Tampere October 16, 17, 18

[jtsw1]

REVIEW of the Tampere production of Billy Elliot the Musical (SPOILER ALERT!! I describe many changes, so if you're going to see the show and want to be surprised, don't read this.)

It's not until yesterday, when I checked the wonderful BETM-stats at skykid.com, that I realized that the "thing" Billy Elliot the Musical has become is a pretty recent one. Like a friend of mine just told me, more in a joking kind of way, but there's some truth to it: "oh, so Billy Elliot is now some sort of 'classic stuff' directors around the world aim to interpret in their own way?"

Anyway, the guys in Tampere surely did. There are two main changes that set a totally different tone from the beginning on - first, the intro video which goes way back to the second world war to explain the historical circumstances, then shows some ruthless Thatcher-bullshit and finally ends with Arthur Scargill claiming that there can be no peace with capitalism ever. Of course me being a leftie to the core I loved the show from that very moment on. And second, the miners appear from underground on a very scarce and cold stage - it's nothing like the warm atmosphere of the Miner's Welfare Center, it's the brutal world of wage labour we see here. This darker tone continues when the set changes to the actual boxing hall/gym from the movie - it feels vast and empty and needs to be filled. Luckily, Mrs Wilkinson, Mr Braithwaite, their girls and Billy and Michael will do so soon!

Because of course not everything is dark in this musical. It's a musical after all. So the director aims to not only enhance the darkness but also the brighter scenes: his Express Yourself feels absolutely perfect to me and made me realize just how much I dislike the dancing dresses and the costumes in the original version. As an hommage to that one dress dances here as well, but that's not all - there's a giant hat, an actual giant, two clowns, and on top of that most of the male chorus appears in drag. Oh, and it's actually nice to watch - all the dresses, expecially those the boys wear, are beautiful! Add to this the contrast from the bleakness before, and this Express Yourself might be the most colourful - the "gayest" in both of its meanings, you might say - ever in the history of BETM. A tremendous effort! The brighter scenes continue to amaze - "Born To Boogie" is a pure delight (even though I don't like this stereotype "gay" version of Mr Braithwaite) and gives way more emphasis on Billy's development and learning than ever, and finally the Finale feels like the London version but with some wonderful changes (for example, it's starts with an all-male tapping ensemble, and by the end a totally over-the-top-Michael has to be dragged off stage by Billy!).

However, there are scenes that don't work well here. Kitchen and boxing scene feel rushed, Grandma's Song shows her husband dancing Ballet (which is totally deluded!), Solidarity feels a bit slow and too soft, and later on in the show we get a kind of clumsy Dream Ballet that feels like a weaker version of the original production. Also, Electricity has been scaled down, to fit the boys' dancing skills, I assume. It still works if the boy nails it accurately, but it's definitely not the highlight of this show. There's something positive about this, though: In this version, Billy really is just a talented boy, not a prodigy. Works fine for me - if I wanna see the brilliant original version of Electricity, there are plenty recordings of it on YouTube.

What have I missed so far? Oh yeah: the transition between acts I and two is amazing here - Angry Dance uses the Broadway/tour-version, but the choreography is more like London, with Billy really letting his anger out through tap. And it ends on a brilliant "punk"-note - policemen surrounding Billy, making him disappear, but then he erupts, giving them the finger, they jump away, and he collapses. Nice! In the interval we get a really funny idea - the actors actually start acting halfway-through, drinking on stage, tumbling around: they even enter the auditorium and talk to those who are already back in their seats. Then a very nice Maggie-Thatcher-number with enthusiastic boys on stage (there are always four of them, with two of them being another Billy and Michael "in disguise") and a brilliant "Well, I'd miss ya"-scene which actually builds up before, cause we see much more of Michael than in London - he watches Billy with a sense of longing in his eyes, and during the whole "Down in the ground" and then until he leaves the stage we clearly get the notion he's madly in love with Billy. He's also very funny and still a little boy, of course, and that's a great accomplishment which fits in with the general approach of this show - enhancing both sides of the emotional spectrum. To me it works!
Some other positive things I need to mention: Debbie has more sass than ever and is brilliantly played, and Mrs Wilkinson is absolutely perfect: gritty and raw, a sarcastic disappointed housewive that finally finds a reason to live (really, I've never seen her that well portrayed)! Also, Posh Dad and Boy and the scene with the Glasgow dancer couldn't be more funny, and Small Boy gets so much time and joy giving people the finger (including the whole audience!) that I'm worried he does it all the time now on the streets. There are more changes (I won't list them all, okay, just one more: We actually get to see Billy writing the letter to his mom! Such a wonderful idea), and most of them make sense, but as I already mentioned there are some that are bonkers and a pity (Mr Braithwaite...). Adding to that, there are neither mining banners nor decent protest signs, and there are two absolutely unneccessary knock-outs in the show. And why is Tony a skinhead? That's just nuts.

But, well, to sum it up, in the end the show works as a whole, and we get a beautifully desperate "Once We Were Kings", the most poignant ending possible and a perfect Finale encore, highlighting the director's vision of enhancing the extremes very well.

So it really was worth the trip, and even if you travel alone you won't find time to get bored in Tampere during the day: I took great walks through its urban nature (the lakes are so huge it feels as if you are at sea), and there are unique museums in which you can learn and experience a lot: Vaprikii (9 museums inside an old factory!), Moomin Museum (so beautiful even if you don't know the moomins at all), the workers' museum (admission free and full of information about social struggle and finnish history), the Sara Hilden Art Museum (very fancy, but located in an amusement park on the shores of the huge lake) and the Lenin museum directly beside the theatre in the historical workers' hall. So there's no better place to stage this show, really, than in this old industrial town with its interesting history (although the theatre itself is quite ugly). No time was left for the Spy Museum, sadly.

That said, I certainly still miss the more English, warmer and smaller original Billy Elliot Musical, and I hope it'll be back soon.