rOcKS checks up on 'Billy Elliot'
rOcKS checks up on 'Billy Elliot'
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#1rOcKS checks up on 'Billy Elliot'
Posted: 6/26/09 at 12:31am
I'll try to keep it short.
Saw it for the fourth time this evening and really fell in love with it all over again. This was my third time seeing Kiril (I still haven't seen Trent) and he was wonderful as usual even though you can hear his voice teetering on the edge of cracking every now and then (puberty's a bitch). His acting was absolutely superb and his dancing was, of course, spectacular.
The rest of the cast is just fantastic. The thing I love most about this ensemble and this entire cast is that you feel EVERY character's story through their performance. Everyone from the ballet girls to Billy has a story and they each convey it and you feel their pain, anguish, hurt, hope, joy, and fears in very different ways.
My biggest revelation of the evening was in Gregory Jbara's performance. I thought he was wonderful the last three times I saw him but tonight, I just got it. I got why he won the Tony. I got why he (as he mentioned in his Tony speech) sacrificed so much to play this role. He is just fantastic, doing so much more with the role than the book even gives him. He moved me to tears and laughter, sometimes at the same time, throughout the show.
I just really love this show. And I love N2N as well, so it's hard for me to say which I would vote for had I been a Tony voter but I have to say I'm perfectly okay with BILLY taking Best Musical and as many awards as it did. It's really a masterpiece (as is N2N), in my opinion. BILLY will play the Imperial for years and years and it's the first show in a while that is destined to do so that deserves it in every way.
Updated On: 6/26/09 at 12:31 AM
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#2re: rOcKS checks up on 'Billy Elliot'
Posted: 6/26/09 at 12:38am
She was wonderful but clearly a bit tired. I never thought she had the strongest voice in the world, as I believe I mentioned in my review of the second preview, but she is so wonderful as Mrs. Wilkinson. Her voice sounded a bit strained and she stopped to clear her throat and cough every now and then but she's a trouper and really turned in a great performance as usual. Karen rightfully beat her for the Tony though.
Jayne Paterson was on for Mum and was very good. (I know lots of people who have missed Leah's performance...or is it just me?)
#3re: rOcKS checks up on 'Billy Elliot'
Posted: 6/26/09 at 12:43amHocking seems to be out very frequently.
bwayfan7000
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/28/09
#4re: rOcKS checks up on 'Billy Elliot'
Posted: 6/26/09 at 1:16am
I had Jayne Paterson as Mum as well when I saw the show a few weeks ago, and her voice was lovely.
Also, with all the negativity towards this show around the Tonys on this board, I was sort of surprised at how marvelous the show was. I think next to normal and Billy have to be the two strongest shows I've seen on Broadway ever.
"Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos."-Stephen Sondheim
#5re: rOcKS checks up on 'Billy Elliot'
Posted: 6/26/09 at 8:25am
I share your sentiments rocks, especially about being able to feel each and every person's story.
I saw Patterson as mum, but thats because I saw Hocking as Mrs. Wilkinson.
"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert
#6re: rOcKS checks up on 'Billy Elliot'
Posted: 6/26/09 at 9:19am
I haven't seen Leah as Mum since February. Every time I've been since then, Leah has been out, or Haydn has been out, causing Leah to go on for Mrs. W.
The latter has happened much less, though.
Videos