Letters From London: Stuart Munro on Billy Elliot and Once

Tade Biesinger (Billy Elliot) photo by Alastair Muir

Letters from London #1
by Stuart Munro
@StuartMunroTO

Hello friends! It’s hard to believe that I’ve been in England for three weeks now and that the holiday part of my working holiday has come to an end. To sum things up – I came over at the end of June for a friend’s wedding and have been sightseeing between London and Paris since then. Now I’m off on a train to one of the country’s most historic cathedrals to begin two weeks of research work with a professor from York University in Toronto. With a little luck, this will seem like a vacation too!

Despite how quickly the time has flown by, I have managed to see three shows so far in London (Billy Elliot, Once, and Le Gateau Chocolat), with at least six more planned for the weeks to come. I’ll write about the last show a little later on. For now, I want to talk a little about Billy and Once, and how remarkably similar and different they are.

Both shows are based on films of the same name, and both enjoyed considerable success in their initial releases. 2000’s Billy Elliot made the leap to the West End in 2005 and has been playing to near-full houses there for the last eight years. Sadly, this longevity was not duplicated in New York or Toronto in recent years (despite ten Tony awards and strong productions in both cities). Once, released in cinemas in 2007, made the transition to Broadway last year (where it won eight Tonys) and opened in London this past spring. Billy Elliot the film has long been a favourite of mine – growing up as a young male dancer, I had a certain amount of empathy with the title character, though my experience with dance was never so hostile as that. Once on screen, however, left me a bit flat. The film was sombre and maudlin, and I didn’t really see the point in watching a story about two desperately sad people who, at the end of it all, were still desperately sad.

Review: (Montreal) Billy Elliot

It's Not the Movie

by Élaine Charlebois

Following a similar (yet not identical) storyline to the film, Billy Elliot the Musical tells the story of a young boy from a working class family who yearns to become a ballet dancer in spite of his family’s disapproval. The story is set in a small town in Northern England during the historic miners’ strike of 1984/85, a battle that both Billy’s father and older brother are involved in throughout the story. Realising that his desire to become a dancer will not go over well with his macho father who insists that he take boxing lessons, Billy decides to secretly attend Mrs. Wilkinson’s ballet classes after school. Noticing the boy’s great talent, Mrs. Wilkinson offers to coach Billy privately and ultimately encourages him to audition for the Royal Ballet School in London. However, in order to achieve his dream of becoming a ballet dancer, Billy must first deal with the family and social tensions that prevent him from attaining his goal.