January 2014 Reviews - London

[ERinVA]

Thanks for another entertaining review, Pat. I haven't heard the expression "Jumping Jehosaphat" in years!

As for the gaelic at the end, yes, thank you, and may you have a thousand good things too!

[angelenroute]

Thanks for another entertaining review, Pat. I haven't heard the expression "Jumping Jehosaphat" in years!

As for the gaelic at the end, yes, thank you, and may you have a thousand good things too!

Ditto on both of Ellen's responses, and thank you, Ellen, for translating. "Me dad" was from Dublin, but except for a few phrases I can pronounce but not spell, my Irish has never caught on. Just yesterday though, I had to explain my name is pronounced Shahn like John and not Seen like seen!

Pat, I'm eager to hear what you find out about the clapping. My clapping skills always felt off in that number, as the beat was too slow for me, I think. I only fake-clapped at the end, so anyone watching would see I was at least trying.

Sean

[ERinVA]

It's amazing what you can learn with google, Seen.

[angelenroute]

[MsRF]

Thursday 9th January
Evening

Billy - Mitchell Tobin
Michael - Zak Baker
Debbie - Demi

I was lucky enough to catch London's newest Billy again on Thursday night. It was his third show in four days, although you wouldn't have known it. These kids' energy is always incredible - they must have to eat mountains of food every day to sustain that!

As has been said before, Mitchell's letter scene is heartwrenching. His acting is brilliant during this scene and he seems able to produce tears on demand in very little time at all! His facial expressions perfectly capture the desperation and the yearning Billy has to have his mother back. I'm surprised whoever is playing Mrs Wilkinson and dead mum don't get teary too, I certainly can't watch him without welling up ...

His skipping during Born to Boogie was, again, flawless. I wonder how many shows a Billy has done without ever stepping on the rope. I reckon Mitchell could be a frontrunner for this! He didn't get his tap shoes off and trainers on in time to do the piano flip, unfortunately, so he just cartwheeled back from behind the piano.

Angry Dance is definitely getting angrier - I saw Mitchell on his opening night and it was calmer than some of the other Billys' angry dances, but he turned it up a notch on Thursday. I also really like that when he runs up to the riot police to begin the final part of the dance, he yells 'Come on Billy, dance you little ...' - I think it works really well adding his name into it, as it makes it clear that he is encouraging himself rather than just yelling more abuse at the riot police.

Dream Ballet was beautiful as usual - I always find that the most emotional part of the show. Older Billy was played by the skinnier actor (I don't know the Older Billys' names) and as I was sitting in row B, it was close enough to hear all the huffing and puffing as he hefted Mitchell around. Although I love Dream Ballet, I haven't been as big a fan of the flying since they changed the way the wire is operated (although it is nice to see that the final aerial spins have been sped back up - there was a time when they went almost painfully slowly and it really ruined the climax), as whichever boy is playing Billy seems to have too much free range of movement, possibly due to how fast the wire is moving.

As Mitchell was singing Electricity, Bradley, Zach and Dayna appeared in the box to the left of the stalls to watch him dance. Bradley's face as Mitchell did his first flip and spin was a picture. All three of them were on their feet to applaud him as Mitchell completed his spins. I was pleased to see he also received a few standing ovations from the stalls - this doesn't always happen after Electricities but I think it must be nice for the boys when people really show their appreciation beyond clapping. It was also nice that Bradley et al were allowed to watch his Electricity. I do wonder though if that would have been allowed if Bradley did a ballet Electricity, as it would surely lead to him making comparisons ... I know Ali didn't see Harrison's final performance, but I definitely saw Elliott etc in the foyer at the interval so I assume some/all of the ballet Billys were allowed to watch Harrison's last night.

Anyway, another awe-filled night at the VPT. Thank you to all the actors and all the behind-the-scenes people who help make it all possible.

Until next time!

