Is there any part of the show you don't like?

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ERinVA
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Re: Is there any part of the show you don't like?

Post by ERinVA »

Since this topic actually can apply to all different versions of the show, I am going to move it into Billy Around the World.
Ellen



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Re: Is there any part of the show you don't like?

Post by kport »

onceagain wrote:
Billy Whiz wrote:My "unfavourite" part of the show is when Jackie goes to see Mrs W about getting an audition. I know it is an important part and the show would not be right without it, but it does seem to drag a little.
Same here. I don't know what it is about that part, but something about it just doesn't work for me.
Costume change for the ensemble?
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Re: Is there any part of the show you don't like?

Post by kport »

OliverWaters wrote:I think Grandma's Song is pretty important; she regrets not having gone dancing while she had the chance, something Billy could have fell victim to!
I agree; and this is why I so enjoyed the moment when she pulls Billy from the chair and dances around with him (that happened at Ogunquit). Rather like 'passing the torch to the next generation'.
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angelenroute
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Re: Is there any part of the show you don't like?

Post by angelenroute »

I love Angry Dance, and I've seen enough amazing renditions of it on Broadway that left me breathless and speechless, as it did for me the very first time I saw the show anywhere (London, 2007, performed by the incredible Corey Snide).

I also love Grandma's song, and have always admired how it's basically staged in color and black and white on a split screen for much of the start. Brilliant!

As to the parts I don't like...it's mostly just been various actors' takes on different roles. I despise overacting, and I hate when they cast Tony with an actor in his 30s or higher. When both of these happen at the same time, I'm not shy in expressing my criticism. I also believe there are perfect ways to deliver various lines, and I've never understood why people who perform this show in later productions don't study the interpretations others have discovered. Yes, I'm all for artistic choice, of course I am, but when night after night you deliver a line that's supposed to be funny, and no one laughs, you really ought to change something! I also don't care for directors who refuse to fully direct their actors. If someone's always messing something up, give them a card and tell them so. You're a disservice to them when you don't help them to be better.

There's really not much about the musical on paper (musical or dialogue) that I don't like. It all comes down to delivery and presentation for me.

There are some moments I'd prefer a slightly longer pause, like when we find out Billy gets in, before George and Big Davey tell Jackie the strike's over. That scene really could stand an extra 5-6 seconds to allow us our joy a breath longer, I believe. Jackie and Billy looking at each other for even 3 seconds more would be great.

I also prefer when Billy is 100% supportive of Michael throughout, and not in any way coming across as a bully--because if you read it on paper (save for Express Yourself, which could be seen as a huge dream number for Michael), Billy's lines could just as easily come across as harsh. Even "Here, put this on," could be said in a slightly bullying way. So yeah, point here is: I find Billy much more endearing when he's as loving to his best friend Michael as he can be.

Great topic here, and will give it some more thought. As a writer myself, I like to believe Lee Hall follows some of our discussions here from time to time--I would if there was a bunch of fans discussing my stories online! :D

Sean

"Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it." -Edward Albee
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Re: Is there any part of the show you don't like?

Post by ERinVA »

To be clear about the delivery of the Keely Gibson/cerebral palsy line: I do not fault the actors. I think the delivery that implies Keely's mother actually has cerebral palsy is done that way because it's been directed that way. But I don't agree with that interpretation, "director's cut" or not, and I wish Ruthie Henshall had been allowed to keep it the way she interpreted it instead of apparently being told to change it.
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"I don't want people who want to dance; I want people who have to dance.”
-George Balanchine 1904 -1983


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Re: Is there any part of the show you don't like?

Post by angelenroute »

I always thought that interpretation of the line was as Lee Hall meant it, very dark humor. Keeley starts to say, "But me Mam" as a kind of excuse, and Mrs. Wilkinson fires back at her with the line. The other way does work very well too.

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Re: Is there any part of the show you don't like?

Post by LiamM »

"Angry Dance" is one of my favorite parts of the show.

The one scene I would like trimmed is the post scene. It's just not funny enough. Make it shorter and use the freed-up time to bring back "Goodbye Grandma", which was cut during previews.
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Re: Is there any part of the show you don't like?

Post by dongringo »

ERinVA wrote:
OliverWaters wrote:

[*] did one of the CD versions have Liam Mower say "it's not fair!" ? In my mind's ear, I can hear his voice saying it before the guitar kicks up, but on my CD, and one of the tracks someone put on youtube with the cover art don't have it, so god knows where I picked it up...
There is only one cast recording CD. While the vocal tracks are all Liam, I have always understood that the tapping and shouting you hear in Angry Dance is George Maguire.

There is one line delivery in the show that I have always felt was just wrong: When Mrs. Wilkinson says to Keely Gibson, "I don't care if your mother HAS got cerebral palsy. You have to bring your shoes!" It is delivered with the emphasis on HAS, which means the mother actually suffers from the disability. I don't think that is what the intention of the line is supposed to be. I think it's supposed to be an example of the use of hyperbole as an insult, and should be delivered with the emphasis on the word PALSY: "I don't care if your mother has got cerebral PALSY. You have to bring your shoes!" This means that the mother is not actually disabled, and there is no excuse for Keely to have left her shoes at home.

The one Mrs. Wilkinson I have heard consistently deliver the line in what I consider the correct way is Janet Dickinson. Ruthie Henshall was delivering it that way when I saw her last May, and I was very pleased that somebody finally figured out what the line is supposed to mean. But now, as evidenced by the Billy Live recording, she has been told to revert to the first version. So poor Keely's mum is back to being disabled again. :cry:
I knew there was something about that line that sounded off. Thanks for clarifying.
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Re: Is there any part of the show you don't like?

Post by dongringo »

LiamM wrote:"Angry Dance" is one of my favorite parts of the show.

The one scene I would like trimmed is the post scene. It's just not funny enough. Make it shorter and use the freed-up time to bring back "Goodbye Grandma", which was cut during previews.
I love the post scene as is. ;)
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Re: Is there any part of the show you don't like?

Post by kport »

I do miss not having 'Goodbye Grandma' in the show......it is perhaps the most memorable song in the original score that could stand on its own. As a 'memorial' song that touches many hearts, I rate it right up there with Cat in the Cradle and In the Living Years.
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