Billy Elliot, The Musical. 24th April 2008, Capitol Theatre, Sydney.
Wonderful. Extremely well done.
The only complaint was that the volume could have been a tad softer, and that the ending was different to the movie.
The design of the set was excellent, and well organised so that all the scenes blended with minimalistic interruptions to how it was being told. I am amazed to consider the operations that go on underneath the stage at the Capital, since having also seen the Lion King there years back, the amount of things that transform, rise up and sink into the stage is incredible. In any case, it was a very compact set with clever sliding in/out parts.
The story, being familiar already to me was told as it was in the movie, no real deviation so nothing out of the ordinary, but being a musical, the power of the song and dance was pretty nifty. Since ballet was such a large part of this story, it of course involved a considerable amount of ballet, and also tap dancing too. I would say that although most of the cast were probably musical actors, there were definitely quite a few who have had serious experience and training in ballet and tap dancing to do what they were doing in some of the routines.
My favourite scene was in the second act, when Billy is dancing 'solo'. An 'older' version of himself comes onto the stage and they both dance in unison to swan lake. Then, about half-way or so, they come together and dance. Then Billy flies. It was beautiful to say the least, stunning, with the music, the grace, the lighting, breathtaking.
I didn't buy a souvenir programme because it was quite expensive, but from looking at the ones that people had, there are four actors that play Billy Elliot. I think ours did a fantastic job, along with the rest of the cast of course, but it was starting to show towards the last few songs that his voice was straining. No wonder since it was a 3 hour session and being the main feature, at also a young age too.
Well, it was quite a performance, and I was pretty lucky in getting great seats too. I booked on the Monday for the Thursday session, and got row Stalls J, 21. If you check out the seating chart at the capital (http://www.capitoltheatre.com.au/seating.htm) you'll see that the seat was smack bang middle, not too far from the front.... ^^v.
Well, I look forward to the next time I go see something at the Capital, since both The Lion King, and Billy Elliot were fantastic.
Wonderful. Extremely well done.
The only complaint was that the volume could have been a tad softer, and that the ending was different to the movie.
The design of the set was excellent, and well organised so that all the scenes blended with minimalistic interruptions to how it was being told. I am amazed to consider the operations that go on underneath the stage at the Capital, since having also seen the Lion King there years back, the amount of things that transform, rise up and sink into the stage is incredible. In any case, it was a very compact set with clever sliding in/out parts.
The story, being familiar already to me was told as it was in the movie, no real deviation so nothing out of the ordinary, but being a musical, the power of the song and dance was pretty nifty. Since ballet was such a large part of this story, it of course involved a considerable amount of ballet, and also tap dancing too. I would say that although most of the cast were probably musical actors, there were definitely quite a few who have had serious experience and training in ballet and tap dancing to do what they were doing in some of the routines.
My favourite scene was in the second act, when Billy is dancing 'solo'. An 'older' version of himself comes onto the stage and they both dance in unison to swan lake. Then, about half-way or so, they come together and dance. Then Billy flies. It was beautiful to say the least, stunning, with the music, the grace, the lighting, breathtaking.
I didn't buy a souvenir programme because it was quite expensive, but from looking at the ones that people had, there are four actors that play Billy Elliot. I think ours did a fantastic job, along with the rest of the cast of course, but it was starting to show towards the last few songs that his voice was straining. No wonder since it was a 3 hour session and being the main feature, at also a young age too.
Well, it was quite a performance, and I was pretty lucky in getting great seats too. I booked on the Monday for the Thursday session, and got row Stalls J, 21. If you check out the seating chart at the capital (http://www.capitoltheatre.com.au/seating.htm) you'll see that the seat was smack bang middle, not too far from the front.... ^^v.
Well, I look forward to the next time I go see something at the Capital, since both The Lion King, and Billy Elliot were fantastic.
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