Billy Elliot: Broadway: March 7, 2010: Evening: Trent Kowalik's Final Performance
AKA: Epic cast is epic*, AKA: The most amazing theatrical experience of my life.
Billy Elliot: Trent Kowalik (Final Performance)
Jackie Elliot: Philip Whitchurch
Mrs. Wilkinson: Kate Hennig
Michael: Trevor Braun
Grandma: Merle Louise (Understudy)
Tony Elliot: Will Chase
Older Billy: Easton Smith
As I said in my last post about Billy Elliot I have fallen in love with the show, particularly Trent Kowalik as Billy, so when I found out that his final performance had been confirmed to be Sunday Evening I bought tickets and got a group together to see the show. Yes, in that order. Before I even knew if anyone would be coming with me I bought my ticket so that I would have a seat in case they sold out. I bought two tickets so that I'd have one ready if someone came along.
It ended up being me, my friend Amber, and my roommate John going. I ordered John's ticket and luckily got one right next to the two I already had. I decided to park in New Jersey at a Park & Ride advertised on the tickets. We left Mercyhurst at 9 a.m. on Sunday which would give us about 3.5 hours leeway for traffic, weather, getting lost, or any other unforeseen troubles. We ended up having no troubles and got to Secaucus at about 4:00 where we parked and caught a train leaving for New York at 4:18. Perfect timing :) The train was very nice. It was a double decker and we rode up top. The ride was unbelievably smooth! It felt like we were floating. We got to Penn Station and headed out to the Imperial Theater (where we saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels a few years ago with Quigley) which was right on the same street as Penn Station, just about ten blocks up so it was very easy to get to.
Once we got to the theater we scoped out the stage door and happened to catch Michael Dameski coming out from the matinee. He's adorable and I'd love to see him as Billy some day too. We walked around the block to see what was around and also saw Corbin Bleu coming out of the In the Heights stagedoor which was neat. We did a little shopping in the local Broadway/General NYC Souvenir stores, then decided to go somewhere to eat. I was paranoid about getting lost and not making it back in time to see the show so we picked a restaurant alled the Chicken Bar which was just down the block and across the street. It was a straight line down from the lobby doors and you could see the theater from the windows, so there was little chance of getting lost :) The food was fine, nothing great. We just hung out in the restaurant a bit before heading to a souvenir shop across the street so Amber could get a keychain for her cousin and then we went to the theater :DDD
The crowd was huge! We were in the doors but when we looked back a bit later the line/cluster seemed to reach out the door. I saw on the understudy board that the understudy for Grandma, Merle Louise, would be on for Carole Shelley, so the epic cast was not quite so epic as it could have been but it was fine. While in the lobby I saw Trent's mom, sister, and other family members who I recognized from various interviews with him and his family that I had seen. When the doors to the auditorium were finally opened we found our seats with the help of the usher, and they were fantastic! We were front row, second Mezzanine, which I had hoped would be good but didn't think they'd be as good as they were! We were pretty much center and could see the whole stage perfectly and we weren't very far away from the stage either. The seats were a bit cramped and we were practically shoulder to shoulder with each other and the people next to us, but it wasn't too bad. While waiting I heard the usher who seated us talking about Trent to someone else she was seating, telling them how he was "Our first Billy" having performed the first official performance in New York and she seemed very proud of him which I thought was so sweet.
The lights finally dimmed, but remained at about half power and Stephen Daldry, director of the film and musical, came out and informed the audience that tonight would be Trent Kowalik's final performance as Billy and giving a brief and emotional speech about Trent's involvement with the show, about how Trent is the record-breaking longest-serving Billy ever and one of only two boys to have played the role both in London's West End and on Broadway. He was quite emotional and mentioned that the first time he saw Trent for an audition for the show was in 2005 and had been working with him through auditions, rehearsals, and then finally performances for five years meaning that, since Trent had just turned fifteen, one third of his entire life had been spent with Billy Elliot in one form or another and that he would be sorely missed.
