Madison Reviews

[BEtourfan]

Sunday evening, July 15.

Ty Forhan - Final performance


It seems like I was the only Forum member who wasn't in Louisville, but I had already booked a trip to the tour's next stop, Madison. I was hoping to see the two new Billys, and I did, but I lucked into seeing the unforgettable final performance of Ty Forhan.

I've now seen 44 BE shows and Ty was the first Billy I ever saw. It was in May of last year and it was Ty's 4th ever performance. Ever since I have totally blamed Ty for my BE addiction. I said in a Toronto review that Ty truly must have "lept from the brow of Zues fully formed."

The last tour final performance I saw was Lex Ishimoto's in January in Cincinnati. At that show the tour told the crowd nothing at all about the special occaision. In my review of that night I said that the people running the tour must be Grinches.

Tonight was different. The tour doesn't use program inserts to announce cast changes. They have a public address announcement of the cast changes for the night starting with Billy. But for this final performance they saved Billy for last and announced that "for this performance the role of Billy Elliot will be played by Ty Forhan who is doing his final performance in the role." A slight improvement over saying nothing.

The show starts and Ty gets some applause as he is lead to his chair by Jackie. His "Hold Me Up" was beautifully done. Ty has always had a remarkable singing voice. Lee Hall's lyrics get me at every final show - "we will find a new tomorrow, when we will come to rest at last, and we will stand there proudly, and we will never walk alone, and we will be returned, back to our home."

Ty's attitude promenade and pirouettes during solidarity both got loud applauses. In B2B he got to interact one final time with Job Christenson. Job provided the little w**ker with something to dance to throughout Ty's career, as he was Mr. Braithwaite both in Toronto and on the tour. His jump rope was lightning fast and he finished the scene with a breathtaking piano flip, and, of course, Ty stuck the landing.

Ty's final Angry Dance was remarkable. It is a chance to let out some emotion, and let it out Ty did! He put 100% into those violent, frenetic, and magic 4 minutes. I was pretty sure I heard an f-bomb for good measure. Plenty of screams, too. The only minor technical glitch of the night happened early on in AD when the microphones sewed into Ty's pants (designed to pick up the tapping) went dead for about 10 seconds. Ty kept on dancing and was banging on the microphones at the same time. Whatever he did worked because they came back on and worked the rest of the way.

One last dream ballet thrills the crowd. Now it's time for his last electricity. Combine his beautiful singing voice with his incredible dancing and wonderful acro (2 aerials) and you have a crowd overwhelmed by what they had just seen. The applause of 1800 people goes on and on. Ever the professional, Ty does not acknowledge the crowd but stays in character and runs off the stage. This guy is an all-star at the very top of his game.

Ty had done a good job of keeping his emotions in check throughout the night but he began to get a bit unraveled during his final encounter with Dead Mum. Kat Hennessey is the regular tour Mum but she was on a week's vacation. Her sub was Susan Haefner, another Toronto/tour actor who has been with Ty throughout his career. Ty was choked up and teary while singing his part of the duet to his long time friend. Susan had a tough time of it as well. Hankies were out throughout the audience.

The hankies stayed out for the Billy/Michael goodbye scene. A teary, shaken Cameron Clifford rides his bike on to the stage and Ty bounds back up on stage. "see ya Cameron." "Ya, see ya Ty." I've always remarked how much I like the way Ty delivers his line. To add meaning Ty would always stop at the top of the ladder to say "see ya Michael" rather than deliver the line while still moving. But not tonight. He said see ya Cameron while still moving. I'm sure he felt that if he stopped for emphasis he'd completely lose his composure.

The finale, with multiple standing ovations, was a mix of tears and smiles for Ty. A hug from Job Christenson surprised him. As the final curtain was about to fall, Rich Hebert took over. In a speach that was both touching and gut-wrenching and with his arm around a crying Ty, Rich let the audience know what Ty meant to him and the company. When Rich said "I'm losing a son" it was more than most could take. Ty wasn't the only person crying on stage. Many adult cast members were visably upset. Child cast members Brionna Trilling (another cast member who had been with Ty throughout Toronto and the tour) and Cameron Clifford could no longer keep their emotions in check.

Rich ends his beautiful speach. The curtain falls. The crowd is stunned. Happy Trails can be heard from behind the curtain. Thanks to Ty Forhan, Rich Hebert, and a remarkable cast, every one of those 1800 patrons will remember this night for ever and ever. More importantly, so will Ty.

Wonderful review!!

[ERinVA]

Thanks for telling us about Ty's last show. Excellent review.

[jdmag44]

Beautiful review of Ty's final show. You made me feel like I was there. Thanks

[porschesrule]

Terrific review, muck912! Thanks for capturing Ty's last show for those who couldn't see it. As jdmag44, you made us feel like we were there.

[CJ-Rochester]

My thanks as well muck912. It was great that someone from the forum could be at Ty's final show. That was a great review! I can really feel the emotion of the show in your writing.

[muck912]

In addition to Ty's final performance, I saw 3 other Madison shows, Zach, Ben, & Noah. Here are some random thoughts about the weekend:


The last time I saw 4 shows in a row in NYC I only saw 1 piano flip (Julian). The last time I saw 4 tour shows in a row (Columbus) I was impressed that I saw 4 piano flips (Zach, J.P., Kylend, Ty)!! On this trip to Madison I only saw 1 piano flip (Ty) in the 4 shows. Noah & Zach did Billy jumps off the piano & Ben did some pirouettes, never getting up on the piano. I would guess that Ben & Noah are so new that they don't have the piano flip in their repetoire just yet. Zach may have been injured because he did the flip in Columbus but not here. He also did not jump onto the police shields during Angry Dance, something he did do the other 2 times I've seen him. Zach did an electrifying Electricity with a beautiful aerial so perhaps he was only slightly injured. I sure hope that the tour is not dumping the piano flip. It must be harder to get tour Billys trained in the finer points of the role because of the frequent vacations that don't occur when BE has a permanent home. Last summer I saw 18 shows in Toronto and I saw 18 piano flips!

