. Also in the opening the Royal Ballet School Letter scene – he always eats two biscuits rather than just half a biscuit as the other Billys do – Brilliant.

A great performance from Emily who’s delivery of Debbie’s lines is now much better and clearer especially the “you look like a right dickhead to me” line which tended to be too quick and lost before. However the delivery and pace of her lines is now spot on, she just needs to stand further behind Billy in the focusing on the wall scene as she is too far forward and therefore makes it a little bit too obvious that Debbie is constantly starting at Billy rather than the wall.
Her in the huff loud stomping off at various points is brilliant and getting more funnier with each show.

Of course the biggest laughs of the evening came from the legend that is Connor Kelly and his fantastic Michael.
Such a perfect Michael in every single thing he does. He made up for losing to Ollie on Saturday night with the Tap Shoes in Express as he was a good bit ahead of Rhys. Again he seems to reduce the Billys to little bits of uncontrollable laughter with his great performance in Express and the Winter scene. His Winter scene is becoming legendary and I’m glad to say the slight bum wiggle and camp exit from the Miners Welfare was back tonight which resulted in his usual round of applause when he leaves. Rhys and Connor gave a fantastic performance in Express with the usual perfect line delivery from Connor although that bloody new handbag (that Billy wears as a hat) is still causing problems and never seems to work.
I have to agree with Deanfan5 though in that when Michael is wearing his Sisters dress in Express, Connor does at times look like he is beginning to stretch gender boundaries as due to the current length of Connor’s hair and its curliness at the back he did look like a girl at times. In fact, the woman sitting along my row initially thought it was a girl (No offence Connor) but then realised it wasn’t after she “got” the Michael character. Plus the fact that it dawned on her it is a boys name!. It was another fantastic & hilarious performance from Connor throughout with very appreciative applause after all his appearances.
A great partnership with Rhys and the two of them worked really well together.
Well Done Connor a great performance and cheers for the thumbs up at the end mate.

Now, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I heard someone mention during the week that some people are not too keen on Connor’s interpretation of Michael and think it is over the top and too camp. What ???.
Will someone please tell me how can you not like Connor ?
He is an absolutely stunning Michael, one of the greatest ever, great singing, dancing and acting skills beyond his years.
We talk about perfection in performances, well Connor is perfection every time and never fails to disappoint.

Tonight witnessed great performances from all the main adult cast with great interaction between Rhys and Genevieve who’s interpretation of Mrs W has really grown on me in the past few months and I now “get it” in what she is doing with her take on the role. Craig Gallivan gave us his usual great and passionate Tony, Ann Emery with another age defying, cheeky & fabulous performance and it was great to see David Bardsley back as Dad, and he did not disappoint. A fantastic performance with many brilliant unique touches in his version of Jackie Elliot.

David is a fantastic actor and he conveys perfectly Dad’s trauma, actions and emotions. He is the perfect Dad to any of the Billys with great interaction between him and Rhys and the two of them along with Craig Gallivan made what the Elliot’s are going through very watchable and believable. I much prefer David’s “NO” compared to Joe Caffrey’s “NO” after the “would you like to ask us any questions”. It works much better and always gets a laugh compared to Joes rather long “Nooooooooo” which given the feedback from most Billy fans doesn’t quite work.
I should point out that Joe Caffrey is also a great Dad with some fantastic shows including very emotional Deep Into The Ground performances and brilliantly hilarious Audition Scenes every time.

Another great performance tonight from all the Ballet Girls who were hilarious in Shine and Solidarity and looked like they were really enjoying pushing poor Rhys all over the place and annoying Billy. A quick mention must go again to Isaac Gryn for his great Tall Boy and Posh Boy with his snooty little brat in the audition scene completely ignoring and at one point jumping away from Billy as he goes to through the door to enter the audition. A great performance Isaac.

