Arts & Entertainment
‘Billy’ the kid
Hit-and-miss Elton John-scored musical has soaring moments, spirit
‘Billy Elliot the Musical’
Through Jan. 15
The Kennedy Center
$25-$150
202-467-4600
kennedy-centre.org
Lex Ishimoto as Billy (flying) with Maximilien A. Baud playing the character as an adult in ‘Billy Elliot the Musical,’ on the boards now at the Kennedy Center. (Photo by Michael Brosilow; courtesy the Kennedy Center)
When promoting “Billy Elliot the Musical,” Sir Elton John routinely explains his attachment to the show’s title character.
During a presentation of the film version (on which the musical is based) at Cannes in 2000, the gay superstar recognized aspects of his own life reflected on the screen. Like Billy, a small town boy who follows his dream to dance ballet despite his miner father’s initial misgivings, John’s passion for rock n’ roll was met with equal reservations by his own father.
John so loved the film that he agreed to write the music for the stage adaptation. Directed by Stephen Daldry, the show was a hit when it premiered in London’s West End in 2005 and triumphed on Broadway three years later, earning a truckload of awards along the way. And now a national tour of “Billy” has come to the Kennedy Center Opera House where it will remain through mid-January.
Set in northern England during the bleak UK miners’ strike of 1984-‘85, the action begins when 11-year-old Billy (Lex Ishimoto) ditches after-school boxing lessons for an all girls’ ballet class where he discovers his talent and passion for dance. Billy keeps coming back and even after his family’s remonstrations he continues attending in secret.
Billy’s ballsy ballet teacher Mrs. Wilkinson (the terrific Leah Hocking), a chain smoker in hot pink leg warmers, recognizes her sole male student’s ability and believes in his future. She also sees the writing on the wall: their small mining town is dying and dancing is Billy’s only ticket out.
Librettist and lyricist Lee Hall has pretty much stacked the odds against dance crazy Billy: His loving mother is dead; his father (Rich Hebert) and older brother Tony (Cullen R. Titmas), also a miner, are disdainful of the arts, specifically one that requires boys to wear tights (though Billy typically dances in gym shorts). Luckily, the boy finds some respite in his dotty grandmother (Cynthia Darlow), as well as the occasional visit from his dead mother’s sad sack apparition (identifiable by particularly bland street clothes and bad Princess Diana wig) who occasionally wanders on stage, says or sings a few kind words, then makes a hasty exit.
There’s also Billy’s loyal friend Michael (Ben Cook) — a self-described “poof” — who likes to dress up in his mother’s clothes. After persuading Billy to don a skirt too, their private little drag show explodes into “Expressing Yourself,” a glittery production number with the two boys tapping their hearts out in silver heels backed by a collection of 10-foot dancing dresses.
Despite Elton John’s ardor for the source material, this score is not his most memorable work. But what is unforgettable about the show is Billy’s dancing (thrillingly choreographed by Peter Darling). He unrealistically transforms from awkward novice to the prince of pirouettes in a matter of weeks, but who’s counting? Ishimoto (who performed on press night and shares the demanding role with four other young dancers) sings and acts OK, but he dances phenomenally: Whether back flipping off a table and tap/jump roping in “Born to Boogie” or leading the show’s huge cast in “Company Celebration,” a spirited dancing curtain call, he’s virtually flawless. The second acts’ gorgeous, dreamy Swan Lake sequence pairs Billy with his older self (beautifully danced by Maximilien A. Baud) and he literally soars high above the stage.
At more than three hours, it’s a long evening. Hall’s book is peppered with F-bombs and groan-worthy, cornball humor. Sometimes the show strains to connect the ongoing strike with dance. Case in point: a well-choreographed but improbable number (“Solidarity”) involving miners, cops and pubescent ballerinas dancing together in the same small space.
In the end, Billy’s family and the community get behind the young dancer. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (represented here in monstrous effigy at the miners’ Christmas party) has broken the union, destroying their way of life. It’s time to make way for new dreams.
Though hardly perfect, this “Billy Elliot the Musical” has a lot of glitz, grit and heart going for it.
