Billy Elliot: The Musical (11/06/10, Grand Opera House, York)

The movie Billy Elliot is sweet and very, very funny, with a cracking soundtrack, none of which is used in the musical! That doesn't matter though, I enjoyed it thoroughly, despite some dodgy sound problems. It turned out that the performance we'd booked to see wasn't actually a touring version of the West End hit, rather it was a version by the Billy Youth Theatre, set up in York especially for this show. I was concerned when I realised this after reading the programme that it might be terribly amateurish and full of wooden child performances. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Henry Rhodes, who played young Billy, was phenomenal. His dancing left me speechless and wanting to rise out of my seat applauding, and the same went for pretty much everyone else in the cast. I have to say that a week later I don't really remember the songs, although at the time I was tapping along with them (this probably says more about my goldfish memory than the show), yet I do remember the dancing, the energy, and emotion that was purveyed through it, and the hilarious numbers that Billy's gay-in-making mate Michael performed. The latter, played by Josh Benson, surely a star in the making, stole every scene he appeared in, and the song Expressing Yourself was full of delightful moments between the two boys and had some of the most fun choreography.

Act I

• The Stars Look Down - Company
• Shine - Ballet Girls, Mrs. Wilkinson & Mr Braithwaite
• Grandma's Song - Grandma
• Solidarity - Ballet Girls, Billy, Mrs. Wilkinson, Miners & Police
• Expressing Yourself - Billy, Michael, and Ensemble
• The Letter - Mrs. Wilkinson, Mum and Billy
• Born to Boogie - Mrs. Wilkinson, Billy, and Mr. Braithwaite
• Angry Dance -Billy & Male Ensemble

Act II

• Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher - Tony and Partiers.
• Deep into the Ground - Jackie
• Swan Lake-Billy and Billy Older Self
• He Could be a Star - Jackie and Tony
• Electricity - Billy
• Once We Were Kings - Company
• The Letter (Reprise) - Mum and Billy
• Finale - Company

Despite what I said above, looking at the set list, I do remember Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher! It was great fun. The other side of the musical, and the source movie, apart from the ballet is the serious business of the pit closures in the 1980s. I felt that in the musical there was more anger and deeper social comment than in the movie, and it worked well with the contrasting dance scenes - when the miners and ballet girls all mingled in one big dancer number it was very effective. There was some earthy language coming out of the mouths of the children, and on stage it can be quite shocking, especially when the little girl asks Billy if he wants to see her fanny! This line was lifted from the movie directly, but it's much more shocking when the little girl is 5 rows in front of you, I must say. 

I left the theatre elated and amazed by the wonderful performances by the child actors and dancers in Billy Elliot, and I would happily go and watch it again.