Monday, December 15, 2008
Billy Elliot – The musical
I went with Jan to see this amazing show. I can’t pretend to have seen many musicals, but this was the best I have seen by a long way and absolutely recommended.
This is the story of an 11 year boy in a macho mining town in the North East of England and takes place during the Miners strike of 1984-5 during Maggie Thatcher’s Premiership. His father wants him to box and he wants to dance; and his father just doesn’t get it…. at first.
Politically, it might be somewhat eye-opening to Americans, who all seemed to love Thatcher. In England, some respected her, very few liked her and most truly despised her. And the miners most certainly fell into the last of the three categories, as did yours truly. As I said to the women who were surprised by the anti-Thatcher sentiment and asked me what I thought of her as we were leaving the theatre: “She was a horrible, disgusting, disgusting (more emphasis second time), dreadful, nasty woman…. and I didn’t like her!”
The songs and singing are superb and the dancing is exhilarating. The part of Billy is alternated from one performance to the next between three boys. I suspect the other two are as good as David Alvarez, who performed last Friday. The audience was entirely enraptured and clapped harder and longer than I have previously witnessed at a show.
Honestly folks. Anything you may have heard about this show is true. It is the best musical in many years and instantly takes a place alongside the upper echelon which for me is inhabited by West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof and a few before them, but none since. It is thrilling. See it!
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This is the story of an 11 year boy in a macho mining town in the North East of England and takes place during the Miners strike of 1984-5 during Maggie Thatcher’s Premiership. His father wants him to box and he wants to dance; and his father just doesn’t get it…. at first.
Politically, it might be somewhat eye-opening to Americans, who all seemed to love Thatcher. In England, some respected her, very few liked her and most truly despised her. And the miners most certainly fell into the last of the three categories, as did yours truly. As I said to the women who were surprised by the anti-Thatcher sentiment and asked me what I thought of her as we were leaving the theatre: “She was a horrible, disgusting, disgusting (more emphasis second time), dreadful, nasty woman…. and I didn’t like her!”
The songs and singing are superb and the dancing is exhilarating. The part of Billy is alternated from one performance to the next between three boys. I suspect the other two are as good as David Alvarez, who performed last Friday. The audience was entirely enraptured and clapped harder and longer than I have previously witnessed at a show.
Honestly folks. Anything you may have heard about this show is true. It is the best musical in many years and instantly takes a place alongside the upper echelon which for me is inhabited by West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof and a few before them, but none since. It is thrilling. See it!
