Billy Elliot on Broadway

As much fun as I'd been having this past week stalking Brandi Carlile, driving around the New York suburbs, taking my grandparents to Costco, and collecting bagels and apple pies from my old stomping grounds, I felt as though something was remiss on this trip. It was something that I couldn't quite put my finger on until I got on a train to Manhattan, got off in midtown, and hit Broadway. Though seeing my favorite rock star do her thing in my hometown was certainly a trip, I was starting to feel like a traitor to Broadway. After all, in my world, usually the entire reason to come to New York is to support theater and feed my showtunes habit. I was already starting to feel the pangs of guilt and longing on Tuesday, the day that my friends in Chicago and I were supposed to go see the national tour of Rent, but I found myself on the outskirts of Manhattan, watching the farthest thing from a Broadway musical imaginable. Yesterday, I felt like I had finally returned to reality when I ended up wandering around Times Square, listening to the strains of showtunes pouring out of storefronts, and deciding which musical to check out that night. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to choose from, since Broadway has taken a huge downturn in these times of economic crisis. I forged on anyway, and ended up with a balcony seat to Billy Elliot. I was wary of this production at first, since I'm not usually a huge fan of non-musical movies being made into Broadway musicals, but the reviews for this from friends and critics alike have been positive, and I love musicals with lots of dancing, so I decided to check it out. Sitting in a Broadway theater, hovering over an orchestra pit, listening to the two old biddies sitting next to me kvetch, and watching a 12 year old ballet prodigy on stage was definitely a welcome change of pace from the rest of the week.

Billy Elliot The Musical is a fairly faithful adaptation of the film, both versions directed by Stephen Daldry. It's a story that's ripe for Broadway – a 12 year old boy with a dead mother is stuck in a dying mining town in Northern England, during the mining strike in the mid-80's. One day, while trying to recover from his usually disastrous boxing lesson, he finds his way into a ballet class and a mentor/surrogate mother named Mrs. Wilkinson. Ballet, it turns out, is his ticket out of working class minutiae, but first he has his striking family to contend with before he can make it to the auditions for the Royal Ballet. With music by Elton John, it turns out to be the perfect theme for the Broadway audience – an audience who can surely appreciate the desire to trade working class ideals for high brow culture in the big city, as well as the running "celebrate your individuality" theme.

There are definitely some changes in the pacing in order to fit Billy Elliot into his new medium – where the film rollicks along gently to a satisfying ending, the stage production hits a few snags along the way. Compared to the film, the stage play looks a bit clunkier, and though the musical numbers are mostly well worth the time it takes to sit through them, they do occasionally seem misplaced or misdirected. In the film version, when Billy accidentally stumbles upon his first ballet class, he does just that. In the stage version, he stumbles upon a hot mess of pre-teen ballerinas doing a silly dance number, an awkward tribute to musicals past that just misses the mark. They're led by the shrewd Mrs. Wilkinson, who becomes an unwitting mentor to Billy, but in this number, resembled an even shriller version of Miss Hanigan. That one number, along with the sound issues in the opening number were enough to make me worry for the rest of the production. Thankfully, though, the cast and the script recover quickly, and it only gets better from there.

As can be expected from a musical about a dancer, the choreography was probably the best part. Dance numbers ranged in style from ballet, to modern, to tap combined with Irish step dance. For a musical about ballet, Billy Elliot sure did have a lot of tap numbers, but they work to the show's advantage, in a rare moment of symbolism through dance that's not seen much on Broadway anymore. While Billy is pliè-ing his heart out in ballet class, his father and brother are facing a violent and chaotic strike at the coal mine they're trying to save. The raucousness of the tap numbers performed by the miners served to symbolize the chaotic nature of life in this mining town, and it provides a good contrast to the soft music and tutus of the ballet world that Billy lives in. Plus, the last time I saw this many tap numbers on Broadway was in 42^nd Street, so it was refreshing to see a more contemporary use of the genre. At the beginning of the show, seeing the tough-guy miners break into a tap number was jarring, but it served its purpose until the very end, when all hell breaks loose in the unnecessary and silly dance-break finale.

