"Billy Elliot"

Leicester Curve

This musical has evaded me for so long, mainly because the size of the stage needed to produce this show on has to be large, so it's not often that it's in the area for me to go and see. Today, I ticked this one off of the list. I'd only been to The Curve at Leicester once previously, and that was to see my eldest son graduate, so this is the first time that I have seen a theatrical production staged here, as well as the first time seeing this amazing and emotional musical.

I have seen the Steven Daldry 2000 film several times, starring Jamie Bell and Julie Walters, and love the story, which takes on a whole new life on stage; it lives and breathes, it pirouettes into your heart. It's pure electricity.

This is a "Made at Curve" production, which has been directed by Nikolai Foster and choreographed by Lucy Hind. The soundtrack by Sir Elton John and Lee Hall, who also wrote the book. The children starring in this production are also locally sourced, which is a massive boost for local talent.

It's set in 1984/85 smack in the middle of the miner's strike in County Durham. Most lads of Billy's age are into football or boxing, but Billy has found a love of ballet, something his dad is dead set against, but Billy is determined to see this through with typical Northern grit. He, quite by accident, finds himself in the middle of a bunch of young girls in ballet class, and from there on gets the ballet bug, returning the following week, to discover that he has a talent for dance.

All this in the middle of a national mining strike, where the male population do not do ballet, they fight and box and go down the mines, and also the finances are not even there to put food on the table, never mind pay for the bus fare to London to audition for the Royal Ballet School!

This was particularly emotional for me as I am the son of a Nottinghamshire miner and can remember the strikes and how hard it was for my father to go to work throughout the strike, just to pay for my elder sister's wedding, all the while losing some lifelong friends in the process by working through and defying the strikers. I know how hard this period was, and this brought back the feelings of the period.

Joe Caffrey plays Billy's grieving and angry father. The family had recently lost a mother and wife, which is reflected in the highly emotive song "The Letter", which hits hard for anyone who has lost a mother or a wife. The anger is obvious and so is the lashing out, but the U turn regarding what his youngest son wants is incredibly life affirming for carrying on what his wife and Billy's mother would have chosen, even in the hard times. Played with great passion by Joe.

Luke Baker as the elder son, Tony, also turns in an emotive and passionate performance, especially where he turns against his father's wishes to return to work.

Billy's Grandmother is played by Rachel Izen, who has a theatrical CV as long as your arm. Rachel only gets to sing one song in this musical, but what a song. "Grandma's Song" is yet another emotive song, although at first listen would not seem so, but take a proper listen to those lyrics. Grandma suffers from Alzheimer's Disease and berates her late husband, who at first she had forgotten that he had passed. During this piece the young "grandfather" dances in the background quite beautifully. Louie Wood is the dancer.

Mrs Wilkinson, the ballet teacher, is played by Sally Ann Triplett. I loved Julie Walters in the film role and I can see a lot of Walters in this role, probably unintentional. Sally Ann's performance as the hard-nosed, Northern gritty ballet teacher with her potty mouth around the kids is softened right at the end when her emotional side peeps through the armour as Billy gives her a hug and tells her that he would not have been able to do it without her help. What a wonderful character, and played wonderfully by Sally Ann.

Mrs Wilkinson's daughter, Debbie, in this performance is played by Pearl Ball, who is making her professional debut here. There is a scene where she is chatting to Billy in his room where she asks if he likes her; the next sentence even shocked me! All the child actors in this show acted as if this were an everyday thing for them. No signs of nerves, only extreme confidence from everyone, never phased by the large audience, not to mention the vast staging!

Jaden Shentall-Lee, who I saw this afternoon, shares the spotlight throughout the run at Curve with Samuel Newby, Leo Hollingsworth and Alfie Napolitano as Billy, and I am sure that he was aware that he had big ballet pumps to fill, especially when you look at the previous "Billys" that had gone before him. From the confidence that oozed from his performance on stage, it seems that he has not let anything bother him where Jamie Bell et al pas de deux'd before him. The ending of Act One, "The Angry Dance", was performed with great drama, as was the "Electricity" set.

