March 2012 Reviews - London

[Billy Whiz]

Here are a few photos from Josh and Emily's last night.

[Rich B]

Great pictures, David! (as usual)

[ERinVA]

Excellent!

[porschesrule]

Superb pictures as always, David. Thanks for sharing.

[angelenroute]

Here are a few photos from Josh and Emily's last night.

Great shots, thanks so much for sharing them! =)

[Brad]

Thanks David for sharing these

[jen]

Thanks they are great has anyone got a review please?

[ERinVA]

There are a couple that were posted in Josh's thread instead of in this one.

[patc]

Thursday Matinee 8th March

Harris, Reece, Dayna

Grandma: Gillian Elisa

Regardless of the result of this Saturday’s big rugby match in Dublin, with the arrival of Harris in Victoria Street the score in the Billy stakes is Scotland 3 – Ireland 1. With a bright Skye over the VPT as we entered the hallowed space, the Ayr became vibrant with excitement when we saw Harris’ name on the board. If you can’t get to a new Billy’s first night the next best thing is to see him perform as early as possible in his career and follow his progress from there.

So, at approx 2.33pm we got our first glimpse of Harris as he came Forth onto the stage and the following is for the Ben Nevis of those who were not there to see this Stirling performance from the new boy in a hum-Ding(wall)er of a show.

In Part 1 Harris’ pacing of the show was beautifully done as he moved on from being the newest recruit to Mrs. W’s class to becoming the star pupil. Having been horribly humiliated by his Dad in front of the girls he soon put that behind him when sunbeam Reece arrived for a brilliant Expressing which both boys thoroughly enjoyed – as did we.

Bearing in mind Harris’ notes in the programme I knew that The Letter was not going to be easy to watch. Knowing what we know now it was impossible not to be deeply moved as the scene progressed and, quite quickly, my floodgates opened and stayed open until after Mr.B (brilliant Simon Ray Harvey) came along to twist our emotions in the opposite direction.

I had already seen Dayna a couple of times before today and she has proved to be a wonderful new bouncy Debbie with great acting ability and lots of eye movements and facial expressions. In the Toilet Scene the reaction on Harris’s face when she popped the “question” so matter-of-factly was priceless.

And so we came to Angry Dance. Wow. Torn with rage, Harris bounded up the stairs and, to begin with, nearly ripped the bars around his bed off the top of the platform. Back down again he came to vent and the next few minutes of amazing all-out angry-tap and gestures made an “Old Firm” derby look like ballroom dancing..

Dream Ballet was brilliant as the irreplaceable Barnaby ever so gently took control and smilingly and encouragingly brought his new charge through all the moves in this wonderful spectacle.

As Electricity got ever so nearer I could hardly sit still in my seat. Oh boy. The moment finally arrived and it was a beauty. Sensibly, at this early point in time, Harris didn’t try to push it too hard. He concentrated on getting all the basics right and it worked perfectly. I cannot wait to see this develop as time goes by. The crowd went wild, overwhelmed by what they had just seen, but Harris didn’t hang around. With a quick grab of his bag he was gone.

The Letter Reprise was as sad as the first one, Did Harris know he was Brechin everyone’s Hearts as he sang those beautiful words?

At the end of the show when he ran back on stage and joined Deka and Gillian and turned to face the audience he looked surprised to see a sea of standing faces cheering him on. He will have to get used to that. You have to be very xxxxxxxxx special to get to play Billy Elliot and he is just that.

As the performance drew to a close three beams of light seemed to appear from above. I feel sure it was his Mum, Romy and little Charlotte arm-in-arm together smiling down at our newest fantastic Billy.

My memories from today are carefully Stornoway. Beg, Barra or steal a ticket to see him. You will not be disappointed.

Pat

[porschesrule]

Pat, as always a creative and thoroughly enjoyable read. Thanks.