February 24, 2011: Toronto - Billy Elliot

I went to the musical 'Billy Elliot' with my friend Janice. What a great production! The dancing was excellent, and especially impressive was the star of the show - such stamina for such a young performer. There was some interesting staging as well - some great scenes with lighting that cast the shadow of the Billy Elliot character dancing against the wall - very expressive. The only thing lacking for me was the music - I really adored the soundtrack of the movie, which was very specific to the early 80s era in which it was set. The stage production has all new music by Elton John - it ties everything together in a more musical fashion than was needed in the movie, but it just wasn't as catchy - I'm not going to come away humming any of these tunes. But if I'd never seen the movie I'm sure I wouldn't have thought anything was missing.