Review: Billy Elliot

True and false

Social situations change so quickly that the Helsinki City Theatre’s Billy Elliot musical is surprisingly topical. Industrial action and solidarity are not a thing of the past, but of the present and the future in Finland as well. The musical, set in the mining industry town of northern England, is going through difficult times in terms of employment, when the British government announces in 1984 that it intends to close twenty loss-making coal mines. Behind the drastic decisions is the Iron Lady, Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013).

The mining town and the men who have been on strike for that year are the framework of the story, but at the center is Billy, who is approaching puberty and who, at the behest of his widowed father, takes up boxing. However, the ballet hall attracts the boy more than the traditional male genre, and everyone who has seen the film and musical knows which way the story turns.

Markku Nenonen has directed and choreographed the musical, which will be seen at the Peacock Theatre in Linnanmäki due to the renovation of the City Theatre. The performance doesn’t pale in comparison to the version that swept me off my feet in London last year, but succeeds in all its parts.

Of the three boys who alternate as Billy, I saw Amos Brotherus’ amazing and confident performance – the 14-year-old sings, dances and acts confidently and heartbreakingly. His friend Michael was played in the same performance by Luka Haikonen, who deserved all the applause, so the young gentleman who was last seen in the City Theatre’s Tarzan will perform.

Risto Kaskilahti as Billy’s father gets to play a serious role for the first time in a long time, and he does it well. Jonna Järnefelt is a snappy, rough-and-tumble ballet teacher. A natural role for him in the sense that before studying acting at the Theatre Academy, Järnefelt studied to become a dancer. Billy Elliot touches deeply and moves you to tears, because it’s true. People’s concern for their livelihoods is true, and the importance of children and young people to teachers and the encouragement and ability of parents to let go of their own prejudices is true. Billy Elliot went to the heart. Because its story is true.

Apu magazine / Foyer – Liisa Talvitie