The show started and my heart was jumping. The opening number "The Stars Look Down" is great. It sets the story and tone perfectly and is just beautiful. Trent got major entrance applause which I was surprised by because Billy's entrance is not an "entrance applause" kind of arrival. His dad drags him to the meeting upstage while there's a lot of other stuff going on, primarily downstage, and it's not until the crowd dissipates that you even see that Billy's there. In fact I missed his entrance completely but the rest of the people there for him noticed and started cheering. Once I saw that he was there I could barely stop watching him and I nearly began to sob a bit just watching him sit in the chair at the back of the room. I just couldn't believe I was there, and I wondered what he might be feeling knowing that it was his last time doing this. When he got up and started singing it was clear that he had begun to outgrow the role. He could still pull off the part well, but he was siginificantly taller than most of the other children and almost as tall as some of the adults. His voice had also changed. If you hadn't heard his older performance it wouldn't have been noticeable, but having heard his younger voice it was clear that he was trying to put on a younger/higher voice. That being said, however, it was also clear that his singing had improved. His voice had really grown from the recordings of him that I'd heard and had a much clearer sound.
Next was the first scene at the Elliot household with Billy, his dad Jackie, brother Tony, and Grandma. Will Chase's accent was fantastic! He is a bit old to be playing Tony but he's such a good actor that I really didn't care, plus I was just thrilled to be seeing him having recently become quite a big fan of his. Merle Louise was good as Grandma, though not quite as spot-on with her comedic timing as Carole Shelley. Philip Whitchurch was good as Jackie and seemed very grounded.
The Boxing Practice scene was hilarious. The coach made the boys do push-ups (or "press-ups" as they call them) and the Small Boy (who is unbelievably tiny and cute) just screams out "JEEEEESUUUSS!!!!" each time he pushes himself up which had the audience dying. I like a lot of the lines in this scene, such as when George (the coach) tells the boys to piss off (get out). He stops Michael sayinh "Where do you think you're going?" "I'm 'pssing off'" "You're pissing ME off!" and various other funny lines thanks to George's gruff attitude.
"Shine" was a showstopper! I love the song on the cast recording but live it was nothing short of awesome. The lighting especially for the number was fantastic and gave the pumping music and choreography even more energy. It was almost like a dance club or something. I love the lyrics in the song but especially "Knock 'em sideways, blow their minds out! There's no time for half-past frolics, grab the buggers by the bollocks! Show 'em what class is all about!" because nothing shows class like blowing someone's mind out and grabbing them by the bollocks! Kate Hennig was great as Mrs. Wilkinson. She was hilarious and had the semi-gruff and bored personality down. She also had a great costume change during the number that I liked more than Haydn Gwynne's. Kate starts the number in a sweater and skirt, then when the girls change into their pink tutus for the fan dance she takes off the sweater to reveal a sequinned blouse and replaces the tweed skirt with a matching sequinned one. It was so tacky and showy and was perfect for the number. The original design Haydn Gwynne wore had her change out of a windbreaker and track pants into a shiny leotard and spandex pants. Still tacky and fun, but not as over the top as the sequinned get-up.
"Solidarity" is one of my favorite numbers in the show and it was great. This number was a good example of just why the show deserved its Tony win for Sound Design. The music really surrounds you and numbers like "Solidarity" with a solid beat can be felt pulsing through the seats themselves. One of the chairs that the Officers, Strikers, and Ballet Girls dance on was knocked over when one of the actors moved away from it and the actor carrying the girl over to it tried to pick it up while still holding her. It was a bit of a mess but one of the other Ballet Girls, Ruby Rakos AKA Tracey Atkinson I think, went over and fixed it without any real detriment to the number. I'll tell you, the Ballet Girls are on top of this kind of stuff. In the video I saw of the show one of the miners dropped their club and it was rolling downstage when one of the Ballet Girls spotted it and nonchalantly kicked it offstage during her dance before anyone could trip on it.
Trevor Braun's "Expressing Yourself", the number in which Billy finds out that his best friend Michael has a love for dressing up in women's clothing, was next. The number was hilarious and Trevor hammed it up properly. He was a very good Michael with a lot of energy, perhaps not the best accent but he still did a good job with the part.
Another of my favorite scenes is "The Letter" where Mrs. Wilkinson asks Billy to bring things that are special to him to their dance lesson and one of the things he brings is a letter his mother wrote for him before she died. It's a very emotional scene that never fails to tug at my heartstrings and this night it was clearly very emotional for both Trent and Leah Hocking, playing his mother. They were both pretty weepy and their voices each cracked with emotion at one or two places in the song. You could tell that they really did care for each other.
