January 2012 Reviews - London

[Billy Whiz]

Nice, Pat.

[dancingboy]

Saturday 28 January (evening)

Following on from Pat's review I was at the show on Saturday evening and agree with a lot of what Pat has said, although for me there are some aspects of the ' new production' that are still not to my liking, but as they say in South London 'chacun a son gout'. It certainly was Jovial Josh Baker as Billy and the show was pure musical theatre at its very best. Nothing ever fazes Josh and for the second time in a week he had to perform a one-shoe shuffle during Expressing Yourself because of a problem with one of his tap shoes. Being the supreme professional he is he just carried on,dancing away with Connor Kelly (Michael) until the number was finished, all the while smiling away and pulling a few of those Josh faces that the regulars know so well.

Connor was at his impish best, especially during the Tutu scene and the emotions ebbed and flowed throughout the whole evening. It is Josh's enthusiasm during his whole performance that bowls me over and his acting and his dancing has never been shown to better effect. The appplause and, indeed cheering, that rang round the theatre after Electricity,was so well deserved.

The final scenes with Mrs Wilkinson, the Letter reprise and the Billy/Michael 'Goodbyes' were played out superbly so that as the curtain came down on the show I would think that everyone in the audience was emotionally drained. I know I was. So a great big thank you to all the cast for a memorable performance.

[porschesrule]

Here's a review by a theatre critic/reviewer for the online publication called "A New Take". He saw Adam Vesperman as Billy:

http://anewtake.com/2012/01/review-bill ... ew+Take%29

[KeefyM]

Great reviews Pat and John, and I have to agree that Saturday shows certainly were classics and left you emotionally drained after the great performances from all the cast.


Monday 30th January 2012

Billy – Adam
Michael – Joe
Debbie – Macy
Small Boy – Colby
Tall Boy – Ashley
Mrs W – Gillian
Dad – Deka
Tony – Michael

My first Adam show of 2012 and having not seen Adam for 2 months, I was really looking forward to tonight and seeing just how much Adam has progressed and developed in the role of Billy, having read all the reviews and heard nothing but great praise about his performances over the last few months.
All I can say is, WOW, WOW and WOW, as our Seattle Superhero proved yet again why he is known as the Amazing Astonishing Adam with another very confident, highly engaging and tremendous performance. As has been said by Pat and John previously, tonight as per Saturday was entertainment of high calibre and musical theatre at its very best.

I have seen some good Billy shows, some great Billy shows and to be honest, some 'flat' Billy shows over the last 7 years, but tonight was a stunning show thanks to Joe, Macy, all the cast and the outstanding and exceptional performance from our main man – the one and only Adam Vesperman (aka Master of Dance, Master of Skipping and the best thing to come out of Seattle since Starbucks & Amazon).

A two month wait to see Adam was certainly worth it as his performance was (to quote audience members tonight: “Different Class”, “Amazing”, “Absolute Perfection”), and how right they are, no wonder people were emotionally drained after tonight’s and Saturday’s performance from Adam. A stunning all-round performance with his acting and singing at the top of their game, and of course his incredible and amazing dancing that has the audience screeching for more (especially the bloke sitting next to me tonight – but more on him later!).

I have used the word ‘genius’ in various reviews, i.e. mentioning that Connor Kelly’s version of Michael is genius. I’m now going to use it again because as far as I’m concerned, Adam is a Dance Genius, as he continues to show us why he is an exceptionally gifted and naturally talented dancer. As I have said before, if Adam keeps up his dancing, then he will not only be one of the best Dancers the United States has produced, but one of the best the world has produced, as he proved once again just how great his dancing is throughout the key numbers of Electricity, Angry Dance, Dream Ballet, The Finale as well as the little bits of ballet and dance in Solidarity and B2B.

Another exceptionally angry, powerful and skilled Angry Dance. I witnessed first hand what people have meant over the last few months by their “oh my god, you should see Adam’s Angry Dance” comments. He was fuming, swearing and shouting away with a perfectly timed aggressive tap. It is amazing to watch and see the anger build up inside him as he stands atop the table as Tony is shouting at Mrs W and then all that aggression coming out during a superb Angry Dance.

I’m still waiting on Adam drilling through the stage floor with the speed of his pirouettes at the end of Solidarity and at the end of Electricity, which once again was exceptional. I have seen some great Ballet Electricity’s at the VP, but Adam tonight showed how it should be done with such precise poise, grace, body lines and movement in his ballet, combined with a few handstands and summersaults. One thing about Adam Electricity’s – they are consistently perfect and you are always completely drawn to what is happening on stage with his performance. Great work Adam, your Electricity’s (as Michael would say) are “cush”.

