The Broadway hit Billy Elliot The Musical just opened in an astonishing display of stagecraft, singing and dancing at the Orpheum Theatre on Market. Ballet dance is the plot motivation of the show, and the overall theme is a poetic one of talent rising out of a gritty background to wild success.
Billy Elliot is a ten-year old growing up in a northern English coal mining town. His gruff dad the coal miner is played sensitively by Rich Hebert. He begrudgingly but lovingly accepts that his son wants to be a ballet dancer, not a boxer as he had hoped. The story follows Billy’s abandonment of the boxing gloves for a white tutu and lessons at The Royal Ballet School in London.
The young Billy will be played by five different child actors during the run of this touring production. On opening night last Tuesday, Half Moon Bay resident J. P. Viernes stole the show away from a first-class ensemble and some other very talented actors and singers.
Billy’s boxing lessons in the school gym leave him staying around for the next class, girls’ ballet. Soon the domineering but brilliant ballet mistress Mrs. Wilkinson (Faith Prince adds great dimension to what could be a flat role.) goads Billy into giving his 50p to her instead of to the loutish boxing coach (Joel Blum as George). Viernes’ talent becomes blindingly obvious as the play progresses, but he must perform badly at first as the uneducated Billy, very difficult for a trained professional. Let’s just say Billy learns fast during the three-hour play.
In this milieu, the coal miners are on strike, including Dad. The bobbies are busy quelling riots and nobody has a job. Still the miners all chip in to finance Billy’s tuition at the Royal Ballet. Dad even pungles up, and they all turn away rather than watch Billy accept a large amount of money from a scab.
This inspirational musical celebrates a dream come true. SHN’s traveling production is seamlessly orchestrated and performed with a high level of polish. The musicians in the pit, led by Maestro Jon Rose on piano, found every nuance and compositional gesture of Elton John’s music.
Tickets for Billy Elliot The Musical start at $35 and are on sale now at http://shnsf.com/shows/billyelliot or by calling 888.746.1799.
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