Seacoast Rep, Portsmouth NH - Feb 7-Mar 9, 2019

[atreyu]

A coworker - let's call her Nora - mentioned to me this afternoon that she went to Portsmouth last week to see Billy Elliot the Musical. My first thought was that it was a little curious she didn't mention this before the event, it's not like she hasn't seen my two variants of BETM polo shirts, two kinds of BETM jackets and my BETM mug. But anyway.

Not only was she very impressed by the show, but also the experience she had together with her friend. Before the show, they were enjoying a drink in the lobby and happened to sit down next to a lad around 12 or 13 who mostly was engaged with his phone. Eventually - Nora is an inquisitive type - curiosity got the better of her and she felt the need to inquire of the boy who quite apparently was there on his own. "Are you here to watch the show?" was the query. Yes, I'm going to watch the show was the answer. There was a bit more small talk, but nothing that seemed of any significance and the parties soon returned to their separate concerns.

Some time before the opening curtain, the boy walked off and Nora didn't think anything more of it...until the lights came up on stage and there was the same lad in the spotlight! Suffice it to say Nora just couldn't get over how talented Liam is, how excellent his performance is and yet how humble he was in that conversation, never letting on in any way that he was the star of the show.

[angelenroute]

Really great anecdote, atreyu. I think there's a chance she didn't mention anything in case she hated the show. We all know that's hard to do, but as a newby to BETM, she may have wanted to be careful regarding future interactions with you, just in case.

[atreyu]

I think there's a chance she didn't mention anything in case she hated the show.

That is a fair possibility. On the other hand, she is a native New Englander whereas I have firmly established my reputation in the office as being from New Yawk. Fortunately only a NY Mets and Islanders fan, would be much much worse if it were Yankees/Rangers/Jets. But a Mets fan who as recently as October dared to point out for the locals the eerie similarities between the 2018 ALDS Game 4 bottom of the 9th where the Red Sox almost gave up a 3-run lead and a certain sequence in World Series Game 6 from yesteryear. So between that and occasional criticisms of Coach Belicheat, there is plenty of precedent for having diametrically opposing opinions...

But we digress. Expecting to get another co-worker's perspective, someone who "wore out [his] Billy Elliot VHS tape" and enjoyed the BETM Live Blu-Ray that I lent him, but otherwise still a BETM newby. Unfortunately I only found out about his fandom a month after Ogunquit closed. But since he did not take advantage of the Manchester and Wheelock opportunities, if he forgoes Portsmouth as well, I will have to regard him as not a true Billy Elliot fan.

[atreyu]

From porschesrule's Portsmouth tracking thread it seems that Liam managed to survive a very challenging weekend. In a 50.5 hour stretch from Friday evening 8 PM to Sunday 10:30 PM, Liam did 5 shows as Billy. That bears repeating. Five Billy performances in 50.5 hours. That has to be some achievement particularly by someone who on Sunday was just 50 days past his 13th birthday. Hats off to Liam! No doubt he's a trooper.

One still has to wonder, though, what the cost physically and mentally may be for such a tortuous schedule. Perhaps Seacoast wanted to push the boundaries, but this scheduling sure was not in Liam's best interest.

[accessmenj]

Seacoast should never have scheduled five shows over the weekend with just one actor playing Billy. Fatigue can cause injuries that could ruin the dancing career of anyone whose bones, ligaments and cartilage are still forming. Either have only one show each day, or have two boys for the part.
In the past, some of the boys around the world have performed many times in a row when the other Billy was sick or injured. Luckily, they seemed to survive with no damage. It is only a matter of time before luck runs out if proper rest is ignored in order to schedule more shows.

[mikey2573]

I saw this production last Saturday and it was very well done. Liam Redford was fantastic s Billy, and his "Electricity" was especially good. The rest of the cast was fantastic. Brilliantly staged in a small intimate space. This is the last week to see it, so if you are in the area I would say this is a must see.

https://seacoastrep.org/billy-elliot/

[atreyu]

Five Billy performances in 50.5 hours. That has to be some achievement particularly by someone who on Sunday was just 50 days past his 13th birthday. Hats off to Liam! No doubt he's a trooper.

