Billy Elliot untransferable

Saw the show last night. It's fantastic, but there is no way the show can run on Broadway without a crash course in 1980s British politics and surtitles for the Georgie accents! It's even more difficult than the original film!

Still, stunning show! Wey ay the leds! (as they say)

GeorDie accents .

And do you know which Billy is performing on August 16th?

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Updated On: 5/31/05 at 08:05 AM

Let's hope it has a long London run so I can see it next year when I am there. I sisn't think it would be able to tranfer to Broadway, but you never know.

A friend just back from London that he could never see it transferring as well - during one dance number with lots of children on stage, a chorus of miners comes in bellowing four-letter words (a very powerful moment in the show).

I don't see a lot of kids parents agreeing to that scene.

(And my friend ravced over it - said there was one moment (Billy dancing in the pinlight) which he thought the most beautiful which was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen on stage.

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Updated On: 5/31/05 at 10:38 AM

Having seen the show, it could definitely work off-broadway in a small house with few changes. It would be perfect for Dodgers. Most americans already know the story, and those that don't still know who Margaret Thatcher is, what labor arguments are about, what it's like to be a nelly boy (well, maybe just some of us.)
As long as producers don't have unrealistic expectations-Rosie O'Donnell and Taboo anyone?

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Updated On: 5/31/05 at 10:52 AM

Bump.

The hard part of the transfer might be the expense of continually finding new Billies.

i saw LIAM MOWER, who was absolutely fantastic as BILLY. i think the show would do well in NYC if done carefully. and, yes, it COULD play in a smaller house, with a revised set design. (which is not a bad idea, anyway.)

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devonian--- how come you were able to understand and enjoy the show but the rest of us won't be able to?

Speed- I was born and raised in London.

I saw the show 3 weeks ago on a trip to London and I absolutely loved it. I am usually really bad at understanding accents, and there were definitely things in this that I didn't completely understand, but even missing small things here and there, the story is still completely understandable and both funny and moving, and I definitely think it could do well in NY. I knew nothing about the coal miners' strike beforehand, and that didn't really matter either. Maybe the I would have enjoyed it even more if I had known more about the strike, but I don't think it was necessary. Maybe if it comes here, they could put a little article with background info on the strike in the Playbill so people would at least know the basics.

I actually just watched the movie yesterday on DVD (I hadn't seen it before seeing the musical), and I thought the movie was somewhat harder to understand than it was on stage. I turned the English subtitles on and they definitely helped me understand more of what they were saying. But even without them, I could definitely get what was going on.

I saw James Lomas as Billy and he was amazing. The boy who played Michael was also excellent--so funny. I saw it on a Monday, but I'm not sure if they always perform on the same nights.

Anyway, that's just what I thought about it. I think as long as people are open to it and know ahead of time about the accents and the swearing and anything else possibly objectionable, people here would definitely enjoy it.

I was lucky enough to BE a couple of weeks ago, and agree with what Meredith said. I think the one untransferable element might be the obvious emotional connection the English audience had to certain political things in the show that Americans probably wouldn't relate to. The audience was so "with" the show that I saw, and that added an important dimension to my enjoyment of it. On the other hand, the bigger theme about transcending one's origins and striking out into the larger world is so universal that it might override other considerations.

Im going to see it on Friday

AND
im seeing Tick..Tick...Boom tomorrow!

Am a londoner myself so will let ya know what I thought!
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