Saturday 26th September.
(Argh! Go away, Mister Bold Font! Stop demanding that everything be in bold! Ahem . . .)
Yup, here comes Alex, trailing a long coat with pockets filled to the brim with screwed-up pieces of paper, and his (rather hastily cobbled together) review of Saturday's show. There's tears of joy to be had, and tantrums too. And there's also a special piece of trivia courtesy of JJF (I hope he doesn't mind me posting it here). See if you can spot it!
Well, sod me. Another Billy has come and gone. A year doesn’t really seem such a long time when you’re looking back on it. I wonder if Tanner feels the same?
So, seeing as his last night was on Saturday (as I’m sure you know – things wot live under rocks know it, as Corporal Nobbs would say) I’m going to gibber on a bit about Tanner, and basically talk about how marvellous he was before actually reviewing the show. Tanner is quite simply one of the most fantastic people to watch on the stage. With his personality, he fuses warmth, passion and drama, practically dragging the audience into the action. His dancing skills are an absolute wonder to behold, and it genuinely feels as though gravity, friction and time just stop when he dances Electricity. How wonderful that he was taken to the Broadway production to share these talents with the American audience!
Yup, it’s Billy Time for Alex again, and the butterflies were already starting to flutter when I got off the train. What I actually know about dancing could be written on the head of a pin, and there would still be room for the lyrics of Electricity, and the recipe for what I had for dinner last night. But this does not stop me enjoying watching it performed! (Or even trying it out, for that matter . . .
An extra element of excitement was added given that I couldn’t actually remember where I was seated . . .
Me so stoopid sometimes!
Stars Look Down is a bit of an emotional scene for me. I’m sure I’ve mentioned somewhere that I’ve got a bit of a thing for opening numbers. Be it the tremendously loud chords from No One Mourns the Wicked, the incredible power behind that note that hails the beginning of The Lion King, or even the hilarious song and animation at the beginning of Avenue Q. The symbol roll and following lyrics at the beginning of Stars Look Down really does it for me. It sends shivers down my spine, it does!
The advantage of going to Billy more than once is that you begin to notice exactly how good it is. For example, the talky-bit (er, scene) that follows is an immensely well-sculpted piece of drama, in my opinion. There’s a hell of a lot fitted in there – Tony doing his placard, Gran looking for her pasty, Dad trying to get his trousers on and cook breakfast, and in the middle of all this, a bunch of rowdy miners charge in and start playing tennis with bread and their placards! It must’ve been seriously difficult to balance this all out. But they did, and it works very well indeed!
Solidarity must have been equally difficult to balance out, if not for different reasons. There’s a lot of dancing here, and a lot of people. Ballet girls, miners, policemen, Mrs Wilkinson trying to teach a lesson (bless her) and of course, our Dear Billy. The scene, much like Born to Boogie, is one that discretely shows off Tanner’s utterly marvellous ballet skills. The other thought that struck me was that the miners and policemen do an awful lot of dancing here. With hats on. You’d know what would happen if Indiana Jones tried that – the hat would fall off, he’d have to dance back to fetch it and it would be rubbish. Poor Indy. If he had glue on the top of his head, he’d be invincible.
The confrontational scene after Express Yourself is, quite frankly, a masterpiece in emotion and juxtaposition. I was quite uncomfortable by this point (those theatre seats are hardly the most comfortable in the world – I felt like one of my kidneys was pressing against my ribcage!) but it was still chilling enough to draw me in. I adore the music here – appropriately dark and scary, with some marvellous electric guitar work there. The strumming (or is it plucking?) whilst Tony is saying ‘Make us’ is particularly hair raising. Hats off to the music director (no, not you, Indy! You keep yours on) for this excellent piece.
Heartstrings were, as usual, tugged during The Letter. Just one quibble – I have so far refreshingly (at least I think so) avoided mentioning the controversial hand gesture that Debbie does while mouthing dirty words at Billy. Harder to get over is the whole ‘cuppasoup’ thing. Initially, I didn’t think it was so bad (other shows have been butchered in comparison) but really – to us longtime fans, it just looks like they’ve lost the Smash Hits prop and couldn’t get enough money from a whip-round to buy another one. Also, I don’t particularly like soup (apart from tomato and basil) which may also carry prejudice! Honestly, why the alteration? And they should at least provide chocolate (or free tickets) to grease the wheels of change! ( . . . all right, now I can just imagine the likes of Jonnyc going up to the ticket clerk with a big grin on his face, saying ‘I’m still not sure if I like that change . . . could I see it again, please?’)
So, as we come hurtling towards the interval, I’m just gonna briefly say something about Angry Dance. That. Flippin. RULED!!
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\/\/ HIDDEN PIECE OF JJF TRIVIA \/\/
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The ‘Smash hits’ has been replaced by Cuppa Soup because Cuppa Soup is what they use on the Broadway and Australia productions
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*ahem*
During the Interval, I was lucky enough to claim my old merchandise from Mary Malone, operating on the Front of House. Poor Mary was lovely enough to wait a good five minutes whilst I emptied my pockets, searching for some money to give her, but we got there in the end!
