Montreal Reviews

[muck912]

I saw BE three times in Baltimore two weeks ago and twice in Ottawa last week. So, what am I doing seeing BE three times in Montreal? Montreal is just too close to my upstate NY home to pass up. And the current Billy lineup is too good to pass up. And this first show was so extraordinary it made the short trip worthwhile all by itself.

Saturday night - Mitchell/Sam

This was my 57th show and of all of the regular shows I've been to this one had by far the best audience reaction. I was expecting a dud audience because Mitchell decided to do the show in his best Geordie English instead of Montreal's preferred tongue, French. But when you're supremely talented, about the size of Small Boy, and give it your all, language is no barrier to a monumental show. Montreal fell in love with this little Floridian. They laughed and clapped and cried and stood throughout the show.

This week Nora Brennan called Mitchell the smallest Billy ever. I've written before about how it is so easy to get behind a little guy like this. You root for this tyke who is battling a brother and a Dad who is twice his size. Add in spectacular talent and 2300 fans had a night they will long remember. They loved Mitchell and they let him know it.

The highlight of a great night was Mitchell's Electricity. His singing, with some vibrato, was loud and strong. Mitchell is a Broadway Belter. His acro is out of this world. A snap aerial to start with, followed by a handspring off of Dad's chair, and another aerial leading to the front of the stage for the final pirouettes. The song was interrupted by applause and when it was over the crowd rewarded Mitchell with a standing ovation. So there is this little guy posed there at the end of Electricity with the crowd standing and cheering. And it is getting louder and louder with more and more people standing and joining in. So what does this rookie do to acknowledge this loving French crowd? Nothing. This little professional stays in character, grabs his stuff from Dad, and runs off of the stage!!

Mitchell's Angry Dance is getting angrier. He has added a scream or two. His tapping is fantastic. His sewn-in microphones went completely dead for about 10 seconds. Mitchell kept tapping while slapping at his pants leg. He must have got them working while out of site in his little box because you could hear him tapping up a storm once he left the box.

In virtually every scene Mitchell does something I've never seen any other Billy do. During his attitude prominade he keeps moving his fingers even while Mrs. W is fine tuning him. During "Lettre de Mum" (as the Playbill called it tonight) his singing is louder than any Billy I can remember. During "Response de Billy" he brings his reply out of his coat pocket. In New York the letter was "crumpled", on tour it is "scrumpled", but not Mitchell. His letter is "scrundled". When a Billy has suitcase in hand and is walking down the stairs you never see them looking at the audience. Instead their eyes are focused on London in the distance. Not Mitchell. He absolutely knew he had won this audience over and checked out his conquests as he walked down the stairs and down the aisle towards London. Mr. Personality! (Not in character here.)

I hope they were filming the "see ya Billy" scene. They should save it to train future Billys. It can't be done any better that Mitchell and Sam did it tonight. Mitchell pauses for effect before giving Michael the goodbye kiss, slowly walks to the stairs as if he's thinking about what he's going to say, comes to a complete stop at the top of the stairs, turns all the way around to face his sad friend before saying see ya Michael. Sam's "ya, see ya Billy" is said with all the solemnity befitting the occaision.

When you see a rookie Billy you'll frequently think to yourself, "in another 6 months this kid is going to be great". Not with Mitchell. This kid is already great. Go see him, no matter the cost. Do it now, before he grows up.

I had seen Jillian Rees-Brown nearly 50 times in Toronto & on tour and always in the ensemble, until tonight. Tonight she was Grandma. And what a fantastic Grandma. I loved it.

Ballet Girl Madison Barnes recently performed her 900th show. For about 800 of them she was Keeley Gibson. For the last 100 or so she has been a very spastic starfish.

When Sam Poon is on stage as Michael he is in control, even with such a commanding presence as Mitchell Tobin on stage with him. 11-year old Sam is so cool, calm, collected, unhurried that you think he has spent his whole life on stage. Then you check his bio in the Playbill and it turns out he has spent his whole life on stage. In his brief 11 years he has 13 different shows to his credit including a stint as Gavroche with the national tour of Les Miz. Tonight during Express Sam had trouble getting into one of his tap shoes. Billy's shoe changing victory was one of the most lop-sided in BE history. But that didn't stop Michael from accusing Billy of cheating.

[porschesrule]

Great review, muck! I do believe Mitchell is described in it in the most glowing terms of any review to date. Glad to hear you (and apparently 2299 other audience members as well) loved him!

With the great reviews Drew has been getting, it seems this "next generation" of Billys is carrying on the tradition well -- and making Nora Brennan and the show's creative team once again look like geniuses.

[kport]

A belated review from the West End Times:

http://www.west-end-times.com/index.php ... s-triumph/

[muck912]

Sunday - Matinee Drew/Jake
Evening Ben/Sam

Two more great shows! Both of these Billys can sing! This gang of 4 (Ben, Noah, Drew, Mitchell) Billys may be the best group of singers ever assembled. It adds so, so much to a show when a Billy can belt one out!

