No offense taken Alex. Billy is certainly getting plenty publicity in South West London anyway, with many new posters going up all over the place especially in overground stations, with 5 brand new Billy posters(all the same) in Kingston-Upon-Thames station alone and plenty more in places like Twickenham & Richmond. Maybe more does need to be done to make the tourists in Central London aware of it ?, although Billy does get a lot of international visitors and a packed theatre most nights.
Also have to agree with Barry that most Saturday evenings I have experienced seem to have the "dead" or "tired" audiences,
who were about as enthusiastic as a wet blanket.
Thursday 19th August 2010 – Matinee
Billy – Aaron
Michael – Jake
Debbie – Emily
When you turn up at the VP and see Aaron Watson on the performance board you know you are in for a great show and a great afternoon, and it certainly was. A fantastic show courtesy of Aaron, Jake and Emily with a very appreciate audience including many of Aaron’s family in attendance.
Aaron was on top form, and showed no signs of tiredness at all as we were lucky enough to see him the previous night as he done the Second Act on Wednesday for an injured Dean (with Dean doing a brilliant job in the First Act despite coming on with a bandage on his left knee from a previous injury). At times it was obvious the pain Dean was in as you could see it in his face and his knee really hurt him at the end of Solidarity,
but Dean like the trooper he is, continued until the end of the First Act and gave another fantastic performance including a brilliantly emotional Letter straight out of the Tom Holland crying academy and another George Maguire type Angry Dance.
Unfortunately that was the last we seen of Dean, but Aaron came on at the start of the Second Act and got the audience onside very quickly
thanks to his talent and professionalism and a brilliant performance on Weds evening, as it was throughout on Thursday’s matinee.
As Dave has said in his review, Thursday was a monster day at Billy that started at 7.45am in the Day Queue and ended for me at 1.00am the next morning by the time I got home (to find a Dead Cat wrapped in a towel that had been run over & dumped on my doorstep – long story which I won’t go into, and the Cat is not mine).
Anyway, it was a long day but definitely worth it thanks to two great performances from junior and senior Billy and a wonderful day spent with great Billy friends and a drink or two with Aaron’s brilliant Dad and family after the matinee, which was a great occasion (Cheers Nick, and thanks for the drink - I owe you one).
Young Master Watson continues to justify my initial comments about him from June 10th (and indeed from November 2007 at Bafta’s 60th Birthday) that there is something special about him and he is definitely going to be one of the all time Billy legends. Today’s performance proved yet again what a great Billy he is with another stunning and wonderful show with very appreciative applause throughout and two standing ovations at the end.
Quite a few people have compared Aaron to Liam Mower (including me) whether it is in his looks or in his dancing, but as Dad rightly pointed out, Aaron is Aaron, not Liam Mower and it is fairly obvious in the unique & natural way Aaron plays Billy compared to how Liam used to play it (which was also great). Although we all know how great Liam’s Ballet is and for me Aaron’s Ballet is in the Liam Mower category for its sheer gracefulness and perfection.
Sitting along the row were a family seeing the show for the first time. I asked them at Interval what they thought, they really enjoyed it but didn’t realise there would be as much swearing in it, especially from the kids, but were not offended by it. Asking them at the end would they come back the response was “definitely, we would come back and see it loads of times”, and “the talent of the boy who is playing Billy is just amazing”
And they are right, because from the moment he was pushed on stage by David Bardsley’s Dad to the final curtain Aaron demonstrated his remarkable talent in another awesome performance especially with his astonishing Electricity and his usual perfect skipping in B2B.
If you haven’t seen Aaron as Billy yet, then get booking now and hopefully you will get him because his Billy performances are so natural, rugged and believable that you do think he is a lad from Easington especially in the perfect and wonderful Geordie accent he does which never falters throughout the show.
Another reason for seeing Aaron are his Electricity performances – they are stunning and today was another brilliant performance with perfect Ballet technique and astonishing footwork which is right out of the Liam Mower top drawer.
