BILLY ELLIOT - Free Rain Theatre

 

Fergus Paterson as Billy Elliot - Joe Dinn as Billy's father Jackie Elliot in Free-Rain Theatre's production of "Billy Elliot"

Book and Lyrics by Lee Hall – Music by Elton John

Directed by Jarrad West – Choreographed by Michelle Heine

Musical Direction by Katrina Tang and Caleb Campbell

Set design by Cate Clelland – Costume Design by Tanya Taylor

Lighting Design by Jacob Aquilina – Sound Design by Dillan Willding

The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre April 9 – May 5, 2024

Opening night performance on April 11 reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

Janie Lawson as Mrs Wilkinson with her dance class.

Free-Rain Theatre’s production of the Elton John/Lee Hall musical "Billy Elliott" certainly packs a punch both physically and emotionally.

Based on the 2000 film of the same name the musical revolves around a motherless boy who begins taking ballet lessons in a British mining town during the 1984-85 UK miner’s strike in North East England’s County Durham.

Jackie Elliot (Joe Dinn) discovers Billie (Fergus Paterson) in Mrs Wilkinson's dance class.

Against fierce opposition from his father and older brother, both of whom are involved in the union battle for better wages and conditions for coal miners, Billy finds a champion for his ambitions in his dance teacher, Mrs Wilkinson who eventually convinces his father to let him audition for the Royal Ballet.

Confidently directed by Jarrad West and choreographed by Michelle Heine, this musical makes huge demands on the young actor playing Billy Elliot. He is required to depict Billy’s story from novice dancer to one exhibiting enough talent to be accepted into the Royal Ballet School. He’s also required to sing well and act convincingly.

On opening night this role was played by Fergus Paterson, whose performance in this critical role constantly drew cheers from the audience.

Paterson breezed through Heine’s cleverly staged production numbers, "Shine" , "Born to Boogie" and the extraordinary "Angry Dance". He delighted in the effervescent duet "Expressing Yourself" partnered by his friend Michael, this role performed with considerable panache by Charlie Murphy.

Michael (Charlie Murphy) and Billy (Ferguson Paterson) perform "Expressing Yourself"

Paterson astonished in the spectacular "Swan Lake Dream Ballet" which he shared with accomplished ballet dancer, Jordan Dwight and broke hearts with his rendition of  "The Letter" with mum, Jo Zaharias. But it was his confident singing and dancing in  his big solo number "Electricity", that had the audience cheering even before he led the entire company through Heine’s spectacularly staged "Finale".

Jordan Dwight (Older Billy) and Billy (Fergus Paterson) perform the "Swan Lake Dream Ballet"

The Roles of Billy and Michael are shared in later performances with Mitchell Clement and Blake Wilkins, so you may have to see this show twice. However that should be no hardship because this production also contains a surfeit of excellent performances.

Among them Janie Lawson in a star performance as the hard-bitten dance teacher Mrs Wilkinson, outwardly tough, but with a heart of gold, who recognises Billy’s talent and champions him.  Her opening number “Shine” is one of the many highpoints of this show.

Mrs Wilkinson (Janie Lawson) and Billy (Fergus Paterson) and the dance class perform "Shine"

Joe Dinn brings impressive depth to his portrayal as Billy’s rough miner father, Jackie Elliot. At first violently opposed to Billy’s choices, Jackie’s eventual capitulation is movingly portrayed.

Similarly Lachlan Elderton gives a powerful performance as Billy’s strong-willed brother Tony Elliot, who struggles with the pressures caused by his loyalties to his workmates and his family’s upheavals. The physical violence between Tony and his father is convincingly staged although both performances would benefit from a little less shouting.

Jackie Elliot (Joe Dinn) and Billy's brother Tony (Lachlan Elderton) menace Mrs Wilkinson (Janie Lawson).

Completing the Elliot family, Alice Ferguson delights as Grandma whose antics eventually draw the family together.

Among the hard working ensemble, Tim Maher successfully mined his role as a duplicitous miner for comic opportunities, as did James Tolhurst-Close as Mrs Wilkinson’s long-suffering repetiteur, Mr Braithwaite. Zahra Zulkapli was delightfully precocious as Billy’s dance class friend, Debbie.

To accommodate the many large production numbers threaded throughout the show, Cate Clelland has designed a spectacular setting that takes up every centimetre of the Q’s stage.  Draped with union banners it represents the Miners Union Hall in which Mrs Wilkinson also conducts her dance classes.

Although this multi-purpose setting occasionally leads to confusion as to where the action is taking place, particularly for the domestic scenes involving the Elliot family, clever pop-outs and careful lighting allows an attentive audience to follow the storyline, enhanced by Tanya Taylor’s costume designs which appropriately conjure up ballet schools and miners protests.

Caleb Campbell and Katrina Tang share the Musical Director responsibilities as well as participating in the excellent tight musical ensemble which accompanies the show.

Unfortunately the sound design on opening night vacillated between deafening and too low, making it difficult to understand much of the North East dialect in which lyrics and dialogue are written.

Hopefully this blemish will be corrected for later performances so that Free Rain Theatre’s excellent production of this extraordinary musical can be enjoyed to the fullest.

The Miners protest in "Billy Elliott"

                                                         Images by Janelle McMenamin

An edited version of this review published in the digital edition of  CITY NEWS on 12.04.24