Plymouth Reviews

kport
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Re: Plymouth Reviews

Post by kport »

Westletonion wrote:I forgot to mention in my review that Billy doubles up as Tall Boy in other performances.
That is the norm in several regionals here.
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patc
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Re: Plymouth Reviews

Post by patc »

Plymouth 8th March and 9th March

NO SPOILERS

During my early days at BETM I remember that someone commented in conversation that a touring show is, inevitably, second best to a West End equivalent. I have to tell you now that no such thing can be said about the BETM UK and Ireland Tour. It is every bit as brilliant as in London and any of the cast could walk straight into the VPT and do the show. Once again, a fantastic handpicked cast has been brought in to do the magic. I saw two shows, one each from the DC and the stalls.

Bearing in mind that I got enormous enjoyment and surprise from experiencing the changes to some of the scenes I am not going to give away any secrets other than to say that the show is different, quite different in places and it has to be said that some of them are a real improvement. To be fair, I travelled twice to see the Broadway show about 6/7 years ago and much of the Tour show is similar to that version but I was still blown away by the genius of this production and, had the London show not been closing, I would have been campaigning for one particular scene change to be implemented there – it’s THAT good and utterly, utterly more emotional. Your eyes will empty of water.

The stage is much lower than at the VPT so, at Stalls level, you can see all the footwork. Strangely, though, Row B is lower raked than A so a large head of hair in front may block your view.

It is so gratifying to see longtime London Billy stalwarts, Deborah Bundy (Assistant Resident Director) and Barnaby Meredith (Ballet Resident) and Daniel Page heavily associated with this tour. It was quite funny seeing in the programme that Barnaby, the "King of the Dream Ballet" at the VPT, is described as “Understudy Billy’s Older Self”. I have this mental picture of Barnaby standing in the wings during Dream Ballet, looking on and saying to himself, “Oh, so that’s how it’s done”. Deborah is also Understudy Grandma having both played and been standby Grandma at the VPT at various times over all the years. Daniel is, as he was before, a brilliant choice for Mr. B and has slightly more to do in B2B than at the VPT.

The main principals, Martin Walsh as Dad, Annette McLaughlin as Mrs. W, Scott Garnham as Tony, Andrea Miller as Grandma and Leo Atkin as George all deliver astounding performances yet so different from current London. Luke Cinque-White gave us a graceful and powerful Dream Ballet and Nikki Gerrard a beautiful version of Dead Mum. The Ensemble cast were awesome.

Adam Abbou and Haydn May were the two Billys I saw and I’m lost for words to describe just how brilliant they were. Mesmerisingly magnificent and, with not a trace of nerves in sight, they immediately won over the huge audiences and earned their applause and adoration at the end. The skill level of these boys in all three disciplines is way up there. As well as being technically brilliant they exuded the warmth of character that draws audiences into their very souls.

Elliott and Henry were magical and delightful Michaels and Evie and Italia perfectly cast as Debbies. Like in London the Ballet Girls are just fantastically trained and their enthusiasm, skills and enjoyment of being in the show are there for all to see.

I’m looking forward to seeing the other Billys, Michaels and Debbies as the tour progresses and will do as many shows in Dublin as is necessary to see them all.

There has not been any toning down of the language except for one line that will probably surprise you!

Downsides? I couldn’t say there were any and the following are not complaints, just comments.

Music Arrangements (no harm done in commenting as nobody ever talks about the music here anyway)
The music has changed quite substantially especially in some scenes but not, thankfully, in Electricity. Surprisingly, two of my most favourite pieces that employ those simple but beautiful piano accompaniments in Take me Up and The Letter have been replaced by a harp (and a synth harp at that). Not my cup of tea but I’ll have to try to live with that. EDIT: It didn't take very long for me to change my mind. I have now grown to love these new arrangements every bit as much as those in London. The new Angry Dance music is also sensational with a short but magnificent swelling phrase from Swan Lake included. Shame that we'll never get a CD.

Lyrics
I think it was at the 5th Anniversary Show that Elton John went to great pains to tell the audience that he had tasked Lee Hall with writing the song lyrics and that he (Elton) had "not changed a single word". However, someone else has seen fit to change one of the songs so that the main title of the song is not in it!! I don't get the reason why it was felt necessary to change it. Just saying. The actual song as sung and the magnificent scene it is in is breathtaking.

As always with BETM, the bottom line for me is that I walked out of the Theatre Royal Plymouth with the exact same euphoria as I always have done at the VPT. This is a stunning MUST-SEE production for any true-blue Billy fan. As soon as London is over I cannot wait to head off to the tour venues as well as hosting the show here in Dublin.

