For my 25th birthday my friends Sarah and Kari bought me a ticket to see Billy Elliot, the broadway musical based on the 2000 film of the same name. Sadly I had to wait until March 4th, but oh, was it worth the wait. This musical was, put simply, wonderful.
The story revolves around a motherless boy named Billy who trades boxing gloves for ballet shoes. The fear he has of telling his father and the loving relationship he develops with his chain-smoking, yet adoring, dance teacher, shape the story of his personal struggle and fulfillment, which is balanced against a counter-story of family and community strife caused by the UK miners' strike.
Billy Elliot won so many awards I can't even name them all (including several Best Musical awards), but the most noteworthy award, in my opinion, occured at the 2006 Laurence Olivier Awards: thirteen year old Liam Mower, who played Billy Elliot, won Best Actor in a Musical; he was the youngest actor to ever win that award. And honestly, if the boy I saw in the role was anything like this Liam Mower, it was well deserved. I was just in awe when I watched him dance. In my wildest dreams I couldn't even come close to that kind of dancing...and this kid is barely a teenager! It brought tears to my eyes watching him move so beautifully across the stage. People like him give true meaning to the phrase "born to dance."
The only thing that I could criticise about the show was that sometimes the accents of the actors were so thick that I couldn't understand what they were saying. But, let's be honest: I am a dancer at heart; who needs to understand words when you have dance to tell a story? This musical is by far one of my favorites. I really want to see it again. Two thumbs way up...
Oh, one more thing: Elton John wrote the music to the show. 'Nuff said.
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