Louisville Reviews

[dongringo]

Glad everyone had such a great time in Louiville. Thanks for all the thoughts expressed.

[jdmag44]

Had the privilege of seeing Ben Cooks debut as Billy in Louisville. He has worked so hard to get to play the title role and was such a wonderful Michael so I was so anxious to see him as Billy (quite a step up to say the least). HE NAILED IT His singing was beautiful, his acting full of expression and emotion and his dancing was “spot on”. His smile at the end of Electricity was enough to light up the world. Clearly he knew he had done a great job and was so happy .


LOUISVILLE WAS THE PLACE TO BE THIS WEEKEND WOW THREE DEBUTS. I had very good seats for Fri eve Sat Mat, Sat eve . The audience at all the performances was laced with Billy fanatics It was so great to meet a number of fans who had seen the show over fifty times complete with their “Billy Bags” they were mostly out to support Ben and see the new Noah

[ERinVA]

Sorry I missed meeting you, jdmag44.

[CJ-Rochester]

Saturday June 30, 2012 (matinee)

Billy - Ben
Michael - Ethan
Tall Boy - Jacob

"Give the Ben a chance". Well that's not exactly the line, but it's what some BETM fans have been saying for a while, especially since hearing over a year ago that Ben was being groomed for this role. Interesting note: Ben is the only actor who has officially played Tall Boy, Michael, and now Billy. (Several others have played one or more roles as understudies, but were not officially in all of those roles.)

Steven Minning, the supervising resident director, made a pre-show announcement about this being the debuts of both Ben and Ethan. He gave a brief bit of background info for each of them, as their names had not yet been included in the printed programs. Steven thanked each of Ben's and Ethan's families for their support.

Stars -
Applause for Ben's entrance. On the first notes of "Take Me Up" I felt a brief tear come to my eye. This was partly from knowing what a long journey Ben has had to get to this stage, and partly because of how incredibly beautiful his singing voice is. What a gift he has!

Boxing -
Ben put his boxing head gear on a bit cockeyed. I thought he might have found a time to adjust it, but he kept it in place all the way through Shine and until the confrontation with Grandma. It gave his Billy an extra goofy look.

Express -
Ethan and Ben have obviously rehearsed together quite a bit, as they showed a really great chemistry.

Letter -
Beautiful singing with tears at the end.

Boogie -
At the point where Billy first spins the chair, I felt a bit of excitement and anticipation for what is to come later in Dream Ballet. The rope skipping worked perfectly, far better than it usually does. Both Job Christenson (Mr. Braithwaite) and Ben received applause individually during their sections of the routine.

In the bathroom scene that follows it looked like Ben might have been taking a long time to change clothes, as I didn't see his feet appear in front of the door as soon as usual. However he did emerge right on queue ("I've never really thought about it").

Angry Dance -
What can I say other than Ben nailed it! This was a great way to cap off Act 1. During intermission I heard many people saying how thrilled they were to be here, and how well Ben was doing. Ben's dad, Glenn, was beaming with pride.


Tutu scene -
Ethan has his own gimmicks and was quite funny. I look forward to seeing him develop as Michael and make the role more his own.

Dream Ballet -
Ben is one of those few Billys who smiles throughout the entire dance. Most have a more serious look as if they are concentrating. He appeared to nail all of the ballet moves with ease. The applause started when he was spinning up in the air. As he decended back to the stage he gave a huge smile to Max Baud (Older Billy), as if to indicate he knew he had done well.

Electricity -
The song part of this was lovely, one of the best I've heard it sung. The dancing had an aerial right at the start (to get our attention), plus another aerial near the end. In between was some of everything, although more acro than ballet. All of it was very well executed. Several in the audience rose to their feet immediately for a standing ovation. I think close to half stood up.

Final goodbye -
This theatre has no aisles that can be used for entrances and exits. Small Boy's entrance at the start of the show is from the side of the stage, as is the entrance of the four boys with their collection buckets at the start of Act 2. I wondered how they were going to work Billy's and Michael's goodbye and Billy's walk up the aisle, which is always an emotional moment.

Billy starts to walk off toward stage right. Michael rides in on the bike from back stage left (opposite the traditional side). He calls to Billy and they meet in the middle as normal. Billy kisses Michael, steps back and says "see ya Michael" but does not turn away. Michael says "see ya Billy" while the two are still facing each other. Then Billy turns and walks off, with the curtain descending on Michael. I liked this alternative staging, in that we feel and see the emotion and friendship between the two boys as they face each other to say goodbye.

Overall Ben's acting, dancing, and especially singing make him a complete triple threat. I hope all BETM fans get a chance to see him on the tour this summer or fall. Congratulations to both Ben and Ethan on a fantastic debut performance!
-Chris

[kport]

What a great review, Chris! You have described both boys' debuts beautifully, for those of us unlucky to have missed such an occasion.

[tomtorfan]

Fully agree with kport. Wonderful review. It's great to hear that Ben and Ethan had such sparkling debuts.

[Billy Whiz]

I consider myself one of the fortunate ones to have also been there for Ben's and Ethan's debuts.

It was a wonderful occasion from two very talented young men.

Thanks for the review Chris. Great words.

[porschesrule]

Nice review, Chris. It's wonderful to hear that Ben and Ethan got off to such great starts to their BETM careers. The best is yet to come!

[Yorkie]

"Give the Ben a chance". Well that's not exactly the line, but it's what some BETM fans have been saying for a while, especially since hearing over a year ago that Ben was being groomed for this role. Interesting note: Ben is the only actor who has officially played Tall Boy, Michael, and now Billy. (Several others have played one or more roles as understudies, but were not officially in all of those roles.)
-Chris

I thought Dean-Charles Chapman had played small boy (the very first one!), Michael & then of course Billy? Still, it is a great achievement and something very special so best of luck to the lad.

Thanks for the review, very enjoyable.

[ERinVA]

Since Small Boy and Tall Boy are different characters, then these are two different paths to the role of Billy. Dean-Charles never officially played Tall Boy, and Ben never played Small Boy.