Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!
Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!
Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#1
Posted: 11/23/08 at 8:53pmJust got back from the show tonight and I was kind of undeerwhelmed. David was on as Bliiy and I thought his performance was great as well as everyone else in the cast, My problem with the show is that it is just boring. The dancing wasn't as amazing as I thought it would be and I feel the show never had that real amazing moment I was waiting for. I think it was an ok show but I don't think it will last for a long run.
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#2
Posted: 11/23/08 at 10:07pm
Congrats on not getting it.
(Is that the response you were hoping for? Or did you intend to imply that you simply didn't like it as much as some other people have liked it? And if THAT is what you intended, big deal. Liking or not liking something is not a badge of honor.)
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#2
Posted: 11/23/08 at 10:17pm
kissynose, I felt the same way. I kept waiting to be "wowed" and I just wasn't.
The overall cast and the dancing sequences were wonderful, but the book and score were just dull for me.
Audiences do seem to be loving it, however. And I do think it's going to have a long run.
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#3
Posted: 11/23/08 at 10:25pm
Same here--I think it's VERY overrated. Because there has been SO MUCH HYPE, it's hard to live up to the expectations its fans have set for it, I think.
It worked MUCH better as a movie. Not a bad piece of theater, but DEFINITELY did not live up to the hype.
Swing Joined: 11/11/08
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#4
Posted: 11/24/08 at 3:41am
'The overall cast and the dancing sequences were wonderful, but the book and score were just dull for me.'
I have to agree 100%. Whilst I felt that the cast gave wonderful performances I really think they are being let down by the material.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#5
Posted: 11/24/08 at 8:42am
"Liking or not liking something is not a badge of honor."
The OP was just posting thoughts like any other person would.
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#6
Posted: 11/24/08 at 8:45am
I must say, I guess I cannot FULLY decide if I like this or not, but from what I have seen, I don't like it.
I saw one of the boys sing Electricity, and the song itself SUCKS! I did not like the song, although, his dance was EXCELLENT!!!
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#7
Posted: 11/24/08 at 9:00am
The point of this post was not to be a jerk it was just to see what other people thought. I'm just trying to see why some people like it so much.
Sometimes this board makes me crazy.Everyone has different taste and I don't go around putting others down for there opinions.
Updated On: 11/24/08 at 09:00 AM
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#8
Posted: 11/24/08 at 9:15am
I tend to agree with you.
I like the show because I was a dancer as a boy and I like to think of my former self vicariously in this role, Billy/Michael themselves are adorable, and it has some great dancing. But as a musical? The book/plot is cumbersome and flawed (Grandma has a huge song introducing her struggle 15 minutes in, and barely has another line the rest of the show), the songs, with the exception of "Electricity," "Expressing Yourself," and "When We Go," are forgettable, and the lyrics are banal.
You're going to see a talented, cute 12 year-old ballet dancer within the context of a heartwarming, tear-jerking plot. Broadway audiences are suckers for that, and will overlook all the show's shortcomings if it delivers on that promise.
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#9
Posted: 11/24/08 at 9:27am
I saw the show on Friday and enjoyed it, although I suspect I enjoyed the performances more than the show as a unit. I do think that there were some book (although maybe not plot) issues. Honestly, some of the dancing moved me to tears and the staging during songs like "Solidarity" was impressive and evocative. And I can't say how much I loved Haydn Gwynne.
but then there were times where I thought the show strayed a little too far into being "theatrical" and lost some of the story's heart and wit. I was telling a friend that although there were more parts that really got me viscerally in the musical than in the movie, I enjoyed the movie as a whole better than the musical.
I still thought it was an amazing show, and would recommend it to pretty much anyone. but I don't think it's a perfect show by any means.
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/3/05
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#10
Posted: 11/24/08 at 10:13am
I must say, I guess I cannot FULLY decide if I like this or not, but from what I have seen, I don't like it.
I saw one of the boys sing Electricity, and the song itself SUCKS! I did not like the song, although, his dance was EXCELLENT!!!
Here's a thought - how about you actually SEE the show before deciding whether you like it or not from random clips. Geez.
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#11
Posted: 11/24/08 at 10:16am
um, thats why i said that in the first place you idiot!
but, from what I have seen and heard, it is not my cup of Tea.
I greatly prefer Aida to Billy Elliot (music wise)
and its not like I didn't watch the whole song.. I did, and the song stinks. The dancing was phenomenal!
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#12
Posted: 11/24/08 at 10:30am
The more I see it and listen to the score, the more I love it. The music style, the lyrics, are perfect for the story being told. (I've had that march by the miners, into the pit at the end going through my head all morning.) 'The Stars Look Down',
'Once We Were Kings', would never live off the stage but in the play, in the context of the story, they were perfection. How can you know the background of the father and what he's been through and not weep during 'Deep Into the Ground'?
I know it won't happen but I really do wish I could get a recording of this cast. As I said, the more I hear it the more I love it.
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#13
Posted: 11/24/08 at 12:46pm
I think BILLY ELLIOT has a much more theatrically integrated score, and is better than AIDA. (I loved the story of AIDA but did NOT like the score.)
