Billy Elliot 4/17 :(

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 8:18am

My parents and sister are in town, and last night we went to see Billy Elliot. I had seen it in London and raved about it there, and on a trip this fall, my parents stayed in a bed and breakfast owned by the parents of someone who was in the final call-back process and may (they couldn't remember the last name) be in the ensemble, so they had seen the movie and heard about it. We all love theatre, and were very excited. I had not seen it here yet.

Before the show, we had run into adamgreer on the street, and he said we would be seeing David's first performance back, so I was even more pumped, as I figured the energy would be amazing.

Well... Sadly, it wasn't. It started slow, came to a full stop when they had a technical problem with the elevator the table is on, and never regained anything resembling momentum. David's dancing was superb ~ the ballet with Older Billy got a long, long applause. But overall, the curtain call response ~ at least what we heard in the mezz ~ was tepid at best until the everyone in tutus number where it picked up a bit. The only whooping I heard was right before the lights came up from the very obnoxious group behind us.*

I really wanted to love the show here. I did in London. And I really wanted my family to have a good experience at it, but it just didn't happen. The energy was never there. Carole Shelley...I remembered her having a pretty decent voice, but she was just off last night. David's voice was ok during Act 1, but during Act 2 ~ especially "Electricity", which is one of my favorites from the cast recording ~ it was just not right. I can understand one or maybe two people having an off night, but it seems like the entire cast (possibly excepting Frank who was on as Michael) was having an "off night". I left wondering what happened to the show that opened to such glowing reviews. Is it tired already? I don't know. But it sure didn't feel like a legit contender for Best Musical based on what I saw last night.

Now... To that *. I know my family is used to a higher standard. My parents started us going to the symphony when my sister and I were little, and we often went to other plays, so we grew up learning how to behave. Even if we hadn't, when my sister and I had been on trips, if a show was included, we had a lesson in theatre etiquette before we even got our tickets. Our group of tickets was also always together, not spread all over the theatre. So again, we have pretty high standards.

Well, there was a group ~ I'm guessing a school orchestra based on a discussion while they were attempting to get seated ~ behind us and apparently all over the rear mezz who were shockingly badly behaved. Starting with one of their leaders who sat with three girls in the row in front of us when their tickets were not there at all. The usher had to come up and spend a lot of time explaining that yes in fact it DID matter what seat they were in, because obviously the group was in some wrong seats. The adult woman's ticket was on the other side, but she refused to go over there so she could sit with her daughter. Keep in mind these were high school age kids. So another girl was dispatched to go to the other side and "sit with the strings". All seemed well.

Until the show began. The kids talked back and forth a LOT, even when the adults did make a half-hearted attempt to shush them. Problem was, the adults were talking too. They were behind us, so I don't know if texting went on, but I can only imagine it did.

Then came intermission. We stood up to stretch out legs because there isn't a lot of leg room. I turned around to get something out of my bag, and the girl in the seat behind me had taken her flip flops off and had her bare feet all over the backs of my chair and my dad's chair. The other girls had their feet all over the other seats in front of them, though they had kept their flip flops on. The mother/woman saw my eyes at the bare feet and told the girl to put her shoes back on. BUT NOT TO KEEP THEM OFF THE SEAT! They were still there when we were OBVIOUSLY sitting back down, so yes, I sat back HARD into her toes. I really didn't care at that point.

The talking continued into Act 2. I turned around and GLARED at the woman and girl at one point and they went to whispering. Then the part of the group that was either in the center or the other side of the rear mezz... After David's first line in "Electricity" they shrieked with laughter. They quieted down, but that didn't help an already struggling show. I would have been appalled had any of those kids been in a group I'd taken.

So to those who take groups, THANK YOU for a) getting all your seats together, b) paying attention to tickets and locations, and c) going over respectable theatre behavior with your group, and then setting a good example.

Oh...the one other annoyance... I'm not sure where the usher who should have been at the stairs in the mezz on house left was after intermission, but s/he was nowhere to be found, and someone who was obviously lost proceeded to stand beyond the rail blocking the view of those of us over the stairs. The woman in front of me had to leave her seat (aisle) and ask him to please move. It was just bad.