[patc]

Thursday 16th January – All day

The obstacles that BETM fans sometimes have to overcome to get to and from their favourite show are many and varied. Snow, ice, floods, landslides, landslips, faulty tracks, faulty trains, signal problems, persons under trains, fog, high winds and airport security jobsworths with not a smidgen of common sense, the list is endless. Then, there was the period when a few silly men playing on their weather games PC’s managed to convince the world that the entire continent of Europe was enveloped in volcanic ash which subsequently proved to be moronic. Last night in London it was the monsoon-like rain that was dumped down with citizens in grave peril from rogue, marauding bus drivers deliberately directing their vehicles at speed into the huge puddles formed in the gutters and spraying water at heights of up to ten feet across pavements. The Strand, in particular, was awash and, having managed to duck out of the way several times, I was within 100 yards of the hotel when one of these red monsters without warning veered in at the gutter at a point where inner pavement works forced pedestrians towards the edge. With nowhere to go it was every man and woman for themselves. I got lucky. Years of watching Billys soaring around the stage at the VPT prompted an instinctive leap into the air and was only saturated from the waist down. Others were much less fortunate. The same rain had other sequels including train delays to Gatwick this morning due to flooding beyond the airport having an effect on timings during rush hour and an inundation in the airport security area itself that closed the automatic barrier system with a reversion to slow manual checking.

The point of all this is to illustrate that all of these obstacles are worth enduring and overcoming in order to be in attendance at the VPT and this was never more clearly demonstrated than by both shows yesterday. I’d have climbed Everest, swum (or should that be swam) the Irish Sea or walked across the Grand Canyon on a tightrope just to be there. This was entertainment of the highest calibre gloriously wrapped and delivered with delicious dedication by an amazing cast of motivated men, women and little people. For them 100% is not enough. For two sets of three hours we were transported to Easington, to live among all these wonderful characters, laugh with them, cry with them, experience all their emotions, feel the awfulness of defeat but enjoy the elation of Billy’s success both in fiction and in fact and then leave the theatre in a right state of mind to face whatever the world throws at us – until next time.

The matinee was led by that little bundle of dancing dynamite known as Elliott Hanna who goes from strength to strength on an almost daily basis. This was an astonishing full-blown Billy performance that brought a disbelieving audience to its feet. Every second a joy to watch.

Last Thursday we saw Bradley Perret give the performance of his life and, for yesterday’s evening performance, we were treated to more of the same and then some. Every second a joy to watch. He, too, got the full standing ovation treatment from a most appreciative audience.

Zak B was a busy boy. Having already done the matinee, he was called upon to take over from Freddie for Expressing in the evening show and looked to be absolutely thrilled to be doing a second show. At the matinee, in Expressing, the pink dress must have decided to have its own bit of fun on the day and, when Zak hung it out for Billy, you could almost hear the dress saying, “try diving into that, sunshine”. Needless to say, Elliott, swiftly suspecting foul play, took it all in his stride. In the Winter Scene, seeing Zak’s outrageously funny bit o’ ballet routine (complete with smoking six-guns bringing me back to my boyhood days - yes, we used to blow the smoke away from the tips of our guns) twice in the one day was worth the admission price on its own. It is so pleasing to see the Michaels being allowed to vary the routines whilst keeping within the required parameters. I hope Freddie is OK and ready to rock again very soon.

Likewise, the Debbies are allowed to be different in their approach and are given somewhat free rein. Millie, as usual, went for the full-on cheeky-monkey effect whilst Demi played it matter-of-fact with very effective restrained aplomb combined with brilliant timing. What matters most is that both methods work fantastically well.

The Small Boys are being asked to take a more active part in their scenes these days (nobody is allowed to rest on their laurels – if you’re not actually speaking you still have to be doing something in character). Lewis and Max were shining examples of this at both shows and looked to be enjoying it immensely. Even Deka is getting somewhat more pushed around.

The opening scene provided a nice surprise. At the back of the stage, in the standby Grandma position and minding the Small Boy was none other than Deborah Bundy back in the show again. Not only that, she was one of those instrumental in getting the clapalong going in Maggie Thatcher. Yes, we ARE supposed to.

Lee Hoy and his two Billys danced two superb Dream Ballets, always and ever my favourite scene.

I’ll never stop appreciating and thanking the cast and creative of this amazing show that continues to roll on and on gathering steam at every turn. Yesterday, Elliott and Bradley and Co. brought such enormous enjoyment into hearts and souls that leaves you wondering what you did in life to deserve such rewards.

Pat

[Westletonion]

Another brilliant review Pat.

[porschesrule]

Here's a blog review of the show, of sorts, with the blogger sharing his experiences visiting the Victoria area and especially BETM:

http://nicksdrewe.com/category/recent-posts/

[kport]

But Hard Rock Cafe.....when there is a Nandos two minutes away from the VPT!???

[Todd]

But Hard Rock Cafe.....when there is a Nandos two minutes away from the VPT!???

Or Wagamama ?!? Both these places are certainly more convenient than Hard Rock Cafe, which is not exactly "just around the corner" from the Victoria Palace Theatre as the blogger indicated if it's in Piccadilly.