Here is a myriad collection of thoughts from my second BETM London experience this past Monday with Elliott, Freddie, Millie and Helen French. Some will be general impressions, others will be arcane minutiae and among it all, I hope there will be some items of interest even if it is a fraction of the eloquence of Colin.
My first BETM London was 32 months ago and that was only my 4th time seeing the show. What with this being my 58th, the differences from Broadway and the Americas Tour stood out very clearly. A lot of this has been covered elsewhere so I'll try to
minimize - err, minimise - the repetition. I still have to start out with a comment on and agreement with the general sentiment for preferring Angry Dance featuring Billy a lot more in the London version. Although, it did seem to me like the average "intensity" of the dance was a bit lower for London, as if the extra solo stage time needs to be balanced against tiring Billy out more.
The pacing of the show was clearly more deliberate for the Tour than for London and with a couple good reasons: The unfamiliarity of American audiences with the dialect and the requirement to finish by 10:30 for London. I also have to wonder, though, if the Tour scripted more aspects that are left to the actors' discretion in London. I venture that thought based on an overall feel I got as well as certain tiny clues - a gesture here, an expression there, particular delivery of certain lines - and also a few specific items, only one of which I'll go into detail about.
Just before Angry Dance, right after Tony is escorted out the back, only Dad, Billy and Mrs. W remain on stage. There is then a sound of breaking glass ahead of Mrs W's "Sorry darling, you haven't got a hope in hell!" On the Tour, the characters would react to the sound by glancing to a spot at the back of the stage. This could be some measure of the (in)experience of a Billy when Dad and Mrs W are reacting to that and Billy doesn't. In London, nobody reacted to the glass breaking which indicates it is not part of the staging here. Does it matter at all that there isn't a reaction? No; obviously this doesn't impact the show in the least. But it does reveal a difference in the productions. What that represents is a subject for debate, and it will be very interesting if Mitchell's experiences with the distinct productions ever comes out.
Perhaps it could be a demonstration of freedom of artistic expression versus an attempt at more uniform audience experience from one show to the next. Not trying to make a judgment of what is better or worse, more a matter of musing about what could be behind the differences. Having said that, it seemed to me there are slightly fewer audience laughs in the London production, the consequence of certain lines getting lost where in the Tour there would be deliberate pauses.
Well, that's more than enough speculation for one review so we'll move on to the trivial observations.
When Mrs. W drops the biscuit for Billy when teaching attitude promenade, Elliott pocketed the biscuit. First time I haven't seen Billy munch on that morsel. Perhaps as some compensation, when the RBS letter arrives, Elliott ate two biscuits before and one biscuit after opening the letter.
In Solidarity, right after the line "fortnight in Majorca", there seemed to be an extra beat or two beyond the normal one before the singing continued. Not sure why.
After having watched the Buckingham Palace Guard Change 8 hours earlier, the stamp of the ground by the police coming to attention had more significance for me.
Elliott is another Billy who throws one article at the police wall with the right hand and then one with the left hand.
Was quite evident Elliott gave Electricity his all. Quite the testament that he was able to sing the last verse being short of breath. And still went on to close the number with a mighty handspring and 7 pirouettes. It was quite unfortunate that he did not receive a standing ovation at the end (aside PartiallyGeorge). I think every Billy deserves that much.
Always nice to see a Mrs W who skips rope in B2B as well as act and sing. And Helen French can sing very well.
Freddie Butterfield reminded me of Sam Poon in showing strong confidence with the Michael role and not requiring much time to make it his.
Can't wait for my next London BETM and dissect the RBS scene even more.
