Billy Elliot the Musical opened last nightat the Fox Cities P.A.C. The story begins in a small town, in NorthernEngland in 1984. It is raw in language, devoid of color, and fierce with loyaltyto the unions that kept the characters alive. As described by Director Stephen Daldry, “What appealed to me most about doing theshow was to have the opportunity to delve into the miners’ strike. That strike was one of the most important events inmy life, as well as in domestic village politics. It’s not possible toexaggerate the cultural flowering that happened during that year in the pitvillages. There was a real shift in consciousness for everybody involved inthose villages, which is part of the sadness of the whole story. Becausesomething extraordinary happened – and then it was wiped out as they shut downthe pits. So we wanted to talk about the community and the family as much asBilly in the musical. The strike bookends the show. The theater lends itself tobig, working-class anthems of struggle and loss. You can present that in a muchmore believable and moving way onstage than on film.”
“The Stars LookDown” spoke of the emotion of a community facing the loss of everything thatdefined them. We are brought to thepoignant “We’d Go Dancing,” where memories are better than reality in the timeof change. As the town demands loyaltyto the union, the anger that energizes the strike in “Solidarity” is fierce andin your face. In a community that embraces the harsh, overbearing male rolemodel, with furtive excitement, two boys explore cross dressing in “ExpressingYourself.” Our young star, Billy,shows his sensitivity and heartache of losing his “mum” in “Dear Billy”and hisrebellion against his father’s demand that he give up dancing in “AngryDance."
The first act made me squirm,yet I was amazed at the talent of Billy played by Ty Forhan. That young man was on the stage most of thetime. His every move was portraying thecharacter and emotion of the scene in which he played. His dancing was amazing for one so young. Itwas fun to see the way Billy’s character was formed through thechoreography. From the stressed beginnerin over his head at his first dance class, to the passionate dancer at the end,the development of his character shined through.
Act II begins with “Merry Christmas, MaggieThatcher,” a rebellion against authority, sung with much profanity and manyfinger gestures against her rule. RichHebert was solid in creating the scene “Deep Into the Ground” and “He Could Goand He Could Shine” as he portrayed a man who learns a heart of understandingtowards his son. The choreography wasinterestingly masculine for the “non dancer” characters. I had never thought of drunken stumbling as aform for choreography. The story of thejourney from the beginnings of the British National Union of Mineworkers strike,to the anguish and remorse of becoming a “scab” in order to provide for hisboy, was very well told.
While it waspainful to watch the anger and ridicule of his family not accepting Billy’sdesire to dance, I was relieved to see the resolution in the second act of Dad decidingto support Billy in his passion. Themusic defined the emotion of the story. The choreography demonstrated thecharacters and the story line. Overall,it was an interesting view of community and a family struggling with change.
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