ATW Review - Billy Elliot: The Musical - Simply Electrifying
It's enchanted over three years for Elton John and Lee Hall's Billy Elliot the Musical to reach Broadway audiences. In London's West End, the show won the Olivier Present for Best Musical along with Evening Standard and Critics Group Theatre Awards. The musical, based on the 2000 moving picture of the same name, has also won acclaim in the U.K. As of last night New York theatergoers absolutely have the opportunity to see what has been created such a stir across the Atlantic and on the other side of the Pacific. "Billy Elliot" has opened at the Queenlike Theatre and, it is simply "electrifying."
The story couldn't be simpler – and on some levels it will cue theatergoers of the movie Flashdance. Billy (who's played by one of three juvenile men, and at a recent press performance David Alvarez tackled the r with indefatigable energy and enormous charm) has grown up in a pint-sized mining town in the U.K., where most of the men are currently on strike, protesting then Prime Woman of the cloth Margaret Thatcher's policies toward their union. Billy's being raised by his miner primogenitor (Greg Jbara softens the man's blue collar roughness with an ever-deal out paternal affection) and older brother Tony (Santino Fontana). As part of his information, Billy's sent to boxing lessons each week, which he attends begrudgingly. One day, Billy stays in the lecture-hall where his lessons are held and finds himself taking part in one of the weekly ballet classes offered by Mrs. Wilkinson (Haydn Gwynne, who originated the r in London and understandably, given her exceptional profession here, earned an Olivier nomination for her performance). He's not hooked initially, but she certainly sees likely.
Before long, she's giving him private lessons and prepping him for an audition for the Baroness Ballet; their sessions kept secret from his originator who disapproves of him taking part in an activity that's for "poofs." When Billy's dad decisively understands how much talent his son has, he becomes supportive, but with the family's resources depleted by the go that has now lasted over a year, how will he get the boy to London? Ultimately, it's the kinsfolk's friends and neighbors who all chip in to help the pre-teen boy, seeing in him the potentiality for a future that will, most likely, elude the rest of them. Billy's exertion within his family and community is made all the more poignant by the fact that he's being raised without the uphold of a mother, although there are several appearances by the woman's ghost (played with gradual warmth by Leah Hocking) during the show. ...
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