I did notice that the lighting grid that lifts up as Billy comes downstage seemed to go up a lot slower than usual, be well out of sync with Billy coming downstage and it looked slightly squint – although maybe that was just me (and I hadn’t been drinking by then, - although I did have a dodgy Cinnamon Latte earlier from a well known coffee chain).
Anyway, it was a great performance from Aaron resulting in a well deserved standing ovation from quite a few people and Aaron taking his time to lap up the applause from his many fans, supporters and family members.
I have to agree with Barry that the audience were definitely wanting a repeat of his astonishing and quite brilliant performance judging by the applause and their reaction.
His Electricity was described last week by Deanfan5 as "awesome" and it certainly is - an absolute joy to watch. I look forward to watching it develop over the coming months including adding more “street” elements to his Electricity and maybe even the infamous board flip.
The first Ballet Billy who may do the board flip at the end of Electricity – go for it Aaron
(although no doubt the Ballet Billy purists won’t like it – but don’t listen to them Aaron), the more acro/hip-hop/street moves in Electricity the better, after all the show is not just about Ballet.
And for those Ballet experts out there if you haven’t seen Aaron yet, then I think you will be very surprised at just how good Aaron’s Ballet is when you do see it. As I keep saying, I am not an expert on Ballet but what little knowledge I have is enough to know Aaron’s Ballet technique is remarkable for his age.
Talking about Ballet, there is of course another part of the show where Aaron’s skill and technique really comes into its own – Dream Ballet.
Whether he is with Barnaby or Sergio he works really well with both of them and clearly enjoys this part of the show where the concentration on his face is complimented throughout with smiles as he dances across the stage in perfect sync with Older Billy.
Ollie, Dean, Rhys all spin the chair fast and at the same speed as Barnaby or Sergio, Aaron however spins it really fast, In fact, he spins the chair faster than Barnaby or Sergio. Although we all know how great Barnaby and Sergio are here with their Ballet skill and their great performances throughout the show in the many different ensemble parts they play, but to me Aaron’s chair “technique” seems even better than Barnabys.
Of course we had another stunning performance from Barnaby with perfect poise and posture and his usual perfection throughout.
There were rumours going about a few weeks ago that Barnaby might be leaving at the end of November, hopefully this is not true and we will have many more performances to look forward to from this legendary Older Billy. (also the fact that pinknick103 will be devastated if he does leave and never come back to the show again (ha-ha) – Sorry Nic, only joking as usual).
(Please note Alex Holden – it is BARNABY not Barney, ha-ha). Love it Mate!
Although I wonder what it would be like having Barney The Dinosaur as Older Billy for one night only ???.
Anyway, Aaron’s acting and dancing is top rate throughout, and his singing while still not perfect(so what ? I say) is fine and has definitely improved since he started. His tone and pitch is much deeper than the other Billys and it works very well in both his singing voice and dialogue delivery because it gives Billy a much rawer, edgier side like he would be in Easington. Therefore his delivery makes Billys background/upbringing more believable. Billy is not some choirboy or posh Surrey school boy (i.e. posh boy Thomas) from a rich family, but from a family struggling to survive and get through life with Billy having to cope with the many prejudices he faces in his interest in dancing and the fact that he “doesn’t want to be like anybody else”.
Thankfully Aaron’s fantastic performances are well removed from any posh Surrey school boy and perfectly convey Billy as a tough and naïve North Eastern street lad coping with the loss of his mother, his upbringing & the prejudices he faces from his family in trying to follow his dream.
However, my only little nuance with Aaron’s dialogue is still the “Just don’t tell dad I was late or anything” line.
It was a lot softer and less angrier towards Grandma today, but for me still needs to be a tiny little bit more softer as I felt it was still too aggressive compared to the other Billys and still sounds like his Billy is going to sort Grandma out (i.e. kill her) if she does tell Dad he was late.
Also another little thing (sorry Aaron) is that his Boxing moves in a few shows have been virtually non existent – hardly any boxing moves and straight into the dancing, which is fine as we all love the hilarious and brilliant dance moves that Billy does here, but in a few shows he has practically started dancing straight away rather than doing some Boxing moves first and therefore slightly spoiled the joke for the Billy Virgins
– i.e. they knew he was going to do some dancing whereas they should be fooled into thinking he is actually going to start boxing with Michael.
