Billy Elliot

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BILLY ELLIOT

Photo: David Scheinmann

Cititour.com Review
Billy Elliot's fantastic journey from the coalmines of northern England to the ballet studios of London crackles with freshness and inspiration. Not since Annie has such a sublime young protagonist — played with depth and emotional authority by Kiril Kulish, one of three boys to share the part, at the performance I saw — been the centerpiece of a Broadway musical. Like the little redheaded orphan, Billy hails from humble origins, and the economic climate of the day plays a leading role. It's 1984, the Margaret Thatcher era, and coal miners are in the midst of a year-long strike that will devastate their families emotionally and financially. With his father (Gregory Jbara) and brother (Santino Fontana) at meetings and rallies and his mother dead, Billy finds excitement and escape from his bleak surroundings in Mrs. Wilkinson's (Haydn Gwynne) ballet class.

Expectations of gender, class and even sexual identity come into play as Billy looks to family, friends and community for approval and acceptance. The characters and their struggles are depicted with such tenderness and lucidity by director Stephen Daldry and librettist Lee Hall, who received Oscar nominations for their work on the 2000 film version, that you can forgive the score — music by Elton John, lyrics by Hall — for being less than memorable. (The most scintillating song is the blissfully venomous "Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher.")

And then there are the wonderful, seemingly endless ballet sequences by Peter Darling that develop the story and the characters to an extent that dance rarely does in musicals, especially in the beautifully rendered "Solidarity," where miners, police and young ballet students converge. With its universal story, this joyous musical couldn't have arrived on Broadway at a better time. If there was ever a time when we needed to be reminded of the power of art to sustain us through tough times, it's now.

By Diane Snyder


Visit the Site
http://www.billyelliotbroadway.com

Cast
David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, Kiril Kulish, Haydn Gwynne, Gregory Jbara, Carole Shelley, Santino Fontana, David Bologna, Frank Dolce, Stephen Hanna, Joel Hatch, Leah Hocking, Thommie Retter, Erin Whyland

Open/Close Dates
Opening 10/1/2008
Closing 1/8/2012

Box Office
(212) 239-6200

Theatre Info
Imperial Theatre
249 West 45th Street
New York, NY 10036
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