Braving the Balcony for Billy Elliot - Twice!

                I have a confession to make: I despise sitting in the balcony and mezzanine.  I live for orchestra-level seats.  I guess I just like to be as close to the action as possible – I don’t like not being able to see facial expressions.  I know people who prefer balcony seating; they enjoy looking down onto the stage.  I suppose I just have expensive taste, which is particularly unfortunate considering I’m constantly in search of thrifty theater.  My mother once told me something to the effect of, “it would be a lot easier if you weren’t such a snob about it.”  Thanks, mom.  But realistically, she has a point.

                My budget recently forced me to decide between seeing the national tour of Billy Elliot at the Durham Performing Arts Center from the upper balcony or not seeing it at all.  I chose the upper balcony.

                Ever since sitting on stage at Spring Awakening and dancing on stage at Hair, no seat in the house is close enough for me.  I realize that I’m ridiculous.  Yet, sitting in the upper balcony was hardly the nightmare I had feared it would be.  Initially, when I sat down in row L of the balcony, my first thought was “Dear God, I’m going to hate this.  The actors will all look like ants!”  Thankfully, I was wrong.

                In fact, there are actually some benefits to having the “cheap” seats!  (I put “cheap” in quotation marks because my ticket was still $30.)  While there were a few times when I was frustrated that I couldn’t tell which actor was speaking, I found myself actually appreciating the balcony’s vantage point, especially for a show with so much dancing.  I loved watching the numbers with the ballet girls from up high, and I don’t think the profundity and emotional impact of the show (especially the “Angry Dance” and the part with the older Billy) were at all dampened by my distance from the stage.  Even though I couldn’t see the actors’ faces so well, I still bawled during Billy’s response to his mother’s letter.

                Don’t get the wrong idea here – I haven’t changed my ways or anything.  I still would so much rather be in row A than in any tier, mezzanine, or balcony.  But, I’ve opened my eyes to the fact that sitting up high doesn’t suck as much as I thought it would.

                I have another confession to make: I’m a repeat attender.  I like to see certain shows (cough, cough Spring Awakening) again and again.  I’m not sure why, but I think part if it may have to do with where I live.  Not living in or near NYC, I get limited opportunities to see kick-ass Broadway shows, and I don’t have much in the way of options.

                When a national tour comes to town: a) the dates of that engagement are pretty much my only chances to see that production (with the Broadway creative team, etc.), and b) it’s the only thing around – it’s not like in NYC where you could choose from 30 Broadway shows any given day.  I often feel like I have to really make it count.  If I like a show, I’m probably going to see it again.  Thus, I’ve been known to see the same show multiple times in one week.

                Thanks to DPAC’s student rush tickets, I was able to see the show a second time for $22.  Since the touring company of Billy Elliot has five actors who take turns playing Billy, I didn’t want to miss the chance to see another Billy.  It paid off.

                The first Billy I saw was good, but the second one was great!  He’s already been Billy on Broadway, and he was awesome.  Despite the fact that there were 98 stairs (I counted!) between the orchestra level and my seat in the very last row of the 2,800-seat venue, I was blown away.

                I don’t want to be negative about the first Billy I saw (and I’m not going to name names), but his cockney accent needed work (though it was clear he’d been working hard on it – keep it up!), and his singing was good but not great.  I don’t like saying bad things about anyone, especially young performers, especially since this “not as good” Billy was a squillion times more talented than I’ll ever be.  It’s just that Billy #2 was a little more seasoned as a performer, and it was noticeable.  To make a long story short, going back was quite worthwhile.  Except for the teenage boy and his mom next to me, who made plenty of comments quite loudly.