Billy Elliott

[ljbab728]

A video interview with the star of the current Lyric production of "Billy Elliott".

"Billy Elliott" runs through Saturday at Civic Center

We're going Saturday night and really looking forward to it.

[okatty]

My daughter is not in this show, but knows this kid and says he is fantastic and that the show is going to be good. We plan to go as well.

[TheTravellers]

Yep, we'll be there Sat night too, eating at Stella for the first time beforehand...

[okatty]

Yep, we'll be there Sat night too, eating at Stella for the first time beforehand...

Good place...ate there last Saturday night. Had a lobster dish with pasta and wife had scallops. Both really good. You have a good night on tap!

[warreng88]

As many of you know, my wife works at Lyric Theatre, so I get a chance to see all the shows for free and meet most of cast at parties. I met Brooks a few weeks ago when he got into town for rehearsals and was at Big Fish. Just a really nice kid and very appreciative of the opportunity given to him, even though he has worked his tail off since he was six in dance classes. Not spoiling the show or anything, but Billy Elliott is about a kid that is taking boxing classes, stumbles into a ballet class, enjoys it and keeps doing it while his father thinks he is still in boxing classes. When I talked with Ashley Wells, the director of Billy Elliott, I asked what the hardest part of the choreography was. She said it wasn’t getting the dancers in line, it was basically getting Brooks (Billy Elliott) to dance not as well at the very beginning and gradually get better as the show went on. She was teaching him all the wrong moves for a dancer and he had to unlearn some moves. Of course, this is his first show as Billy so the acting part was a little different. He did an absolute phenomenal job in the role and I could see him traveling around to do this for a few more years until puberty kicks in and his voice drops.

Full disclosure: this is not supposed to be a kid friendly show, even though the show is named after a kid. There are plenty of curse words in it, certain gestures with certain fingers and other innuendos. Lyric received some calls over the last few days with people who brought their children thinking it was going to be like Mary Poppins or something.

[ljbab728]

We just got back from this and we all loved it. It's a show with a great story and much emotion along with the moving music, lyrics, and dancing. There was not a weak link in the cast. They were all excellent. The boy who played Billy was stronger in dancing than he was in singing but he was still very good. The absolute standout was Lyn Cramer who played his dance instructor. She is also a professor at OU in their music department and was perfect for this role. They all had a dialect coach and it showed. The British Geordie accents all sounded very realistic to me.