Billy Elliot Review
The Kennedy Center celebrated some sort of anniversary late last year (I want to see 40th, but really, I'm not sure) and as part of that, they gave away a bunch of tickets. I ended up winning two tickets to see "Billy Elliot: The Musical". This musical hit Broadway just a bit before I went on my mission, and I really didn't know that much about it. Then, once I found out I won the tickets, I purposefully avoided anything about it (which wasn't hard, considering the show is closing in 2 days). Every time I've gone to see a musical, I've always known all the songs and the general plot; I wanted to see a show without knowing anything, just for kicks. It was quite a new experience--a good experience.
We arrived right on time--the show started 3 minutes after we sat down. According to Wikipedia, "the plot revolves around motherless Billy, who trades boxing gloves for ballet shoes. The story of his personal struggle and fulfillment are balanced against a counter-story of family and community strife caused by the UK miners' strike (1984-1985) in County Durham, in North Eastern England." And that was pretty much all I knew going in, which hampered my enjoyment of the first act a little bit; I wasn't quite sure what was going on, or exactly why everyone was so upset. I understood that there was a strike, but I couldn't quite figure out why there were all so upset at the police and so on. That, combined with the less-than-impressive performance of the actor playing Billy in the first act made for a pretty "meh" first act. The kids playing Billy seemed nervous, and a bit mechanical--the first act ends with Billy doing the "Angry Dance", his anger about the strike, about being unable to do ballet, about life in general. It's clearly supposed to be very emotional, very raw, but instead it came off mechanical and lifeless until right at the very end. I'm not sure if the actor was an understudy or new or unused to the part, or what, but the first act was not all that impressive. There were some good parts: the actress playing Billy's ballet teacher was quite good, with a strong voice and plenty of attitude. And I really liked the songs, especially the song where Billy reads/sings a letter from his dead mother to his ballet teacher.
The second act, I am pleased to report, was much better. I was able to read the sign they had in the lobby giving all sorts of background information, so I had a better handle on what was going on. Also, all the actors seemed to tone it down a bit, so they weren't overacting quite so much. The actor playing Billy especially seemed a lot more comfortable in the second act, and his dancing was much more real, much more dancing rather than just doing dance moves.
There were two parts I especially loved: there is a part early in act two where Billy dances with his older self in an empty gym, which his father happens to see, and it is this dance that makes the dad decide to support Billy's ambition to be a dancer and to enter the Royal Ballet School. They dance to Swan Lake, and it is absolutely gorgeous.
The second part I loved was during Billy's audition for the Royal Ballet School. At the very end, one of the interviewers asks him what it feels like when he dances, and it is here that Billy comes alive for the first time during the audition. It's a great song, and a great dance at the end. I loved it.
The finale/curtain call was great too--everyone dancing and wearing tutus. Cracked me up. There is an amount of swearing in the show, which I could have done without, but I did enjoy it. Made me want to go see a ballet again. *happy sigh* Overall, I'm glad I got to see it, but I'm also glad I didn't have to pay to see it. :)
I'll leave you with one more video: a professionally shot montage of the three big dances--Billy's Angry Dance, the Swan Lake dance, and the Electricity Dance.
Also, I got Scarecrow and Mrs King season 1 and season 2 for Christmas. Woot!
We arrived right on time--the show started 3 minutes after we sat down. According to Wikipedia, "the plot revolves around motherless Billy, who trades boxing gloves for ballet shoes. The story of his personal struggle and fulfillment are balanced against a counter-story of family and community strife caused by the UK miners' strike (1984-1985) in County Durham, in North Eastern England." And that was pretty much all I knew going in, which hampered my enjoyment of the first act a little bit; I wasn't quite sure what was going on, or exactly why everyone was so upset. I understood that there was a strike, but I couldn't quite figure out why there were all so upset at the police and so on. That, combined with the less-than-impressive performance of the actor playing Billy in the first act made for a pretty "meh" first act. The kids playing Billy seemed nervous, and a bit mechanical--the first act ends with Billy doing the "Angry Dance", his anger about the strike, about being unable to do ballet, about life in general. It's clearly supposed to be very emotional, very raw, but instead it came off mechanical and lifeless until right at the very end. I'm not sure if the actor was an understudy or new or unused to the part, or what, but the first act was not all that impressive. There were some good parts: the actress playing Billy's ballet teacher was quite good, with a strong voice and plenty of attitude. And I really liked the songs, especially the song where Billy reads/sings a letter from his dead mother to his ballet teacher.
The second act, I am pleased to report, was much better. I was able to read the sign they had in the lobby giving all sorts of background information, so I had a better handle on what was going on. Also, all the actors seemed to tone it down a bit, so they weren't overacting quite so much. The actor playing Billy especially seemed a lot more comfortable in the second act, and his dancing was much more real, much more dancing rather than just doing dance moves.
There were two parts I especially loved: there is a part early in act two where Billy dances with his older self in an empty gym, which his father happens to see, and it is this dance that makes the dad decide to support Billy's ambition to be a dancer and to enter the Royal Ballet School. They dance to Swan Lake, and it is absolutely gorgeous.
Click to viewThe second part I loved was during Billy's audition for the Royal Ballet School. At the very end, one of the interviewers asks him what it feels like when he dances, and it is here that Billy comes alive for the first time during the audition. It's a great song, and a great dance at the end. I loved it.
The finale/curtain call was great too--everyone dancing and wearing tutus. Cracked me up. There is an amount of swearing in the show, which I could have done without, but I did enjoy it. Made me want to go see a ballet again. *happy sigh* Overall, I'm glad I got to see it, but I'm also glad I didn't have to pay to see it. :)
I'll leave you with one more video: a professionally shot montage of the three big dances--Billy's Angry Dance, the Swan Lake dance, and the Electricity Dance.
Also, I got Scarecrow and Mrs King season 1 and season 2 for Christmas. Woot!