Okay! Here is my first review. Maybe my only one. Might do a massiveone at the end as always, but I wanted to get this while fresh in my mind.
Tuesday, October 5th:
Alex Ko
Gabe
Liz Pearce as Mrs. W.

This show was a really pleasant surprise. So many things made me happy.
First off, the show has NOT been cleaned up. F-bombs still in full force. Love it.
I will say right off that I was amazed at how much better the show is than what I saw a year ago. I am talking about the acting, though more correctly I mean the directing. Line delivery is so much better. Not only is it clearer for the most part, but the timing has also greatly improved. And for once people are really reacting to each other. This in spite of the fact that early on there were a few blown lines.
(There was also a mike cue late during the bathroom scene with Debbie and Billy. Debbie’s mike did not come on son enough for the “hoo-hoo” line. I consider this inexcusible.)
I love Carole Shelley! She was superb last night. Even though she seemed to flub a couple of lines that only a veteran watcher would notice, she is just amazing to watch. And I love how Alex, at least, reacts to her when she sings Grandma’s Song. Though this is commonplace in London, I had not seen it as much in my first two Broadway visits.
I do not know how a veteran actor like Greg Jbara can grow in a part, but he has. This was by far one of the best shows I have seen him give. And he told me after the show that he took MY advice (in a review I wrote lst year, which he read) and was a bit less blubbery in the winter scene between him and Mrs. W. In fact, it was a wonderful scene and in the union hall scene where he cries, it was so much more valid and believable. And his timing was superb. Also, in the past I always thought he jumped on the “Yer mam’s dead” line too fast. But tonight I realized something. Maybe this was not the first time Billy has said, “Mam would have let iz.” Maybe Dad has heard it often enough that he doesn’t need to think before responding angrily. Anyay, I am okay with it.
Gabe – I like a Michael who really hams up the part, and man, he really does. I loved him. And Express was really nice tonight because I could hear just about every line.
I also want to commend the directors on slowing down the scene between Debbie and Billy in front of the policeman. They both pause and think before saying their lines. It was perfect.
I will say that the pausing and thinking went a bit long in the toilet scene. Billy waited so long before saying “Nah, Yer alright,” that I am sure people in the audience thought he had forgotten his line. If he is going to wait that long, he needs to be more exaggerated in his consideration of the offer.
The second act was great as well, but I will make my over-stated comment about the rushed delivery of the lines between Billy and Michael about “why, I’d miss ya”. Not only was it way over-rushed tonight, it was almost unintelligible. And Gabe really rushed the “nutcracker” line, so again it was hard to understand.
The rest of the second act was fun.
One final thought about the acting. I really appreciated when Michael said “See ya, Billy” at the end loud and clear. And with the right emotion. So many Michael’s do this too softly and with not enough meaning to it.
Singing – Alex was coming off of a cold, be he still sounded great, better than I remember from his first show.
Dancing – amazing as always, but I miss the jump off the piano, and of course since his injury Alex does not do nearly enough of the acro as he used to do in Electricity. I miss that, but I understand.
Anyway, it was a really nice “homecoming”.

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