THEATRE REVIEW: "Billy Elliot" at the Oriental Theatre (Chicago, IL)

      During May of 2010, I saw the Elton John / Lee Hall musical "Billy Elliot" at the Oriental Theatre (now called the Nederlander Theatre) in Chicago, IL.  While this was originally planned to be a production with an open run when performances began March 10th, 2010, the production only ran until November 28th of the same year.  That might be a long time, but Wicked had recently completed a three and a half year run at the same theatre just the year before--and "Wicked" didn't even win the Tony Award for Best Musical.  "Billy Elliot," on the other hand, won the Tony Award for Best Musical just one year before it premiered in Chicago.





     The Chicago Production of "Billy Elliot" might have closed because certain changes were made to it from the Broadway Production.  I don't know what those changes were, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  Especially since the production was going to play in Chicago long-term, there was no reason to make changes that didn't need to be made.  Apparently the staging for the "Angry Dance" was completely re-done for the Chicago Production.  I'm grateful it wasn't themed with Chicago Cubs signs and ads for bratwurst. 






     The cast of "Billy Elliot" was very talented.  Four boys played the role of Billy at differentperformances.  The actor my friend and I saw was Cesar Corrales.  Also in the cast was Emily Skinner (the dance teacher), Armand Schultz (Billy's dad), Patrick Mulvey (Tony), Jim Ortlieb (not sure who he played besides a gruff boxer), and Susie McMonagle (Billy's mum).  The scenic designer for the production was Ian MacNeil.   There was not a lot of scenery in this production.   The show takes place in Northeast England.  Maybe the lack of a scenic design means there's not much to see there.  The characters certainly had quite an accent.  I could barely understand what Emily Skinner was saying.  Maybe she was saying "beautiful scsnery."






     When "Billy Elliot" premiered in New York, it was 2008.  So when a reviewer called it "the musical of the decade," that really meant something.  When the Chicago Production opened in 2010, the local ads still said "the musical of the decade," a decade which had just begun... which doesn't say much at all.  But when the production left Chicago for Toronto, becoming the Second National Tour of  Billy Elliot,"  it left a dark theatre until the next scheduled booking.  The problem with the Toronto booking was that it wasn't scheduled until February of 2011.  With that gap of employment, the cast might have forgotten how to mimick the accent of Northeast England and instead develope a Maryland accent.  At any rate,  the Toronto Engagement of "Billy Elliot" ended up running from February 1st through September 3rd, 2011.  While the Chicago and Toronto Engagements weren't as successful as some would like,  both productions ran longer than the Premiere Chicago Engagement of "Les Misérables" (yes, I'm aware I keep bringing up that musical).



"Billy Elliot" on the marquee of the Ford Center for the Performing Arts- Oriental Theatre (now called the Nederlander Theatre) in Chicago.









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