#1
Posted: 10/30/08 at 2:39am
From Brantley's UK Review: "Speculation has it that with its thick regional accents, local slang and period political references, "Billy Elliot" may be too British for Broadway. A more alarming thought is that while this show forges a visceral connection with its audience in a way American musicals were once famous for, "Billy Elliot" may simply be too full of real feeling for the synthetic Broadway of today"
I'm very curious to hear what Brantley thinks of the Broadway production, since "synthetic" and "phony" were the two chief adjectives that came to mind during my two hours and fifty-five minutes (!) inside the Imperial tonight.
I can't tell you how disappointing and off-putting I found this production, or at least the performance I saw tonight (Wed 10/29). I adore the movie, and I've had the London Cast Recording on my iPod for about 2 years now. I know the music, I (mostly) love it, and I've been really excited for the show to come to Broadway.
What the hell happened?
I don't know what changes were made since the run in the UK, or if this production is identical, but it all felt very "American-ized," as in dumber, broader, with more obvious/pat emotions, and seemingly as a result of trying to make it all more palatable for as large an audience as possible. The more abstract interesting touches (the integration of the officers, protesters and ballerinas during "Solidarity") clash wildly with the tone-deaf comedy (the auditioner woman at the Ballet school), and it seems all poignance has been bled out of the film in favor of sentimentality and "crowd-pleasing."
Even the cast recording of "Expressing Yourself" is a fun song with a nice message, but in the monstrosity I saw tonight, Billy's gay friend Michael exists purely to be laughed at, and jaw-dropping stereotypical camp expressions fly out of his mouth every few seconds (I cringed at each kitty-cat noise he made and "Sing it, sister!"). And let's not even talk about the monstrously creepy "Beauty and the Beast"-esque giant clothes dancing...
Not to keep comparing to the film, since my problems would be the same whether a film existed or not, but just as a jumping off point: in the movie, Billy's letter from mum is all the more moving due to the fact that we don't see the mother and all these emotions are based on the boy's memory of a woman he barely knew. Here we get an actress on stage playing mum to sing to Billy and hug him when we need the audience to have a schmaltzy, tear-jerking moment. And then we have a never-ending oh-so-adorable curtain call with the entire cast dancing in tutus, as I look in disbelief at the audience members around me, who are actually getting off on the shameless pandering being done to them.
And I couldn't, for the life of me, understand the thought process (and implications) behind the decision to close the show with that Billy/Michael moment -- are we meant to infer something about Billy from it? Because if not, and it's just supposed to be an understated, moving moment -- as it is in the movie -- it doesn't work, since that friendship isn't developed at all in the show. Also, there's no overt discussion of homosexuality (i.e.: Michael is, Billy isn't) to lend that moment any poignance, or underscore the depth of Billy's platonic affection for Michael. I couldn't help wondering why the scene in the middle of Act II of young Billy and grown Billy ballet-dancing together wasn't used as the Finale. That might have closed the show on a note of warmth, artistry, emotion and visual beauty.
But no, instead we get the goofy visual gag of the whole cast wearing pink tutus. After all, why go for "resonant" when you can deliver cheap uplift and easy laughs?
I'm sure I'll be ripped to shreds on here, since I've heard nothing but positive things about the show from everyone, but I just wanted to see if ANYONE else felt similarly. It's not as if the movie "Billy Elliot" was a transcendant piece of independent cinema -- it's a fairly mainstream crowdpleaser -- but it was filled with emotionally true moments of beauty and subtlety, while I found the show garish, disappointing and lowest-common-denominator. Maybe I'm just turning into a cynic, but I've been left unfulfilled by almost every show so far this season (save THE SEAGULL, SPEED-THE-PLOW and [title of show]).
I'm very curious to hear what Brantley thinks of the Broadway production, since "synthetic" and "phony" were the two chief adjectives that came to mind during my two hours and fifty-five minutes (!) inside the Imperial tonight.
I can't tell you how disappointing and off-putting I found this production, or at least the performance I saw tonight (Wed 10/29). I adore the movie, and I've had the London Cast Recording on my iPod for about 2 years now. I know the music, I (mostly) love it, and I've been really excited for the show to come to Broadway.
What the hell happened?
I don't know what changes were made since the run in the UK, or if this production is identical, but it all felt very "American-ized," as in dumber, broader, with more obvious/pat emotions, and seemingly as a result of trying to make it all more palatable for as large an audience as possible. The more abstract interesting touches (the integration of the officers, protesters and ballerinas during "Solidarity") clash wildly with the tone-deaf comedy (the auditioner woman at the Ballet school), and it seems all poignance has been bled out of the film in favor of sentimentality and "crowd-pleasing."
Even the cast recording of "Expressing Yourself" is a fun song with a nice message, but in the monstrosity I saw tonight, Billy's gay friend Michael exists purely to be laughed at, and jaw-dropping stereotypical camp expressions fly out of his mouth every few seconds (I cringed at each kitty-cat noise he made and "Sing it, sister!"). And let's not even talk about the monstrously creepy "Beauty and the Beast"-esque giant clothes dancing...
Not to keep comparing to the film, since my problems would be the same whether a film existed or not, but just as a jumping off point: in the movie, Billy's letter from mum is all the more moving due to the fact that we don't see the mother and all these emotions are based on the boy's memory of a woman he barely knew. Here we get an actress on stage playing mum to sing to Billy and hug him when we need the audience to have a schmaltzy, tear-jerking moment. And then we have a never-ending oh-so-adorable curtain call with the entire cast dancing in tutus, as I look in disbelief at the audience members around me, who are actually getting off on the shameless pandering being done to them.
And I couldn't, for the life of me, understand the thought process (and implications) behind the decision to close the show with that Billy/Michael moment -- are we meant to infer something about Billy from it? Because if not, and it's just supposed to be an understated, moving moment -- as it is in the movie -- it doesn't work, since that friendship isn't developed at all in the show. Also, there's no overt discussion of homosexuality (i.e.: Michael is, Billy isn't) to lend that moment any poignance, or underscore the depth of Billy's platonic affection for Michael. I couldn't help wondering why the scene in the middle of Act II of young Billy and grown Billy ballet-dancing together wasn't used as the Finale. That might have closed the show on a note of warmth, artistry, emotion and visual beauty.
But no, instead we get the goofy visual gag of the whole cast wearing pink tutus. After all, why go for "resonant" when you can deliver cheap uplift and easy laughs?
I'm sure I'll be ripped to shreds on here, since I've heard nothing but positive things about the show from everyone, but I just wanted to see if ANYONE else felt similarly. It's not as if the movie "Billy Elliot" was a transcendant piece of independent cinema -- it's a fairly mainstream crowdpleaser -- but it was filled with emotionally true moments of beauty and subtlety, while I found the show garish, disappointing and lowest-common-denominator. Maybe I'm just turning into a cynic, but I've been left unfulfilled by almost every show so far this season (save THE SEAGULL, SPEED-THE-PLOW and [title of show]).
Updated On: 10/30/08 at 02:39 AM
