September 2013 Reviews - London

[Barry Appleby]

A Big Thanks, Ratchel, Pat and John for your reviews, again they are very much appreciated.

[patc]

Thursday Matinee 19th September

Redmand/Zach A/Millie

Another Thursday and another sensational and salubrious show this time masterminded by the exuberantly classy Redmand. Even had he not danced a solitary step nor sung a notable note, his high-class thespian talent would have been guaranteed an Oscar had today’s outstanding offering been on celluloid rather than on wood. When you factor in the dancing and the singing (and the smile) I hereby promulgate my view that a splendid and glorious future in TV/Film/Theatre lies ahead for the Portsmothian boy if that is a road he wishes to travel.

Zach A’s multifaceted and eclectic Michael added all the right ingredients and never more so than in an Expressing that had the same effect as a roving Capodimonte Chandelier casting glowing hues on a multicoloured quilt. He was equally equal to the task during the darker moments.

The Toilet scene was brilliantly funny. Redmand’s delayed declinature of Millie’s daring offer was done with an innocent-like yuk!-ishness and, when Mrs. W interjected, Millie’s mischievous cheeky monkey smile back to her was positively priceless. She takes no prisoners.

Ann Emery continues to defiantly defeat all the regular regulations for 80 year olds. From Queen Ratling of the Grand Order of Lady Ratlings in 1986 to Queen of the London stage in 2013 and all that went before. Raise your glasses to the Lady.

Another of the new Ballet Girl Groups was on splendid duty and performed their duties perfectly with controlled obstreperousness and much skill.

Matthew Dale stood in for Kevin as Tony and was singularly impressive in the role with the standout being He Could Be a Star and the confrontation with Deka.

Simon Ray’s plaintive accordion accompaniment to Deep Into The Ground just gets better and more effective every week. This already beautiful song has bountifully benefited greatly.

The Ensemble members are all in cracking form with not a weak link and very interchangeable as required by the vagaries of holiday entitlements.

There are insufficient quantities of suitable or adequate adjectives to provide an apt description of the ballet Electricity performed by Redmand and the accompanying emotive responses of Deka as he comes to finally realise what a son he has on his hands. Suffice to say that the build up and climax to this extraordinarily emotional scene was ethereal. To quote Thomas Moore (the poet):

If you have seen all this and more,
God bless me! what a deal you've seen!


Pat

[Rich B]

Thanks, Pat. I always look forward to Friday mornings - a cup of coffee and Pat's review. And thanks to Rachel, John and all the others who have written reviews. It's a bit lonely on this side of the pond without BETM so all of your reviews are much appreciated.

Rich

[dancingboy]

Thursday 19 September

I was feeling unwell yesterday, with a heavy cold and, by rights, should not have been in the theatre, so I apologise to anyone who may have picked up my germs. Be that as it may, what better way is there to clear the head than by seeing two BETM shows. Those of you who know me are well aware that I see the show on a very regular basis and I do find it difficult to write a review after every show. Finding the right or different words each time is the difficulty.
Not for the first time recently, though, I find myself writing about shows starring Redmand and the Dazzling Dowzell. At the matinee, Redmand again showed us his own inimitable style of portraying Billy. He is calmness personified and goes about the stage in an unflappable manner, but is so effective in relaying the Billy story. As Pat quite properly said, Redmand looks as though an acting career would come easily to him.
He worked very well with Zach ( not to be confused with Zak) and there was lots of fun in both the Boxing scene and in Expressing Yourself. Redmand's ballet Electricity, for me, stole the show. It was so strong in the ballet movements and was danced with perfect timing. Millie ( as Debbie) is always good to watch and I am sure she is a comedy actress or comedienne in waiting. At the toilet scene she spoke her words in a slightly different manner to other Debbies and you could see she was goading Redmand into give her a positive answer to her question. Redmand, however, was having none of it and turned her down, following some wonderful facial expressions.

The evening performance saw Harrison with Zak ( not to be confused with Zach) as Michael and Dayna as Debbie. Zak is fairly new to the job, but has taken to it like the proverbial 'duck to water'. He brings some new moves to both the Boxing scene and with the tutu in the Winter scene that brought howls of laughter from the audience. There is nothing new that I can say about Harrison, except to say he goes from strength to strength in both his 'signature' numbers, Angry Dance and Electricity. I am sure that by the time of his last night he will have burnt a hole in the stage due to the speed at which he performs Angry Dance. It is quite mesmerising and tiring to even watch it. Electricity was, as usual, fast and furious and following the back flip off the board the audience cheered with delight.

Two shows, different shows in a way, with both Redmand and Harrison at the top of their form and both must be congratulated on maintaining the exceptionally high standard that they have set. Well done too, to the supporting casts and new (ish) team of ballet girls.