A great show tonight, led by the brilliance and talent of Rhys which was very much appreciated by all including two well deserved standing ovations and chaos at the Billy Bus with a very large crowd taking pictures and wanting to thank the ever smiley Rhys for a great performance.
It was not just the 38 Americans who Deanfan5 mentioned that Rhys captivated, it was the entire audience with another brilliant performance from our favourite wee blonde laddie from Manchester.
Well done Rhys, you are a bloody fantastic Billy and your performance tonight was stunning as usual.

Cheers
Keith

[KeefyM]

Tuesday 3rd August 2010

Billy - Ollie
Michael - Jake
Debbie - Francesca

Two words – Absolutely Stunning, one of the best ever Billy shows in its 5 year history at the VP led by our favourite wee blonde laddie from Bath – the one and only Ollie Gardner who was on top form and tonight gave his best ever Billy performance by a mile. It was a fantastic, emotional and breathtaking performance from Ollie, cheered on by the infamous Ollie fan club sitting in the front row, including those two “illustrious characters” again – whoever they are.
There have been some fantastic Ollie performances in the past but tonight just blew them all away, an absolute joy to watch and he certainly banished any memories of any understated performances to the past for good.

This week I heard some negative comments about Ollie’s Billy in that some people just haven’t taken to it and don’t get his interpretation of Billy. I’m sorry but how can you not like Ollie’s Billy ??? I am not going to go on about it as Dave has already mentioned it (about Ballet and Street Billys) in his great review of Tuesday evening. But all I will say is I cannot believe people can’t appreciate the skill & talent of all the boys whether they are Street or Ballet Billys. As Dave has said the show is not about Ballet and the Street Billys have as much right to be in the show as the Ballet Billys.

Anyway, the show started well with young Aaron again on tonight as Small Boy and another round of applause for him. The show immediately got better because as soon as Billy started singing, Aaron was back singing as well (hurrah!) after not singing anything on Monday and thankfully he sang every line of every song throughout the show each time he was on stage. Brilliant dancing again from him in MCMT which never fails to raise a smile (although he almost dropped the Scythe down beside us at one point, but managed to hold on to it). A great performance again from young Aaron who convinced me even more that he would probably make a great future Billy.

Tonight’s show had such great pace, energy & enthusiasm from the cast who were giving it their all especially our other young stars Jake and Francesca with Jake in particular on top form. Jake was his hilarious and cheeky self in Express, bossing Billy about, and using his glasses to great effect as usual, cumulating with him asking one of us from the Ollie fan club to “Call Me”.

Jake was as usual miles ahead getting the Tap Shoes on in Express and I think he should be given a special award when he leaves the show for the amount of times his Michael has won compared to the Billys(come on lads, sort it out!!!).
Jake is a great Michael and those winks and kisses at the audience are just brilliant as is him kissing the picture of Billy which I have mentioned countless times before but you can never get bored of it. Jake will be a sad loss to the show when he leaves and I will definitely miss his great and unique take on Michael.

Francesca’s Debbie – fantastic and such a minx. Her rather grumpy looking face from the moment she comes on stage with the Ballet Girls is great and she seems to keep that look for most of Shine and Solidarity. As I have said before the way she looks at and interacts with the other girls, Billy and Mam is great (i.e. with a look that says, you are all idiots) and her Debbie definitely doesn’t stand for any nonsense from Billy while secretly fancying him.
Love her delivery of “she’s sexually frustrated” which always gets a laugh from the audience as do all of Debbies funny lines in the brilliant and clear way that Francesca delivers them. Another great performance from Francesca and brilliant interaction with all the cast as usual.

Another night where all the cast were on top form with Phil Snowden looking like he is really enjoying bossing Billy, Michael, Tall Boy and Small Boy about in the Boxing Scene where Small Boy Aaron’s cry's of “jesus” were hilarious and brilliantly done. Great performances in this scene as usual with Master Gardners boxing and dancing being as great & outstanding as ever with him eventually getting a great punch from Jakes Michael.
Jake again was on top form here and after Michael punches George in his you know what area, Jake brilliantly gives him the single middle finger and sticks his tongue out at George as he runs off. Just realised tonight how much I am going to miss Ollie’s great Boxing Scene when he eventually leaves the show.

