Review: BILLY ELLIOT Amazes in Israel

Israeli productions of musicals are recently getting better with each new show and raising the bar even higher is the most impressive production of Billy Elliot, a musical based on the successful 2000 film under the same title, with music by Elton John and book and lyrics by Lee Hall.

The beginning of the musical is a bit messy and choreographically weak but it all improves quickly and soon enough the wonderful rhythm of the show directed by Eldar Groisman flows effortlessly.

The story follows Billy, a boy who lives in a coal-mining village and finds out about his ballet talent while a strike is beginning in the mine where his father and brother work, all of which is happening under the premiership of Margaret Thatcher. Even though the musical's political themes might be far and irrelevant in Israel, especially when half of the audience was children who probably don't care much for politics and have probably never heard about Thatcher before, they are effortlessly managed to be delivered especially thanks to Tony, Billy's brother who passionately supports the strike, powerfully played by Oshri Cohen who lives up to the high expectations from him, and his brilliant fellow cast members.

Billy, who discovers the ballet world and is forced to deal with the social norms of the world he lives in, is alternately played by Arnon Herring and Sean Granot Zilberstein, who I got to watch perform. Though at times it felt as if Sean was performing more technically rather than emotionally and that he still has some work to do on his timing skills in order to give a stronger effect in the second act, he undoubtedly dances in the most sensational and fascinating way and is definitely built for this role.

Other than Billy we get to know his good friend Michael who presents another side of the desire to live in a different way than what those around him are used to. The role of Michael is played by Sahar Lev-Shomer (also alternately played by Timoti Sannikov & Amit Brenner), who with a most radiant talent becomes the rising star of this entire production.

Most musicals lose a lot of their charm once they're translated to Hebrew and while a few of the lines spoken in this musical felt unnatural, translator Eli Bijaoui still managed to do a wonderful job with the songs, given how smoothly they fit in. The same can be said about the choreography, also by Groisman, which is mostly thrilling, is transferring well the danger and action in the striking village, and is of course much more classical than what the Israeli audience is used to see in musicals and yet is swept away with the entire production and gives a standing ovation in the much appreciated original curtain call that in just a few minutes manages to present how this cast is united and enjoys performing together time after time. It's just a shame about the choreography that during the tap dancing segments, which the actors clearly seem to be handling wonderfully, the tap sounds are prerecorded and the audience is prevented from fully experiencing such a special dance. None the less, this doesn't indicate a thing about the music which is performed live by one of the best bands I've encountered in an Israeli production of a musical and is conducted by Giora Linenberg, helping this wonderful musical become as great as it is.