Billy Elliot the Forum

One bit of symbolism that was discussed awhile back is at the very beginning of the show when the small boy comes up on stage and - in the London and New York shows - sits down to watch the movie. I've heard some people say that they thought the child was supposed to symbolize Billy at an earlier age, although since he reappears a number of times in the show, I think it's safe to say that he's just representing any random younger child who lives in the village.

Perhaps a more likely bit of symbolism is the small boy coming down the aisle and climbing up onto the stage to begin the show and then Billy climbing down off the stage and walking up the aisle to end the story. It could symbolize a wide-eyed, innocent young boy beginning his journey by learning about his home town, and ending with an older, less-innocent boy leaving his home town to begin the next stage of his life. Then again, it could just be a clever book-end technique to begin and end the show !

Okay, it looks like we've taken off on a different tack here. So here's another thought--about Billy's shadow dance. It took me quite a while to put together all the pieces here, but these are my thoughts: Originally, it was not a shadow dance. Billy did the "athletic" poses, but there was no huge shadow on the wall, and no shadow puppetry. However, never ones to leave the show to ossify, Daldry and Darling opted to add in the "shadow play" part. During one of my viewings of this, it dawned on me that the huge shadow of Billy making a swan picture with his hands does two things:
1. It foreshadows the Dream Ballet, which, of course, uses the music from Swan Lake, and hearkens back to the ending of the film, with a grown up Billy leaping onto the stage as the Swan.
2. It is also a reference to Peter Pan, a young boy who not only flies, but goes looking for his shadow that he has lost. Why the homage to Peter Pan? Just think about the choreographer's name: Peter (Peter in the story) Darling (the name of the family in the story).

The keys that Billy must give to Mrs. Wilkinson symbolize unlocking the door to his future.

This was brilliant Ellen. I love it!