Re: November 2009 - Reviews
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 8:49 pm
Monday 30th November 2009
Billy – Dean Charles Chapman
Michael – George Maycock
Debbie – Emily Smith
Tall Boy – Ashley Cousins
Small Boy – Connor Donaghey
Dead Mum – Samantha Seager
A fantastic show and a great debut by Dean, Emily, Ashley, Samantha, the new team of ballet girls and several ensemble players including a new Scottish ballet dancer.
Thankfully there were no changes to the big numbers but there were many small changes (mainly instrumental), all brought from the Broadway production, and all worth it! Here they are, from memory!
1) Take Me Up – new instrumental, the MD’s piano in place of the Broadway harp.
2) Broadway Shadow Dance preceding Grandma’s Song. Billy makes shapes and movements of his arms and hands which are projected in shadow against the back wall, to the accompaniment of mystical music. Now we know what the new spotlights fitted at the edge of the stage were for!
3) Debbie saying, you look like a “dickhead” to me at the end of Shine. And thank goodness as dwallen has already said, that hand gesture has been removed. I’m sure that must have been embarrassing for the kids playing Debbie and Billy.
4) New instrumental when Billy winds up his alarm clock before the Angry Dance scene. This new music is the same as that played during Born to Boogie when Mr Braithwaite is counting out the steps sitting on his chair reading the ballet magazine. It is also similar (but not quite!) to the new Shadow Dance music.
5) At the end of the ballet Electricity dance, the music closes with a wonderful piano flourish by the MD a-la Broadway.
6) New music when Billy goes up to his bedroom to read the letter from the Royal Ballet School.
7) In the soup kitchen scene where Michael says to Billy, “Did you really hit one of the dancers?”, George tries to drum up some support for the strike by saying, “Maggie, Maggie Maggie” to the minors, but gets no response!
8) After Billy has packed his case and jumped into his dad’s arms, his dad gives him some pocket money (looks like a 50p!).
That’s all the changes I remember but Chris Hatt said there were one or two others – I’m sure patc will be able to fill in the blanks next Thursday!
Apart from that all the new cast were brilliant. Emily as Debbie chews gum at the beginning of the show, and Dean is just a sensation! As Billy Whiz has already said no-one would have known this was his first show if Nick Evans hadn’t announced it earlier. It was an amazing debut full of confidence and passion. Dean smiles a lot and at times even reminded me a little of George Maguire with his smiling face and blond haircut! His acting is very versatile but don’t be fooled by all that smiling and cherubic looks. Angry Dance was very powerful and noisy, but it was the Electricity song that transformed Dean into a little spitfire. He sang it very aggressively and angrily, literally spitting out the words, giving the auditioning panel and audience little doubt of how he was feeling. But then the mood changed and there were some very tender moments with his Dead Mum, superbly played by Samantha Seager.
All in all, a brilliant debut by Dean which drew three standing ovations. Talking of “drew”, little Drew Blackall was in the audience with his mum and it was nice to have a little chat with him after the show.
Billy – Dean Charles Chapman
Michael – George Maycock
Debbie – Emily Smith
Tall Boy – Ashley Cousins
Small Boy – Connor Donaghey
Dead Mum – Samantha Seager
A fantastic show and a great debut by Dean, Emily, Ashley, Samantha, the new team of ballet girls and several ensemble players including a new Scottish ballet dancer.
Thankfully there were no changes to the big numbers but there were many small changes (mainly instrumental), all brought from the Broadway production, and all worth it! Here they are, from memory!
1) Take Me Up – new instrumental, the MD’s piano in place of the Broadway harp.
2) Broadway Shadow Dance preceding Grandma’s Song. Billy makes shapes and movements of his arms and hands which are projected in shadow against the back wall, to the accompaniment of mystical music. Now we know what the new spotlights fitted at the edge of the stage were for!
3) Debbie saying, you look like a “dickhead” to me at the end of Shine. And thank goodness as dwallen has already said, that hand gesture has been removed. I’m sure that must have been embarrassing for the kids playing Debbie and Billy.
4) New instrumental when Billy winds up his alarm clock before the Angry Dance scene. This new music is the same as that played during Born to Boogie when Mr Braithwaite is counting out the steps sitting on his chair reading the ballet magazine. It is also similar (but not quite!) to the new Shadow Dance music.
5) At the end of the ballet Electricity dance, the music closes with a wonderful piano flourish by the MD a-la Broadway.
6) New music when Billy goes up to his bedroom to read the letter from the Royal Ballet School.
7) In the soup kitchen scene where Michael says to Billy, “Did you really hit one of the dancers?”, George tries to drum up some support for the strike by saying, “Maggie, Maggie Maggie” to the minors, but gets no response!
8) After Billy has packed his case and jumped into his dad’s arms, his dad gives him some pocket money (looks like a 50p!).
That’s all the changes I remember but Chris Hatt said there were one or two others – I’m sure patc will be able to fill in the blanks next Thursday!
Apart from that all the new cast were brilliant. Emily as Debbie chews gum at the beginning of the show, and Dean is just a sensation! As Billy Whiz has already said no-one would have known this was his first show if Nick Evans hadn’t announced it earlier. It was an amazing debut full of confidence and passion. Dean smiles a lot and at times even reminded me a little of George Maguire with his smiling face and blond haircut! His acting is very versatile but don’t be fooled by all that smiling and cherubic looks. Angry Dance was very powerful and noisy, but it was the Electricity song that transformed Dean into a little spitfire. He sang it very aggressively and angrily, literally spitting out the words, giving the auditioning panel and audience little doubt of how he was feeling. But then the mood changed and there were some very tender moments with his Dead Mum, superbly played by Samantha Seager.
All in all, a brilliant debut by Dean which drew three standing ovations. Talking of “drew”, little Drew Blackall was in the audience with his mum and it was nice to have a little chat with him after the show.