You'd swear that Drew has been doing this for a year instead of a month. He is so polished, so nuanced, so talented. His Angry Dance has also gotten a bit angrier. If your theory is to wait a few months to see a new Billy so they can grow into the role, you need to scrap that theory. Both Drew and Mitchell lept from the brow of Zeus fully formed, and I mean fully!! It is a credit to the 2 kids and also some credit must be shared with whoever is doing the training in New York.

The current cutest thing on Youtube is 7-year old Small Boy Cal Alexander's Electricity. In the background you see Cal's resident director/Svengali, Ben Cook. What kind of senior Billy would spend the time and energy mentoring little Cal. The same great qualities and pride you see from Ben in this video are also evident in his portrayal of Billy. Every time you see Ben as Billy you are seeing a memorable performance.

Call me shallow, call me easily impressed, call me a "wow-factor" junkie, but I was soooo happy to see Ben's piano flip!!! I had been shut out of piano flips for 17 shows dating back to Ty Forhan's final performance in Madison, Wisconsin. Do you suppose Stephen Daldry is also shallow, easily impressed, and a "wow-factor" junkie? After all, Daldry was in charge in both London and New York, where Billy piano flips were born.

The theatre in Montreal is called The Place des Arts. It is yet another newish theater badly in need of a wrecking ball. This is a very drab cavern with no center aisles and 3 balconies that overhang nothing. Patrons sitting in the balconies are so far away from the stage they are actually in the province of Newfoundland instead of Quebec. The one spectacular thing about the complex is that it is attached to an arts themed up-scale mall.

I've written before about my first ever encounter with Ben Cook. It wasn't in a theater. It was on 46th Street in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon in November of 2011. Ben wasn't a Billy yet (but was training to be one). At that time Ben was playing Michael on the tour but he was in New York to be part of the 3rd anniversary BETM celebration. I was there to see that evening's anniversary show. While walking down 46th street from TKTS to my hotel I see a kid dancing around the street (lots of puirouettes) while talking on his cell phone. This kid keeps talking and keeps dancing for a few minutes. As I get closer I recognized the kid as Ben Cook. At that time I had never seen a tour show and had never seen Ben perform but I thought that a kid this self-assured and this un-selfconscious is probably going to make a great Billy. And I was right. That was 15 months ago and in the interim I've never seen any kid dancing in public. Not any BE kids nor any other kid. No public dancers, no public dancing - until Sunday in Montreal. My wife and I were in the mall food court between shows, chowing down supper. I look up from my repast and on the other side of the food court there is a little kid dancing away. He's practicing some pirouettes. That little kid was Ben Cook protege, Cal Alexander.

[porschesrule]

The theatre in Montreal is called The Place des Arts. It is yet another newish theater badly in need of a wrecking ball. This is a very drab cavern with no center aisles and 3 balconies that overhang nothing. Patrons sitting in the balconies are so far away from the stage they are actually in the province of Newfoundland instead of Quebec.

[angelenroute]

In the background you see Cal's resident director/Svengali, Ben Cook. What kind of senior Billy would spend the time and energy mentoring little Cal. The same great qualities and pride you see from Ben in this video are also evident in his portrayal of Billy. Every time you see Ben as Billy you are seeing a memorable performance.

What a sweet, sweet, wonderful boy in so many ways! His mentoring of Cal is part and parcel of the awesome young man he is, and the company is so blessed to have him with them.

Patrons sitting in the balconies are so far away from the stage they are actually in the province of Newfoundland instead of Quebec.

Hahahaha

While walking down 46th street from TKTS to my hotel I see a kid dancing around the street (lots of puirouettes) while talking on his cell phone. This kid keeps talking and keeps dancing for a few minutes. As I get closer I recognized the kid as Ben Cook. At that time I had never seen a tour show and had never seen Ben perform but I thought that a kid this self-assured and this un-selfconscious is probably going to make a great Billy. And I was right. That was 15 months ago and in the interim I've never seen any kid dancing in public. Not any BE kids nor any other kid. No public dancers, no public dancing - until Sunday in Montreal. My wife and I were in the mall food court between shows, chowing down supper. I look up from my repast and on the other side of the food court there is a little kid dancing away. He's practicing some pirouettes. That little kid was Ben Cook protege, Cal Alexander.

I know these are the only two you have seen, but I'm sure others do it frequently too. I've seen Giuseppe do it a few times too. You can picture Dad from the movie or the show saying, "Is that absolutely necessary?" And the answer of course is YES! As the master himself can tell us via ERinVA's signature: "I don't want people who want to dance; I want people who have to dance.” -George Balanchine 1904 -1983