In previous reviews I have said how great Ollie’s Angry Dance, Dream Ballet and Electricity are, well tonight they were all stunning. Forget his previous really really Angry Dances because tonight it was a really really really Angry Dance which overshadowed any of his previous dances. Perfect tapping with vast amounts of anger and frustration including more swearing than ever coming from Ollie’s Billy with him kicking the hell out of the stairs & the rising hut. Although we missed a few expletives due to Ollie’s mic not been faded up.
A fantastic Angry Dance performance and one of the best I have ever seen.

A brilliant & perfect Dream Ballet from Ollie & Barnaby again with great timing and beautiful technique from both. Like Dave I am not a Ballet expert and therefore do not know whether the Ballet provided by Ollie in this scene is good, bad or indifferent and I really couldn’t care either. As far as I’m concerned it has always been great, has developed over time and is fantastic to watch with very confident performances from Ollie each time.

More great skipping from Ollie and Co in B2B with a great performance from Caroline Deverill as Mrs W here and throughout the show. Although Ollie’s skipping is not as fast as Aarons it is still great to watch but since he was hit in the eye with the rope the speed of the standard skipping and faster skipping is not much different. I do not blame him as he must have been in agony when that bloody rope whacked him in the eye. Better being safe than sorry Ollie and your skipping and B2B performance is great and very enjoyable to watch.

The good news is that there are even a couple of funky chicken moves coming back into B2B from all the Billys (Hurrah!).

Electricity was fantastic, absolutely loved it and so did the entire audience with another great combination of street/acro/hip-hop & ballet moves performed brilliantly with another perfect board jump at the end which again resulted in very appreciative applause which went on for ages, with loud screams, Ollie pillows been waved at him, and one girl screaming from the Dress Circle “we love you Ollie”.
A brilliant reminder for those Ballet Electricity fans just how great and fantastic the Street Electricity’s are.
Ollie quite rightly took his time to lap up the applause, smiling away and done his usual glances all around the audience and at us regulars.

Now an Ollie show wouldn’t be right without his audience glances and thankfully we had the usual glances at us lot in the front row (and we even had an extra glance tonight at the end of Billys pose in Solidarity - when he is looking up at the Dress Circle before dad comes in and shouts “what the bloody hell is going on here”. The first time I have ever seen a Billy take his focus away from looking out at the audience in the Dress Circle to look at us lot in the Stalls, which was brilliant but also gave us a laugh as Billy isn’t really meant to lose his focus or look elsewhere during that pose. But it was brilliant Ollie.

An absolutely stunning & sensational performance from Ollie tonight, just a joy to watch with great acting throughtout and great pitch and tone in his wonderful singing voice.
Definitely one of the best ever Billy performances in the last 5 years. It was great to be there with wonderful Billy friends and witness the fantastic performances from Ollie, Jake & Francesca and yet another great show in the history of BETM.

All the usual adult cast were great with another brilliant performance from David Bardsley as Dad and Caroline Deverill as Mrs W who I have not seen for a while and it was great once again to see her brilliant version of Mrs Wilkinson.

Unfortunately one woman obviously didn’t enjoy the show as we noticed she was fast asleep at the Interval – come on love – sleeping at Billy ?
How the hell can you fall asleep especially with the loudness of Angry Dance and Ollie’s screaming/swearing straight before the Interval.
Mind you, we then worked out why she was sleeping as she obviously thought she was at Wicked instead
or at the god awfulness that is Grease The Musical which would send anyone to sleep.

A great Finale performance from the cast and a very smiley Ollie with a great audience response and most people joining in and clapping along.
Just before the Finale as Ollie was running back down the aisle to the stage, most of the audience were already up on their feet giving him and the cast a standing ovation before Ollie even got back on the stage, and quite rightly so as it was very well deserved.

