Oh Billy Elliot, How Did You Win the Tony?

oh right. its fixed to give increased sales.

So, i saw Billy Elliot last night with my Uncle and a few others. It was good, i'll admit that freely. I enjoyed myself, i felt for (some of) the characters, i liked the dancing.

oh, and there was a plot and a backdrop, too.

Ok, that last statement is a bit unfair. But perhaps the biggest flaw in the show was its length...it was just too long! I like long shows, but when they deserve it. The first act had a movable plot, things happened, characters changed, etc etc...but the second act could have been 30 minutes shorter and told everything it needed to. Especially a few completely useless scenes, but i'll get into that.

First, what i liked!

Like Chicago i found myself enjoying aspects of the show, rather than the whole. Like the dancing, and a few of the songs, and part of the plot.

The Angry Dance? In context, its a little bit devastating. (Though, out of context and as a matter of form, the Electricity Dance is better suited) And Tommy Batchelor dances really, really well. Does he dance better than me? umm..yeah, he does. that should be obvious. But there was always a feeling i had during, and looking back on, Billy's actual dances where i just felt like i wanted him to let loose and go crazy, ya know?

But he's 13, and that may not exactly be something one can ask of him. And in the end (to use the shows vernacular) he is one sodderingly talented kid.

The other dance (and one that i felt got short shrift by the audience) that i truely enjoyed was the Grandmother's "don't lift a finger." "We'd go dancing." [thank you, anonymous and insulting commenter for correcting the title of that song. i didn't have the program in front of me] Its a hazy, smoke-filled, memory driven song, in which you can barely make out the 10 or so dancers faces. The dance uses the vastness of the stage to great effect, slowly shifting chairs to each other and making their entire journey over the course of the song one in which they simply cross the stage. Just breathtaking.

I'll also note that that particular song was...oh, 20, 30 minutes into the show. it was the 3rd listed song, and the first one i found the least bit interesting. Bad sign.

And then came a chorus of policemen (whom i half expected to break out into Pirates of Penzance) and the song "Solidarity." And i thought "oh, so the music gets better as it goes along. i can swing with that." yeah, that was wrong.

Anyways, the dance for Solidarity was one of the highlights of the show. Billy in the ballet class full of girls looks out of place. and then he starts to improve. As the song goes on, the police and coal miners start dancing as well, i ntheir own world. But they are dancing ballet...and they look extraordinarily out of place. And when the kids - including Billy - join them in the ballet, they look even more awkward. And Billy, who a moment before seemed out of place, looks quite natural, like he was supposed to be there all along.

it was a nice bit of staging and juxtaposition.

One last positive thing i would like to highlight. And this is something i don't think i've ever said about a show before but...the lighting. omg the lighting was genius. Making use of the ample bare wall at the back of the stage, two low spotlights shone up onto Billy, casting 2 huuuge shadows behind him as he danced. And moments when billy was trapped in boxes of light in the Angry Dance or elsewhere. Or backlighting so Billy is only a sillohette. Or no lighting at all, just lights on mining helmets as they slowly sink undergroud for the final time. Well deserving of the Tony.

And the Negative...

Ok, now that i've got my positives out of the way...Look, the show didn't deserve a Tony for best Musical. Plain and simple. 1/3 of the show was brilliant, but thats not enough. Thats enough to be on Broadway, but not enough to be called this year's best new show. 1/3 was brilliant, 1/6 was just good, and 1/2 was just boring. the show dragged! a lot! especially in the second act.

I've never seen the movie, but i didn't have to. Was there any doubt, ever, in my mind, if Billy's father would come around? That they would take the scab money to get to London? That Billy would be accepted? that his father would end up being proud, and that Billy would leave in the end? NO!! None whatsoever! And while Billy's dad sure as hell acted his ass off to make it interesting, thats just not enough. The plot moves all of 2 feet in the second act, and it takes forever to do so.

oh ho, but thats not the most mystifyingly bad part of the show.

Look the play was basically realism (as realism as you can get with, ya know, a music with people breaking out into song). But it was when the show left these broad, realist strokes and indulged in gay-fantastical flights of fancy that the show really just got weird.

You're going, Ok, realism yes, i'm with you, i'm with you...oh, how cute. the little friend is a cross dresser and is getting billy to do it too. the song is kinda cute, in a "you gotta have a gimmik" kind of way....wait....why are there vaudeville lights on the stage now? waIT!! WhY iS there a shimmer curtain now!? WHY ARE PEOPLE DRESSED AS DRESSES DANCING ONSTAGE!??!

ugh...and why is the audience clapping for that? though i will say, for an understudy, the kid who played Michael sure knew how to milk that applause...

And then in the second act, with Billy dancing with his older self? that was a 6 minute useless segment that could have been cut, and then i would have has a little less time to think about the dinner i just had and how i should go back there.

Finally, i'll just say that it was an overall...weak cast. Maybe i just didn't see the right Billy. But the Father and Grandmother weren't enough to bring the show along, and i just felt the power of the cast is definitely lacking.

Oh, and the ending was obviously supposed to make you feel something as Billy walks down the aisle and away from his old life for good. But i swear, by that point i was screaming Monty Python at them: "Just get on with it!"

SO! to Sum up...

Dancing = good, but makes for a slow plot in which there is no suspense. 1/3 brilliant, but the rest was just too lackluster to make up for it. And a seemingly weak cast didn't help that much. The Angry Dance is a little devastating on context, but looking back i can't help but want to see it a little more wild, or maybe in the hands of a more experienced, older dancer. "Solidarity" and "Finger" "Dancing" are the highlights of an otherwise forgettable score, including a few songs that should have been cut. And don't delve in to kid's imagination in the middle of a show you are protraying as gritty realism...it just doesn't flow.

And he's 13 years old...wow can that kid dance.

But in the end, N2N deserved the tony. Bubble? you've been burst.