The first time I ever saw Ben Cook in person was at the 3-year anniversary show on Broadway. I was walking down 46th street towards the Imperial and as I get closer to the theater I see someone talking on his cell phone and at the same time practicing his ballet on the street. It was Ben and the phone conversation and the dancing went on for quite a while. He didn't perform that night. He was just there for the celebration. I then saw Ben play Michael during the tour's Rochester stop. In my review of his show I paid Ben the ultimate Michael compliment - I compared him to Toronto's magnificient Michael, Dillon Stevens. Now I finally get to see him as Billy. And what a treat! The same self-confidence that let him dance around 46th street in Manhattan was apparent in his 2nd ever Billy performance. What a voice! And his Angry Dance, Dream Ballet, and Electricity are far more advanced than one would expect for a 2nd show. He knocked it out of the park during the goodbye Michael scene. After planting the goodby kiss on Michael, Ben heads back to the ladder but comes to a complete stop, turns toward Michael, then says "see ya Michael". The stopping and turning towards Michael (instead of just delivering the line while walking toward the ladder) greatly ramps up the emotion during this all-important scene.

Noah was the surprise of the weekend. I expected Ben would be a great Billy right out of the box (and he was) because he had been around the show for so, so, long. But Noah had no previous connection to the show, yet his performance belied the fact that this was only his 2nd ever show. He also has an unusually good voice and his dancing was superb (although I expected this when I read in his biography that he had won a national competition). What I was really encouraged about was his Angry Dance. I have said in the past that the tour's Angry Dance might better be called the Mildly-Upset Dance. Well, I think Noah may be bringing the Angry back to the tour's Angry Dance. There were more screams and ranting that I had ever heard during a tour performance. It is hard to tell if there was an f-bomb because the tour does not turn up the Billy's microphone as loud as they did in NYC. Noah did not do the flying sequence during Dream Ballet. I'm sure he'll be ready to fly soon, maybe by the time he hits his home town, Boston. Noah was paired with Ethan Major. Ethan is off to a fast start as Michael. The Noah/Ethan Expressing Yourself is very polished. The 11-year old Ethan is a little taller than the 13-year old Noah.

Janet Dickinson makes a great Mrs. W. She fits right in with this strong adult cast.

The weekend crowds in Madison were good. The four shows averaged 1900 people in the 2300 seat Overture Center for the Arts. The theater isn't very old, but I need to sit down with its architect and have a word with him. The architect's overriding purpose must have been to get as many seats as far away from the stage as possible. There were 3 balconies that had virtually no overhang, far, far away from the stage. From the extremely high top balcony the child cast must have look like ants instead of dancers. To make matters worse he forgot to put aisles in the theater, meaning you could climb over 30 or more people to get to your center seat. And there wasn't a chandelier in sight. Ugh!

George's line "we'll be supportin' the arts" got a loud applause at all 4 weekend shows! Wisconsin has had it's problems with a conservative governor battling labor unions. That is probably why there were record crowds reading the posters posted in the lobby that detail the history of Maggie Thatcher's battle with the mine unions.

[jdmag44]

Thanks muck912 I love your long detailed reviews. Piano flip? Yeh there always was one in every show I saw and I did not appreciate its importance until I saw it replaced by a Billy jump. Perhaps there is too great a risk for injury. I look forward to Boston in the hopes of seeing Noah (I have 3 chances) Did I understand you correctly NO flying in Dream Ballet? Was it just left out or replaced with something else? Hard to imagine the show without it. For me the highlight in the show is angry dance. Can't wait to see Noah get angry!!

Joe

[muck912]

Thanks muck912 I love your long detailed reviews. Piano flip? Yeh there always was one in every show I saw and I did not appreciate its importance until I saw it replaced by a Billy jump. Perhaps there is too great a risk for injury. I look forward to Boston in the hopes of seeing Noah (I have 3 chances) Did I understand you correctly NO flying in Dream Ballet? Was it just left out or replaced with something else? Hard to imagine the show without it. For me the highlight in the show is angry dance. Can't wait to see Noah get angry!!

Joe

There is no flying sequence during Noah's Dream Ballet. The scene begins and is danced exactly the same as all other DBs but when Noah and Older Billy are in the spot where the wire is supposed to come down Jackie comes out on the stage and Noah dances over to Jackie. If you didn't know the flying was supposed to be there you wouldn't miss it. They do the scene very seamlessly.

[ActingDude17]

muck, those are honestly some of the best Billy reviews I've read, thank you so much for sharing them. I really hope I get to see Zach/Noah/Ben someday, they sound like three excellent Billys.

[angelenroute]

As the final curtain was about to fall, Rich Hebert took over. In a speach that was both touching and gut-wrenching and with his arm around a crying Ty, Rich let the audience know what Ty meant to him and the company. When Rich said "I'm losing a son" it was more than most could take. Ty wasn't the only person crying on stage. Many adult cast members were visably upset. Child cast members Brionna Trilling (another cast member who had been with Ty throughout Toronto and the tour) and Cameron Clifford could no longer keep their emotions in check.

Rich ends his beautiful speach. The curtain falls. The crowd is stunned. Happy Trails can be heard from behind the curtain. Thanks to Ty Forhan, Rich Hebert, and a remarkable cast, every one of those 1800 patrons will remember this night for ever and ever. More importantly, so will Ty.

Tears in my eyes here after reading this. Thank you for being an excellent reporter of a very, very special night in Billy history. Much appreciated!