January 2012 Reviews - NYC

[angelenroute]

The other had lighter, sandy brown hair and was signing autographs at the stage door after Sunday's show. I wonder if that might have been him, and that he's just wearing his hair quite a bit lighter now ?

The one signing autographs by Trent at stage door was the one someone told me was Hogan.

[Todd]

A few random thoughts from this past weekend . . . .

The final performance has been chronicled very nicely so I won't attempt to rehash what has already been posted here. I was glad they decided to let the Billys alternate scenes/sections of the show. It was fun trying to predict who might be the next one to come on, as there didn't seem to be a particular pattern. I'm sure a lot of thought went into who should get to perform which scene.

Towards the end of the first act, I was kind of feeling like Peter was getting short-changed a bit as he had been on less than the others. But looking back on it after seeing the show in its entirety, I can see now that he was given several of Billy's "showcase" numbers: "Angry Dance," "Electricity" and "The Letter Reprise." A fitting honor for the senior Billy in the show, and he didn't disappoint. In fact, his "Angry Dance" was among the very best ones I've ever seen. I was amazed at how someone his size could belt out such a loud, blood-curdling scream - which he did throughout the number. "Electricity" was spot-on and received maybe the longest standing ovation I've ever seen, with the possible exception of Trent Kowalik's last show. And special mention should be made at how he was able to keep his emotions in check for the most part in "The Letter Reprise." It must have been a gut-wrenching moment for him and the rest of the cast at that point, knowing that they were watching the final minutes of the production unfold right before them. If there was a special recognition award to be given for this final performance, for me it would go to Peter.

The only change I would have made in the way the transitions were done would be for both Michaels to have split "Express Yourself," what with this being Michael's big scene in the show. I would have let Jack start it, and then when the dancing dresses came on stage, maybe have Cameron enter and take over the rest of the number. But then again, maybe they figured that Cameron would have his time to shine in the 2nd Act during the Winter Scene and at the very end when he got to utter the final goodbyes to the Billys as they walked up the aisle.

I would also agree with the constructive criticism regarding Daniel Jenkins' singing voice. As he performed "Deep Into the Ground," his singing style reminded me a bit of Al Jolson's rendition of "Mammy" from "The Jazz Singer." Not exactly the style and sound they were going for in this number I wouldn't think.

But those comments aside, I found the entire weekend to be amazing. I'll always remember the off-the-charts enthusiasm by the audience in the final show as they showed their appreciation for each song, each memorable line, and each actor throughout the show. And the love returned to the fans by the cast - highlighted by Thommie Retter's fan appreciation get-together on Friday afternoon and the always-fun stage door mingling - made this a weekend for the ages.

Although "Billy Elliot" ended on Broadway several years sooner than I thought it would, the celebration and atmosphere of this past weekend helped to ease the pain of its closing. Although I've given a lot of my time, energy and money to this production the past 3 years, I can honestly say that it's been worth it all to be a part of something so special, so successful, so enjoyable, and filled with so many genuinely nice people.

[rootbeer]

Hey everyone,
Thanks for all the effort put into reviewing the last show. In addition to checking this forum, I've checked both Youtube and Facebook multiple times a day to see what other new exciting stuff from the finale and other fans have been posted. I was recently reading the Billy Elliot the Musical Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/BillyElliot?sk=wall&filter=1) and came across one post which I thought had a lot of meaning to it. It was someone's experience with the musical, from the beginning. This is the link to the post: https://www.facebook.com/BillyElliot/po ... 2892439840
I hope it's okay to post it, since it's not mine, but it is a post on a public page that everyone can see.
But if you have a chance to, I'd really recommend reading it. I thought it was a really nice perspective on the Billy Elliot experience.

[ERinVA]

Public facebook links are fine. That is a great post. Thanks!

[Brad]

Rootbeer - thanks for the link and post. What a great read and reminder.

[angelenroute]

Many more thoughts to share in the days and weeks to come--you can't get rid of me that quick! But a quick note to my fellow fans: It was great meeting so many more of you who I'd not yet met, and reconnecting with so many more as well. If we didn't speak at all, or didn't speak much, know that, like you, my thoughts and emotions were bouncing all over the place this weekend. I tried very hard to network and chat with as many people as possible, but as I've gotten to know scores of fans now, it gets more and more difficult to keep my focus at such large gatherings.

