Musical theater has trite plots. But never mind. They can be great fun, as proven at the Fox last night when "Billy Elliott" came to town and danced up a mighty storm. Yes, there are exceptions to my thinking about plots, but they're few and far between, and besides, the show is too much fun to quibble about.
There are those who probably will look at "Billy Elliott" on stage as less than the original movie, and others who will prefer watching real people dance to seeing images on a screen, but I don't think a critic can compare one with the other. They're different media, approached differently and handled differently, and comparing them is like comparing apples and grapefruit.
Peter Darling's choreography sets the show apart. It uses an almost complete set of dance styles, some very simple, some extremely complex, and the talented dancers carry it off to pulsating perfection. Young J. P. Viernes, one of four boys sharing the title role, is a terrific dancer and a fine acrobat, too. His work with Patrick Wetzel as Mr. Braithwaite was a high spot, and when he teamed with a gaggle of young ballet girls, the humor was rich and warm.
Lee Hall, who wrote the screenplay for the film, also wrote the play, and contributed the lyrics to Elton John's successful score. There's all sorts of movement of elements of the set, designed by Ian MacNeil, but it's most effective as a bare stage on which the dance school and the strike confrontations take place. Rick Fisher's lighting was brilliant (no pun intended) and imaginative, drawing the eye perfectly to whatever focus he and director Stephen Daldry (who also directed the film) wanted.
There's some rich, multi-layered acting, too, even if many of the characters lean to the standards, a dad who doesn't understand his son, burly miners who resent (and probably fear) dancers, but things are different when it's "their dancer." Viernes is a charmer; he alternates with Ty Forhan, Kylend Hetherington and Lex Ishimoto in the role, but the touring company apparently does not make a public advance announcement of who is in the role on which night. Jacob Zelonky, who alternates the role with Ben Cook, shows a delightful sense of humor as Michael, friend to Billy, and a sense of tragedy as well. Leah Hocking is a great deal of fun as Mrs. Wilkinson, who runs the dance studio and encourages Billy, and while she's not much of a teacher, she does exciting dance work with Billy and Braithwaite. Rich Hebert is excellent as Billy's father, though Cullen R. Titmas overplayed his role as Billy's bullying, domineering brother. Jillian Rees-Brown, an understudy, stepped in as the delightfully comic Grandma, proudly showing off her knickers and her middle finger along the way.
The show is set in 1984, on the eve of a strike by coal miners, a strike that the men eventually lost as Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister, place the power of the government against the unions, eventually cracking them like a knuckle. That's why the second-act opener, a rowdy full-cast number involving puppets and practically overcrowding the stage, is dubbed "Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher." The single scene is more fun than a full year of performances of "A Christmas Carol."
Other high spots, enough to overcome the theater's spotty sound, included "Expressing Yourself," with Billy and Michael dancing together and with the ensemble; Billy's acrobatic work with Maximilien A. Baud to music that blended John and Tchaikowsky's "Swan Lake;" Grandma's "We'd Go Dancing," as she relives her youth, and brilliant finales to both acts are exciting, with sound-enhanced tap shoes crackling through the theater like World Series fireworks.
Billy Elliott opened at the Fox Theatre on Tuesday and will play through Nov. 13
— Joe