Overall, this show does exactly what a dance musical should: furthers the story through dance, making the choreography the most expressive part of the show. Everything culminates in the second act, in a dream ballet no doubt inspired by the ones invented by Agnes DeMille for Oklahoma and Carousel. It's a pas de deux between Billy and his older self, and I will admit that when the stage cleared, revealing a cloud of smoke and the two dancers, I was a little worried. But by the middle of the piece, the strains of Swan Lake start to escalate, the dancing gets more impassioned, and we're amazed that a 12 year old can dance with so much maturity and earnestness. Unlike other musicals starring precocious children, the casting agents over at Billy Elliot managed to find pre-teen boys who can dance, act and sing with a maturity level way beyond their years. What results is a compelling and complex main character, and you forget that you're watching a 6^th grader on stage.

When the show ended, and the silly production number at the end finally dissipated, we were reminded that it is, once again, the time of year for the Broadway Cares fundraiser. I'm only mentioning this because I'm a huge sucker for it – the ending of the show, though emotional, was marred for me by the dance number I disliked; but what really moved me at the end of the show were the Broadway Cares speeches. Broadway Cares is a nonprofit formed by members of Actors' Equity to raise money for people with AIDS. It was originally started in the mid-80's as a call to action for a community of performers who were losing friends right and left, and not getting recognition from the press about it. It's been around ever since I was old enough to attend Broadway shows, so to me, it's always just been a given part of going to the theater. It just moves me because it shows that even in the entertainment industry, where people can be ruthless, competitive, divas, etc., Equity has managed to band together on something and form a community around a tragedy that affects them all personally.

Brandi Carlile, on an acoustic tour around the country, never ceases to amaze

As it happens, I'm visiting family/vacationing in New York City this week, which serendipitously coincides with the East Coast leg of Brandi Carlile's current concert tour. As a result, I've spent many hours this week attending her shows, and have one more coming up this weekend. As usual, I really don't know what to say about the shows I've been to so far, because when I talk about Brandi, I turn into Barney Stinson and insert an "awesome" into every sentence. What follows is about the closest thing you'll get from me to a Brandi Carlile concert review.

She's on an acoustic tour with her band, which is fun because we get to hear new songs, ones she hasn't played in a while, and versions of her old ones which we haven't heard before. Additionally, her repertoire and range of motion has become vast enough to allow her to change up the set list from night to night, always keeping the show fresh and lively. It's really cool to hear some of the newer ones stripped down to just an acoustic guitar, and she's got one new one where Phil plays the ukulele and they all sing into one mic.

In case you've just tuned in to my blog, Brandi Carlile is a singer-songwriter who plays folk/pop/rock/country/etc. Her backup singers and band mates are Tim and Phil Hanseroth, twin brothers extraordinaire. She also has a cellist named Josh, who is almost as dreamy as Brandi. She plays a mean acoustic guitar, and looks really good doing it. Sometimes she plays electric guitar (though not on this tour), and looks even better doing that. She's learning to play piano, but (shh! don't tell her I said this), is adorably not very good at it.

I've always loved rock concerts, and I've always had my favorites of people I like to see play, or musicals I like to see over and over again, that sort of thing. But I have never before been a fan of an artist who gives such a dynamic performance, that there's never a moment during the show where I tune out, or think, "I don't like this song," or get bored. Not that I love every one of her songs, but she has such an interesting voice, that even if I'm not too fond of the melody, I still love to hear her sing it. Case in point: when her opener, Gregory Alan Isakov, took the stage, I was underwhelmed. His songs were fine, but his stage presence needed some work. However, the other night in Tarrytown, when Brandi did a bit with Gregory where she tried to sing some of his songs to see if she could get them right, they sounded awesome. I was engaged in the songs immediately, but only when Brandi herself sang them.

