Friday 27th August
Billy - Michael Dameski
Michael - Neil McCaffrey
Small Boy - Alex Dreier
Straight to the theatre after a 24 hour flight from Australia may not have had me in the best of physical conditions for my first NY show of this Billython but the energy that Michael exudes sure helped me get through the whole show without the embarrassment of cat napping during the performance.
Neil is settling in very well as Michael. Sure no one in the audience suspected he was so new to the role. Received good applause at the end of Expressing Yourself. As with all the different Michael's I have now seen Neil brings his own individual touches to the performance.
Michael's third last NY show was a great way to start my NY visit. Michael's singing is still stunning and as usual his acting and dancing were superb. If you plan to catch Michael on the tour you are in for a special treat!
It was interesting to me how many minor changes had occurred since March. Nothing major but a combination of a lot of small things.
My first time seeing Greg perform the role of Dad (Phil was on in March). Not what I was expecting. I found Greg's dad to be far angrier than what I had been led to believe. When I asked someone about this their opinion was that he had changed his performance from the early days. That said I like his dad !
Saturday 28th August - Matinee
Billy - Dayton Tavares
Michael - Neil McCaffrey
Small Boy - Alex Dreier
Mrs Wilkinson - Liz Pearce
Mr Braithwaite - Eric Gunhus
Two shows two Aussies !!!! Now if your an Australian fan you could not plan that better!
The hand out said Gabriel Rush was to play Michael but it was Neil who did the performance.
Dayton had the whole audience around me in tears. The gentleman sitting next to be was sobbing away uncontrollably at times. At the end of Angry Dance he looked at his wife and just said "Wow"
Love listening to the audience reaction. It is Dayton's ability since arriving in NY to take his emotional acting all the way that has totally placed his Billy into the top level of Billy performances. Brilliant dancing and acting and Dayton still has a voice that like Michael's is not lowering too much yet.
Liz Pearce's Mrs Wilkinson was excellent. Energetic and for me very much the way I like to see the role performed.
Slight malfunction of the back wall during shadow dance but this did not effect the performance. Dayton danced on and then moved into the Grandma song whilst the set was moved out of the way.
Saturday 28th August - Evening
Billy - Alex Ko
Michael - Neil McCaffrey
Small Boy - Seth Fromowitz
Mr Braithwaite - Eric Gunhus
Three shows in a row for Neil. I must almost already be the fan who has seen him perform the most
A lovely performance by Alex. Beautiful dancing and good acting skills. All Alex's performance lacks compared to Michael's and Dayton's was the ability to bring on real tears, never the less he acted out a a very moving letter and letter reprieve.
Today (Sunday) I expect two different Billy's Peter's first show and then Liam's last. What a day this will be for a fan of BETM. The two extremes on the one day. I have not in my 154 shows experienced this on the same day before!