AmericanTheaterWeb Original News & Reviews

It's taken over three years for Elton John and Lee Hall's Billy Elliot the Musical to reach Broadway audiences. In London's West End, the show won the Olivier Award for Best Musical along with Evening Standard and Critics Circle Theatre Awards. The musical, based on the 2000 movie of the same name, has also won acclaim in the U.K. As of last night New York theatergoers finally have the opportunity to see what has been created such a stir across the Atlantic and on the other side of the Pacific. "Billy Elliot" has opened at the Imperial Theatre and, it is simply "electrifying."

The story couldn't be simpler – and on some levels it will remind theatergoers of the movie Flashdance. Billy (who's played by one of three young men, and at a recent press performance David Alvarez tackled the role with indefatigable energy and enormous charm) has grown up in a small mining town in the U.K., where most of the men are currently on strike, protesting then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's policies toward their union. Billy's being raised by his miner father (Greg Jbara softens the man's blue collar roughness with an ever-present paternal affection) and older brother Tony (Santino Fontana). As part of his education, Billy's sent to boxing lessons each week, which he attends begrudgingly. One day, Billy stays in the hall where his lessons are held and finds himself taking part in one of the weekly ballet classes offered by Mrs. Wilkinson (Haydn Gwynne, who originated the role in London and understandably, given her exceptional work here, earned an Olivier nomination for her performance). He's not hooked initially, but she certainly sees potential.

Before long, she's giving him private lessons and prepping him for an audition for the Royal Ballet; their sessions kept secret from his father who disapproves of him taking part in an activity that's for "poofs." When Billy's dad finally understands how much talent his son has, he becomes supportive, but with the family's resources depleted by the strike that has now lasted over a year, how will he get the boy to London? Ultimately, it's the family's friends and neighbors who all chip in to help the pre-teen boy, seeing in him the possibility for a future that will, most likely, elude the rest of them. Billy's struggle within his family and community is made all the more poignant by the fact that he's being raised without the support of a mother, although there are several appearances by the woman's ghost (played with gentle warmth by Leah Hocking) during the show.

If the story is the sort that sounds as if it might have been fodder for moviemakers in an era when films were still black and white, the collaborators behind the musical have made sure that it blazes to life for 21st century filmgoers. Stephen Daldry, a director generally associated with socially conscious dramas, makes sure that "Billy" maintains a gritty edge throughout. The musical unfolds within the confines of Ian MacNeil's ingenious set that manages to telescope some half dozen or more locations into one unit that frames the stage. Not only does this give theatergoers a visual sense of the tightness of the working-class community that Billy's been raised in, but there's also something marvelously ramshackle and almost thrown together about the framework, emphasizing the relative poverty in which Billy, his family and friends live.

John's score also eschews showy razzamatazz – with one exception, a delightful production number in the middle of act one for Billy and his best friend Michael (played at alternate performances by David Bologna and Frank Dolce, who nearly walked away with the show at the press performance) that sends a ringing message about being yourself. Instead, John has written some striking anthems, several haunting ballads and one beautiful number that sounds as if it might have been borrowed from a catalog of World War II songs.

John's music, orchestrated with care by Martin Koch, is what provides the accompaniment for perhaps the most jubilant and thrilling aspect of Billy Elliot, the choreography from Peter Darling. Yes, there is the almost requisite dream ballet moment in which Billy shares a pas de deux with an older incarnation (danced beautifully by Stephen Hanna). Complete with smoke rolling across the floor and just one of the many moments lit beautifully by designer Rick Fisher, this sequence, and the aforementioned showstopper, show Darling working in the most traditional ways.

What thrills is his work elsewhere. For instance, when Billy's dotty grandmother (played with spunk and flair by Carole Shelley) remembers the good times she shared with her alcoholic husband on Saturday nights, a host of vested (costumes are from Nicky Gillibrand) dancers seem to float around and even through Shelley as she sings. It's a haunting, in all senses of the word, moment. Later, when Billy expresses his frustration with his family and their lack of support for his dancing, Daldry and Darling create a sweeping sequence that pulls the boy through a particularly brutal confrontation between the striking miners and police in riot gear. The dance culminates in Billy pounding himself against a phalanx of armored and plexi-glass shield wielding officers. It's a stunning metaphor for the wall that the young man's hitting at this moment. Similarly in the first act, when Billy's classes and the men's strike unfurl alongside one another, it's impossible to not think of musical auteurs such as Michael Bennett and Tommy Tune.

The swirl of the musical staging and the absolutely fevered commitment and performance from Alvarez at the show's center – at least several times a week – pulls audiences through Billy Elliot inexorably. It's ultimately a feel-good piece that's delivered with breathtaking theatricality.

---- Andy Propst

Billy Elliot plays at the Imperial Theatre (240 West 45th Street). Performances are Tuesday at 8pm; Wednesday at 2 and 8pm; Thursday & Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 2 and 8pm; and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $41.50 - $138.50 and can be purchased by calling 212-239-6200 or by visiting www.telecharge.com. Further information is available online at www.BillyElliotBroadway.com.