Columbus Reviews

[porschesrule]

Here's a review of the Opening Night show in Columbus which appears in the Columbus Dispatch this morning. You get the flavor of it by it's headline "Billy Elliot: Messy musical rescued by love of dance":

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories ... lliot.html

[porschesrule]

A review from The Other Paper in Columbus:

http://www.theotherpaper.com/entertainm ... 3ce6c.html

[porschesrule]

Broadway World carries a review of the BETM US/CA Tour show in Columbus today:

http://columbus.broadwayworld.com/artic ... e-20120323

[porschesrule]

CAPA (Columbus Association for the Performing Arts) has put together a video of fans before and after reactions to the Opening Night of the show in Columbus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA6DVmWVlBM

[accessmenj]

Now that's a good promotion. Interview people before and after the show. Only one child. The enthusiasm of the adults after the show will convince adults that the show is something that they should not miss. No more dance lessons for TV show hosts. Are you listening, BETM?

[ERinVA]

Here's a very favorable review from the online publication Spoonfeed:

http://www.spoonfeedcolumbus.com/post/1 ... liotreview

[muck912]

Friday March 23

Zach/Cameron

I saw Zach's 5th overall show in Cincinnati a couple of months ago and was more than suitably impressed. Now, 3 months into his Billy tenure, his performance struck me as no other has in the 35 times I've seen the show. The creative team must give the Billys a lot of latitude to form their Billy personality. Zach's Billy personality is not like any other. His Billy is filled with a nervous self-doubt and Zach does it so well that I found it easy to root for his Billy. The nervous self-doubt is no stretch considering that he shares a house with Dad and Tony. Zach pulls it off like no other with facial expression, body language and even physical manifestations. Twice he picked nervously at his shirt and while sitting on the floor waiting for B2B to start he was picking at his shoe. Zach's portrayal make the epiphanies that come later in Solidarity and Electricity more meaningful.

Other parts of his performance are more polished, too. His singing is much better. He did a Billy jump off the piano in January, now he does a flip off the piano and sticks the landing! For Mum's Letter Zach was dripping tears before Dead Mum even shows up on stage! (This must be a tour specialty as I've seen Lex and Kylend do the same thing and I can't remember ever seeing tears fall so early in Toronto or NYC.) If I had to come up with a critiicism of Zach's masterpiece it would be the Angry Dance. It is not the "Dance" part of Angry Dance that had anything wrong with it. Zach's tapping during the number is A+. It is the "Angry" part that I quibble with. I found that a good rule of thumb is if you count the F-Bombs and the blood-curdling screams during Angry Dance, add them together, and come up with a number less that 10 then you don't have an "Angry Dance". You have a "Mildly-Upset Dance". For Zach tonight I counted no F-Bombs and only 3 screams (although the final scream as he was falling to the stage was a great one). 3 is par for the course for the Tour. If I was running the tour (and I should be) I would change the Playbill's list of musical numbers from "Angry Dance" to "Mildly-Upset Dance".

Unusual for this fine touring show were a couple of technical glitches. Michael's vanity light didn't light at all during Express. And during Mildly-Upset Dance the microphones picked up double the taps. There was also some crackling on microphone later on.

It was my first time seeing Cameron Clifford on tour after many times in NYC. He's a great addition to the tour. He's changed what he does during the "have you heard anything?" scene when Lesley questions Billy. I won't give it away. It is funny. He's also toned down his "ya, see ya Billy" at the end of the show. I like this change. It adds to the solemnity of the occaision.

Patti Perkins has replaced the irreplaceable Cynthia Darlow as Grandma. The show doesn't miss a beat because Patti is dynamite also.

[CJ-Rochester]

Thanks for the review muck. I am looking forward to seeing Zach this weekend.
--Chris

[Yorkie]

Love this:

"The sets themselves were far removed from the world depicted in the film, bright and colorful, but still fit the lower middle class setting, even in all their beauty and detail."

Lower middle class? LMFAO

Is it an unforgivable shame to be a working man in America?

[Rich B]

Love this:

"The sets themselves were far removed from the world depicted in the film, bright and colorful, but still fit the lower middle class setting, even in all their beauty and detail."

Lower middle class? LMFAO

Is it an unforgivable shame to be a working man in America?

I didn't quite take it that way. I don't think he used the word 'lower' as a adjective to middle. Maybe we have a disconnect on terms but 'lower middle' and 'upper middle' are two sub-groups that socio-economic demographers use when defining 'middle class'. These sub-groups are based on income and education background. Or did I completely miss your point?
Rich