So all in all, last night was NOT a good experience. I'm hoping (and fairly confident) that tonight will be a very different story at next to normal ~ especially audience-wise as I have yet to see the cast deliver a lack-luster performance there.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 9:55am

I know exactly how you feel. I had a similar experience with 'Wicked' on Broadway last spring. I was THRILLED! I had memorized every word on the cast recording, I knew every word in the Book, every set change. I was in for the night of my life. What excited me most was that I was seeing Stephanie J. Block. I had that entire show memorized, couldn't wait to see Block... I just KNEW that Wicked would be the best Broadway Show ever and I would love every minute of it.

Well, Stephanie was out. Major blow number one.

The opening number started and it was completely unimpressive. Everything felt small and the entire cast (although they had wonderful voices), was completely dull. Every number that I loved on the cast recording did absolutely nothing for me. Everything was flat and unexciting. I was expecting the audience to go wild at the end of Act I, but they were unexcited. Act II was underwhelming in every way imaginable. Nothing seemed magical. I expected for the audience to be roaring at the end of the show and going mad, but once again.... the response was completely dull. I thought I'd be laughing through my tears by the time the show ended, and I was unemotional instead.

The night was a major blow. But my family LOVED Wicked and RAVED about it.

Updated On: 4/18/09 at 09:55 AM

[Geridith]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 10:16am

Have to disagree with you about last night's performance, I didn't think the show went poorly, but I know *exactly* what you mean about the laughing in the beginning of Electricity! I heard it down in the sixth row of orchestra, then someone trying to shush them. There was also a woman across the aisle from me filing her nails during the beginning of Swan Lake with a massive nail file. It was quiet at first, then it got louder and myself and the person in front of her turned and gave her a look and she put it away. Audience behavior never fails to amaze me...

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 10:22am

The audience on Wednesday night was terrible.
The family behind me, which consisted of two parents, and four small children, did not quiet the entire show. The kids even blew and popped bubbles with their gum. Nothing we said could get them to stop.

The matinee audience that day was better, however, there were some fans of Liz Pearce, who was on for Clipboard Woman, and they cheered every time she walked on stage, or said a line. It was ridiculous.

[bythesword84]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 10:37am

I have to admit I've never noticed the show being remotely off in any of the times that I've seen it, and I have always adored it every single time- BUT, I did have one absolutely horrendous audience experience. It was the only time I ever saw Billy Elliot from the Mezz. I was in the rear Mezz with a friend and this family of 5 (the youngest being about 1 who sat next to us, passed a box of Raisinets back and forth the first ten minutes, one of them ANSWERED her cell phone three times- until everyone around her told her to knock it off, they talked and then loudly kept going "What did they say!?", one of them took two pictures during Solidarity but the man sitting in front of them gave such a look they put the camera away, and then right before the Angry Dance the one directly next to my friend took out a small bottle of Mountain Dew from her bag, like you would buy from a vending machine, and opened it- but it sizzled and went all over my friend's leg.

At intermission, thank God, we were able to move away from them. It was not my first time seeing the show so I was fine but it practically ruined my friend's first viewing because no one could concentrate.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 1:24pm

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I saw the show on thursday, and nothing when wrong then.

I was there on a trip with my school, and I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but my school was well behaved. I mean, we were all Arts students, so we all wanted to be there.

I'm not trying to save my school, or anything...but possibly the school kids that were there probably didn't want to be there?

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 4:02pm

I saw this show like last October? And I loved it. I really want to go back and see it again, but there aren't any discount codes or anything, right? The last time I saw it I was in the last row of the entire theater, and this time I'd like to sit a little closer. I don't mind splurging on a real seat because I know I liked/loved the show. But just curious if there were any discounts?

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 4:41pm

They have a Tuesday-Thursday rush.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 4:44pm

Yeah, but isn't the rush like way on the sides or something?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 5:01pm

The rush is partial-view Orchestra.

There are no discount codes for BILLY ELLIOT. There hasn't been any from day one. All tickets are full price.

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 8:34pm

The rush is not all partial view orchestra.
It is any 81.50 seat that has not been sold. That includes full view rear mezzanine tickets, and the extreme sides of the right front mezzanine, and orchestra.

[Tom's Cat]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 12:59am

Well I can't speak for you, but if I were sitting there with all that nonsense going on around me, I would be pretty disappointed in the show too. Don't you think that your impression of the show might have been influenced slightly by the terrible conditions you were forced to watch it in? Every show will have a 'down' time now and then, I just haven't heard it said about this one from anyone yet.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/19/09 at 1:04am

No. Like I said, I loved the show in London ~ and there was stuff going on around me then too.

