Billy Elliot The Musical- Page 32

Posted: 9/20/05 at 3:35am

My intention was not to insult him, I personally did not think that he was the best Billy - although he was excellent, there is no doubt about that. Updated On: 10/30/05 at 03:35 AM

[WestEndFan2]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 3:51am

Hi All,

I thought you might appreciate my review of last nights show.

As with Saturday evening, Stephen Daldry took to the stage ahead of the show to firstly welcome everyone to the theatre, and then to tell us that whilst every night is like a first night in the theatre, tonight was indeed such an occasion for a number of the children including Joey and Leon. He then kindly requested that as the children would have enough to think about, would everyone please ensure that their mobile phones were switched off.

The atmosphere and sense of anticipation in the theatre was electric!

There was, however, no need for concern. Both Leon and Joey along with all of the new kids turned in performances worthy of more seasoned performers in the show, and if there were any nerves they were quickly dispelled.

All of us here have heard a great deal about Leon over the last few months, and we are all well aware that he has been waiting patiently in the wings, for as long as the show has been running, for his chance to shine, and last night he made the most of his opportunity and took the spotlight.

Words alone cannot describe how good Leon is in the role. He gave both a confident and assured performance, and like Liam, George, and James has managed to add his own unique stamp on the role. I'm sure, that, as Leon grows in the role he will further define Billy, and will win the hearts and minds of all who see him.

Like Liam, Leon’s performance is more heavily ballet influenced, based on his own dance strengths and he dances beautifully. Indeed his “Electricity” dance break follows the same the orchestral arrangement as Liam’s.

As for Joey Phillips, all I can say is WOW! This kid is a natural. The role of Michael must be a difficult one for any kid to play, but Joey, like Ryan, Brad and Ashley commands the role brilliantly, and for the brief time he is in the limelight manages to steal the show. Like the other pairings the two boys work brilliantly together.

The show is in very safe hands with these kids and Mr Daldry & co should be saluted for once again finding such remarkable and talented individuals.

[Alan Roger]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 4:17am

Thanks for your review of their first night WestendFan2. You have wetted our appetites nicely.
Congratulations to Stephen Daldry as well. As a Director and spotter and moulder of acting talent he is without compare. I hope the the Oscar will not be too far away Stephen!!

Posted: 9/20/05 at 4:42am

James's dancing was excellent. One point, however, it is very obsessive to keep seeing the Musical - I would go as far as to say that those people who keep going to see the Musical must have a problem and I would suggest that they keep away from Victoria Palace - it only feeds your obsession by going repeatedly to the same thing - or maybe they just love the Musical - which makes more sense. Updated On: 10/30/05 at 04:42 AM

Posted: 9/20/05 at 4:49am

If any of the people playing Billy were not good, they would not have been chosen out of so many hopefuls. So well done to all. Updated On: 10/30/05 at 04:49 AM

[Chris_Downunder]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 6:19am

And if any of the cast members are reading this, keep up the good work. Updated On: 9/25/05 at 06:19 AM

[BillyFan2]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 6:40am

Well, having travelled most of the night having missed my train connection late last night I have finally returned home from last nights performance.

Last nights performance was quite simply amazing. Far better than I thought any first night could possibly be. Mr Daldry could have not bothered giving his introduction as there isn't a person in the audience that could have told, from the performance alone, that it was anyone's first night.

Leon started strongly. His verse in "The Stars Look Down" showed off a voice with a wonderful tone and a strength that belies his stature. He went on to create his own Billy, a confident Billy. He has obviously watched the others and learned what works and what doesn't but the part he portrays is as different as you could wish. Joey has done the same thing creating a new Michael and forged a great new partnership.