A few of us after the Finale just realised how much Ollie looks like Colin Bates with the blonde hair and the way it is shaped. Bloody hell, what is going on with these Billys ?, Ollie looking like Colin, Aaron looking like Liam, Dean’s Angry Dance being the same as George Maguire’s, all we need now is for Rhys to turn into James Lomas and we will have Billy from 2005 back.

An extraordinary and phenomenal show from Colin (er..I mean Ollie), just amazing and full of the usual Ollie glances, energy, confidence, believability & charisma he brings to Billy.
Another night of absolute chaos at the Billy Bus with many people wanting to thank Ollie for his great performance, people pushing each other out the way to get photos and as the bus drove away there were a few people banging on the Billy Bus windows to shout well done at Ollie and give him a thumbs up.

A great night and a great show, Well done Ollie, absolutely fantastic.
I have said it before and I will say it again, Ollie you are a bloody legend mate!


Cheers
Keith (Co-Chair, OGAS)

[KeefyM]

Wednesday 4th August 2010

Billy – Aaron
Michael – Joe
Debbie - Fleur

Another absolutely stunning performance from our favourite wee blonde laddie from Norfolk. Aaron was on top form, from the moment he came on stage to the moment he left. A fantastic performance with very appreciative applause throughout spurred on by Dad and those two “illustrious characters” in row B, who had a right carry on with seats at the beginning but I wont go into that.

Anyway, a great show with a confident, energetic and outstanding performance from Aaron who has settled into the role very well and it is great to see his Billy develop with additional little touches each time or changes he has made following any feedback he has had.
His Angry Dance, B2B and Electricity were great with a fantastic and rather emotional Dream Ballet with Sergio.
Wonderful performance from both throughout, and it was great to watch the beautiful & perfect ballet technique from Aaron with the usual great signs of Liam Mower’s & Olly Taylor’s ballet. I noticed one thing tonight about Aaron’s Dream Ballet - the speed he spins the chair at – bloody hell, he was going faster than Sergio and I was worried if he had let the chair go it was going to spin off the stage, but the whole scene was stunning to watch with a few shouts of “wow” from the people sitting next to me and in the row behind.

A fantastic Ballet Electricity, and like Dream Ballet, Aaron’s dancing and Ballet shows great skill and technique, although I couldn’t help thinking I had time-travelled back 5 years as he looks so like Liam Mower at times and his Ballet shows signs of Liam’s Ballet Electricity which if anything is great considering how brilliant Liam’s Electricity and Ballet were in his time in the show.
A wonderful Electricity performance which resulted in a well deserved and long standing ovation from Dad, those two illustrious characters in Row B and thankfully most of the audience. Shame on you if you were there and didn’t stand up for Aaron. His Electricity was so great I wanted to shout to Aaron to go and do it again as it was a pleasure to watch and I could have watched it again and again without ever getting bored of it.
His Ballet Electricity’s are definitely going to be become legendary.

A fantastic Angry Dance with plenty of aggression, swearing and frustrated screams throughout with the usual brilliant tapping from Aaron. He kicked the hell out of the hut with great flying kicks at the Riot shields as well. We missed a few swear words thanks to Aarons mic not been faded up. I think the work experience kid who was obviously operating the sound desk on Monday night (and missed quite a few of Rhys' lines) must have been back in.
In the scene before AD it is brilliant to watch the way Aaron builds up Billys anger resulting in a very angry “Me mam would have let us” from him before he jumps from the table and screams the place down at the start of Angry Dance.
At the end of Angry Dance Aaron gave the old two finger V sign to the audience as he walked off to great applause.
A really angry (as it should be) and great performance Aaron.

B2B, well I had to like tonight since we had the Billy who actually made me like it after my initial slating of it.
Great performances from Genevieve, Sean and Aaron with Sean getting great laughs as usual with the various things Mrs B gets up to in B2B. Absolutely stunning and perfect skipping from Aaron throughout and the fasted I have ever seen it done by any of the Billys, never mind the speed of his chair spins in Dream Ballet, the speed Aaron was skipping at was sensational.
This resulted in a few “Wows” from the audience including the lovely Canadian women and her son who we got talking too and who’s night was made when she got her picture taken with Aarons Dad (although the picture was almost ruined by a certain small Scottish person who writes long reviews standing in the way – I wonder who it was??).
It was the best B2B since this version of it started and Aaron reminded me why it was him that made me like this version of B2B with another brilliant performance. Well done Aaron, your skipping was stunning and I even got the opportunity to tell your Mum how fantastic it was courtesy of your Dad's phone at the interval.

