Billy Elliot and Pineapple Dance Studios

On Thursday I went on an amazing trip to see Billy Elliot The Musical in London. It was incredible! We started the day with a dance class at the legendary Pineapple Dance Studios with one of the cast members of the musical. We learnt the finale of the show and despite my having not danced for about five years I was impressed that I was actually able to do it! It was amazing and although to my disappointment we didn’t see Louis Spence, just being inside the Studios was fantastic. It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be and so busy. There was an audition going on and so there were people everywhere but I absolutely loved it.

After a quick look round Covent Garden and a stop at Pizza Hut for lunch we headed to the Victoria Palace Theatre to see Billy Elliot. It really was amazing, jaw droppingly so, I loved it so much and it is definitely, without a shadow of a doubt the best musical I have ever seen. The show itself was mind blowing! The choreography was brilliant as were the songs and whole structure of it. The film was really done justice and translated really well onto the stage. The Billy we saw, Scott McKenzie, was incredible. He excelled Jamie Bell in terms of dancing and his singing and acting was amazing too. I especially loved the scene Billy is really angry and just dances, in the film it’s to the song Town Called Malice by The Jam, but on stage it was just so much more intense, it was incredible!

Also, just like the film there was a great balance between the themes and emotions. There were very funny moments, with Billy grandma’s song We’d Go Dancing and Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher. However, the star of the show with regards to comedy was the character of Michael. His song with Billy, Expressing Yourself was hilarious but again also showed just how talented the kids were with their incredible tap dancing! Also, the more intense moments were very well done. The relationship between Billy’s brother, Tony and dad, Jackie (played by Martin Marquez/ Gino from Hotel Babylon!) was very emotional as was everything to do with the miner’s strikes in general and when Jackie collapsed onto the floor into Tony’s arms I couldn’t stop crying. Even the song Electricity, when Billy is explaining why he loves dance so much, had me almost started to blub. But, by far the most emotional part which had me and, I would say, just about everyone else in the theatre, in floods of tears were the songs Dear Billy (Mam’s letter) and Dear Billy (Billy’s reply) both were beautiful songs and really showed Billy’s reaction to losing his mother when he was so young very well. Although, for some reason I think cried more at the film but I think this is mainly because of Julie Walters’ amazing acting!

I also would have liked it to have ended in the same way as the film with Jackie and Tony going to watch Billy dance in Swan Lake when he’s older and to have seen him dance then but I did love the dream dance between Billy and his older self. Although, the Swan Lake music gave me flashbacks to Black Swan, the dance was amazing and beautifully performed.

In general, as I am sure you can tell, I loved everything about it. I would most definitely recommend that everyone goes to see Billy Elliot The Musical if they have the chance and also votes for them for the Olivier Award because they certainly deserve it!