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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
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Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Evening Standard rating
Reader rating
Dir: Stephen Daldry.
Cast: Trevor Fox, Brad Wilson (alternate Billy), Tanner Pflueger (alternate Billy Elliot), Fox Jackson-Keen (alternate Billy Elliot), Joe Caffrey, Kate Graham, Craig Gallivan, Ann Emery, Tom Holland (alternate Billy Elliot), Oliver Gardner (alternate Billy)
Description: A stage adaptation of the acclaimed British film, with script and lyrics by Lee Hall and music by Elton John. Directed by Stephen Daldry.
Times: Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Thu, Sat 2.30pm (extra mats Dec 22, 28, 30, 2.30pm, Dec 31, 5.30pm only, no eve perf Dec 24, Jan 1, no perf Dec 25), booking to Dec 18 2010
Price: £17.50-£62.50, limited dress circle tickets available from 10.30am on the day in person from the box office
Trains: Tube/BR: Victoria 
Phone: 0870895 5577
Website: www.victoriapalacetheatre.co.uk
Extra info: Pub
Billy Elliot catches you in its fervent grasp
Billy Elliot The Musical, based upon Stephen Daldry's classic movie, is just irresistible. It catches you - or at least me - in its fervent grasp, and pins you down with all the artfulness of a vintage seducer, right to the misguided, sentimental finale.
At that lachrymose moment Billy's dead but smartly dressed Mammy appears from the wings and sings "In everything you do always be yourself." to the quavering string accompaniment of Elton John's beguiling music. You can almost feel the massed drip of the audience's tears.
That familiar struggle to be true to your self, against hard odds and harder knocks, motivates young Billy Elliot, the would-be ballet dancer played to the manner born last night by the sensational 12-year-old Royal Ballet student Liam Mower, and gives this musical its passion and poignancy.
More, though, is at stake than Billy's eagerness to dance. This is an evening which throws a fierce political punch as well as an emotional one. No modern musical has struck such rebellious, old Labour, workingclass conscious notes.
Lee Hall, whose book and ardent though feeble lyrics borrow much from his Billy Elliot film script, sets the musical in 1984 when miners were out on furious strike against Mrs Thatcher's pitclosure programme.
He juxtaposes the miners' selfless solidarity, which ends in defeat, with Billy, the individualist, in his ultimately triumphant battle to convince his prejudiced father and brother that ballet dancing is not just for "poofs".
Stephen Daldry, always at his best on the grand scale, deftly marshals a throbbing mixture of angry miners, threatening policemen and little girls in tutus - all singing. Ian MacNeil's versatile designs set the changing scenes.
Hall's songs hark back to old working-class culture. A musichall, Christmas pantomime song, with masked impersonators of Mrs Thatcher in accompaniment, recalls Joan Littlewood's style but indulges in crude political name-calling. Hall's banal song The Stars Look Down, a malevoice, defiant miners' chorus, is rendered poignant by John's impassioned accompaniment.
His music, in fact, whether for solo ballads or choruses, achieves his old lyrical dynamism. The sequence in which Billy and his transvestite, not quite prepubescent friend dress up in drag and dance is not just endearingly comic, it is fortified by John's lilting accompaniment.
Too much time, however, is spent on politically motivated vituperation and the miners' lamentations, not enough on Billy's battle to become a dancer. The evening's prime attraction, Liam Mower in the title role, casts a long spell.
Haydn Gwynne makes a fine characterisation of the sparky Mrs Wilkinson, that bored defiant teacher of ballet steps to girls. She sees more than a flash of potential in Billy whose father, a far too old Tim Healy, hates the whole dancing idea and tries to sabotage his determined son.
Mower dazzles in a sequence of dance numbers, spinning and twirling like an electric top when auditioning before the snooty Royal Ballet judges, engaging in spectacular gymnastics, from breathtaking aerial somersaults to remarkable bodily contortions that defy description
Mower's voice is nothing to rave about, but he makes the evening marvellous with this dancing display. There is nothing more glorious on the London stage than Billy's dream sequence in which he and his older self (superb Isaac James) dance together in feats of soaring virtuosity.
Billy Elliot the musical is not as welldeveloped or resolved as Billy Elliot the movie. Yet when Mower reveals a strength that belies his slight frame this musical conveys a raw excitement no film can match.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Th actress Sally Dexter has been in 'Billy Elliot ' too, gaining a nomination by the public for her work.
- Dot, Blackpool
Billy Elliot is easily the best musical I've ever seen. It's literally got it all: humour, emotion and dance. The choreography is brilliant: Billy literally tells his story with his feet. The wonderful Travis Yates, who played Billy on the night I visited the show, brought the character to life. In fact, the whole production was awe-inspiring. Everyone should watch this show!
- Nicky, Clapham