Her voice is ethereal, raw, and sweet all at the same time. She can cover Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Elton John, Radiohead and the Beatles, all with the same adept earnestness. I really don't know how to describe it, since I'm mostly tone deaf, but she's got that raspy thing that I love in all of my favorite singers, but can also sing amazingly high notes, and can yodel. Yes, she yodels. It's ridiculous. She has one of those voices where she could sing the phone book and make it compelling. Before I saw her play, her CDs were the ones I fell asleep to, because her voice has such a soothing quality to it. Now, I listen to live bootlegs of hers when I feel stressed or anxious and need to calm down.

These acoustic shows feature all of our favorites from her first 2 albums (the 3rd is due out in the fall), plus some new ones from the upcoming release, and some covers - a few which we already love, and some new ones. So far, the New York contingent of her tour has covered Long Island and Westchester, and this coming weekend she'll play to a sold out crowd in Manhattan. Highlights so far have included a cover of "I've Just Seen a Face," with a cameo appearance by Melissa Ferrick in Long Island; A new song called "Dreams," which she's been playing on the road for a while - it's a raw and passionate song about, well, dreams, and it's more intimate than what she usually plays, so watching it is a rare treat; A resurrected old song called "Over You," which she says "haunts her dreams" because she had buried it years ago and then ended up putting it on the new album, and her mother hates it because it's so angry; A cover of "Let it Be," with Brandi on piano and each of the twins singing a verse; A couple of verses of Johnny Cash's "Jackson" before she launches into her famous cover of "Folsom Prison Blues"; Closing the show with "Hallelujah," which she hasn't done in a while, but I'm glad it's back.

Check out "Let it Be" and "Dreams":





She killed in Long Island, and while I felt the acoustics in the Tarrytown Music Hall were not as good as they should be, and the energy level of both the crowd and Brandi, et al was not as high as it should have been, she amazed us at that show as well. This tour involves playing smaller venues, with a scaled back set and not as much gear, which allows her time to do signings and meet and greets after every show. If we didn't love her enough already, her willingness to meet fans, learn people's names, sign every bit of merch and stolen set lists, and be completely charming while doing it just seals the deal. And honestly, doing the signings is just good business sense - it's a really good way to sell merch.

Since I'm attending three Brandi shows this week, I'm finding myself running into the same people at all of the shows. I've met some of the fan club members before (all frequent participants in the discussion boards at againtoday.com, a fan-run website devoted to all things Brandi Carlile), and really enjoyed hanging out with old acquaintances as well as meeting new ones. Let me tell you, say what you will about internet fandoms and the like, but those people really know what they're doing when it comes to getting autographs and memorabilia, and just making the best out of every performance. During both of the shows I've been to this week, I collected my share of dust-collecting memorabilia, got it all signed, and said my share of really stupid, inappropriately fannish things to Brandi while doing it.

Don't get me wrong, though - the performances are still the best part. To be honest, while I do fall for the glamour of it every time, I find that meeting Brandi, saying inappropriate things, trying to be her buddy or whatever it is I'm doing... it kind of takes away from the experience a little bit. I like my rock stars to be, well, rock stars. They are gods and goddesses (well, in my case, mostly goddesses) of the stage and shiny lights, if you will. They're cowboys, on steel horses they ride. (Sorry, I had to.) I feel like after enough of these meet and greets, it will be like watching your friend at her recital. (It would be a damn good recital at that, but still.) I hate to admit it, but shaking her hand too many times may take away a little bit from the fantasy that is watching her make that face and do that thing with her voice when she plays "Dreams." It's more fun to wonder about what she's like than to actually know what she's like. Not because she's not lovely, but because wondering what she's like is kind of the point of her being a rock star. Besides, aside from overcompensating by saying inappropriate things, the only thing I can ever think to say to her is "you're amazing." Like she doesn't already know that. But, while I later question the wisdom of always being in the autograph line, I do fall for it every time... it simply cannot be helped.

Disclaimer: All of the photos and videos in this post were taken by me. Please excuse their shoddiness.