Theatre / haydn may
Review: Billy Elliot the Musical, Hippodrome
Billy Elliot is one of those shows where you take your seat already knowing the ending. But, despite your knowledge of Billy’s eventual success, the journey is still great fun.
Eleven-year-old Bath lad Haydn May plays Billy for this performance – one of four boys in the role – and manages to look so fresh it’s like he’s never delivered a line of it before.
As the curtain rises, we meet a mining community in Durham about to strike against Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s mine closures. Billy’s love of ballet emerges against a backdrop of violence, family bonds and poverty; one impressive scene sees him tap-dancing through red smoke in front of a row of riot police shields. The two worlds are constantly colliding, with a kids’ ballet class continuing as miners and policemen clash.
But without the support of family members like brother Tony (a raw, honest performance from Scott Garnham), talented Billy can go nowhere. Even his ballsy ballet teacher (Annette McLaughlin) can’t help until, finally, his father (Martin Walsh) softens. Billy’s audition at the Royal Ballet School is peppered with predictable North-South gags, but his pas de deux from Swan Lake with his older self (Luke Cinque-White) is stunning.
Haydn May’s own favourite number, though, is the Angry Dance that closes Act One (the alley scene from the film, if you’re a fan), and it’s when he’s got his tap shoes on that something special happens – most memorably when Billy dances with camp friend Michael (Henry Farmer) dressed in women’s clothes, whose comic turn very nearly steals the show.
In fact it’s the choreography – and the child performers’ interpretation of it – that will wow you throughout this heart-warming, gritty and very British musical, which fully deserved its standing ovation.
Billy Elliot the Musical continues at the Hippodrome until Saturday, November 26. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.atgtickets.com/shows/billy-elliot/bristol-hippodrome
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