Billy Elliot Two Years In

Now two years in to the run, BILLY ELLIOT holds up. The performance I attended on Sunday evening gave us the surprise of director Stephen Daldry taking the stage at the top of the show to inform us that the “Billy” of the evening, Dayton Travares, would be giving his final performance. Travares is from Australia and had played Billy all through the Australian run. His entire family moved to New York so he could continue on with the Billy family for a little while longer on Broadway. Daldry gave a lovely heartfelt speech, thanking Travares and his parents for letting the Billy family share in his childhood. Now his voice was changing (many alternate notes were taken in the songs) and he is off to embark on his final spring into adulthood. But for this last night Travares gave an exemplary performance. It doesn’t seem to matter which boy you see as Billy, he simply controls the hearts of the audience and key numbers such as “Solidarity”, “Dream Ballet” and “Electricity” get the usual incredible reception that literalizes the concept of stopping the show. By comparison to other Billy’s past and present, Travares wasn’t the best singing Billy or even the best dancing Billy, but he was genuine, as all the boys who play the character must naturally be, and his talents were considerable enough to amaze us. It is a wonder what path all these fantastic boys who have had the glory of heading a Broadway mega-hit will take as the years go on.

Gregory Jbara continues on as Dad, but he is milking all of his bits further than he can go. He is acting like an old school Broadway clown in a show that has nothing to do with a star comedian turn. He has become comedically drunk in the Christmas scene, robbing us of the beauty of his folk song, “Deep Into the Ground.” The “esquire” bit with Billy’s letter and the business with the smoking ballet dancer are all prolonged as if Bert Lahr had taken over his body. Stephen Daldry was watching from the back, so maybe there will be a notes session before the next performance, or maybe it is time for Jbara to move on––despite the Tony.

Carole Shelley is still in as Grandma and she has become delightfully batty. If it were possible to dance even less of her choreography than she started with, she has mastered it. However, it is astonishing how she keeps finding little new things in her character.

Laura Marie Duncan is the new “Dead Mum” and she is just right. Some how Stephen Hanna keeps dancing “Older Billy,” now with an extra spring to it. Tommie Retter seems to be all the more enjoyable as Mr. Braithwaite and works his hideously greasy hair for all it’s worth. Neil McCaffrey, who was so great as Randolph in the BYE, BYE BIRDIE revival last season, is ideal as Billy’s cross-dressing friend Michael.

This production has always taken its time to make moments count––a different quality than Broadway’s usually slick, fast and funny mechanized production values. However, some of the moments in the second act have become MOOOOOMMMEEENNNTS. Still, outside of the show needing a little tightening, it delivers where it counts and BILLY ELLIOT holds its own as one of the really great shows of the decade.

During the finale the other Billys were watching the show from the box seats and cheering on their friend Dayton as he danced his last tap dance. It was a special occasion and as the audience departed, behind the act curtain could be heard the voices of the cast privately singing “Happy Trails to You” as a collective good-bye to Dayton Travares.