Billy Elliot

The other night we all saw Billy Elliot. I knew the show in New York had won many Tony Awards, so I was expecting it to be a good show. Soon after it began, I realized that "good" was not the word to describe it: more like fantastic, phenomenal, or superb. I was blown away. I don't consider myself to be a very emotional person, and this show actually brought tears to my eyes. I became emotionally invested in it and really felt for Billy and the struggles he was going through for his passion: dance. I knew I was becoming personally involved in the show when intermission began, as I was angry I had to sit around and wait 30 minutes for Billy's story to continue to unravel before my eyes. All of the actors and actresses did a great job, and, for a young boy, Billy's dancing was incredible. I thought the show did a very good job intertwining the struggles of the miners and and the struggles of Billy as a dancer and through the numbers they had to visually illustrate this. After meeting Rick Fisher, a Dickinson Alum who won an award for the lighting design of the show, I paid special attention to the lighting effects and saw why he won the award. Fisher did a great job putting the spotlight on the people who the audience should pay the most attention to, while having dimmer lighting on the still important, yet background action going on. I especially liked when he used color to create and evoke feelings and emotions during certain scenes. I highly recommend this show to anyone looking for a fantastic broadway show.