By Barry Reszel
In the prelude to Billy Elliot’s signature song, “Electricity,” the title character shares his answer when asked how it feels when he’s dancing: “Don’t know. Sorta feels good…then I like, forget everything. And…sorta disappear…Like I feel a change in my whole body. And I’ve got this fire in my body. I’m just there. Flyin’ like a bird. Like electricity. Yeah, like electricity.” This musical (book and lyrics by Lee Hall and strong score by Sir Elton John) has been a longtime hit now on both shores of the pond. It won the Best Musical Olivier in 2006, the Best New Musical Tony in 2009, took up residence in Chicago for much of 2010 and has enjoyed stellar regional productions at both Drury Lane and Porchlight.
When Billy lingers after a weekly boxing lesson at the town rec center, he is drawn into a ballet class by rough-around-the-edges instructor Mrs. Wilkinson, who opens his life to the magic of the arts and the timeless lesson of pursuing a dream, even against long odds and without family support. (A fuller plot summary and production history of Billy Elliot may be read here.) Juxtaposed fear of what a yearlong strike means to families against deserved youthful idealism; working class bigotry; police brutality; still-fresh pangs of a mother’s death; and the tough love of a favorite teacher are all themes folding into John’s lovely score and any worthy production’s stellar dance. Indeed, Music Director/Conductor Michael McBride and Choreographer Clayton Cross deliver on these counts. And Director Kyle A. Dougan’s earnest cast works to share these important messages with their enthusiastic audiences.
That said, reviewers for and readers of this site understand that technical issues evident at one performance are likely to be fully absent from the next. Certainly, Music Theater Works’ magnificent fall production of Ragtime in the same theatre did not experience these same sound problems and should give prospective patrons faith that the needed audio fixes will be made. So let’s look at unquestionable highlights this production provides, starting with Jake Siswick’s tender voice and stellar dance in the lead role. He’s perfectly complemented by Kai Edgar’s (best friend Michael) hilarious comedic prowess, impish dance brat Everleigh Murphy’s sass and the entire ballet class with nearly every dance line led by one of this reviewer’s favorites, Jordyn Helvie, in her first professional production.
Backstage plaudits go to Lauren Nigri for her moveable, gritty, industrial set design and Darcy Elora Hofer for her terrific costumes. Special shout-out to wardrober Mimi Athena and whoever assisted backstage for the multiple costume changes on this forty-plus-strong cast. At its heart, Billy Elliot is a character study applicable to everybody who is trying to figure life out—meaning, everybody. It’s a work in progress. And often, art imitates life. Billy Elliot runs through Jan. 2nd at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. For tickets or more information, please click here. Photos by Brett Beiner. |
We couldn’t agree with your review more!! While there are many beautiful things about the production, without being able to hear the leads it made for a extremely disappointing evening out. For the price we paid to see this production we expected SO MUCH better. Don’t charge prices that high if your tech can’t meet those expectations. What we think was most disappointing is the Artistic Director couldn’t bother to offer anyone a discounted ticket to come back to see a future show. That would have been a very nice gesture and put us at ease as this being a one-off bad night. Instead we left with a bad taste in our mouth and question if we would ever return.