Billy Elliot

[Elphaba43]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 2:24am

What do you think is the best scene in the whole show? What made you cry the most?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 3:42am

Solidarity and Electricity were my favorite numbers. They both left me speechless. They are the most powerful numbers I have ever seen in a Broadway production.

[Elphaba43]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 4:38am

I'm super sensitive so the littlest things make me cry. I wept all through "Look Over There" from La Cage and "Send in the Clowns" from ALNM.....just a few examples. "Slipping Through My Fingers" from Mamma Mia, "Defying Gravity" from Wicked......lots more but I cry in everything.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 7:31am

But none of those have anything to do with Billy Elliot.

I cry very easily, and even cried at Billy Elliot. However, I still think BE is terribly over-rated and riddled with flaws.


I will liken it to my experience with Inception. Upon the immediacy of experiencing it, I was floored and entranced. I thought I wanted to see it again. But the further I got away from it, (and thought about it) the less impressed I was, the more I saw its flaws.

I did, FINALLY, see it a second time with my kids. THEN dreaded the already planned 3rd time with friends.

[shrekster224]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 9:17am

My favorite numbers are Shine, Angry Dance, and Electricity. The Letter and the reprise are always pretty heartbreaking.

[justafan2]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 9:19am

I'm such a sap---I loved the Mom's final talk with Billy --right before the Finale.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 1:19pm

Solidarity is the best number in the show.

Express Yourself is great fun, Electricity is a show-stopper, the Swan Lake dance is breathtaking, and Angry Dance is thrilling!

[wonkit]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 1:26pm

I thought the dancing was first rate, but I never felt emotionally involved. I think, for me, the problem was the music. Didn't like it, and felt it was very "manufactured." But I also understand its appeal. It just never reached me.

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 1:31pm

I personally cannot stand the show and find it terribly overrated but I love the Swan Lake scene

[Taryn]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 2:08pm

I had a full-fledged emotional breakdown at intermission when I saw the show in London after watching "Angry Dance." It was my senior year of college, and my friend had to take me out to the stairwell and talk me through all my fears for going into theatre as a profession. My emotional reaction to the entire show was so visceral that I still feel pretty incapable of forming an objective opinion about it.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 2:20pm

My favorite moment was when the lights came up at the end of the show and I could get the hell out of there.

I agree with blockhead24- completely overrated piece of nonsense.

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 2:22pm

The staging of Solidarity is completely brilliant, and the ending of it makes me teary eyed.
Close seconds for me are Dream Ballet which is stunning, and Once We Were Kings which turns me to an emotional wreck.
I've definitely been moved to tears during a good Angry Dance too.

[TheKandyLife]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 2:52pm

Although she doesn't get much time no stage (sadly) i loved the character of Grandma. I seen the film version countless times...and because i was close to my gran, i really felt sympathetic towards her etc.

but the part of the show that made me cry was the gran, close to the end of the show, she says something to Billy. (I saw it last March in London, and just cannot remember what it was) but i was howling with tears, only because i remember it's the kind of thing my gran would say to me at the time.

can anyone tell me what she said at all? thanks =)

[shrekster224]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 7:40pm

Well, one of the last things she says was, "You can't stay! (long pause) We already rented your room out!" but I don't think that's the line that brought much emotion to you :)

[Marcie Klebanow]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 8:13pm

I am absolutely obsessed with this show. Have seen it twice this summer and am seeing it for a third time actually this week. The first time I saw it I was hysterical at the first "Letter" scene with Billy, Mrs. Wilkinson and the dead mum. But the second time, I was teary at the first letter but hysterical at the second "Letter." I know its coming, but when the 12 year old begins to cry and is actually singing through tears, I just can't take it.

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 8:53pm

The dialogue between Billy and Grandma:

Grandma: You alright, son?
Billy: I'm scared, Grandma.
G: What you scared of?
B: I'm not sure I want to go...can't I stay here?
G: No you can't stay here. *walks away* We've rented your room out!
B: Not funny, Grandma!

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 9:11pm

I agree with some of the other folks here. First time I saw Billy, I was enraptured. After the show I bought tickets to another performance for the same week. I was very moved the first time I saw the show. I liked the show the 2nd time, but less so. With some distance, I have felt the show is really overdone and there is little subtlety.

I am most moved by Grandma's song- I think it is the most fleshed out and complex song emotionally. Probably because Elton John is an old hag and its written about himself and his old life of being a drunken mess.

Both of The Letter songs really made me cry but they are very manipulative. You'd have to be dead not to have a reaction to a child talking to his deceased mother.

I STILL cringe at the CRAPTASTIC curtain call with company in tutus after the one most beautiful and striking moment of the play with Billy walking off into the distance. They take that profound and emotional moment and take a big frilly dump on it. UGH!!!!!