Thanks to Roy Etten who pointed out that Matthew Dean had done the same Friday night to Sunday night 5-show sequence in Phoenix. And that Matthew was 12 when that occurred. Kudos to Matthew as well.

Upon viewing the final show in Portsmouth last night representing another finale of a 2-show day, there wasn't any decline that I could observe in performance. This matches reports from others from that earlier 5-show stretch. Clearly Liam - as is required of most Billys - is in superb physical condition. And Rachel Bertone found just that right balance of complexity of choreography without getting him too exhausted. There is not much margin for error there which leads most choreographers to play it safe. Usually too safe, IMHO. Cheers to Rachel who took risks and succeeded, although it still might be wiser to avoid that particular scheduling sequence.

There is still a question of mental exhaustion from so many shows in such a short period, but there is no way to determine that. Liam might be viewed as the best judge of this issue, but I submit that it is not exactly a valid method to, for example, simply ask Liam if he needs to take a break for one show. I think it's similar to asking a Little League pitcher if he needs to come out of a game with all the implications of perception, going from the focal point to the bench. An answer of not needing a break could easily reflect a stronger desire not to disappoint and thereby masks the exhaustion issue.

Subjectively, it sure seemed in Portsmouth that Liam continues to absolutely love what he is doing. It is evident both on the stage and off and this is a great way to fend off mental exhaustion. One would hate for him to have even a little frustration. (Speaking of frustration, I don't know if it can get much worse than having someone enter contact information on my phone, everything seeming to be all set, and then the next day finding that the contact information was not properly saved or corrupted or somehow unretrievable. #firstworldproblems Good thing the forum messaging system is usually more reliable.)

Anyway it was really great to hear that Liam is continuing to audition for other BETM productions. One hopes that those can also find the right balance of performance frequency vs complexity.

[kport]

This is a wonderful tribute to the show and the fantabulous (to quote Mark) team of cast and crew, by Anabel Moda, who played Tracy Atkinson:

https://www.facebook.com/anabel.moda.75 ... U4NDk5NDM/

[atreyu]

#firstworldproblems: When "smartwatches" aren't

Part of my Seacoast experience unfortunately included an incident best described as a comedy of errors. Ultimately I was the cause, although it was a situation exacerbated by bad timing and perhaps bad technology.

I do like having a smartwatch. I can get time (duh) and see the reason why my phone beeped without having to pull the mobile device out of my pocket. But they can get out of hand. Like when the watch does not have an on/off switch and no way to pull the battery which means the screen will light up every time the watch's motion sensor activates.

Normally I will put the watch in my pocket for a show, but this particular evening I had a long-sleeve shirt on that covered the watch and I figured I could leave it on. But after the first number, I could see that the light from the watch could still be easily seen through the sleeve fabric in the semi-dark theatre. So I decided to take the watch off. As I do so, the stage goes completely black and because Garmin smartwatches have 3 green LEDs on the back side that start flashing when it doesn't sense a pulse (I think), it acted as a fine beacon in the darkness.

Cue the virtual alarm bells. At intermission, an usher comes by to inform me and the other BETM superfan next to me that the theatre observed recording occurring in our area. He politely but firmly reminds us that this is prohibited. I then have to describe what happened with the watch as I was trying to put it away and that there was no recording, although since the house lights are up now, the green LEDs are not so visible and the explanation is subject to a little more doubt.

It all worked out in the end and we can laugh about it now. But I do want to thank that usher (he posts here from time to time ) for calming the storm and putting his own reputation with the stage manager on the line to an extent on my behalf. And for all the contributions he makes behind the scenes like connecting great Billys with various regional BETM productions.

And so let this be a lesson for all lest you find yourself in a jam such as that.

[kport]

Well, it DID give George the opportunity to advise patrons (before the start of the show) to avoid photos, videos and blinking watches for the remainder of the run!

Thanks for taking the officious behavior in good humor!!