Billy Elliot - Leicester Curve

[mrnutz]

Jul 22, 2022 20:17:09 GMT Ade said:

They have released the trailer for it now too. Made me want to go for a repeat visit.

Fantastic trailer.

A shame the run is so short. Will it transfer?

[Jon]

A transfer would be difficult given the cost to have multiple kids for various roles.

[properjob]

I've just come out of my second viewing and liked it even more the second time. I think that is partly because I preferred this set of children (but may be because it is later in the run so they have had more time to settle into the parts).
However I think with a second viewing in a more central seat I was able to appreciate the more subtle background things with Billy's family appearing at the back in certain moments.
The accapell section as the miners desend ar the end (also in the original) remains one of my favourite moments in musical theatre.
The whole thing is well worth the trip to Leicester if you can get there because this won't be able to tour in this form.

[tal]

It will be a huge waste if they don’t transfer this. I’m sure they can scale down the sets and reduce the size of the company so that it can go to a different theatre. It would still be a terrific production.

[mammabat]

I travelled up from London for a long awaited reunion with a show that dominated my life for a good five years. I knew it was going to be different and I thought I was prepared for this. I had very high hopes to start with. Just hearing the familiar score and I started to reminisce.

The cast were incredible especially Billy and Micheal but for me personally I feel the heart has been ripped out of this show by the lack of dance. This was for me was the whole essence of the show. Every scene making my heart miss a beat by the stunning choreography, the sheer talent of the children with their tap and ballet. Even the Letter this time round left me deflated.

I did enjoy the show and if I hadn’t seen it before I would have come away extremely happy. Unfortunately I have seen it before and I cannot help but compare. It is still a show I would encourage people to see.

[amp09]

Any talk of a transfer for this?

[Mark]

To the Gilly?
Would be the perfect venue for this production.

[mkb]

After seeing the positive reviews, last Thursday night's show, was somewhat underwhelming. I saw the London production of Billy Elliot twice, once near the start of its run and once near the end. It was one of my favourite musicals, and moved me to tears at several points.

By contrast, the Curve production was just not quite there. It felt too rushed and seemed to have lost its heart somewhere. I was still a little moist-eyed at The Letter, but that was about it for emotional engagement.

The immediate issue, especially as I am married to someone from County Durham, was the accents, which from some of the cast were hopeless, and jarred badly. Two or three were spot on.

Another, much bigger issue was the sound mixing. From the dead centre of stalls row H, which ought to be a sweet spot, around a third of the lyrics were indecipherable, being completely drowned out by the music. Performers with naturally powerful voices, such as the stand-out Sally Ann Triplett, were perfectly audible, but others, who needed greater amplification, were not getting their faders nudged up.

I liked the industrial set design, and the lighting and pyrotechnics were stunningly effective, albeit unsubtle.

The young cast acquitted themselves admirably, and the overall grittiness of the piece sat well with me.

Still a great musical, but not at its best.

Four stars.

Act 1: 19:33-20:37
Act 2: 20:58-21:57

Once again at the Curve, the centre of the stalls was uncomfortably warm, and I overheard several people commenting on how hot it was. It's been an issue ever since they reconfigured the seating. When I complained about this previously, management effectively told me it was a figment of my imagination as their engineers could see nothing wrong. I measured the temperature at the next show. It was 28C. Even then, they refused to admit there was a problem.

[mrbarnaby]

They aren’t allowed to transfer it, they weren’t given the rights for a London production.

I suspect it will have another run at the Curve next year

[HereForTheatre]

Don't mean to get anyone excited by bringing this thread from the dead, it's just i was thinking about this today. here were several indications this would come back somewhere or in some for. One of their season brochures practically said as much and even the director suggested it, but nothig.

I just find it quite depressing really when you look at what's somehow making it to London/Tour from Curves catalogue of productions and what's never been seen again, you start to think there's something wrong with the worlds axis or something.