There is absolutely no denying this young man can dance and has attitude, and looking at Jaden's CV for stage work, he has worked hard to get to where he is at the moment. I was thinking on the train home that if this is the standard of dance and drama he is showing at his tender age, what will he be like in ten years' time!

Billy's best friend, Michael, is played by Prem Masini. This chemistry between the two young lads is pure magical as Michael encourages Billy to follow his dream, despite what anyone else may think of it, or Billy. I loved the scene where Billy finds Michael dressed in his sister's clothes and the dance number that goes along with this, "Expressing Yourself". The end where Billy gives Michael a peck on the cheek and then runs back to give him a massive hug is also one of the most emotive scenes played out between these two young and talented actors.

Jessica Daley does an amazing job playing Billy's late mother, who still manages to guide his hand - and foot. The song "The Letter", which is a song between Billy and his late mother, when seen performed on stage seems to take on a whole new feeling and emotion to when just listening to the soundtrack at home.

There are two teams of Ballet Girls and Boxing Boys, and the team that I saw this afternoon were Team Donnini. Whether you get to see Team Donnini or Team Dennis, you'll be in for a treat whichever way. Both teams are made up of some outstanding talented young people. Rahul Gandabhai, who plays the "posh boy" shows that he knows how to take a stage punch, delivered by Jaden, and both making it look really realistic.

The Set Design, by Michael Taylor, shows why this show can only be produced at certain theatres nationwide. It's enormous! It was like having Cinemascope on stage. Not only was the set wide, it was tall as well; no wonder audiences return again and again to see this show because they would see something that they may have missed in previous visits.

There are four fences which at one stage created a metal cage where Billy danced on a raised platform. This made me think that Billy was himself in a cage while the rest of the world fought outside of his personal cage, separated and in his own small world of dance. It also created walls for the boxing gym, dance class, picket lines and enclosed the mine shaft lift which raised and lowered. This was particularly affective in the end scene when the miners disappeared underground, singing as they went, with only the feint glow of their miner's lamps on their helmets to show that they had been there at all.

The tower, on three levels acted as Billy's home and was moved smoothly from the back of the stage to central position when needed, keeping centre stage free for all the other action.

The Lighting Design, by Ben Cracknell, and Sound Design by Adam Fisher were sensational. With such a large stage, there was a lot of lighting design to show, and it felt like I'd visited the West End production. This goes to show that Leicester Curve are really on a par with their Southern counterparts where creating great theatre is concerned. Visually this is a vivid experience.

The Sound Design was perfectly pitched, although there was just one section where Debbie's mic seemed not to have been faded up near the start, that was not repeated, so was rapidly sorted.

I didn't even notice the on-stage band until they were acknowledged by the cast at the end. With a stage and venue this large, there could have been a possibility of the sound mix being just a little overpowering, but that was not the case. It was loud enough for everyone to hear comfortably with crystal clarity, making this musical an aural enjoyment on every level.

I used the adjective "gritty" earlier and this really is. The language is earthy, and used by the adults as well as the children, and this is why there is an age limit attached to this show. The language injects a true sense of realism into this musical, never shying away from that initial "shock" factor. I must admit I was taken aback by the language used so liberally by the younger actors, but soon settled into the naturalism of the language.

If, like me, you'd never seen this musical on stage, go and see it. Go and see this production, even if you have seen a previous production, as I have been told that there have been several changes and adaptations to this production. I only have this one to compare future productions to, but I think that any future ones I see will have to really pull something just as spectacular out of the bag to match this one.

I can see why so many people return to see this show, and I'll be with them. My debut Curve Theatre stage production has been a real pleasure and I do hope that it won't be too long before I get to replicate the pleasure of such a beautiful theatre experience.

"Billy Elliott" is at The Curve in Leicester until Saturday 20 August.