The show was dead last night. EVERYONE. I've experienced various people in shows having off nights, but the entire cast? Even the music felt draggy. It just was NOT a good presentation of a show. Especially to some people who were looking at it to report back to the people who work on what tours go to Nashville. I can say with confidence after listening to my dad that this one's not getting a thumbs up.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/20/09 at 1:46pm

Here is something I posted in another thread where the final paragraph of my thoughts on my experience Friday night was questioned. I figured I'd clarify it here.

I was stating my desire that Saturday night would be a better experience than Friday night. I would have stated that REGARDLESS of what we were seeing. It happened that we were seeing next to normal. If we were seeing In The Heights, that would have been in there. If we were seeing Mary Poppins, that would have been in there. If we were seeing Irena's Vow, that would have been in there.

Once again, I really wanted to love Billy Elliot. But what they gave me on Friday night was simply not something I could love. Yes, comparatively speaking, next to normal was the stronger show of the weekend for our viewing experience. But I would have liked to have been given something to even attempt to draw a favorable comparison with it. (And actually the majority of the review of the experience was about the middle school group spread over the entire mezz and the lack of an usher at the end of intermission to help people find their seats and not block the view of those of us in the rear mezz. Had the show been more energetic, we might have been less distracted by the stuff going on around us. I can sit through a show surrounded by kids with no problem if it's good and holding my attention. Other than the ballet sequence, Billy just didn't have the energy to hold my attention. I'm sorry.)

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 4/20/09 at 1:56pm

I would also like to state that I saw BILLY ELLIOT four times in previews and a fifth time at the Actor's Fund Performance in January. All five performances were outstanding, but I haven't seen the show since mid-January, so I don't know what the current condition of the show is right now. I do know that both PalJoey and MissPennywise (on separate occasions) have seen the show since then and have loved it. The performance JordanGirl saw was probably a single instance of an off-night for the cast. Sorry to hear that you had a sub-par experience at the Imperial.

[Tom's Cat]

Posted: 4/20/09 at 2:01pm

Indeed. I've seen it 5 times now and while I do have my favorite "Billy" and "Michael", even my least favorites have been fabulous. I haven't seen a performance yet that didn't fail to completely capture me and make my heart soar. In each case the time simply flew by.

Jordangirl has seen it once and decided that it is lacking in all aspects - despite the fact that the vast majority of others, including the professional critics, disagree with her. Debating this with her is futile - she's made up her mind.

[MiracleElixir]

Posted: 4/20/09 at 2:09pm

Jesus Christ, what it is with this show to make people down their hyperbole pills?

"I haven't seen a performance yet that didn't fail to completely capture me and make my heart soar."

"The performance JordanGirl saw was probably a single instance of an off-night for the cast."



Seriously, literally every performance made your heart soar? Anyway, isn't jordangirl like the fourth person in the past few weeks to comment on the cast's lack of energy/enthusiasm, or just being generally "off"? It's clearly not a 'single instance' of an off-night.

[Geridith]

Posted: 4/20/09 at 2:19pm

Lol, maybe because it is inspiring?

JordanGirl is completely entitled to her opinion, whether anyone disagrees or not. Mind you, I think you're in the minority in your opinions on the show, but to each his/her own. If everyone just agreed all the time this would be a very boring board indeed.

That said, I've seen this show quite a few times, and have tickets to see it again. I actually saw the exact same show as JordanGirl, and disagree with her, part of what I love about the show is the spirit and energy that the cast brings night after night.

Updated On: 4/20/09 at 02:19 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/20/09 at 3:09pm

The show was dead last night. EVERYONE. I've experienced various people in shows having off nights, but the entire cast? Even the music felt draggy.

Perhaps it was you, dear. Have they checked your medication lately?

[Tom's Cat]

Posted: 4/20/09 at 3:34pm

Those pills were not limited to those who are GENUINELY moved by this show. "The show was dead last night. EVERYONE. I've experienced various people in shows having off nights, but the entire cast?" Not hyperbole? Funny that you only mention those who made positive statements. It is a wonderful show and it DOES move me - every time I see it. Like it or not.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 4/20/09 at 3:41pm

I saw it on April 11 for the 6th time (on Broadway, that is) and it moved me more than all the other times. Everyone was terrific.