I wrote the below reflection this past week on one of my personal networking sites, kept meaning to share it here as well, but forgot to do so.

*********************

How Do You Say Goodbye?

How do you say goodbye after only three years? How do you express the emotional impact of having something so wonderful walk into your life, and then be ripped away so suddenly?

Billy’s story first touched my life 11 years ago, when the movie came out in theaters. Only 11, for Christ’s sake. It should not be said that dance was ever a talent of mine, but Billy’s desire to prove himself in spite of every obstacle stacked against him was incredibly inspiring. His story was also not all that dissimilar to my own. My father grew up in Inchicore, Ireland, just outside the city of Dublin. His family struggled when he was young, and his father was thrown into Kilmainham Jail for failure to pay the tax bill. My dad wasn’t a miner, but as a teenager he worked for the Irish railroad system, and later enlisted with the Irish Army during World War II. He moved to America in his thirties, but always went back year after year to the “old sod”. Nearly 50 years my senior, my dad was a tender but tough man, and his conservative Irish Catholic background didn’t exactly provide the warm and cozy backdrop I craved and needed as a young man. For the most part, my father was Jackie Elliot circa Act 1 and not Act 2.

Even though I came out to my family when I was 22, it wasn’t until a couple of years later that I said the words “I’m gay” to my dad’s face. Unlike Billy Elliot’s stand to his father, mine was a bit easier, because my dad lay dead in the coffin when I told him. Asleep, you can’t lift a finger.

Billy’s not gay, it seems, but Michael is, and I did have a best friend Michael growing up. I also have a brother Billy. As Billy was 11 in 1984, he’s also very close to my age. And because Billy Elliot breaks down the stereotype of what boys are supposed to do and be, he’s my absolute hero. In a world where boys are bullied for being gay, Billy Elliot is a champion for straight allies everywhere. When Michael asks, “You won’t tell anyone, will ye?” he learns that Billy is a great and supportive friend, and even gets a warm kiss goodbye from his friend too. Lee Hall’s story and Stephen Daldry’s direction give us these beautiful moments of love and acceptance, even if they’re sometimes hard to find in the real world, where bullies and homophobia continue to drive children to an early grave.

In the musical, Scottish Dancer scolds Billy’s dad to “get right behind your boy”, and Jackie Elliot proves he is when asked so by the Royal Ballet officials. His quick “yes” when asked if he’s completely behind Billy is followed by that beautifully sincere “yes” directly to Billy. I never got that from my dad. He loved me, but because I never felt safe enough to truly be myself with him and share what and whom I loved most in the world, he was never the Act 2 version of Dad I hoped for.

Between Billy’s acceptance and love for Michael and Dad’s acceptance and love for Billy, the film and the musical of Billy’s story are in many ways an idealized version of reality, but ideals are never impossibilities. We dream of flying, of being the best we can be, of being accepted, loved and cherished, and sometimes these things do happen, sometimes these dreams are realized. Billy Elliot The Musical takes every single one of us on an incredible journey from agonizing reality to a realized dream come true.

Though Billy’s fantastic story can never be erased or forgotten, and we’ll always have the London cast recording and many photos, videos and memories, the sad truth is still with me and many people right now. Billy Elliot Broadway is ending after only three years and three months. I can’t help but be crying here right now as I type these words. Inspiration is all around us in this world, but for me, and many Billy fans, we have had a guaranteed place to go and find this inspiration anytime we wanted to. And now it’ll just be gone.

A cruel twist of fate brought the North American Tour closest to New York at the same time as the Broadway show was in its final days, so I most likely won’t see the show anywhere again until August, when the Tour arrives in Boston. A mere seven months’ break, I know, but for a “super fan” from Long Island who lives just a 37-minute train ride from Manhattan, it will feel an eternity.

Billy Elliot Broadway has been a home away from home, a place we go to get away from the world we know, where we are transported back to England, 1984. We know all of the staff, ticket takers, and ushers by face, and smile to ourselves when they start to tell us where our seat is located. There’s that moment that we get to our seat and see strangers pouring over their Playbill, whispering to each other about the inserts, worried that their Billy is some backup kid. We assure them they’re in for a treat, that all of the cast are top-notch, and smile again when they ask if we’ve seen the show before.