I've never really loved the song "Born to Boogie" on the cast recording. I appreciated what it did for the story but always thought that both the music and lyrics were a bit too "pop". I loved it in the show though! It was high-energy and fun and really did more for the story and characters than I had appreciated from listening to the CD. I loved how playful Mrs. Wilkinson and Mr. Braithwaite were with Billy and showed that they cared about him. It's also a good number for Mrs. Wilkinson to cut loose and have fun with dance rather than just being frustrated with the girls in the dance lessons. When Trent jumped in with Kate jump-roping he landed on her rope but she remained in-character and laughed it off giving him a bit of an exasperated look so that it could have easily been an intentional part of the show. The actual tap-jumping rope section went off without a hitch. Also, Thommie Retter was hilarious as Mr. Braithwaite :)
And now the highlight of the show, as well as the highlight of my theatrical experiences: "Angry Dance". Now, Trent's "Angry Dance" has always been phenomenal (for example, see here) and this performance was out of this world. It was so passionate, so enthralling that I really can't explain it. Again the Sound Design made you feel the music and helped sweep you up into the number. It was an incredible Act I finale and a good percentage of the audience gave Trent a well-deserved standing ovation. When it was over I remember thinking to myself "Well, I can just stop seeing musicals now, because nothing's ever gonna top that!" An exaggeration, of course, as I'm certainly not going to stop seeing musicals, but it is true that I doubt anything is going to be able to match that performance.
The Christmas party scene is a lot of fun and I really like the song "Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher" but watching it I can't help but think "Maybe your town wouldn't be in such dire straits if you didn't spend so much money on your Christmas pageant!" I mean that has got to be the single highest production value ever given to a community/children's theatre production! Tanks that shoot tennis balls, high quality political puppets, a giant evil Maggie Thatcher puppet, etc. but it is a fun song and shows that the community will still get together and have a good time skewering their most hated politician. I love when Jackie can't finish "Deep Into the Ground" and Billy sings the last verse for him. I'm not sure why, I think it's because it shows Billy's affection for his father even when they're at odds in regard to dance and I loved that Philip Whitchurch wouldn't/couldn't look Billy in the eye. It seemed to be a combination of shame for not supporting Billy and not wanting Billy to see him cry because it's un-manly behavior.
"Dream Ballet" was beautiful. Trent was graceful and worked very well with Easton Smith as Older Billy. I love the dancing in this scene, especially the work they do with the chairs and their coupling. It's just beautiful. I really like the flying choreography with the harness too. I read a review once that said it was nonsensical and had nothing to do with dance, but a lot of what Billy loves about dance is how it makes him feel free, like he's flying. The logo, the lyrics in "Electricity", and a bit of "Born to Boogie" where Mr. Braithwaite lifts Billy up and flies him around like an airplane and shouts out "Now you're flyin' son!" all support this so I think it's good that his dance fantasy includes aerial choreography.
Will Chase was great when he found out his dad had turned scab. I find Tony to be a pretty one-note character who's usually just angry and too blinded by his ideals to compromise but Will did a good job with making him seem hurt as well as angry that his father would betray the miner's union/community. The community coming together to help pay for Billy's audition was moving. It's another song I wasn't wild about on the CD but ended up really liking in the show. I think the individual "Take this, and this" as opposed to the group chorale on the cast recording works a lot better as the individual community members decide on their own to give something of themselves.
The scene where Billy and Jackie arrive at the Royal Ballet School was great. The Clipboard Woman (Liz Pearce) is just hilarious, I love her prissy uptight behavior, and Easton Smith as the Scottish Dancer was hilarious as well, especially Philip's reaction to him as he tried to get away from the uncomfortable situation. He even went so far as to start climbing up the box nearest to the stage.
"Electricity" was beyond amazing and earned Trent another near-full standing ovation. He added more to his dance and it was extraordinary. Once again I couldn't believe that I was getting to see Trent perform, and I couldn't believe that the show was so nearly over.
Billy's acceptance into the school is a great scene. It's funny and touching and even a bit sad. The part where Billy reads "William Elliot, Esquire" as "William Elliot is queer?" had me laughing out loud.
At first I didn't understand why Billy looked so disappointed when he read his letter and tried to tell his family that he was rejected but I think it's because he knows that they can't afford it as well as being slightly scared to go out on his own. I love when Tony pulls the letter out of the trash and starts play-fighting Billy because it shows their closeness and that Tony can be playful and doesn't have to always be such an angry guy.
