April 2010 Reviews - Chicago

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ERinVA
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April 2010 Reviews - Chicago

Post by ERinVA »

A new month, and time for a new reviews thread.
Ellen



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-George Balanchine 1904 -1983


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phoebe
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Re: April 2010 Reviews - Chicago

Post by phoebe »

I was hoping to find a review of Guiseppe's debut. (Hint, hint)
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Re: April 2010 Reviews - Chicago

Post by PaulWilly »

Me too - please... 8-) 8-) :(
“It is a great show that people do come and see. Because it's not
just a show for adults, or just for children, or just for people that
like theatre, I'd say for everyone, and it's got so much emotion
behind it. Because who ever comes and sees it, feels the story -
so I think: it's brilliant!" (GM)
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Re: April 2010 Reviews - Chicago

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First time poster so Hello. This wont be as detailed as other posts for reviews but it seemed there was some anxiousness to find out about the last Billy to go on in Chicago. Guisseppe did a phenomenal job for his first time being on the stage. After he got over his initial nerves in his first song as you could hear his voice shaking, he was spectacular. His Angry dance is one of the best I have seen as it is done with such intensity. The Dream Ballet was beautiful and strong. The Letter song he actually cries as you could hear it in his voice and it just brought tears to my eyes as there was such emotion. His acting throughout is true and heartfelt and with a few more performances under his belt he will continue to refine the little things! Overall a FANTASTIC first time performance!
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Re: April 2010 Reviews - Chicago

Post by ERinVA »

Welcome to the forum, balletgirlfan, and thanks for the review of Giuseppe's performance. :D
Ellen



"I don't want people who want to dance; I want people who have to dance.”
-George Balanchine 1904 -1983


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phoebe
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Re: April 2010 Reviews - Chicago

Post by phoebe »

Thank you so much, balletgirlfan! Great to hear he did so well. It's amazing how the producers keep churning out top-notch talent!
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Re: April 2010 Reviews - Chicago

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Thur. April 8 7:30pm

Billy-Cesar
Michael-Keean
SB-Mark

Four shows til opening night on Sun. Sat in first row loge center section. First thing that I will admit is that Chicago will never be the same as NY to me. The Oriental is an absolutely magnificent theater. I prefer the intimacy of the Imperial. That said here goes the review. Sound was still an issue to me sitting up in the loge section. Shine and Solidarity sound mushy and washed out up there. So do some of the cast sometimes. I think that they are just going to have to live with the size and layout of the theater. Pacing is another issue to me. With the production team having decided to cut about ten minutes off the NY running time. The cast sometimes seems in a hurry to deliver lines. They are definitely loosing laughs that they get in NY. I am going to see at least 4 more shows so I will leave the rest of the nagging for another time.

Changes I have noticed that might have been mentioned before or not. Many of these do actually make sense.

Just after The Stars Look Down most of the cast rally's in back of stage to discuss picket line. Dad cooks a real egg up on stage for the Big Davey sandwich. Big Davey actually uses the piece of toast in Chicago instead of setting it aside. Dad pulls out 50p and leaves it on the side for Billy. This is one of the small things I do like about the changes in Chicago. George in the boxing scene calls the SB a lazy little Tw*t. Just before Born To Boogie just after the confrontation over the crow bar between Dad and Tony. Billy runs upstairs takes off his robe and grabs his bag. On the way out of the kitchen Billy grabs a can of bake beans and a packet of soup mix. They are not in the bag for him. This actually makes sense with the "I had to wait for me dad to go out line" If you follow my logic maybe that's why Billy brings weird things with him. No time for him to think. Billy than sits in front of the piano to wait for Mrs W. The big thing you loose in this are his screams of anger over the fight between Dad and Tony. As he runs up the steps in NY to the bedroom. Tony no longer uses the f-bomb after getting hit by the policeman during Shine. They also took this away from Michael in the lead up to Dream Ballet(What a f*ck*ng great x-mas this has been)has been changed. More to come in the following days after I see a few more shows.
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phoebe
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Re: April 2010 Reviews - Chicago

Post by phoebe »

What detail! :shock: How many times have you seen the show?

