Billy Elliot - the Proper Review
Last night I attended the first ever performance of the new musical, Billy Elliot the Musical. And when I say first ever, that's what it was. According to the director, Stephen Daldry, this was their first time ever on this stage, the first time ever in front of an audience, the first time ever that the cast has run through this musical in its entirety.
Based on the movie of the same name, the musical is the story of a boy living in a northern England mining town during the strikes of the 1980s. With his mother dead, his father is pushing Billy to take boxing classes. Rather by accident, Billy ends up in the middle of a ballet class. To everyone's surprise, including his, he turns out to be quite good at it. Despite being banned from dance lessons by his father, Billy continues taking lessons in secret and ends up auditioning for, and getting, a place with the Royal Ballet School. Intertwined with Billy's struggle to become who he wants to be is also his family's struggle to accept and support Billy despite overwhelming circumstances.
Whenever (at least, I assume so) you take a hit movie and turn it into a musical, there's always the danger of failing to live up to the expectations. The director, Stephen Daldry, the writer, Lee Hall, and the composer, Elton John, has not only succeeded, but succeeded brilliantly.
Since the performance I attended was only a preview (and the first ever preview), Stephen Daldry came out before it began and thanked us for coming and explained that there might be a need to pause the musical at times. We were also introduced to the stage manager who might be seen running about the stage to retrieve left props. But to thank us for our patience, Mr. Daldry announced that everyone would receive free drinks at the interval. And with that, the musical began.
One of the difficulties in staging such a production is that children are limited by law to a certain number of performances per week. So, not only would they need to cast one boy (and several supporting children) who could sing and dance, they needed to cast three. As a result, there are three different sets of dance choreography (based on each Billy's particular dance strengths) and three different sets of music (each Billy sings in a different key).
The first production's Billy Elliot was played by Liam Mower. His singing and dancing skills were simply amazing. If he could perform that well given the circumstances of the night, by the proper opening of the show there will be no stopping him.
Despite just a few technical glitches (a set of lights did not rotate back into place correctly, the ingenious house set failed, at one point, to appear properly, and a dining room table and chairs was removed a bit too late), and the temporary halting of the musical at one point (to ensure that the rotating lights were properly set for the next scene), the energy never faltered. In fact, to the young actors, it was as if the glitches simply never happened.
For many visitors, seeing Phantom of the Opera in London is considered to be the ultimate in British theatre. This, however, is simply no longer true. Billy Elliot the Musical is a purely British musical with a truly British cast and creative team. In an exclusive interview after the show, Stephen Daldry told me that he was sorry the show ran so long (almost three and a half hours, including the brief pause and the interval) and that they were trying to cut a few things out. I could see possibly two or three things that could be cut out (or should be cut out) to improve things, but not much.
An extra note: On the way out, each audience member received a gift bag with a thank you from the producers as well as a DVD of the movie Billy Elliot.
And this, dear readers, is why I am here: to bring you the best, most exciting, most genuine British experiences available.
Based on the movie of the same name, the musical is the story of a boy living in a northern England mining town during the strikes of the 1980s. With his mother dead, his father is pushing Billy to take boxing classes. Rather by accident, Billy ends up in the middle of a ballet class. To everyone's surprise, including his, he turns out to be quite good at it. Despite being banned from dance lessons by his father, Billy continues taking lessons in secret and ends up auditioning for, and getting, a place with the Royal Ballet School. Intertwined with Billy's struggle to become who he wants to be is also his family's struggle to accept and support Billy despite overwhelming circumstances.
Whenever (at least, I assume so) you take a hit movie and turn it into a musical, there's always the danger of failing to live up to the expectations. The director, Stephen Daldry, the writer, Lee Hall, and the composer, Elton John, has not only succeeded, but succeeded brilliantly.
Since the performance I attended was only a preview (and the first ever preview), Stephen Daldry came out before it began and thanked us for coming and explained that there might be a need to pause the musical at times. We were also introduced to the stage manager who might be seen running about the stage to retrieve left props. But to thank us for our patience, Mr. Daldry announced that everyone would receive free drinks at the interval. And with that, the musical began.
One of the difficulties in staging such a production is that children are limited by law to a certain number of performances per week. So, not only would they need to cast one boy (and several supporting children) who could sing and dance, they needed to cast three. As a result, there are three different sets of dance choreography (based on each Billy's particular dance strengths) and three different sets of music (each Billy sings in a different key).
The first production's Billy Elliot was played by Liam Mower. His singing and dancing skills were simply amazing. If he could perform that well given the circumstances of the night, by the proper opening of the show there will be no stopping him.
Despite just a few technical glitches (a set of lights did not rotate back into place correctly, the ingenious house set failed, at one point, to appear properly, and a dining room table and chairs was removed a bit too late), and the temporary halting of the musical at one point (to ensure that the rotating lights were properly set for the next scene), the energy never faltered. In fact, to the young actors, it was as if the glitches simply never happened.
For many visitors, seeing Phantom of the Opera in London is considered to be the ultimate in British theatre. This, however, is simply no longer true. Billy Elliot the Musical is a purely British musical with a truly British cast and creative team. In an exclusive interview after the show, Stephen Daldry told me that he was sorry the show ran so long (almost three and a half hours, including the brief pause and the interval) and that they were trying to cut a few things out. I could see possibly two or three things that could be cut out (or should be cut out) to improve things, but not much.
An extra note: On the way out, each audience member received a gift bag with a thank you from the producers as well as a DVD of the movie Billy Elliot.
And this, dear readers, is why I am here: to bring you the best, most exciting, most genuine British experiences available.
posted by Matthew Reames at 4/01/2005 01:25:00 PM
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