Billy Elliot: A Review

The theme of boys to men is a recurring one in our society. From a hip-hop group of that name to Backstreet Boys to the current Justin Bieber paternity allegation, the issue not only recurs but is front and center. The news is full of negative test score comparisons between boys and girls; pro athletes seem stuck in Peter Pan mode. The musical, Billy Elliot, examines this theme with music by Sir Elton John and some exceptional dancing.

Originally a book, then a film, and now a musical based on the Universal Studios film, Billy Elliot is playing at the Fabulous Fox through November 13, 2011. The play is set in the working class coal pits of Northern England.

"In 1984, the British National Union of Mineworkers (the NUM) went on strike to save the coal industry from threatened closures of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was politically opposed to state-owned industry and determined to crush the unions," reads the Playbill.

While the political storyline and the British accents are sometimes hard to understand, the time-line of Billy becoming a man is easy to follow. Billy's Dad (played by Rich Hebert) is the pit boss and strike leader. He sends Billy to weekly boxing lessons. Billy haphazardly rebels against this and falls in with the second-rate ballet school run by Mrs. Wilkinson (Leah Hocking). She and Billy's Grandma (played by Patti Perkins) are the female influences in Billy's budding adolescence.

His mother (played by Kat Hennessey) is dead, but a still powerful influence, and like the ghost of Hamlet, makes several smoke filled appearances at key points in the play.

While Billy is clearly on a path to heterosexuality, his friend Michael is not. Michael (played by Ben Cook or Jacob Zelonky) shines in the number, "Expressing Yourself", when he and Billy, along with the Ensemble Dancers, create one of the snappiest and best costumed dance numbers of the evening---how could they even see to dance from inside those fancy dresses on hangars?

While Billy Elliot has several serious plots, plenty of comic relief is provided by Grandma, Michael, and Mr. Braithwaite (played by Patrick Wetzel). Mr. Braithwaite, the piano player at Mrs. Wilkinson's ballet school, and Billy do an incredible dance number, "Born to Boogie", part of which is tap dancing while jumping rope.

The role of Billy is so rigorous that it is actually played by one of four boys: Ty Forhan, Kylend Heatherington, Lex Ishimoto, and J.P. Viernes. The role demands not only versatiliy in ballet, but also experitse in tap, boogie, tango, hip hop, and break dancing.

Lex Ishimoto was Billy at Saturday night's performance. He hails from Irving, CA, and is part of the street dance hip hop group, Kreative Movement. His dancing was so good he received a standing ovation.

Billy's inner conflict of his quest toward manhood reaches a climax in "Angry Dance" at the end of Act I. Billy dances free-style surrounded by the riot shields of the police trying to break the strike. Heavy percussion raises the music to a cacophonic crescendo. By Act II, Billy's solo in "Electricity" spells out his reasons for dancing, but external conflicts are still brewing. Almost half of the fifteen song and dance numbers are performed by The Full Company.

"Solidarity" is the one number you will play over and over in your mind after the musical ends. The lighting, costumes, and special effects (especially the giant puppet in "Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher") of the Full Company numbers are first rate. Even though the strike is broken and the miners are without jobs, the last number,"Company Celebration", celebrates Billy's becoming a man and gaining admission to the Royal Ballet School.

If "it takes a village to raise a man", then Billy Elliot the Musical is a fine example of this, told in songs and electrifying dance numbers.