Unfortunately, no standing ovation from myself and John (shocking work on our behalf – sorry Adam), but your Electricity was definitely very worthy of a standing ovation and at least a few people in the back stalls stood up and the long and loud applause, cheering and whooping certainly made up for it. It was great to see Adam smiling away and looking around the audience and really appreciating the reaction after his Electricity performance.

More importantly, it was great to see Adam staying on stage for a while and taking his well deserved applause, cheers, whooping etc, rather than running off early. Personally, I think all Billys should ‘do a Ryan’ and 'milk it like hell' when getting their applause after Electricity. After all their hard work, effort and training why shouldn’t they ‘bask’ in their moment of glory. Don’t think I have heard such a fantastic reaction to Electricity performances as I did on Saturday for Josh and for Adam tonight, which just goes to prove how great and exceptional their Ballet Electricity’s were.

One of the reason’s we didn’t stand is that sitting next to us was a lovely couple who we were talking to beforehand and who were seeing the show for the third time in a fortnight. They loved the show, they loved Adam and are big fans of BETM and the woman even got a picture with Colby at the Stage Door afterwards. Although, I’m a bit lost as to why they were taking pictures of the inside of the programme in low light in the pub afterwards. But hey-ho, each to their own.

Now, we all love this show and are very supportive and enthusiastic about it, however, there is enthusiasm and there is OTT enthusiasm. Unfortunately, at the end of Electricity and when Adam was pushed forward to take his bows before the Finale, the gentleman’s enthusiasm became very loud and OTT screechy - absolutely screeching at the top of his voice “AAAAAAADDAAM, AAAAADAAAAAAM, AAAADAAAAAAAM, AAAAAAAAAADAAAAAAMM” at the end of Electricity – no bloody wonder Adam looked down at him. I have no doubt Adam appreciated the shouts and applause from the audience and from this bloke, but his screeching was so loud that the bloke drew plenty of attention to himself from the audience and Deka gave him ‘a look’ as if to say ‘alright mate, calm it down’.

Basically, it was like a teenage girl screeching at a Justin Bieber or One Direction concert – except this screeching was coming from a bloke in his 20’s/30’s. Of course, muggins here would be sitting next to him and just like when I was at the One Direction concert last week, I ended up deaf from this blokes bloody screeching of Adam’s name right in my ear. I was also scared he was going to rip his shirt off and have a t-shirt underneath with a picture of Adam, which judging by the way he was acting wouldn't have surprised me.

Therefore, John and I didn’t stand because we knew this bloke had been over enthusiastic throughout the show, so god knows what he would have been like with the screeching and giving a standing ovation, as guaranteed he would have followed us in standing up. The couple weren’t that enthusiastic initially when Adam came back on stage before the Finale as it was John and I that had to lead the standing ovations at the end of the evening, despite a great audience. Once Adam was pushed forward to take his bows, John and I stood up and plenty others followed. This unfortunately led to more OTT screams of “AAAADAAAAMM, AAAAAADAAAAAMM” from Mr Screechy, with Mrs Screechy joining in this time. Aargh!.

There are previous reviews that have said Adam plays Billy with a rather serious approach, which personally I couldn’t give a hoot about as his version of Billy is great and it works perfectly whether serious or not. Also, those reviews(including mine) said he needs to relax more as he looks ‘a bit scared at times’ with those big wide eyes. Put it this way, Adam didn't look scared at all to me last night and was very relaxed and smiling throughout, but he certainly did look scared at this blokes screeching, and who could blame him as Adam wasn’t the only one who was scared or deafened by Mr and Mrs Screechy.

Anyway, a great and highly appreciative audience who especially loved Adam, Joe, Macy and Deka judging by the reactions in their various scenes, especially Deka’s brilliantly well done actions after Electricity showing how proud Dad is of Billy and his brilliant audition scene (thankfully Deka’s performance more than makes up for the dodgy Scottish accents from whoever is playing the Ballet Dancer).
Adam has a great rapport with all the cast, none more so than in his scenes with Gillian or Caroline’s Mrs W. Tonight we had Gillian as Mrs W and I have finally warmed to her interpretation of the character with some great unique moments and touches in Born to Boogie & The Letter, complimented by Adam’s choir boy singing. Great to see Caroline as the ever-flirty RBS woman who seemed to be flirting even more with Deka’s Jackie Elliot tonight, and I couldn’t help thinking how much of a loss Caroline will be when she leaves (boo, hiss) next month.

