Beck’s ‘Billy Elliot’ lands the grand jeté but falls short of expectations

 

Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics

 

“Billy Elliot” gets off to a slow start for a musical. 

 

While the non-musical film on which it was based had the luxury to establish the backstory more organically, the theater-going audience is required to sit through an historic newsreel explaining the nationalization of the British coal mining industry.  

 

And then we are asked to sit through a most unremarkable opening musical number – a plodding working class anthem – which serves to remind us that Elton John’s music and Lee Hall’s lyrics were not the reasons why “Billy Elliot” earned multiple Tony Awards in 2008. 

 

Rather, it was the immense heart depicted by a small community of characters in a depressed mining town in the early-1980s that earned the accolades.  And it was the beautifully crafted artistry employed in telling young Billy Elliot’s story of survival.  

 

Despite the discouragement he receives from the gruff, unsophisticated men who raise him after the death of his mother, Billy discovers his talent for dance and finds an opportunity to express it.

 

While there is plenty of artistry in the Beck Center of the Arts’ rendition of “Billy Elliot” – the result of beautifully conceived staging by director Scott Spence and his lighting (Benjamin Gantose), sound (Carlton Guc), and costume (Aimee Kluiber) designers – the production comes up significantly short on heart. 

 

And the reason is 12-year-old Seth Judice as Billy.

 

For more of this review, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/.