Ottawa Reviews

[rob_hanson1979]

you're right, it gives you a whole different perspective from up there. Every angle you take in gives you a different perspective of the choreography and the staging. Plus you can see the backstage crew running around behind the set haha!

[ERinVA]

A bit late now, and definitely not positive:
http://capitalcriticscircle.com/billy-e ... tle-heart/

[rob_hanson1979]

some people just don't get it. I feel bad for them haha

[muck912]

I saw 2 shows in Ottawa and here a some quick thoughts about them:

Friday - Mitchell/Sam

I saw Mitchell the week before in Baltimore and wrote that his Electricity was good enough to be trip-inducing. And sure enough I traveled to Ottawa to see it again. Great singing, 2 snap aerials, a handspring (instead of a cartwheel) off of Dad's chair, and beautiful dancing throughout. This little guy is the smallest Billy I've ever seen (he makes Tade Biesienger look like Wilt Chamberlain). It changes the whole show watching such a little, vulnerable Billy. Mitchell is worth a trip to BE all by himself!

Mitchell flew in Dream Ballet last week in Baltimore but he didn't fly in this show. It must have been a technical issue because everybody else flew this week. Sam is a terrific Michael, so relaxed, so calm, willing to take his time to get his comedic points across, and so, so funny. But when changing his shoes in Express he didn't take his time. Sam ended up taking a nasty fall onto the bedroom floor and then down onto the stage. Sam got right up and continued with the scene. Of course Mitchell won the race to get the shoes on. Despite Sam's fall he still accused Billy of cheating.

Sunday - Noah/Jake

I've seen Noah multiple times including last week in Baltimore. I've written plenty about Noah and this was another in a string of strong performances. Jake just gets better and better as Michael. He's changed up a few of his moves in both of his major scenes. Quite a stage presence for a 10-year old.


The Nationals Arts Centre is a modern theater (theatre in Canada) that reminds me too much of the monstrosity in Madison, Wisconsin. I'll bet the same architect misdesigned both theaters. This guy's 3 basic theater design tenets are: 1) Make it a drab as possible. 2) Make it as hard as possible for patrons to get to their seats by not putting in any center aisles. Who cares if they have to climb over 25 people to get to their center seat? 3) Try to get as many seats as possible as far away from the stage as possible. Both Ottawa and Madison have 3 distant balconies that have no overhang whatsoever. If you are in the back of any of the balconies you see the show a few minutes later than those of us up front because the speed of light is too slow to get the images of the actors there in time. Double ugh!!

[rob_hanson1979]

haha I have to agree. I love Ottawa, but the NAC is sorely in need of a renovation. The theatre probably looked cutting edge in the late 60s/70s, but much like a lot of the architecture at that time, it doesn't stand the test of time. It actually reminds me of the designed city of Brasilia.... I'm sure it seemed brilliant at the time, but now it's really tacky. While not much can be done about the balconies, some of the decor, as well as adding aisles to the orchestra section would be a welcome change!

[porschesrule]

Here's a late, but very positive blog review from last week's show in Ottawa:

http://www.ibelieveinstory.com/2013/01/ ... lliot.html

[rob_hanson1979]

OH and just wanted to mention that Mitchell did do the flying scene in sunday nights show. Must've just been a issue on friday night.

[LiamM]

Yes, I spoke to a member of the company on Friday and they said that they flying mechanism was having problems on Friday.

When I first read what you wrote, I thought it said, "Micheal did do the flying scene". I thought, What? Has "just a wittle bit" gone overboard?