BILLY YOUTH THEATRE - REGIONAL SHOWCASE REVIEWS

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Michael
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BILLY YOUTH THEATRE - REGIONAL SHOWCASE REVIEWS

Post by Muppet »

Just got back from attending the first BYT regional showcase. It was at the Lowry theatre, Salford and Yorksdell managed to obtain two superb seats for us both - right in the middle of the front row!! :D

Well, what can I say...WOW! It was EXCELLENT! It was an evening full of such magical moments like those that I had when I discovered BETM for the very first time. It was fresh, it was raw, it had me in stitches one moment and fighting back the tears at others, it contained many spine-tingling moments - and left me wishing that this wasn't a one off, but that I could be given the opportunity of seeing it all over again!

Apparently there are 115 registered BYT groups across the country and these regional showcases are highlighting some of the best in each area. The groups represented at ours were:

Brewery Youth Theatre
Queen Elizabeth School
Canon Slade School
Clifton Academy
Cody's Productions
Calday Grange Grammar School
Sandbach School Theatre

The evening was introduced by the BYT Director and then Damian Jackson (BETM Resident Choreographer for Swan Lake & Electricity). The structure of the evening was a performance of the musical from start to finish, cutting out much dialogue between musical numbers, plus Swan Lake and the Finale, so the whole evening including interval was about 2 hrs 20 mins. Each Billy and group performed at least a couple of scenes, 'passing on the baton' smoothly and seamlessly to the next Billy and group so that it flowed perfectly. Much of the acting and delivery was as we would see and expect at the VPT, but it was nice to see some fresh interpretations of dances, characters and scenes.

The show opened with 4 or 5 boys with brass instruments and full marching band uniform entering the stage and playing live. It was a really nice touch. By the end of the opening number - 'Stars Look Down' all the 'ensembles' from each group were on stage (some entering through the audience) and the volume was breathtaking.

The set was simple, but effective, with many scenes enhanced by video projections on a large screen above a raised platform to the rear.

Some highlights...

Grandma's Song - performed by members of Canon Slade School.
Everything about this number was brilliant - incl. Grandma's singing, Billy's facial expressions and the 10+ group of older boys choreography.

Solidarity - performed by both members of Canon Slade school and Clifton Academy. Great to hear that much of the language had been toned down a bit. This did not in the slightest bit effect the emotion of the piece.

Express Yourself - performed by Calday Grange Grammar school. Lots of laughs....especially when 10 older boys came on stage wearing dresses!! The lad playing Billy had a cheeky, fun-loving and confident look about him which worked.

Born to Boogie - The lad playing Mr Braithwaite (Cody's Productions I think) absolutely stole this scene, especially when he ripped his shirt and pants off to reveal a vest and posing pouch...right in front of all the ballet girls who then ran off screaming!! Very funny!

Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher (including Maggie face masks!) performed by Calday Grange Grammar. Thankfully we weren't picked on by George (as Santa) at the beginning! It was the woman two seats down from us!

Deep Into The Ground - Another amazing moment. The lad (from Calday Grange) who sang this had by far the most powerful voice of the evening, and it was reminiscent of a James Gaddas and Joe Caffrey style - tears streaming down his face as he captured perfectly the emotion of this piece.

....but the overall highlight....

Electricity - The Billy from Canon Slade school was awesome! No joke - this kid had as good a voice (if not better) than Liam Mower and Olly Taylor!! Not only that, his acting and facial expression was the best I've EVER seen done in this number! Just brilliant! The dancing - a hip-hop/street style interpretation was very good too (just needed a tiny bit more energy). If this group and this kid doesn't get to the West End gala then there is something seriously wrong with the judging - I could honestly see this boy in the role of Billy at the VPT regularly - yes, he was THAT talented!! Tom Glynn-Whitehead was his name I think.

Once We Were Kings - Another large group ensemble number, the swell of sound was superb.

The Letter Scenes - Dead Mum from Cody's Productions had a lovely voice.

The North-eastern acccents were excellent throughout, only once momentarily did I hear a scouse Mrs Wilkinson, but all in all the ballet teachers were very good too!

I would really like to see CANON SLADE SCHOOL and CALDAY GRANGE GRAMMAR at the VPT Gala in July. They are my predictions - as for me personally - as a neutral audience member, they stood out the most. I hope I'm right!!

Well done to all the young people, teachers and crew members involved! You should all be extremely proud of yourselves. It was a great night out at the theatre and goes to show the North-West (in my opinion) has some of, if not the best talent in Britain!! 8-) :D ;)
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butterfly33
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Re: BILLY YOUTH THEATRE - REGIONAL SHOWCASE REVIEWS

Post by butterfly33 »

im glad you enjoyed it....i was supposed to go but my so called friend jibbed me off!! Are you going to anymore?
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wert
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Re: BILLY YOUTH THEATRE - REGIONAL SHOWCASE REVIEWS

Post by wert »

I hope it is - I'm going on the Saturday matinee ;)
RJB
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Re: BILLY YOUTH THEATRE - REGIONAL SHOWCASE REVIEWS

Post by RJB »