We of course has the usual wonderful interaction with the cast throughout from Aaron and another display of great acting and dancing from this talented young man, and yes the singing is great but not perfect, but as I have said before, so what!.
Since it is a West End show we expect a certain standard of singing from the young and adult cast, but Aarons Billy is developing and his singing will develop, personally I think there is nothing wrong with it, as I have said before it suits the character of Billy and his background better.
Billy is not a friggin choirboy.
There have been quite a few Billys in the past who didn’t have perfect singing voices but their voice developed over time as will Aarons, so there is no problem there that his singing is not perfection at the moment. For christ sake, he has only been playing Billy for less than 2 months, if he had being playing Billy for 2 years then I would be worried about his singing.

It seems there are a few people who want absolute perfection from Billys straight away, (aka idiots) well in my view a perfect Billy is a boring Billy (which is why I initially found Colin Bates boring (sorry Muppet/sorry Colin) as he was too perfect from the start – although I grew to like him eventually but at the start it was Colin being Colin, not Colin being Billy). To me a non perfect Billy is much more interesting to watch how he develops in the role during his run.
People seem to forget that they are 12 years olds - not friggin Laurence Olivier.

In every performance we have had a brilliant Geordie accent from Aaron and clear delivery of Billys lines. Any wrong emphasis/inflection on lines that I have mentioned before has gone. As Dave has said, Aaron’s tone ranges from mildly to substantially aggressive which is fine in his interpretation of Billy as it does lead to a strong & unique Billy character who is not going to stand for any nonsense.

However at only one point I feel the tone is too aggressive and for me does not seem quite right. It is when he says the line “just don’t tell Dad I was late or anything” to Grandma, it comes across as a bit too aggressive towards Grandma, with a bit of a grumpy face, i.e. it comes across as too harsh and Billy is being a bit too forceful rather than polite about it to try and get Grandma onside.
For me the way Aaron says it gives the impression that if Grandma does tell Dad Billy was late then it seems his Billy will “sort Grandma out” and she will be “buried next to Grandad” sooner than she thinks. Personally for me if I was Grandma and he said it to me in the way he does then I would be thinking, “you cheeky little bugger I wont keep the secret unless you ask me a bit more nicely”
But apart from that, Aaron’s tone results in a great portrayal of Billy and he makes Billys emotions, anger & naivety very believable.
Also the aggressive tone at times comes across brilliantly in scenes like when Billy is telling Tony “No” after Tony says “Dance You Little Bastard”. Great that Aaron takes a little time to pause here before defiantly saying No rather than saying it too quickly or saying it in a too frightened tone. Works really well on Billys lines here including his “I don’t want a childhood, I want to be a Ballet Dancer”.
So keep it up Aaron, just be a bit nicer to Grandma with her pasty from the co-op.

Another hilarious and brilliant performance from Joe – our cheeky little scamp just gets even cheekier with each performance and it is brilliant to watch. We did have a little hitch with the dresses in Express as Joe wore it first rather than dancing with it before swapping it with Billy then putting it on, but both he and Aaron covered it up well. His “just a little bit” in the Winter Scene was a bit too rushed but still funny and he just needs to take a longer pause before he says “I can see why they call it the Nutcracker” as if the audience are still laughing then a couple of lines Joe says too quickly are lost(drowned out by the current laughter). But another great Joe performance with some amazing dancing again in MCMT and a really really sad and emotional face when Billy leaves in the final scene.
As Dave has also said, Joe just take your time before you say your first line & allow the sound guys to fade your mic up as the first line we actually heard was Billy’s “its to do with Maggie Thatcher isn’t it?” rather than Michaels “Billy, do ye know why their on strike like ?”.