I do get disappointed in Billy for not telling Mrs. Wilkinson that he was accepted. I imagine that he kept meaning to but never ended up doing it because he felt silly. I often do stuff like that, but it's sad that he didn't tell her because she seems hurt about it. Her goodbye was extremely emotional, which I imagine was probably due to the fact that it wasn't just Mrs. Wilkinson saying goodbye to Billy, but tonight was Kate saying goodbye to Trent. She was sobbing through it, especially "You are very fuckin' special. Now piss off out of 'ere before I start to cry." which she was choking her way through. It got me choked up a bit too and the audience cheered for "You are very fuckin' special" which was nice.
"Once We Were Kings" is an amazing number. It's sad but lovely at the same time, for though these workers have lost their strike they are standing together and still hold out hope for the future. Also another number where the outstanding sound design was exemplified. As the miners ride down the mining elevator the sounds of the hydraulics releasing and chains rattling fill the theater, surround you, and vibrate in your seat. It was chilling.
"The Letter (Billy's Reply)" was even more emotional than "The Letter". Both Trent and Leah were breaking up with emotion and it was really heartbreaking to see them say goodbye to each other. The "Bye Mum. See you soon?" "No, I don't think so, do you?" exchange was particularly wrenching because of its reallife meaning now. At the end of the song when the Mum would usually step forward to hug Billy, catch herself, and turn away because he no longer needs her Leah didn't stop herself but stepped forward and held Trent one last time before exiting. Beautiful.
The final exchange between Billy and Michael which is usually "Seeya Michael" "Yeah, seeya Billy" was instead delivered as "Seeya Trevor" "Yeah, seeya Trent". Cue tears.
Curtain Call was great. I love the tap number the cast does instead of just coming out for bows and the applause was fantastic. Philip Whitchurch gave a goodbye speech for Trent after the dance and bows were through and talked about playing the part with him in London "When he was about this big" *holds hand to waist* "and he wasn't a basketball player!" and talked about the cast being like a family but now it was time to hand him back to his real family. At that point his mom and dad came on stage to give him a hug and assumedly congratulate him on his amazing performance as the curtain fell.
We went to the stagedoor for some autographs. I just barely caught Will Chase hurrying away but he was past us before we could ask for an autograph. We didn't have any pens so I asked a couple girls around us if we could share theirs and they kindly obliged. I got a few of the Ballet Girls including Tessa Netting AKA Susan Parks, the spastic starfish girl, and Samantha Czulada, who I really only recognized because of that neat last name. I can't remember if I was able to get Trevor Braun's or not. There were a lot of other Billys there that night, I guess wanting to say goodbye to Trent because they can't have all been on standby. I saw Dayton Tavares, Liam Redhead (who is adorable and incredibly friendly!) and Alex Ko. We waited for quite a while for Trent to come out which was fine, I know he had a lot of people on stage that he was talking to and saying goodbye to (I heard David Alvarez, one of the other original Billys, was there among others) but it was so very worth it and I got Trent's autograph! I congratulated him on his performance but didn't want to take up much of his time because there were a lot of people waiting for signatures and pictures and I was sure he was tired and ready to spend time with friends and family. He was so gracious though and signed and posed for pictures for everyone there.
This night was easily one of the best of my life and certainly the best theatrical experience I've ever had. I really and truly feel blessed to have seen this performance. Reading other reviews of the night have also pointed out some of the things that made it special, calling Trent the "consummate professional" and praising him for never breaking character on a night when it would be easy and acceptable to do so. He is inspirational and I can not wait to see what else he does in the future, be it acting, dancing, or singing (preferably all three).
ETA:
Re-reading this it seems as though I gave the impression that I didn't enjoy Merle Louise or think she did a good job and that's just not true, so I'd like to clarify that for myself. Her interpretation was less funny than Carole Shelley's but in several ways that made her performance more emotional as her struggle with dementia was painful rather than silly and it was a beautiful performance.
And pictures! Yay:
More pictures here: http://s171.photobucket.com/albums/u282/Fiyero3305/Billy%20Elliot/Trent%20Kowalik%20Final/
*"Epic cast is epic" was how I described the show to kojonoyuri when talking about the fact that Trent Kowalik, record-breaker and IMHO best Billy yet; Will Chase, original Rob in High Fidelity, final Roger in Rent, and all around awesome performer; and Carole Shelley, original Madame Morrible in Wicked and Morrible the first two times I saw the show, would all be in the cast at the same time.