This evening’s 2010 Broadway adaptation of the feature film Billy Elliot was disappointing. Thank goodness Giuseppe Bausilio (Billy Elliot) could dance like a seasoned principal in The New York City Ballet, because neither his singing nor his acting was memorable for the right reasons. You can almost hear Bausilio’s voice coach whispering to him, telling him exactly how to use his voice, where and when (in one ear and out the other). This kind of frightfully bad performance is even worse when the character he is playing is the focal point of the entire production.
Billy Elliot is the story of a 12-year-old English miner’s son who unintentionally discovers he is a naturally gifted ballet dancer. His father is caught up in a collective mindset that sees male dancers as “poofs,” rendering him unable to accept Billy’s desire to pursue a career in the field or allowing him to attend an audition for the Royal Ballet School.
All around Billy there are examples of friends and family who have secret urges they dare not bring to light due to community perception. Granny didn’t like her husband, Michael is a cross-dresser, Mr. Braithwait wanted to be a dancer, and Debbie, the dance instructor’s daughter, didn’t want to dance at all.
In the background, and poorly threaded throughout the story, is the 1984 National Union of Mineworkers strike testing then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher,and the strength of Billy’s community. This socially conscious message, the battle between collectivist union workers and their capitalist employers was depicted by employing battling chorus lines of male dancers, cops on one side and striking minors on the other. These dance scenes seemed unending, very much like the yearlong strike itself.
During the course of Act I there were a few moments of reprieve, including all the musical ensemble pieces with Mrs. Wilkinson’s ballet class, and a fanciful cross-dressing duet between Michael and Billy. Bright-colored, multi-patterned, larger than life dresses glide and turn across the stage, forming chorus lines in an almost Ziegfeld Follies-style production complete with silver rain curtain and countless gaudy lights. Unfortunately, Act I went on for over an hour.
Act II, while saturated with high quality dancing, was even more difficult to sit through than act I was. Particularly, Dad’s solo at the Christmas pageant which was painfully slow, dull, and exhausting to listen to. The duet between Billy and his imagined older self was tightly choreographed with several technically breathtaking dance moments delivered by Bausilio both on the stage and suspended from aerial wires. Regrettably, young Billy was more flexible, a better turner, and more confident in his movement than older Billy. Clearly, someone had been miscast.
With a few good laughs, some terrible English dialect, pitchy singing and brief instances of exceptional dancing, “Billy Elliot the Musical” barely scraped by tonight. There are four casts playing the part of Billy during the Dallas run. To this regard, there is a slight chance a change of cast would make a difference in the overall performance. I am cautiously optimistic.