Team DC, the umbrella organization for LGBTQ-friendly sports teams and leagues in the D.C. area, held its annual Night of Champions Awards Gala on Saturday, April 20 at the Hilton National Mall. The organization gave out scholarships to area LGBTQ student athletes as well as awards to the Different Drummers, Kelly Laczko of Duplex Diner, Stacy Smith of the Edmund Burke School, Bryan Frank of Triout, JC Adams of DCG Basketball and the DC Gay Flag Football League.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The 2024 National Cannabis Festival was held at the Fields at RFK Stadium on April 19-20.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering the @NatlCannaFest at RFK Stadium for @WashBlade . Stop by the LGBTQ+ booth and pick up a paper if you are here. pic.twitter.com/is7hnsaPns
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) April 20, 2024
Theater
‘Amm(i)gone’ explores family, queerness, and faith
A ‘fully autobiographical’ work from out artist Adil Mansoor
‘Amm(i)gone’
Thorough May 12
Woolly Mammoth Theatre
641 D St., N.W.
$60-$70
Woollymammoth.net
“Fully and utterly autobiographical.” That’s how Adil Mansoor describes “Amm(i)gone,” his one-man work currently playing at Woolly Mammoth Theatre.
Both created and performed by out artist Mansoor, it’s his story about inviting his Pakistani mother to translate Sophocles’s Greek tragedy “Antigone” into Urdu. Throughout the journey, there’s an exploration of family, queerness, and faith,as well as references to teachings from the Quran, and audio conversations with his Muslim mother.
Mansoor, 38, grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and is now based in Pittsburgh where he’s a busy theater maker. He’s also the founding member of Pittsburgh’s Hatch Arts Collective and the former artistic director of Dreams of Hope, an LGBTQ youth arts organization.
WASHINGTON BLADE: What spurred you to create “Amm(i)gone”?
ADIL MANSOOR: I was reading a translation of “Antigone” a few years back and found myself emotionally overwhelmed. A Theban princess buries her brother knowing it will cost her, her own life. It’s about a person for whom all aspirations are in the afterlife. And what does that do to the living when all of your hopes and dreams have to be reserved for the afterlife?
I found grant funding to pay my mom to do the translation. I wanted to engage in learning. I wanted to share theater but especially this ancient tragedy. My mother appreciated the characters were struggling between loving one another and their beliefs.
BLADE: Are you more director than actor?
MANSOOR: I’m primarily a director with an MFA in directing from Carnegie Mellon. I wrote, directed, and performed in this show, and had been working on it for four years. I’ve done different versions including Zoom. Woolly’s is a new production with the same team who’ve been involved since the beginning.
I love solo performance. I’ve produced and now teach solo performance and believe in its power. And I definitely lean toward “performance” and I haven’t “acted” since I was in college. I feel good on stage. I was a tour guide and do a lot of public speaking. I enjoy the attention.
BLADE: Describe your mom.
MANSOOR: My mom is a wonderfully devout Muslim, single mother, social worker who discovered my queerness on Google. And she prays for me.
She and I are similar, the way we look at things, the way we laugh. But different too. And those are among the questions I ask in this show. Our relationship is both beautiful and complicated.
BLADE: So, you weren’t exactly hiding your sexuality?
MANSOOR: In my mid-20s, I took time to talk with friends about our being queer with relation to our careers. My sexuality is essential to the work. As the artistic director at Dreams of Hope, part of the work was to model what it means to be public. If I’m in a room with queer and trans teenagers, part of what I’m doing is modeling queer adulthood. The way they see me in the world is part of what I’m putting out there. And I want that to be expansive and full.
So much of my work involves fundraising and being a face in schools. Being out is about making safe space for queer young folks.
BLADE: Have you encountered much Islamophobia?
MANSOOR: When 9/11 happened, I was a sophomore in high school, so yes. I faced a lot then and now. I’ve been egged on the street in the last four months. I see it in the classroom. It shows up in all sorts of ways.
BLADE: What prompted you to lead your creative life in Pittsburgh?
MANSOOR: I’ve been here for 14 years. I breathe with ease in Pittsburgh. The hills and the valleys and the rust of the city do something to me. It’s beautiful, it’ affordable, and there is support for local artists. There’s a lot of opportunity.
Still, the plan was to move to New York in September of 2020 but that was cancelled. Then the pandemic showed me that I could live in Pittsburgh and still have a nationally viable career.
BLADE: What are you trying to achieve with “Amm(i)gone”?
MANSOOR: What I’m sharing in the show is so very specific but I hear people from other backgrounds say I totally see my mom in that. My partner is Catholic and we share so much in relation to this.
I hope the work is embracing the fullness of queerness and how means so many things. And I hope the show makes audiences want to call their parents or squeeze their partners.
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