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Billy Elliot the musical in San Francisco-Reviews..Mixed- to-Negative?
Jul 5 2011, 12:59:37 PM
Hope you enjoy it, MONCRUZZ. Please post your thoughts.
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Billy Elliot the musical in San Francisco-Reviews..Mixed- to-Negative?
Jul 4 2011, 01:42:55 PM
BORSTALBOY: Can you document the early closing of the original SWEENEY TODD tour because I was here and don't remember that. That's not to say that it did not happen, just doesn't sound right.
San Francisco and the greater Bay Area is actually a very rich, fertile place for theatre and the performing arts in general. We have over 300 theatre and dance companies, not to mention cabaret, comedy and music clubs and other live entertainment venues. I believe we are one of the top five theatre industry markets and centers in the country.
I launched BAYSTAGES - http://www.baystages.com - this year to serve that community because the need was not being addressed by other media in the area.
Unfortunately a number of the tours we get from Broadway producers are quite under par. That '81-'82 tour of SWEENEY was far less interesting than the New York production, even with Lansbury (no d). The tour of NINE with Sergio Franchi that followed was a very sad affair.
Bringing it into the present, the recent tours we've had have been rather limp affairs. WEST SIDE STORY was so thin as to break. YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is just a bad show and this was a badly performed version of a bad show. NEXT TO NORMAL held its own as a production but Ripley was in terrible voice. HUGH JACKMAN was a pleasant butt-shaking but not earthshaking evening, and BLUE MAN GROUP is just 30 minutes of noisy fun stretched out over a whole evening.
Only AVENUE Q and SHREK made for truly satisfying evenings. That's thanks to really talented casts, smart productions and - in the case of SHREK - because the creative folks took their lumps and fixed the problems with the show before sending it out.
BILLY ELLIOT might well be better in New York than it is on tour. If so, shame on the producers for sending out a poor copy. However, I don't think that's the case. The cast here is very talented and works quite hard. If the Billys are not as dynamic from the neck up as they are from the shoulders down, well...the dancing is more important. So it comes back to the book, the score and the direction. In this one man's opinion (in harmony with some other local reviewers) the show just doesn't work.
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Billy Elliot the musical in San Francisco-Reviews..Mixed- to-Negative?
Jul 3 2011, 03:20:21 PM
Which San Francisco critics do you read who are not jokes in your book, Brick?
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