Fleur was brilliant as usual with amazing acting and dancing throughout and again perfect delivery of every single one of Debbie’s lines.
Like Francesca she doesn’t stand for any nonsense from any of the Billys, Ballet Girls or indeed Mrs W.
Fleur’s rather close (practically leaning on Billy’s shoulder) in the focussing on the wall scene and the way she does her innocent look when Billy turns round to look at her is brilliant, with her continuing to look at him when she goes back centre stage. Fleur is a great Debbie with fantastic performances every time. She is definitely one of the best ever Debbie’s in the last 5 years.

All the Ballet Girls were great as usual with their “Smile” getting a round of applause for the second night in a row. When Mrs W first appears, one particular Ballet Girl has a really piercing scream that is going to burst someone’s eardrum one of these days, but it is brilliant.
Wonderful performances from all the main cast including another excellent performance from David Bardsley as Dad and Phil Snowden’s great take on George.

We finished the evening with a great Finale performance from Aaron who was clearly enjoying himself with more great dancing and interaction with the rest of the cast. Fleur gave Joe one hell of a push again, but at least he didn’t go flying across the stage this time.
A great night with brilliant performances by all with great dancing, acting and singing throughout
and a sensational performance from young Master Watson demonstrating yet again his amazing talent and what a great Billy he is.

A wonderful show and as Michael would say, it was “Cush”.


Thursday 5th August – Evening

Billy – Aaron
Michael – Jake
Debbie - Francesca

We had another great show on Thursday with Aaron standing in for an injured Rhys. Unfortunately will not write a full review of Thursdays show as it was spoiled for me by the morons sitting in the Dress Circle (where I was sitting) who constantly coughed & talked with various people translating the show very loudly into christ knows how many East European languages throughout & the usual few idiots on their mobiles.
How sad a society we now live in that people can’t live without their mobiles for 3 hours – absolutely pathetic.
I’m sure the people in the row behind me were having a picnic judging by the noise they were making with food. All that was missing was the chequered blanket.

I was absolutely fuming by the time I came out the VP on Thursday night which led to me kicking off about various things (including some former employers) in front of people, so apologies to some forum members who were there when I was ranting and raving, but that audience in the Dress Circle got me so worked up.

However, it was another great performance from Aaron on Thursday with another fantastic Angry Dance, Dream Ballet and Electricity, with the usual perfect poise and posture we have seen from Aaron in his wonderful Ballet.
His Angry Dance was much angrier and aggressive on Wednesday night than Thursday night but it was still great. Another brilliant Electricity which received great applause with a standing ovation from some people (the only thing the audience in the Dress Circle actually did right all night).
The applause seemed to go on for ages and I thought Aaron was going to stand there all night and I wouldn't blame him if he did.

Jake and Fleur were on top form with Jake being his usual cheeky and hilarious self and yet again beating Billy in getting the Tap Shoes on, although Aaron did tell Jake, “your mam has small feet” while still putting the shoes on, but Jake had finished by that time and responded “too easy”.

The show was ok on Thursday night but at times it felt a bit lacklustre and dragging and there were quite a few dropsy incidents throughout including 50p‘s getting dropped by Billy and Mrs W as well as Chairs getting dropped by the Ballet Girls (and left lying on the stage floor).
The Piano with the chairs on top of it at the start of The Letter took ages to appear from the floor but eventually did with perfect timing from Genevieve in her line “better late than never” as she walked past it.

Must quickly mention Aaron and his skipping in B2B – wow, wow, wow, it was once again sheer perfection and the speed of the skipping was just astonishing. Aaron is definitely the master of the skipping and it is just brilliant to watch his skill here.

Two great shows in a row from Aaron, with top notch performances from all the principal cast as usual with a quick mention for a brilliantly cheeky Romy on Thursday night. Absolutely love her take on Grandma.