BILLE ELLIOT does not contain a single stand out song. The songs work well enough in context, but no big soaring song that really grabs you. (AIDA's score I felt didn't even work in context.)
What DOES work in BILLY ELLIOT: the staging, choreography, design and performances. (Funny side story - Got through the entire show admiring the performance of the actor playing Billy's dad, only to read the playbill afterwards and see it was Gregory Jabara whom I have seen many times over the years. Never recognized him.)
There is nothing all that innovative in the storytelling and although it has been a long time since I last saw the movie, I found I was caught up in the story as told. I did not find the show “boring” or “dull” at all. (Did you find the movie boring as well?)
Overall I found it very good, just lacking that extra ingredient (the score) to really push it over the line into the “truly outstanding” category.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
Broadway Star Joined: 10/30/06
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#14
Posted: 11/24/08 at 2:18pm
Grandma has a huge song introducing her struggle 15 minutes in, and barely has another line the rest of the show
I think you may be undervaluing Grandma's Song. Seeing the show for the second time (I saw it first in London early this year), I learned so much more from her song, rather than its merely telling us that living 33 years with an abusive husband got her beat up a lot.
We learn that she loved to dance with her husband (at least as a one, two or three hour respite from the abuse). We learn where Billy's talent, desire and ambition come from.
Grandma did love to dance. But Grandpa was the talented dancer. Grandma describes Grandpa's dancing as He was air / He was water / He was breath / He was light.
And she goes on to say: If I could do it again -- I'd be me for an entire life.
Billy gets to be me.
p.s. I think I do get it. I hope I get to see it again.
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#15
Posted: 11/24/08 at 2:58pm
You don't have to get it. There is not a single show in the world that is universally loved by everyone. And that is ok.
Personally, I felt it more than lived up to the hype. Due to the hype and my personal ambivalence to the CD, I went in to the London production with lowered expectation and left feeling it was one of the best musicals I've seen in the last 20 years. I don't feel strong stand-alone songs are the mark of a good score. Passion, Parade and Caroline or Change have incredible scores whose songs simply don't work as effectively when removed from context. Additionally, I never got the obsession over Aida, which had some nice stand-alone songs, but was a mess of a show where the individual elements never made a cohesive whole.
And Grandma's Song was one of the highlights of the evening for me. I felt I knew more about her character in the musical than I did in the film.
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/10/04
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#16
Posted: 11/24/08 at 3:16pmIt also depends on your taste. Some people enjoy story more while others like the score of a show. For me, the best thing other than the talented boy in Billy Elliot is the choreography. For example,Grandma's song is about a memory of her past. It's not that related to the whole story. The tune is kind simple. Yet, the choreography in that song is absolutely creative and charming.
Broadway Star Joined: 10/30/06
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#17
Posted: 11/24/08 at 3:35pm
For example,Grandma's song is about a memory of her past. It's not that related to the whole story.
I think you may be undervaluing Grandma's Song.
p.s. ^
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/10/04
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#18
Posted: 11/24/08 at 3:53pm
For example,Grandma's song is about a memory of her past. It's not that related to the whole story.
I think you may be undervaluing Grandma's Song.
p.s. ^
p.s.,
I read your opinion about the meaning of Grandma's Song and I completely agree with you. However, I still think the message in that song doesn't relate to the story DIRECTLY.
Broadway Star Joined: 7/20/05
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#19
Posted: 11/24/08 at 4:29pm
I adored Billy Elliot, both in London and on Bway. I love the music, and find the story very touching. Talk about going after your dreams ... and the struggles Billy faces in trying to do that. The family values, the working class struggle, the friendship between Billy and Michael, Billy's memories of his mother, the grandmother's story ... all very interesting and poignant. And of course, the dancing. Not only Billy's, but all those kids ... wonderful talents all of them.
I was blown away and mesmerized from start to finish. That hasn't happened to me in a musical in years. It will have a long long run, and will probably sweep many Tonys.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#20
Posted: 11/24/08 at 4:54pm
"I must say, I guess I cannot FULLY decide if I like this or not, but from what I have seen, I don't like it."
"um, thats why i said that in the first place you idiot!"
Well, for one, you didn't even see the song in the context of the musical.
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#21
Posted: 11/24/08 at 5:02pmseeing it in context of the show doesn't change the fact that the song itself (score wise) is pretty weak, in my opinion
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#22
Posted: 11/24/08 at 6:18pmbut a song in a musical is about more than the score. an example I can think of is "Little Lamb," which so many people speak negatively about. out of context, and even on the cast recording, the song seems weak. but in context, and performed well, and it's emotionally moving AND actually develops the plot.
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#23
Posted: 11/24/08 at 10:27pm
"Little Lamb" is also very cleverly placed. It comes after a brassy Overture, several noisy vaudeville sequences, a couple of nosy numbers for Ethel Merman...it's the pause that refreshes. It's short (2 1/2 minutes) but without it Act One of GYPSY would be too relentless.
There is a reason why concertos have slow middle movements.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
re: Billy Elliot- I just don't get it!#24
Posted: 11/24/08 at 10:38pmoh i realize that songs are more than just a score, and thats why i tried to say, from what i have seen so far, I don't like it.... but if i saw the show, things might change, but for now, that is where i stand
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