Daldry moves the action along through a variety of locales: the walls and chairs that make up the set, along with the central revolve that is Billy’s bedroom, allow Daldry to easily switch from one room to the next. And both were written by the same person- Lee Hall (who does both book and lyrics here).ĭaldry’s direction is, for me, one of the highlights of Billy Elliot the Musical.
But both movie and musical have the same director (Stephen Daldry) and choreographer (Peter Darling). For those who have seen the movie, the musical is a mostly faithful adaptation, with some minor changes (more focus is given to the community on strike, and the ending is a bit different). Ultimately, this is a story about the power (and limits) of community support- while the strike is ultimately broken by the Thatcher Administration, the town’s support enables Billy to travel to London to audition for the Royal Ballet School. While the Mineworkers’ Union goes on strike, Billy discovers ballet. So, is it worth it?įor those who haven’t seen the movie, Billy Elliot is the story of Billy, a boy who lives in a coal-mining town in Northern England. If you want a decent (not amazing, but merely decent) seat for this show, you are looking at spending either $81.50 (for partial view) or $126.50 ($136.50 for Saturday evenings). It certainly won’t appear on TKTS anytime soon. From what I understand, it has a lot of advance sales this translates into no readily available discounts, and no student rush or lottery. Many people will enjoy themselves, and I am betting it will be one of the “shows to see” this season. In many ways, and for many reasons, Billy Elliot is a very good Broadway musical. At least once.BOTTOM LINE: Many will enjoy this big Broadway Musical, but I'm not sure it is worth the money. And when the stage show comes to a city near you, plan to go. Later you can buy the CD and crank up the volume to really appreciate the power of the big male voice numbers. Watch this filmed version of the stage show.
And the Electricity solo by child Billy where he comes out of a long dance sequence with multiple pirouettes, then has enough breath left to continue singing and finally finish with another series of pirouettes is just astounding. The Swan Lake sequence where child Billy dances with 'future Billy' is just the most brilliant piece of choreography, stunningly executed. Unless the stage show is on in your city and you can afford to go and experience it in person (preferably more than once), watching this filmed version is the next best thing.
It has everything: stunning choreography, fabulous singing, great comedy, an emotional underdog story and the whole thing is told against the backdrop of a painfully real episode of massive social upheaval. Having said all of that, Billy Elliot the Musical is my family's all-time favourite stage show. But they're great in different ways despite both telling the same story. This is much more about the dancing with a whole extra dimension added with the songs. So don't start comparing it with Billy Elliot the movie. And it's a staged show, so it's not aiming for realism. Also, occasionally the accent is a bit hard to understand. Yes, the 'f-bomb' is liberally sprinkled through the dialogue, but it's in keeping with the setting. Smaller gripes include the camera angle cuts that are a bit annoying at times, and you wish the director had chosen not to keep chopping and changing angles quite so much, and maybe stuck with more straightforward angles that didn't occasionally cut off Billy's feet during dance sequences.
Cranking up the volume on the TV remote for those songs still doesn't quite cut it.
OK, here's the one big downside: this is a film of the actual stage show, and it simply can't adequately convey the full stirring power of the big male voice numbers.