Highlights for me included Adam’s brilliant acting and his great Geordie accent which has just got better the more he has developed in the role with words like ‘doing’ and ‘going’ now pronounced as ‘daeing’ and ‘gaun’, and nice to see him smiling a lot more and reacting (i.e. laughing and smiling at Grandma during her dancing in 'Grandma’s Song'). Great to see him laughing in response to Grandma while sitting on the stool listening to her story, although how can you not react to those wonderful Ann Emery performances.

Glad to see a few of my favorite unique Adam traits are still very much in evidence, such as the wonderful way he shouts “f***ing hell” when he sees Michael in the dress, his loud "f*** off" to Mr Braithwaite in B2B when he does the w****r gesture, the grumpy face at Michael during Express, after the line “keep up Billy”, eating the crumbs out of the biscuit tin rather than a biscuit (more Jaffa Cakes available for Josh) and the ever hilarious and priceless reaction to Debbie’s ‘offer’, as he looks stunned/scared and completely taken aback but kind of wishes he could say ‘yes’ and has a good think about it, but makes it obvious that Billy desperately wants out of this situation, but still indicates that Billy might have a crush on Debbie and fancy her, but doesn't know how to go about it. Adam's reaction when Mrs W finally orders Debbie outside is priceless and one of the best I've seen, with a brilliant 'sigh of relief' that the situation/awkwardness is over.

Other highlights for me were the ever consistent, brilliant and hilarious Colby Mulgrew as Small Boy – an exceptional performance once again from a lad who’s personality just shines on that stage and who definitely has a great career ahead of him in performing arts. Talent counts for a lot, but so does personality and Colby has an amazing talent and one hell of a personality that will get him very far in life. As a TV Producer/Director I would have no hesitation in casting Colby in anything because I know from his performances at the VP just how great he would be and the fact that he is something very special and unique. i.e. there is just some obvious 'spark' from him at his young age that is saying 'this boy is going to be a big star'.
(For the record, I would have no hesitation in casting Adam in anything because of his acting and dancing).

As usual, Colby had us laughing away at his loud ‘banging’ when sorting out the chairs in the scene after Electricity and his ever hilarious spitting at the MD in the Boxing Scene, which tonight sprayed all over Chris Hatt (although I don’t think Chris noticed (haha). It was great that we had the opportunity to thank Colby for another exceptional performance and chat to his lovely mum and older brother before and after the show (thanks Charlie and Josh for taking the time and trouble to speak to John and I, very much appreciated, and for allowing us to speak to Colby afterwards, glad you both enjoyed the show).

Ashley Cousins continues to be as brilliant as ever as Tall Boy and Posh Boy and once again he turned up the level of ‘snootiness’ as Posh Boy, looking up and down at Billy with a fairly obvious facial expression of ‘look how inferior and poor you are compared to me, standing there with your jar of money, rubbish clothes and squint tie’. For some reason, his “Oh, Don’t Be So Silly” seemed to be even more posh and snooty tonight which probably explains the rather aggressive face from Adam when ‘whacking’ Posh Boy on the Safety Curtain.

Macy and the Ballet Girls, two words – bloody fantastic, don’t think I have seen Adam swear as much back at the girls as he did tonight in Solidarity and Shine including a very Josh like ‘f*** off* and ‘V sign’ to the girls who pushed him about. Anyone who thought that Macy was too young to play Debbie is completely wrong, love her confidence and her bolshie version of Debbie with great line delivery and facial expressions throughout her scenes. Keep up the great work Macy and all the Ballet Girls, and I must mention the outstanding performances once again from the girl who played Susan Parkes and the red haired girl who played Tracey Atkinson (sorry girls, still do not know your names). But all the girls were great, and as usual are the unsung heroes(or heroines) of the show.

There have been some great performances from everyone’s favourite cheeky little imp that is Joe Massey. But if you weren’t there tonight then you missed a treat as I can honestly say that was Joe’s best ever Michael performance. Exceptional work from him, with his line delivery and timing during Express and the Winter Scene spot on. Hilarious antics with the Tutu that had Adam smiling and laughing away and he didn’t half give Adam one hell of a punch in the Boxing scene. Loved the grumpy faces at Adam during Express, especially when Adam triumphantly shouted “Billy Wins” at the Tap Shoe race and Joe put on a sad face and said “Oh No, you beat me again”.
An exceptional, highly entertaining and fun Express from Adam and Joe, that certainly was a hit with the audience with plenty whooping, cheering and rhythmic clapping throughout. I do not think I have seen Joe enjoy himself or ‘milk it’ as much as he did tonight during Express, with smiles and facial expressions galore and a great partnership with Adam who was clearly enjoying every moment of this number and being teamed up with an on-form and fun loving Joe.