[porschesrule]

Despite your feeling a bit under the weather, John, and your disclaimer about finding it difficult to find the right words -- I found this review to be of your usual elegance and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It certainly seems that London's two most senior Billys and their supporting colleagues have the show in the best of health.

I hope yours improves as well.

Thanks for sharing.

[Westletonion]

I really take my hat off to Pat, and John also in this case, for their creativity in finding ever new descriptive words to review this amazing show. Incredible to think that some Billys, perhaps 12 years old, were only two when previews started way back in 2005. And in Elliott's case he was scarcely on earth!

[Billy Whiz]

Thank you everybody for the terrific reviews.

Sadly I can't manage to get down to see the show as often as I used to so these reviews are the next best thing.

Wow! There were a lot of big words in your review Pat. Have you been sleeping with a dictionary under your pillow

[dancingboy]

Saturday 21 September

To simply write in glowing terms about the performances today of Harrison ( matinee) and Redmand ( evening) could not possibly do them justice. Their performances were both brilliant and stunning. They each raise the bar, week by week, and never fail to clear the hurdle. Many congratulations to them both.

However, during the course of the shows I saw this week there were a few mishaps and deficiences.
a) No beer glass available for Debbie to hand to Mrs Wilkinson in order to collect the 50ps. Instead, Anna-Jane collected them in the palm of her hand.
b) During Born to Boogie, Ali was skipping away when the wooden end of the skipping rope fell off. He decided to stop skipping, threw the rope to the side of the stage and simply danced his way through the remainder of the number.
c) Small Boy (Joe Reynolds) had no lollipop to hand over to Big Davey, when the Miners line up to return to work. Joe walked up, gave a shrug of his shoulders, smiled and returned to his place. ( I managed to speak with Joe after the show and he blamed the chaperone who had failed to have the lollipop with him, to pass on).
d) Redmand had started Angry Dance ( Saturday) but the pit/trap door failed to open. As is customary when this happens Redmand moved to the right hand corner of the stage, but this time the replacement black ballet shoes were not in place. Redmand, of course, carried on pretending to hold the ballet shoes above his head and swinging them around.
e) Also on Saturday, Mrs Wilkinson's skirt fell off whilst performing in Solidarity. Fortunately, or unfortunately, she was wearing her blue slacks underneath.
That's live theatre for you.

[patc]

Thursday Matinee 26th September

Ali/Zak B/Dayna

Tony: Matthew Dale

SuperAligoesballisticandanangrydanceferocious. It was all hellzapoppin(s) at the VPT where the heroic Hartlepudlian boy put on a truly stunning performance. You could hardly draw breath as this beautifully paced portrayal of Billy moved along its pre-determined path to glory but with plenty of laughs, tears and drama along the way.

Tis a pity that there is no youtube video of the show available because, if there were, it would have gone viral by 6pm and mental by 7.

There were so many supreme Ali moments to remember. All the big ones were outstanding, a raging Angry Dance, a majestic, poetic Dream Ballet with Alexander and a heartstopping street Electricity.

But there were lots of little moments, too. Tornado Alley hasn’t yet seen anything to rival Ali’s spin across the stage in Solidarity. The brilliantly conceived rejection of Debbie’s proposal had everyone in stitches.

I’ve mentioned before how Ali uses his magnificent eyes to great effect and I'll give just one instance. In the scene in Part 1 when Dad and Tony have their first confrontation in the kitchen. Ali entered right as usual and saw to his horror what was going on. As matters headed towards the climax he took up a position hunched down behind the kitchen sink so that all you could see in the shadows was his troubled eyes peering out just above the tiled area. It only lasted a short while as he had to react to Tony suddenly being spreadeagled on the floor but it was a brilliant and effective moment of pain and upset conveyed to the audience without a word being spoken. I could give you lots more examples.

Dapper, dancing Zak B revelled in his unique, bouncy, bubbly, all-action Michael role. It was only my second time to see him and he confirmed all I’d seen first time round. The smile in the program says it all. His routine in the Winter Scene with the tutu is spectacularly hilarious and the manner in which he assumes the, er, final position will make you hope you never have to walk on ice. Of course, the big test for any Michael is the final curtain and Zak passed with an A Plus and then some.

It was the turn of the third new Ballet Girls group to grace the Thursday matinee and they certainly did that with style, skill, smiles and looked to be loving every second of it. I wish them all a long and successful run in the show.

Among the audience there was a large, well turned out and extremely well-behaved school group. Their teachers can be proud. I am so glad that they got to see and enjoy this unforgettable show and I’m sure it will have been a great inspiration.

My thanks to Ali, Zak and everyone involved in putting together and delivering another three hours of unrivalled theatre.

Pat

[Barry Appleby]

"Cheers and Thanks" again Pat for another fine review, I'm looking forward to seeing Ali sometime in the future.