Today’s performance however was great and he took a good little while (the longest I've seen him) to do some Boxing moves first before doing the best & most hilarious dance moves I have ever seen him do – wonderful to watch and some great moves that seemed to be straight out of the Ollie Gardner/Tom Holland school of hilarious dance moves. Like Ollie’s moves they went on for ages and were absolutely brilliant.
A brilliant boxing scene Aaron, just keep up those few more Boxing moves you did today rather than rushing into the dancing.
Jake was on top form here as usual and great to see Paddy Hewitt back as Small Boy and his fantastic delivery of “je-sus” which had the audience roaring with laughter along with his great performance in MCMT and his loud shouting of “Big Spender, Big Spender" at Billy’s Dad. He was watched by his friend - other small boy Edward Sharpe, who was sitting in the audience with his Mum and Edward got a few photos with Aaron afterwards.
A great Letter scene from Aaron, but I agree with previous comments that he does need to show more emotion in The Letter and Letter Reprise although his delivery of the final words “love you forever” shows he can be more emotional during the scene and he is up there with Ollie in his perfect delivery of “No, she was just me mam”.
My favourite Aaron scene is B2B simply because he was the Billy that made me like it after my initial slating of the new B2B and he makes it very enjoyable to watch thanks to his perfect and fast skipping. All the Billys are great at the skipping, but Aaron is by far the master of the skipping,
I haven’t seen him get caught up in the rope yet. His skill and speed is incredible and “faster” is actually faster than the initial skipping when Billy is first handed the rope.
I have said in the past that current Billys should be “benchmarks” for future Billy’s i.e. Ollie with the Boxing scene, well Aaron should be the benchmark for the Skipping for all future Billys, they certainly won’t go far wrong if they learn the brilliant technique that Aaron has.
Great work from Genevieve (who’s skipping has greatly improved) and Daniel Page as Mr Braithwaite who’s take on Mr B is not to everyone’s liking, but I and quite a few others certainly love his version especially his dancing and his skipping which is slightly faster than how Sean used to do it.
He brilliantly plays on his size and shape to make his Mr B even more funnier. He does need to sound a bit more drunk though with his “I was a little detained at The Rose and Crown” and needs to learn to play the Accordion like Sean used to do in MCMT.
Aaron’s Angry Dances are great with so much hate, temper and aggressive tap throughout. You can see Billy's rage building up brilliantly in the scene prior to Angry Dance thanks to Aaron’s great acting. A fantastic performance from Aaron today with plenty swearing, loud screams of frustration and fantastic tapping throughout.
Love the defiant way he says to Tony “I don’t want a childhood, I want to be a Ballet Dancer”.
Another hilarious and legendary Grandma performance from the lovely and remarkable woman that is Ann Emery. Her dancing in Grandma’s Song seemed even more eccentric and funnier than ever with Aaron’s Billy carefully listening to every word she says. Faultless performances from Ann, Genevieve, David Bardsley, John Coates, Tim Funnell, David Nellist & Rhona McGregor playing Dead Mum despite Samantha Seager being in the ensemble.
Another great performance from the unsung heros - the Ballet Girls who’s various escapades delivered many hilarious moments including Tracey Atkinson’s and Debbie’s “big moment” and the biscuits being passed around sneakily in the background between them after Mrs W takes them from Debbie. They really took the mick out of Aaron’s Billy and gave him a tough time and some great looks as if he is some kind of weirdo because he is in their Ballet class.
A great and faultless show (apart from the new ensemble member's policemans hat in Solidarity which either keeps falling off or slipping down his face as it is too big for him – naughty hat).
We had some of Craig Gallivan’s family and friends sitting behind us who whooped, cheered and laughed enthusiastically throughout the show, not just at Craig. In talking to them at the Interval they have seen the show many times before Craig was in it – they absolutely love it and will be seeing the show many more times while Craig is still here and after Craig leaves (hopefully not for a long time yet, as his Tony is bloody fantastic, great passion, anger and emotion and believability in Craig’s performance, and in my view how Tony should be played). Great stuff Craig.