There were a quite a few people that noticed and commented on, including the couple behind us, that Joe has obviously ‘been in the wars’ and probably doing his ‘free-running’ as his legs are covered in cuts and bruises, which for some reason actually helps and suits his version of Michael as you can imagine his cheeky-imp Michael going about Easington and coming back from ‘playing out’ with cuts and bruises and then being the more ‘sensitive’ Michael indoors, especially when tonight Joe blew a sneaky kiss at the picture of Billy that he has just stuck on the mirror in Express. Not quite the full on Jake Pratt kissing the picture, but enough of a kiss to show Michaels true feelings for Billy.

A tremendous & exceptional performance from Joe that brought a smile to everyone’s faces and had everyone at the VP cheering and clapping for Young Master Massey like never before. Well Done Joe, thanks for a fantastic performance and bringing us a brilliantly ‘cush’ version of Michael. Hope the bruises and cuts heal up soon!.

A thoroughly enjoyable show (even Michael Peavoy was quieter and less psychotic than Saturday night). Unfortunately, Psychotic Tony was alive and well in Easington on Saturday night. Poor Josh & Caroline should have had an umbrella due to the amount of spit that was coming out of Michael’s mouth, especially in the scene before Angry Dance.
Thankfully, Michael was much better tonight i.e. less shouty/psychotic/spitting and I do like the way he plays the RBS letter scene with Grandma, Dad and Billy. However, the end of that scene is rather spoiled for me now (after George and Big Davy come to tell Dad the strike is over) as I can’t help thinking that Michael’s run off stage when he says “we can’t all be f***ing dancers” is rather camp and too quick and spoils the emotion and poignancy of that line and scene.

Anyway, a great show from all the cast led by a dream team of Adam, Joe and Macy, topped off with another brilliant Finale led by a very smiley Adam having some fun and letting his personality come out.
It was great to see the VP almost full tonight as it was on Saturday night, which just goes to prove that the future of Billy is in very safe hands with Adam, Josh, Kaine, Ryan and this show ain’t going anywhere (i.e. closing) and can still pack ’em in.
With performances like tonight from Adam, it's no wonder people keep coming back again and again as no other show offers such a rollercoaster of emotions and leaves you on such a high and amazed at the talent of all the cast, especially our 4 Billys.

Overhearing conversations afterwards from first-timers on Saturday and tonight just goes to prove how loved the show is and how many people loved Josh’s performance on Saturday evening and Adam tonight. I met someone on Saturday that had spent an hour walking about Victoria in a daze after the matinee as he was that astonished and amazed by Adam’s talent and what he had just witnessed from our Seattle Superhero. He couldn’t quite comprehend that a 13 year old could be so brilliant and talented and put on such an amazing show. I’m glad to say Adam certainly did the same tonight and left the audience stunned and breathless at his talent and his great version of Billy.

Get booking your tickets to the VP now folks as you certainly won’t be disappointed no matter which Billy/Debbie/Michael/Small Boy/Tall Boy/Ballet Girl team you see and I can guarantee you that you certainly won’t be disappointed by the performances from Master Vesperman.

Thanks for an awesome show and a thoroughly entertaining evening Adam. What a show and what a performance, I certainly won’t be leaving it another two months to see more of your amazing talent and exceptional dancing.
Keep up the great work and hope to see you sometime soon.
Oh, and did I mention you are one of my favourite Billys ever!


Cheers
Keith

[dancingboy]

You are obviously not very busy today, Keith, to write such a detailed review as that, but nevertheless, if I hadn't been there to witness Adam's show for myself then your review and your photographic memory for detail certainly whisked me off to the theatre right into Row B. There is no doubt in my mind that Adam definitely has that 'Wow' factor, particularly in his dancing and I am sure he is a star of the future. As I and others have said recently with our Fab Four of Adam, Josh, Kaine and Ryan at the helm, then BETM is in very safe hands and is THE show to watch.

[Brad]

Keith and Pat, thanks for two awesome reviews. It amazes me that after the number of shows you have both seen, that you can still see so much detail and be warmed to heartily by it. Downunder, it is easy to resign yourself to the fact that Billy is gone from our doorstep and the bianuual visits will have to suffice, except for the exceptional reviews we get to read.
Thankyou.

[porschesrule]

Great reviews, Pat and Keith. I love to keep up with how the show is doing in London and your reviews always thoroughly provide that. Very entertaining reads. Thanks.