As you will know, I went to see Billy Elliot last week. I had first seen it in 2005 when an American friend was visiting London and wanted to see it as she had heard great things about the show. This musical is based on the film of the same title and, according to the hand out, is "an inspirational story of one boy’s dream to realise his ambitions against the odds. Set in the North East of England against the background of the historic 1984/85 miners' strike, Billy pursues his passion for dance in secret to avoid disapproval of his struggling family".
I will admit straight away that much though I enjoyed the film, the idea of a stage musical set in the miner's strike, which I remember well and which caused so much suffering and violence, was not high on my list of Things I must See. So I went along, unwillingly, and came out totally stunned at the sheer brilliance of Billy Elliot. The music, written by Elton John, is very theatrical and sits well with the story and not sure many of the tunes would be classics outside the theatre, but they work and that is all that matters. It is very very funny, the language is a bit trenchant, not sure how they would have managed with that and the accents in the New York performances, and is pretty blunt. It is also moving and at times can bring you to tears. The hopelessness of the fight they are embarked on, the knowledge that we, the audience know the ending, and the return to work down the pit which we all know is soon to close and entire communities broken, is really quite gut wrenching.
And yet, please do not think you will find this depressing. I thought I would and I could not have been more wrong. Billy has a friend, Michael, already aware of the fact that he is gay, not a happy situation living in a pit town, but he has humour and courage and he is given a sensational number when he and Billy dress up in his mum's clothes, drape themselves in jewellry and trinkets and do a tap dance which brings the house down. Billy has three big numbers, the final one showing how he feels when he is dancing. In the film it is in words, in the theatre it is in dance and when he finished most of the audience leapt to their feet cheering and yelling with delight.
But for me, the best part of the entire evening is a dance Billy does on his own to the music of Swan Lake, when he is joined by a vision of himself as older and a ballet dancer and the two of them do a pas de deux. The stage is superbly lit, all silver and black and suddenly in a lift Billy takes off and flies through the air, in one of the darker lit moments he has had a harness hooked to his back, and it is simply breathtaking, the joy and ease with which he flies, he is free of all his trouble and unhappiness after the death of his mother, my throat just closed up and my eyes filled with tears.
You come out of the theatre totally happy and delighted and the last time I went the cab driver who was taking me to the station asked me what I thought of the show. When I expressed my joy he told me that he asked that question of everyone he picked up form the Victoria Palace theatre and he has yet to meet anybody who did not love the show.
I adored it all over again and as I have two friends hwo are really keen to see it, I told them I would be more than happy to see it once more which shows just how much I love it.
One of the great British musicals.
