I disagree with a lot of this post about Billy Elliot.
>A spectacle designed to numb the minds of all the nondiscriminating tourists in NYC.<
I wouldn't think of describing Billy Elliot as a spectacle. It very rarely puts on the glitz.
> An extremely low risk show that the whole family can attend without the unpleasant consequence of having to discuss the experience after the curtain comes down.<
It's a very costly show to produce and to run, and with everything that comes from London, there was the risk that American audiences could have rejected it wholesale. Would Americans really sympathize with striking Geordie workers in North England in the 1980s? I also have to imagine that the conflict that arises in Billy's family is fairly universal and that the chance to be who you want to be would be a subject that a family - with Billy-aged children - would be able to discuss at length. I have to wonder too what sort of conversations a family may have about the character of Michael.
>Busby-Berkely dancing dresses, a curtain call with blue collar men in tutus, a Peter Pan inspired flying number and a summer stock cast of flat one-dimensional performances trying to wrap itself around a stereotypical tepid political message so that the viewers feel they are experiencing something "significant".<
To each his own, but I found the dancing dresses a moment where the show goes delightfully insane for a few minutes - and it certainly is keeping to the vision of the world invented by the character of Michael. I accepted the joy of the curtain call and was pretty transported by the flying moment. I don't think the show is striving to be "significant". I think it depicts this moment in England's history with a clear eye. It certainly comes down on the side of the workers, although the crushing of the union strike did end up as a blemish for Margaret Thatcher.
>Not to mention all the "cute" children in the cast and the score that is so hodge-podge it can't quite figure out what it's supposed to be.<
Guys & Dolls producers Ernie Martin and Cy Feuer famously cast their original production looking for "people with bumps". I felt much the same of the Billy Elliot kids. They are an odd assortment of shapes and sizes. "Cute" wasn't a word I would use to describe them. As for the score, it seems to me to be leaps and bounds better than anything else Elton John has written for the theatre.
> The large block of Tony voters who are producers will vote entirely for this tourist trap and it will be the biggest and coldest show to win the Tony for best musical this decade.<
There are far less demanding shows on Broadway competing for the tourist dollar. "Tourist trap" doesn't seem a fair or accurate description for Billy Elliot. as far as biggest, coldest show to win Best Musical this decade, I still think Thoroughly Modern Millie holds that title uncontested.
>If only they would have learned a thing or two from the movie, which had sincere heart.<
Lee Hall and Stephen Daldry wrote and directed both the movie and stage version of Billy Elliot... frankly, I feel they improved on their own movie.
>The Tony nominators have spoken and unfortunately they have been severely biased by the wishes of the many producers who are looking for a profit on the road.<
While there is a faction of road presenters who vote for the Tonys, their power in the Tony race gets over-inflated. Their influence is truly not enough to sway any Best Musical race.
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
Updated On: 5/6/09 at 05:37 AM
