Billy Elliot the Forum

BEtourfan wrote:Ben also added a new move in the scene where Billy learns he's been accepted into the Royal Ballet School. After being tackled by Tony, Ben did a "kip-up" from the stage floor (http://www.instructables.com/id/Learn-B ... p5/Kip-up/). Don't believe I've ever seen that before.

Very cool!!! Thanks for letting us know!

StevenKing wrote:Ive said this before and I'll say it forever, they ruined end of Express with new Dresses, they no longer look over the top funny the look awkward NOT funny weird. You get a WTH moment that's not at all.

I would have to agree with you on this. Like you said, it's a WTH moment but not nearly as absurd as the giant dresses. You would think they would have realized the diminished audience reactions and found a way to bring back the dresses and cut costs in another way.

StevenKing wrote: And as usual no clapping for wire rise, I've seen that clapped at at about 10% or less at every tour stop, I saw it at 100% of every London and broadway show...no idea why.

You mean in Dream Ballet? That's too bad. In the shows I saw last year in Boston and Baltimore they almost always applauded. At least a couple of times the audience applauded both when Billy flew up and also when he came back down, thinking that was the end of the number.

StevenKing wrote: NO reaction to Express, poor Jake got zip even with his prompting and its NOT his fault. Ive said this before and I'll say it forever, they ruined end of Express with new Dresses, they no longer look over the top funny the look awkward NOT funny weird. You get a WTH moment that's not at all. And as usual no clapping for wire rise, I've seen that clapped at at about 10% or less at every tour stop, I saw it at 100% of every London and broadway show...no idea why.

That's been my experience too, Steven, at about 80% of all the tour shows I've seen. I too have tried to figure out why the audiences are so much more "into it" and enthusiastic in London and New York. Might be a case of those cities being more theatrically savvy and appreciative of talent when they see it, whereas many towns on the tour might treat a live show like they're sitting at home on their couch watching TV (i.e. passive) rather than understanding that it's better to participate in the performance (i.e. applause). I suspect it could also be due to the fact that so many of the theaters on the tour are too big for the show, resulting in many of the spectators sitting so far away from the stage that they feel a bit detached from the performance.

I think that Steven is 100% correct about the effect of the new dancing dresses. In order for the audience to react to Michael at the end, the whole thing has to be over the top. The large dresses were just that--outrageous and funny. The new ones are just strange and not funny, so Michael is left at the end working himself to death trying to elicit the kind of audience reaction that used to arise naturally as a result of the humor and outrageousness that the large dresses created, but the new ones just don't. It was a very unfortunate choice to replace the large dresses because it completely changed the audience's reaction to the number and left Michael high and dry at the end.

I totally and absolutely agree about the dresses I noticed the less enthusiastic response the first time I saw the new dresses and EVERY time since.

The Tour dresses do not 'work'. They are a bit 'creepy' whereas the stage ones are funny. I wonder if their design inspiration came from the Blue Man Group, which is also managed by NETworks Presentations on Tour?

Agree... but the question is... Where are those old dresses? Left in the last city they were used? Lawn ornaments for Stephen Daldry's front lawn? Wherever they now reside... let's start a Bring Back the Dresses Campaign for Hartford. It's only right.

gpcolo wrote:Agree... but the question is... Where are those old dresses? Left in the last city they were used? Lawn ornaments for Stephen Daldry's front lawn? Wherever they now reside... let's start a Bring Back the Dresses Campaign for Hartford. It's only right.

I agree. They can store them at my sister's house in West Hartford!

gpcolo wrote:Where are those old dresses? ...Lawn ornaments for Stephen Daldry's front lawn?

I'd pay good money to see that!

Me too!