March 2011 Reviews - London

[porschesrule]

A fine first post, WilliamElliot and welcome to the Forum. Hopefully, that will be far from your last post here. Hope you enjoy it here.

[WilliamElliot]

A fine first post, WilliamElliot and welcome to the Forum. Hopefully, that will be far from your last post here. Hope you enjoy it here.

Thanks for the welcome, Porscherule! Looking forward to joining in with the discussions

[KiwiT]

I am delighted to advise that Scott bounced back with a terrific performance tonight!

[WilliamElliot]

I am delighted to advise that Scott bounced back with a terrific performance tonight!

Is that you Tim?! Woo! If so, I remember you saying you were re-visiting Saturday. Glad Scott is back on form too! He is a very talented Billy!

[ERinVA]

Thanks for your review, WilliamElliot, and welcome to the forum. Hope you enjoy it here!

[SaveTheChickens]

I am delighted to advise that Scott bounced back with a terrific performance tonight!

Glad to hear Scott was on top form. Like WilliamElliot I was there on Thursday and my heart skipped a beat when he lost control.

[dwallen]

Saturday Evening March 5th

Billy: Scott
Michael: Reece
Debbie: Emily

This was my second show this week and it was unbelievably good. At last I had the chance to see Scott in the role. It was worth waiting for. As a 'Ballet Billy' he was outstanding and it was great to see Electricity danced in such an exciting but balletic way. He sings and acts well and won over the audience very quickly. It was a very responsive audience on Saturday night and fantastically no one clapped until the red curtain was completely down at the end of the show. Twice in a week for me this has happened.

As I said in my review of Wednesday nights show it has certainly been made more gritty and dramatic. Dad was played by Martin Marquiz tonight and his portrayal has changed since I saw him last in January. Again, in line with the changes in other parts of the show, he now shows a harder and perhaps more aggressive reaction to events going on around him. The shows changes work very well.

I will in this review concede that 'Born to Boogie' in its skipping format was the best I had seen. Scott skipped very well and very quickly and the two adults managed to keep going, albeit rather more slowly and carefully! Still it worked ok, at last! Still not as good as the old version though.

I took a young friend with me to this performance who has not seen the show for a couple of years and he noticed how the show has changed in that time. However, he adored it and wants to see it again as soon as possible. He has a way to go to catch up with my 51 shows!

'Expressing yourself' was superb and has now established itself, for me, as a highlight of the show.

It was a talking point during the interval that for brief moments a couple of times the 'Vote for Billy' caption appeared on the back wall of the set during the performance. Someone obviously had their finger on the projector button at the wrong time. Or did they? Mind you, perhaps it might subconsciously make some more people vote for 'The best show in London.'

I said that Wednesday's show was probably the best I have seen but now I think it was probably this one. The cast are putting huge amounts of energy into it and that is incredible after nearly 6 years. But, there is no doubt that the production team and injecting changes quite frequently now which helps to keep the show fresh. I saw things on Saturday, minor I agree, but that had changed since Wednesday. So far I like the changes, except for B to B. Maybe they will think about that next. Just one comment for thought and it is not really a criticism. I think the f---- scene with Billy has been cut so much it hardly makes any contribution to the story. And while I have no problem with Debbie offering to show Billy .... I don't think it now receives enough reaction from the audiences to keep it in. Just a personal view but I would like to hear what others feel.

Anyway, having seen two shows last week I am ready for many. many more. I now need to see Josh to complete the quartet of Billys on at the moment and hopefully that will be soon.

Thanks to the whole cast for making Saturday another very special night at the Victoria Palace.

[zakactor47]

I went to see Billy Elliot the Musical on saturday for the 3rd time. I saw scott and i must say how good scott was. He had the talent and played the part very well. Billys father was played by martin and he gave the expression and the tension very well. The tension on the stage was shown very well. Some very funny occassions. Also the Grandmar scene was very good indeed. The show has changed quite abit since i last saw it!!!!

[porschesrule]

Hi zakactor47. I note it's your first post. Welcome to the forum. Hope you'll enjoy it here and that that post will just be the first of many.

[WilliamElliot]

It was a talking point during the interval that for brief moments a couple of times the 'Vote for Billy' caption appeared on the back wall of the set during the performance. Someone obviously had their finger on the projector button at the wrong time. Or did they? Mind you, perhaps it might subconsciously make some more people vote for 'The best show in London.'

Happened on Thursday too! Both performances had a small PowerPoint-style presentation running over the safety curtain advertising for people to vote in the Laurence Olivier awards. It flickered a little during Angry Dance too!