Leon's acting, singing and dancing are all superb. If this is the calibre of the next generation of Billys then the show is in good hands and Decembers changes don't seem quite so daunting as they might have otherwise. If the cast recording were being recorded today rather than a few weeks ago, I would put Leon forward as a very serious candidate for who should be performing on it as his voice is really something special. That's not to say his dancing and acting lack anything, they most certainly do not. His interpretation of the "Angry Dance" was tap perfect and you could literally feel the buzz in the air through "Electricity" which shows off his amazing voice and amazing dancing in equal measures.

"Express Yourself" was a pleasure to watch as usual and Joey got to show what a star he is as well. It was wonderful in the finale that Tim Healy pushed Joey forward for a joint ovation with Leon that was fully deserved.

[WestEndFan2]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 7:36am

Hi All,

Just a quick house keeping note re day seats.

On information given yesterday, whilst in the queue for day seats, it would appear that the daily allocation of seats available has been reduced from 48 to 28.

Now, I'm not entirely sure if this applies to Saturday performances or even during school holidays, but it does apply during the week.

On checking with the Box office it would appear that all of the row A seats on the right hand side of the auditorium are still available, as are the seats at the back of the Dress Circle. However, the biggest change is to the stalls row B allocation. It seems that only 4 seats either side of the aisle are now up for grabs, with the remainder being given up for general sale and not held back, though these are on sale at the same price of £25.00.

There were only 3 of us in th queue yesterday, and as said, this decision may have been taken due to the fact that around now is a generally quieter period for shows.

I'm sure someone will further clarify the position if the above is incorrect.

[Fizzipop]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 9:36am

Hi, yes this was the position when I rang to enquire on 13 September I actually bought seat B22 for 15 Sept over the phone for £25 rather than que on the morning

[GMfan!!]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 11:48am

Hi if anybody has any pics from James and Ashleys last performance or Leon and Joeys first, please please send them in. It would be great to see some!
GMFan!!X

[Chris T]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 12:35pm

Hi, I was at last night's show, too. Before I'd seen James and George. I love George's Billy; I know that James has a lot of support here, but I didn't like him as much as George, maybe he was having an off day. His acting and dancing was good, but his singing wasn't great.

It was hard to tell it was Leon's first night. Great performance, very confident, although his accent slipped at times. I thought he sang Billy very well - Dear Billy and Dear Mammy were great. He seems to have a good rapport with Joey and Expressing Yourself was a real showstopper.

I've never seen Liam, but I'd guess the cheorography is similar to his, a much more traditional ballet dance in Electricity than I'd seen before; James and George both seemed to sort of break dance. Different arrangement too - did George and James both have the same arrangement for Electricity, I don't recall noticing a difference before.

The one other difference I noticed was that when Billy collected his shoes to go boxing, after his mam's first appearance, instead of him complaining that the shoes were dirty, he found a pork pie in them.

On a more disappointing note, I overheard one of the usher saying the cast recording would be October or November.

[Fizzipop]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 12:52pm

tee hee a pork pie in his shoes, that must have been a first night prank !!

When I saw George back in June he didn't do the back flip that I saw James do towards the end of electicity but I think I read on a post that George had started doing that ? There are definately differences throughout between Liams performance and that of George and James.

Thank you everyone who has posted news on Leons first night, for those of us who couldn't be there

[Alan Roger]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 1:06pm

Based on the totally gratuitous and offensive comments by 'LM (not Liam)' posted earlier today are we to assume that all of us who love 'Les Miserables' are obsessed with the French Revolution?
Updated On: 9/20/05 at 01:06 PM

[danmas]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 1:14pm

The other night I went to see james and ashley for the first and ultmateley the last time,

I was emotional all the way through. Not least because ashleys michael was so true to me, heart warming and yet at the same time upsetting because i knew i would not be able to see him perform again.

In truth it may be because I see so much more of myself in him than I do in brad, (this is no poor reflection on him btw when i saw the play the first time i thought it was excellent)

I did travel down from sheffield to see the performance, the first time I went to see it was on my birthay and I thought it was incredible, marvellous, fantastic. and any other outstandingly possitive description that comes to mind.
But the other night, the second time, I was blown away.
But what I would really like is a dvd of that nights show.