At the Billy Bus afterwards plenty of appreciative shouts of support for Aarons performance and great to have the opportunity to thank him for another great show. As the Billy Bus started to drive off, Jake was waving away and brilliantly blowing kisses to all the women and girls.

As PATC said in his great review in July – AARON IS BRILL. Which is absolutely spot on, Aaron is a bloody fantastic Billy who yet again on Wednesday and Thursday, proved why I still stand by my comments after his debut, in that he is set to become one of the greatest ever and all time Billy legends.

Well done Aaron, fantastic & sensational performances mate!. Keep up the good work.

Cheers
Keith



Also just to quickly say, well done Dean for doing an extra show this week in the absence of Rhys, unfortunately I haven’t seen any of your shows this week but have heard they have been stunning as usual, so hope to catch you next week. Also, speedy recovery Rhys hope you aren’t out for too long and are back on stage soon delighting your many fans.

[athadj]

Thank you so much Keith for your reviews. Brilliant as always!

Regarding the comments some people make let me just say that I cannot believe anyone, let alone someone who claims to be a BETM fan can say anything bad about any of the kids playing. Yes, I can understand having a favorite actor or a favorite performance but we all know that all the boys and girls that are on the show and especially the Billys are young children that not only give 110% of themselves each night they are onstage, but spent countless hours every day training for the performance that we are going to see for those 3 hours. So I say if you have nothing good to say about them say nothing at all . Nuff said...

[pinknick103]

Quck review of sat 7th aug - eve show
Dean, Joe and Fleur. David as dad and phil s as george

Wat a marvellous birthday present - dean as billy and barnaby as older billy. Couldnt have been happier.
Great show tonight, although I felt the audience were a little poor for a sat eve.
Dean was just fantastic. His acting is superb, and as for his northern accent, well thats superb too. One thing that I noticed tonight that I hadnt seen before - the way he 100% concentrates on grandma during her song. He does not take his eyes off her. I felt that they had a wonderful relationship.
B2B was great - no mishaps -sean got great cheers from the audience.
Angry dance - Dean was totally on fire.
My fav part of the night - dream ballet - this is the one scene here I dont look at billy. I am simply hypnotised by Barnaby's ballet. It is simply perfect from start to finish. Coudnt be any better
Fantastic electicity with lovely smiles from dean
Overall, as always, absolutely brilliant night

Lovely to see dean at the stage door - he told me that he actually wasnt very well, but you would have never have know it. These kids are so dedicated and I know that we all really appreciate this.
Also met Edwards (small boy) mum. She recognised from my pic. Lovely to chat with her. It was my fist time seeing Edward - I though he was fab. The W line was delivered with perfection, and I really liked how he shouted "big spender" down the mic when edging Jacky to sing.
To top what had already been an amazing night, managed to get a hug, photo and a chat with the lovely Barnaby. Its always so lovely to see him, and he genuinely appreciates the support the fans give him . My dad hears so much about him frm me and my sis - he finally got to meet him. He too commented on what a lovely guy he was.Really made my night. Cant stop looking at the photos - def the best pressie of the day (sorry mum and dad !!!)
Thanks to all the cast and crew for a great show xxx

[jen]

[quote="KeefyM"]Tuesday 3rd August 2010
. Bloody hell, what is going on with these Billys ?, Ollie looking like Colin, Aaron looking like Liam, Dean’s Angry Dance being the same as George Maguire’s, all we need now is for Rhys to turn into James Lomas and we will have Billy from 2005 back.

Well I suppose that's what you get when you have two "Essex Boys" playing Billy!

[burtond]

Thank you so much Keith for your reviews. Brilliant as always!

Regarding the comments some people make let me just say that I cannot believe anyone, let alone someone who claims to be a BETM fan can say anything bad about any of the kids playing. Yes, I can understand having a favorite actor or a favorite performance but we all know that all the boys and girls that are on the show and especially the Billys are young children that not only give 110% of themselves each night they are onstage, but spent countless hours every day training for the performance that we are going to see for those 3 hours. So I say if you have nothing good to say about them say nothing at all . Nuff said...

Here Here Athina