Anyone see High Wycombe last night? Fantastic performance, and we were even graced by Leon turning up at the tech rehearsals. All the guys from Billy London were very impressed, it was a great night
alexhelmn92
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Re: BILLY YOUTH THEATRE - REGIONAL SHOWCASE REVIEWS

Post by alexhelmn92 »

Thankyou for that review. Im alex and i played the grandma from canon slade at the lowry centre. i read your review to tom and he was rather chuffed :)
We have made it through to london this time we wont be doing any singing or dancing but instead we have a few big acting scenes. we have the breakfast scene, dads debate with Mrs W and the post scene when billy gets his letter. we are all really looking forward to it now cant wait :)
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porschesrule
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Re: BILLY YOUTH THEATRE - REGIONAL SHOWCASE REVIEWS

Post by porschesrule »

Congratulations, alexhelmn92, with your production of Billy Elliot. Best of luck to your group in the Gala in London.

And welcome to the Forum. Hope you'll stay and post often.
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Michael
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Re: BILLY YOUTH THEATRE - REGIONAL SHOWCASE REVIEWS

Post by Muppet »

alexhelmn92 wrote:Thankyou for that review. Im alex and i played the grandma from canon slade at the lowry centre. i read your review to tom and he was rather chuffed :)
We have made it through to london this time we wont be doing any singing or dancing but instead we have a few big acting scenes. we have the breakfast scene, dads debate with Mrs W and the post scene when billy gets his letter. we are all really looking forward to it now cant wait :)
Welcome to the forum Alexhelmn92 and congratulations for making it to the BYT gala at the VPT. I will be there too and look forward to seeing your group perform again! ;) 8-) It's a shame Tom isn't able to share his wonderful 'Electricity' with the VPT audience, but if there are any video clips in circulation I suggest a link be posted on here so other forum members can see what I was referring to!? All the best with the preparations. :) ;)
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Billy Whiz
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Re: BILLY YOUTH THEATRE - REGIONAL SHOWCASE REVIEWS

Post by Billy Whiz »

I recently received an email from Forum member hecouldshine who, like me, is fortunate to live in the beautiful county of Cumbria. She asked me if I would like to see the Spotlight Theatre Arts School production of BETM. Needless to say I did not need asking twice.

It took place last Saturday night at Penrith Playhouse and I can highly recommend it. They had set out to make it a complete family show and there was no swearing in it at all. The show did not suffer in any way because of this. I will first of all cover the good parts and then the bad parts.

The show lasted just over 2½ hours including a 20 minute interval. The singing in The Stars Look Down was fantastic and I felt straight away that if this was going to be the standard for the rest of the show then it was going to be great - and it was.

Henry Marshall who played Billy is only 9-years-old. He has a wonderful singing voice and is a very good actor. I understand he only started dance lessons when he found out he had the part of Billy. I really feel that if he worked hard at his dancing then he could become a triple threat and audition for the role in London. Well done Henry - you should be proud of yourself.

Joe Desborough, who played Michael, was also excellent and another very good singer and actor. In Expressing Yourself you could see that the Joe and Henry were having fun.

All the main characters performed admirably. Hannah Byrne as Mrs W, James Bloxham as Dad, Paul Reynolds as Tony and Abbi Crawford as Grandma. The Ballet Girls were also excellent and had a great time. Full marks to all of you.

I feel I must pick out one scene for special mention and it’s the Winter Scene when Michael says to Billy “You won’t be running away to the ballet school, will ya” and Billy immediately replies “what’s good about that, like” to which Michael then immediately replies “well I’d miss you”. I’ve always felt at the Victoria Palace, and also New York, that these lines were rushed and it would be better with a pause between them. Well this is exactly how the Spotlight Theatre did it and it was so, so much better. Congratulations to the person in charge of the production for picking up on this. Now if only the Victoria Palace would pick up on it as well.

I said at the beginning that I would cover the bad parts last. Well I can honestly say that there weren’t any. It was a great night and I would recommend anybody that lives in this neck of the woods to go and see it. It is being repeated in Carlisle on Friday, July 2nd at 7.30 and Saturday, July 3rd at 2.00 and 7.30. The website is http://www.spotlightschool.co.uk and there is information on there where to buy tickets.
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hecouldshine
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Re: BILLY YOUTH THEATRE - REGIONAL SHOWCASE REVIEWS

Post by hecouldshine »

Thank you Billy Whiz for your company at this lovely BYT production. And for your review above. I can report that there are tickets left now only for the Saturday matinee performance in Carlisle, when the Billy and Michael are as reviewed by Billy Whiz above. The tickets can be bought from Carlisle Tourist Information on 01228 625600.
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caaz
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Re: BILLY YOUTH THEATRE - REGIONAL SHOWCASE REVIEWS

Post by caaz »

hecouldshine wrote:Thank you Billy Whiz for your company at this lovely BYT production. And for your review above. I can report that there are tickets left now only for the Saturday matinee performance in Carlisle, when the Billy and Michael are as reviewed by Billy Whiz above. The tickets can be bought from Carlisle Tourist Information on 01228 625600.
Hey HCS....are A or H in any production of Billy?
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Ollie G x 3. Ollie T x 4. Rhys x 1.5. Scott x 2 Tom x 2. Travis x 1. Trent x 1 (On Broadway)

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