I like the idea of seeing Billy quickly pick up the beans and soup, probably hoping that they'll serve as a decoy for The Letter. Students will try to deflect a teacher from making them do the hard work, exactly as in that scene. Brilliant.
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Re: April 2010 Reviews - Chicago

Post by Musical Fanatic »

phoebe wrote:What detail! :shock: How many times have you seen the show?

I like the idea of seeing Billy quickly pick up the beans and soup, probably hoping that they'll serve as a decoy for The Letter. Students will try to deflect a teacher from making them do the hard work, exactly as in that scene. Brilliant.
Moving rapidly to around 50 shows :lol: This is only since last June when I first fell in love with the show. When I am done I will have seen about a dozen in Chicago.
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Re: April 2010 Reviews - Chicago

Post by Musical Fanatic »

Billy-J.P.
Michael-Gabriel
SB-Elijah

I think its time for a full review of Chicago. With this being the 3rd show left till press opening night. Hopefully there will not be any more major changes to the show. Met up with hugsy2k before the show. Had dinner at Giordano's. Chicago deep dish pizza was very good. Sat Orch R G18 three seats from end of aisle. Overall pretty good site line only miss far right corner of stage where the door is. The other plus is from up front the sound is fine.

Stars Look Down( this scene has now stayed consistent for a couple of shows)
The Company does a good job of setting the stage for the strike. George comes in says (were out) (WERE ON STRIKE) and jumps into the arms of another miner. Billy's (f*ck*d if I know) draws good laughter from audience. Company was very strong on final part of number. At the final note the Company breaks up and regroups at the back of the stage for last minute words about the picket line. Tony comes in sitting on a chair with the table from the left side. He's wearing a shirt but no pants. Dad never leaves front of stage area. He starts yelling for Billy to come down to breakfast as soon as the final note ends. Off comes his jacket
and on goes a similar funny apron like NY. Grandma comes in with the stairs from the right. She is carrying a black purse and digging through the garbage can looking for her pasty. Dad escorts Grandma back to the table and starts cooking breakfast for real. No pre made egg In Chicago. Other differences in scene when the miners come in they take bread out of bag and toss individual pieces around. Dad yells at Tony (when are you going to get your pants on) Big Davey starts eating out of an open can of bake beans. Tony goes out with pant on after the miners to the picket line but carrying his shoes. At the end of the scene when eating the egg Big Davey uses the piece of toast instead of swapping it out for a not toasted piece. He also points to his mouth. Smiles and shows a little bit of egg. (Like that tastes good is what he means) Billy comes down the steps with tooth brush in mouth and does first line with it in his mouth. Grandmas last line has been changed to (I have a nice sausage roll in the bathroom)
Boxing Scene
SB has now become a lazy little tw*t when he falls down from exhaustion. Booth SB are very good in their roles. J.P.'s boxing dance has the audience howling with laughter. When Michael strikes George(Jim Ortlieb has definitely improved his take on George. I like this whole change. ) with the low blow. George falls to his knees in pain. Throws Michael's boxing glove after him from his knees. George gets up slowly and hobbles over to where Billy has crawled to over by the door. They do the your a disgrace line and then George lets out an ow sound of pain when going to hit Billy and then limps out. J.P. does something funny here. When he can't jump kick the keys into his glove he goes down and grabs them with his teeth.

Shine
I think that the girl who plays the spastic starfish must be Tessa's long lost sister. OMG is she hysterical. Only nine BG"S in Chicago. They changed Mrs W smart reply back to Billy to(Anna flipping Pavlova from Margot Fontaine) No other changes here that I remember. The girls are just as funny and adorable and well trained as NY. J.P. is as small as most of the BG"S with a couple of the girls much bigger than him. It does not look weird for him to be pushed around. J.P. does look like a lost 11 year old in the ballet class. Alright enough for the moment it is 130am Chicago time and I've had it more to follow later.
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