I always thought it’d be fun to just sit and watch the audience during the show, see how each joke that I know is coming lands on their faces, and how far back they tilt their heads in delight and amazement at the show before them, or how much a tender moment makes them cry. I delight in telling people that they’re going to love the show, and then like clockwork having them stop me after it’s over and exclaiming how they understand now why I keep coming back.

People will often ask us if the show stays fresh, even though we know it so well and have seen it so many times. My particular show count at the Broadway production’s close is 46 times with 20 different boys in the title role worldwide. Add in many different Michaels, Debbies, Dads, Mrs. Wilkinsons and more, and yes, I can safely say it’s just never the same show twice. It’s been a blessing, a true gift to have seen so many actors and actresses blossom in their roles, surprise in their capacity as a swing or understudy, and even explode in emotional moments you’ve just never seen done that way before.

In a show filled with charming surprises and clever word play, delightful facial expressions, tear-streaming sadness and side-aching laughter, Billy Elliot The Musical has succeeded in also making audience members say “wow!” out loud, time and time again. It combines a serious play with a wonderful hand-clapping, feet tapping musical, and the result is a tour de force of emotion and thought that leaves us, like Billy, empty and full all at the same time. By the final curtain, we’re just tickled with what the cast has just done to us, what they’ve evoked from within us, how they have taught us and impressed us.

And now, this incredible show, this fantastic production we’ve known and grown with, is sadly coming to a close. It lives on at The Mother Church in London, and thrives and delights on Tour across America. But the show we’ve fallen in love with on Broadway will be no more. Sets will be taken down. Curtains and dresses packed up. Miners hats stacked in boxes, and ballet slippers retired. This show that has brought tears to the most heart-hardened individuals will now bring tears to thousands of adoring fans around the world who can no longer visit Billy on Broadway.

So how do you say goodbye to something this miraculous, this special, this little bit of magic that’s nested itself in our lives so warmly for the past three years? Perhaps the answer has been there all along. Maybe instead of guessing, we need only turn to Billy to understand how to say goodbye to the life we’ve known.

Like Billy, first we bid farewell to and thank our teachers, the creators of the lessons we’ve been taught. The Creative Team that envisioned and created this musical are the often-overlooked talents who don’t get their chance to receive a standing ovation from the audience. We could have never done it without them.

Next, Billy says goodbye to his family, and we thank all the families, the parents and guardians of the children, every mom, dad, sibling and spouse of the cast for supporting them along the way. This show could not succeed without the 100% support of the families, and they are completely behind their children and other family in the cast. Most cannot afford to attend performances regularly, but they do when they can, and are always there to drop their child off at the theatre and pick them up late at night. Like Billy’s family, they are with them, through everything, and always will be.

As the lights grow dark and the story comes to a close, Billy’s final goodbye is to his best friend. The cast, from each Billy who carries the show to each ensemble member whose name you can’t always recall, is an integral part of the life that has been Billy Elliot The Musical on Broadway. Every backstage production member and stage door guardian, every ballet girl, ensemble cast member and featured performer, all are at the center of the Billy Broadway family.

And as Billy kisses his friend goodbye—for now—we lean in and gently kiss this beautiful show goodbye for now too. A full orchestra plays the closing “Love You Forever” anthem we all know so well, and with a tear-drenched face, we whisper hoarsely our “See ya Billy” one last time.

Sean Patrick Brennan

[accessmenj]

Thanks for posting that, Sean. Reading it was both painful and pleasurable.

[CJ-Rochester]

One thing I forgot to mention from the final show...at the final bows the two small boys came out wearing t-shirts that said in very large letters: GOOD BYE and NEW YORK. Here they are, dwarfed by the three original Billys:

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos- ... 9064_n.jpg

It was a cute way to end things. Then a cannon fired confetti over the whole theater.

[dongringo]

That is an excellent photo CJ.

[CJ-Rochester]

That is an excellent photo CJ.

I did not take the picture, but it was on a couple of public FB pages.