In order to see this show the journey required two buses to Dublin Airport, Ryanair to Bristol, the Bristol Flyer Bus to Temple Meads station, train to Plymouth and a 15 minute walk to a hotel beside the theatre. Cash and energy all very well spent. Plymouth by the sea is so beautiful. As Michael would say, it was xxxxxxx freezing there earlier this week, but a walk down by the Hoe will blow away all the cobwebs and delight your eyes. Add a couple or more of Billy shows and Heaven is at hand.

Pat
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Bridget40
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Re: Plymouth Reviews

Post by Bridget40 »

Thanks for that review Pat!!! Now I'm really tempted to see the touring show for myself. Plymouth is to far from London for me, but I just so happen to be in Bristol for work in the next week or two, and Plymouth is straight down the M5 from there. Very tempting......
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tzwicky
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Physical theatre stuff

Post by tzwicky »

Good for me. I am well chuffed.

I am in row A for all 4 shows I have booked.

So glad to hear a description of the seating from Pat. I had to run to my pile of tickets to see if I had to worry about a Pumpkin Head sitting in front of me. No worries

Spending 2.5 days in Plymouth so I have day passes on the around town bus.

And, it seems like there is a warming trend in the offing if my interpretation of the temps is correct. I have amassed a wardrobe full of long-sleeved shirts which is new, since I never owned more than 1 shirt with sleeves till now.

Of course I may well never see the show at all since the train from London to Plymouth is the first time I'll be riding that far without an adult to accompany me. I sorta know my way around Paddington so I'm not that nervous, but as I'll nearly be a train virgin (I know, "nearly" doesn't count in most instances) there are butterflies.

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patc
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Re: Plymouth Reviews

Post by patc »

I forgot to mention that the publicity in Plymouth is massive with posters everywhere. The trailer is being projected on the top portion of the outside theatre wall. The lamposts on the approach to the theatre resemble an Election venue. Here are a few examples. These are larger photos so will show up on a third party site rather than in this message. Click on them to enlarge.

http://tinypic.com/r/ev7yh1/9

http://tinypic.com/r/ei2ibt/9

http://tinypic.com/r/bz8rq/9


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tzwicky
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You are the complete article Pat.

Post by tzwicky »

How thoughtful to take these photos.

Thanks!

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MsRF
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Re: Plymouth Reviews

Post by MsRF »

Will anybody be attending the Plymouth shows on 1st/2nd of April? I will be there for the three shows Fri-Sat of the closing weekend, and would be great to catch up with people if so.

So excited to see the Tour for the first time - very excited about seeing the changes (and of course the totally new cast!)
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porschesrule
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Re: Plymouth Reviews

Post by porschesrule »

This blogger writes a really laudatory review of the Tour show in Plymouth, which she attended on 24-March-2016:

https://thatmusicaltheatrenerd.wordpres ... th-240316/
kport
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Re: Plymouth Reviews

Post by kport »

A small observation:

BETM is currently being shown in Plymouth, Devon, and in Norwell, MA, which is about 18 miles from Plymouth Rock, where custom has it the Pilgrims landed in The New World, after departing Plymouth Steps in Devon. Norwell is in Plymouth County. It was founded by settlers from Plimoth Plantation, and immigrants from Kent, when it was part of Scituate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwell,_Massachusetts
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Bridget40
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Re: Plymouth Reviews

Post by Bridget40 »

I was in Plymouth for two shows last week and I must say that it seemed very strange watching Billy in a theatre other than The VP, having never done so before. I tend not to like theatres in the U.K that were built in the 70's/80's as I find them to be very soulless, but as soulless theatres go, The Theatre Royal is pretty good, and it was packed for both shows.

I wont give any of the changes away because the best part of the show for me was being surprised by the differences between what we see in London and what we see on the tour. Some of these changes work very well, and some less so, but it was all good fun!

The Billy's that I saw were Haydn and Matthew. Their acting, dancing and singing were all solid, and both were good in their own charming way. The Michael's were Samuel and Henry. Personally, I think Samuel is to young/small for the part, but that is not his fault, and he is one of those Michael's that is just naturally funny and he had everyone chuckling away too his antics. A charming Michael! Henry was a much more serious and forlorn Michael. You could really pick up on his affection for Billy, and the sadness he feels at losing his friend. One of the most effective and realistic Michaels that I have seen! They utilise the young cast very well. In one show Tall/Posh boy was played by Haydn (Billy) and in the other it was Henry. (Michael) However, I was a little confused to see one of the excellent ballet girls as Small boy. Why dress a little girl as a boy? Why not just change the character to 'Small girl?' The rest of the cast were very solid

Sooooo, how would I compare it with The West End production? Well, I wont...... As I don't think it's fair to compare a touring show that has just found it's feet, with a production that has been going for ten years, and is red hot, and running at 110% of it's utter brilliance at the moment (Annoying tech problems aside)

What I will say is that the people who see this up and down the country will absolutely love it, and any VPT regulars will certainly not be disappointed!
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