Finally, another stunning performance from the soon to be departing Jake, who’s performance in Express resulted in a few extra winks again especially at some of us sitting in row A. Jake is a great partner to any of the Billys and worked really well today with Aaron. A great & hilarious partnership resulting in a brilliant Express and fantastic tapping from Aaron and Jake(guess who got the tap shoes on quickest ?), as well as a brilliant Winter Scene with another one of my favourite Jake touches – his very loud and excited “CUUUUSSSSSH” when Billy throws the Tutu at Michael (which reduced Aaron as well as the audience to laughter).
It is true what Jacob and Dave have said in reviews that Jake’s Michael is the least flamboyant of the 3 and almost campless throughout and it works really well for his portrayal and therefore the lonely and confused Michael (as per Stuart Wells in the movie) comes through very well from Jake especially in the Winter scene.
Jake & his Michael performances will be very much missed from the show by many people and for me in particular I will miss the brilliant use of his glasses throughout, his great dancing in MCMT, his thumbs up and winks at the audience, his “come on Billy son” in Express and the infamous kissing the picture of Billy before he sticks it on the mirror.
Brilliant work Jake, hopefully will catch some other performances this week before seeing your final night on Saturday and well done for doing extra shows this week along with Connor in the absence of Joe.
A great afternoon and a wonderfully “cush” show with a great audience.
Thanks to Dad Nick we had a brilliant photo and autograph signing opportunity with Aaron afterwards, which featured Aaron’s fantastic idea of using his Dad’s back as a table to lean on when signing autographs. (Current and Future Billys, take note!). Aaron took time to pose for photos and sign many autographs and write great messages for some Billy audience veterans who’s support of Billy over the years is remarkable, incredible and wonderful.
The photographs of Aaron (by David Burton) are on the Aaron Watson – Billy Elliot Appreciation Society facebook site, so pop along and have a look folks and sign up as a member if you have not done so already to show your support for our favourite wee laddie(gone Scottish again) from Norfolk.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=1 ... 416&ref=ts
Only got a few photos myself (including Aaron signing on his Dad’s back) - thanks to my Iphone being rubbish, but made up for it as I ended up talking to Aaron’s lovely Gran-parents and other family members and friends. It was great to see and hear how proud they all are of Aaron and how they really enjoyed his performance – as we all did which was fairly obvious with the very positive comments about Aaron from the audience as we left the Theatre.
I have seen some great & stunning Billy shows in the last 5 years, but I have seen 3 stunning & faultless shows in the last week thanks to Aaron. Today’s matinee, like Weds evening & last Thursday proved yet again what a great Billy Aaron is and that he already has all the ingredients of another legendary Billy.
An outstanding, entertaining and sensational performance today as were the performances last week. They were all Cush.
Well done Aaron, fantastic work Mate!
Cheers
Keith
Also with reference to speed, such was Aaron's enthusiasm that he was half way across the stage with his Nureyev moment and going so fast that when Mrs W turned round she was nearly bowled over let alone startled 
. The highlight for me in Aaron's performance was probably the best Angry Dance I have seen from him full of vitriol and angst and superb tapping. Close behind came an excellent BTB with perfect fast skipping. I am going to stick my neck out to say that Aaron is the best current Billy skipper. I would still like Aaron to be more emotional in the beginning of The Letter. He has such a mournful face at this point that he could really carry the audience with him. Mind you the poor kid had to send out a search party for the Rubic cube as it had managed to hide itself away among the other junk in the bag. The funniest moment for me though (even outdoing an excellent 'expressing' with Connor) must have been the cubicle scene with Debbie (superbly played by Emily at her seductive best). I swear that before the look of shock and mild disgust at the fxxxy invitation Aaron actually nodded before saying 'nah your all right'. For a brief moment I am sure that Debbie must have thought that all her boats had come in 
I think you owe me a San Miguel when we next meet or maybe another visit to specsavers is called for. 
