BILLY NO MATES!

I think the Billy Elliott cast need to get a Geordie vocal coach over asap! Now don’t get me wrong; the show was very enjoyable and there were some magic moments in it too but the range of ‘put on accents’ from the largely American cast just made me smile most of the time!

Anyway, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here…

After James and Sue returned to Border Books, Sue complete with a Macy’s shopping bag containing a pair of purple ‘Timberland’ boots that she’d seen earlier that morning, we set off for an afternoon ‘mooch’ in the streets downtown (south) from our hotel.

The street system in New York in the most part is organised in a grid of numbered streets (east to west) and avenues (north to south). To the logical brain; this organisation is a complete treat as you can instantly picture where about in the city you are and work out what route you could take to get to any particular destination.

(Interjection by Sue here: I must have the LEAST logical brain as I NEVER know where I am and would be completely lost without Charles and James!)

North is ‘uptown’ and south is ‘downtown’. Down town itself, south of 14^th street sees the grid organisation crumble a little, especially on the west side of town and it’s inevitable really given the physical geography of Manhattan! The grids exist but end up in dome triangular and trapezoidal sections.

It is the formal grid created by the streets and avenues that gives rise to ‘blocks’. Each block is rectangular with the width of each block (east – west) forming the greatest distance (almost twice the distance of the shorter edge north – south).

We ate at an interesting Thai restaurant called Yum Yum 3 and yes there are two other places very close that form part of this expanding family empire! The food was fresh, quickly prepared and reasonably priced. For the cost conscious there is a 5 course evening meal for under $16! A starter and main course is all we could manage and the mains beat both James and Sue!

A short, block and a half, walk got us to the theatre in plenty of time for the doors opening. I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know I went dressed in my Newcastle home shirt – keeping it Geordie!

I think James wanted to keep shouting out the correct Geordie pronunciation throughout the performance but I’m glad to report that he managed to ‘curb the urge’!

Now the miners strike is something very dear to our hearts; not only because of the political ravaging and pummelling that Maggie Thatcher inflicted upon the mining industry but more because we moved to Northumberland in the middle of the strike and the effects of the annihilation were stark to live with.

The stage play is much more heavily political than the film and the language more representational of the emotionally ravaged times.

The young American actor who played the part of young Billy did well enough but his comedy sidekick and cross dressing, individual oddball, Michael just couldn’t cope with the accent one little bit!One of the most heart-wrenching scenes SHOULD be in the final act when Billy jumps off stage to make his way down to London and as he's slowly walking up the aisle of the auditorium; gets called to stop by his mate Michael....

It was more a case of Billy no mates! Come on Michael! Get your act together man!

My only other criticism of the show was the lengthy gaps between the lines delivered by the principal characters. At first I though they were forgetting their lines and needed prompting but I don’t think this was the case. The cast MUST have been directed that way. I think they could have trimmed 20 minutes out of the show just by speeding up the dialogue to normal levels.

Once the curtain was down, we quickly made our way back to the hotel; managing to grab a cab quickly and save our feet from another pounding!

Needless to say we were all asleep within moments of us hitting the pillows!

Sunday has been an amazingly enjoyable first day!

Monday morning saw us rise from our slumbers – or rather should I say ‘blasted’ from our slumbers by a fire truck hitting its hooter! Now, we’re 26 floors up but we were woken by it! The fire station is right next to the hotel and the police precinct is on the other side!

BFN

CHARLES

xxx