And I am dead pleased with my old merchandise!
Now then, Act 2. It is often nice to see Christmas. But it is less nice (for Billy) to see George, who, when teaching Billy to box, is pretty damn useless, and when trying to hurt Billy does a pretty good job of it! Luckily, from the audience perspective, George is one of the most hilarious characters in the musical, and is used very well in the little ‘pantomime-esque’ bit. I remember trying to stifle laughter for a good ten minutes the second time I saw the show, when he cracked a Gordon Brown joke about those missing CDs that were big news a while back.
As usual, Deep into the Ground and Dream Ballet were both exceptionally emotional. Dream Ballet in particular is one of my favourite parts of the show, and Tanner performs it beautifully with Barnaby. The end of Deep into the Ground (the chorus verse sung by Billy) ranks as one of my most favourite vocal moments within the show. When I first heard Liam sing it, I distinctly remember shivers shooting up my spine, and it’s another part that Tanner does well at. I tell you, he can sure hit those high notes!
He Could Be A Star is a fantastic scene, another favourite of mine. I’m not entirely sure why this is, but it could possibly be because it’s very different from the rest of the musical. For a start, Billy isn’t in it (I’m not including the talky-bit in the middle, because I’m bad like that!) and there isn’t any dancing. Flawlessly performed by Joe and Tim, the passion and emotion was immense. I particularly liked the way Tony’s verse is now performed over Dad’s verse on the second ‘He Could Be A Star’. It now looks like a proper argument, and almost feels like the scene is disintegrating and becoming ‘real’. Which is damn good in my opinion! Scenes that feel ‘real’ are scarce in musicals, because people spend a lot of time singing and prancing about. Which isn’t something I object to – I tend to prefer musicals over plays. But those ‘real’ moments are something I crave, and there are very few of them. The scene where Tony takes the crowbar is another one – it really brings the whole reality of the situation crashing down around you, especially after the general hilarity of Express Yourself.
For some musicals, the final push and climax isn’t quite as exciting and ‘worth it’ as the slog that led the characters (and us) there. Wicked’s a bit like that – after No Good Deed, I feel like it’s over, and the only thing left is that rather sad ending where Elphaba walks out of Oz forever. This isn’t the case with Billy. When we see them standing on that stage, there’s a real sense of ‘this is it . . . the final curtain’. Of course, the musical goes on for a good half hour after that, but this is where that feeling sets in. The little section of dialogue between Dad and the ballet dancer was brilliant as always, with Joe milking it for all possible laughs.
Then comes Electricity, which is, in all honesty, Alex-joy in its purest form. There is no poncing around it – I quite simply LOVE this song and dance. I recently posted somewhere that it’s as though this part of the show was especially tailored for me, and I stand by that opinion! It’s the bit that got me into the musical in the first place. Does Tanner do it justice? You only have to look at my opening paragraph – that lad can dance! AND sing. His singing was especially touching – there was no mistaking the emotion that made his voice tremble.
As with all stories, we end up in the finale, which was as usual a fantastic extravaganza of dancing. In order to round off this review, I’m gonna comment on a few individual performances.
First of all, Joanna Riding, whom I have not had the pleasure of seeing before. Now there is a voice that could sing Born to Boogie all day long, and even after that she’d probably be able to nip across the road and belt out Defying Gravity, The Wizard and I and No Good Deed. Can anyone spell ‘P-O-W-E-R-H-O-U-S-E?'
Second has to be the wonderful Ann Emery. Does anyone know if Stephen Daldry has sold his soul to the devil yet, so that she may live forever and grant us everlasting joy? Because she really is that good! (Failing that, some sort of cloning program, methinks . . . )
Thirdly, the new George, whom I believe is called David Nellist, am I right? He had some mighty big shoes to fill – Trevor Fox was fantastic in the role – but he sure filled ‘em! An utterly hilarious performance!
So, that just about wraps it up! On the way home, I met a very nice drunk on the train who invited me to his wedding (if he ever got back with his girl) but I shan’t bore you with the details! A shout out to everyone I spoke to – truly was marvellous seeing everyone again! I suspect I’ll see you over Christmas when I’m likely to go next! Squeeeee!
I’m off to see Mr Daldry about the possibility of renting a seat in the theatre over the summer months. It’ll be fine. I shall sleep in Billy’s bed, and live on bread, cuppa soup and mouldy old pasties. All I need to do is stay out of the way when they’re rehearsing!
(PS Why, in the changing room scene, has Debbie’s line been changed from ‘Now, he’s an alcoholic’ to ‘Now he just gets ****ed?’ It really isn’t as funny, and it certainly isn’t clever to stick swear words in for the sake of it. Sort it out, Daldry!
)
Quote of the evening:
ALEX (In a text sent to Jabka, sent at 17:26) Hello! Am on course for an arrival time of 1700 hours!
JABKA (In return text) . . . u mean 1800 hours.
ALEX: . . . I am actually travelling back in time. In my TARDIT. Time And Relative Dimensions In Trains.
(Alex has a blonde moment
)
"I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it."
Pratchett.