[BillyFan2]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 1:45pm

James and George shared the same orchestration and Liam and Leon now share the same orchestration. The choreography is subtly different between Liam and Leon though by the looks of it especially the gymnastics that are thrown in.

I loved the pork pie gag. There were a few bits that were also different, for instance telling "Little Boy" to get lost instead of "Shut Up".

[_clairey_]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 2:33pm

Does Leon do more gymnastics than Liam then? Does he do the backflip that James and George did?
Glad he has been a success!
Updated On: 9/20/05 at 02:33 PM

[BillyFan2]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 2:46pm

No, Leon and Liam do a similar "Electricity" in style but the backflips/cartwheels etc are slightly different from what I could tell. The version Leon and Liam do doesn't end the same way as the version George and previously James did, it ends with a sequence of pirouettes and spins (yeah, yeah, I know I don't have a scoobies about ballet terms :P)instead.

[danmas]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 3:08pm

I would like to direct your attention to a new billy elliot the musical message forum

http://s13.invisionfree.com/Billy_Elliot_Musical/index.php?act=idx

I just set it up because i realised that there isnt a dedicated fansite, and for somthing as good as this I think that there should be one deffinateley

[danmas]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 3:43pm

regarding the new forum,

please could you copy your posts from here and put them on the new forum I am making, and also I would appriciate it if anybody with web-building experince (any) could help

thankyou

http://s13.invisionfree.com/Billy_Elliot_Musical/index.php?act=idx

[Pegasus]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 4:03pm

Meet a new cast member - 9 year old Tom Higgins - here:


Billy Elliot - The Fansite

Updated On: 9/20/05 at 04:03 PM

[Shine]

Posted: 9/20/05 at 9:39pm

Updated On: 6/26/17 at 09:39 PM

Posted: 9/21/05 at 3:50am

I am sorry to say that Billy Elliot The Musical will most probably not be coming to the States - at least not in the forseeable future.
Updated On: 10/30/05 at 03:50 AM

[Alan Roger]

Posted: 9/21/05 at 4:02am

Leon and Joey performed again last night and I was able to get a late ticket. Leon's dancing is good and he has a nice singing voice but I feel he has to grow in confidence and stamp his own trademark on the role of Billy.I am sure that will come with time and experience. I agree also with previous comments on his dialect which needs working on with a dialect coach as I felt it wandered a bit. I absolutely concur with the comments made yesterday about Joey. What a natural and he simply oozed class and stage presence. I think potentially he could be one of the best Michaels. His dancing is top notch coupled with the fact that put a frock on him and what a stunner!!. Comparisons are however at the end of the day odious but last night brought it home to me quite forcefully that James, George and Liam over the last six months have raised the bar and set a very high standard of performance that others in the future may find hard to emulate.

[BillyFan2]

Posted: 9/21/05 at 4:11am

Wow, did a new Leon and Joey start last night because I couldn't disagree more (well, except the bit about Joey). I felt Leon and Joey were absolutely amazing on their first night and that Leon created a new Billy that was completely different to all the others. As to dialect, that will come with practice and time. To me Leon's singing, dancing and acting were all top-notch and it would have been impossible to tell by looking at them that it was their first night.

Updated On: 9/21/05 at 04:11 AM

[Alan Roger]

Posted: 9/21/05 at 5:25am

If Billyfan2 had read my comments carefully it would be apparent that I was not claiming that Leon's performance was below par.Far from it. I think it is important however to provide a balanced perspective and to recognise that it will probably take a while for him to define his own Billy and to reach the very high standards already set by Liam,James and George. This is the challenge and I am sure that Leon is more than up for it. One must also remember that Leon and Joey did not have the benefit of preview performances. There was plenty of evidence last night that both boys are on continuing learning curve and have tremendous potential. My prior observations on last night were therefore made in the context of constructive support and not criticism.