Billy Elliot the Forum

Now that it seems BETM is getting the full cinematic treatment, would you forestall a trip to The Mother Church to see BETM really, live in person just because you might be able to see the show from a cinema near you for very much less currency?

Not an adequate substitute to the real thing at the VPT. But certainly a welcome opportunity to seeing the show at all. I'd go if it'd be broadcast to a cinema near me - as I don't live in London. But I'd choose the theatre if I'd happen to be in London.

I have changed the dates of my next foray to the UK to an earlier period, so that I can see this from the US in September.

I really want to see this event in a cinema, elsewhere........it should be an event in itself. The camera angles alone should be breathtaking, and novel in themselves.

If only it would be recorded, for sale, after.........Sign me up!

As someone who once trained and dabbled in film making, I am looking forward to a cinematic BETM experience, as something with distinctive and novel merits versus viewing the stage from a (much more expensive, fixed) seat within the theatre. This anticipation is also influenced by my taking in dance productions which were livecast from the Royal Opera House and the Bolshoi Theatre into my local Cineplex.

It will be a mediated experience and artful in its own right if it's done well. A simple example is the use of a tight shot or a close up where you could be looking straight into the performer's expressive face / eyes on a big cinema screen, larger than life.

Like a sports match, where you can be either sitting in the stands watching or watching a large format HD screen in your darkened home theatre space, each experience has its pros and cons.

Watching the same recorded version repeatedly is inferior to witnessing unique performances each time by the same and different incredible performers on different evenings. However, the potential of a movie version musical for singalongs and uber fan screenings where the cult audience can feed lines and come dressed up as their fav character is intriguing in terms of expanding the dimensions for experiencing and living Billy-ism, bringing the BETM experience to a whole other level heretofore impossible. Just as the Billy universe expanded when the musical followed the original film, so will it expand once more with the introduction of a recorded musical version.

So now you know how I voted... complements not substitutes.

joninfinity wrote:.... I will buy two copies, because surely I will wear the first one out....

Use those http://www.mdisc.com/what-is-mdisc/ and you may get very old before they wear out
But ask for a receipt on pergament in case your grand grand....grand children aren't satisfied

Isn't it fantastic that the DVD is coming. The cost of a full, professional recording couldn't have been justified for this reason alone, but I remember thinking as I watched the show being recorded... "Wouldn't it be fantastic if DVDs could be produced, if only for the current, former, future cast to take away with them, so at any time in the future, they can show people what the show they were part of was like." Was so delighted when the DVD's release was announced.

I would say that for someone likd myself who watched the live feed and have now the blu ray disc
i still yearn to see the production at the VP
jamie