It has taken a full month to sort out what I needed to say about my 2020 Melbourne experience. Several times I've started drafting a post about how it has been 2.5 years since Hamburg, but the results kept boiling down to basically I love the Darling choreography. Big whoop. I prefer strawberry, you prefer chocolate, someone else prefers vanilla, doesn't add a whole lot to the discussion.
I am realizing it's more a matter that there are other choreographers who have now adapted BETM for regional productions here in North America and there have been some really great innovations. But there are a lot of significant simplifications as well and I think this disparity is what's worth exploring further.
It starts with pondering whether this is a geographical matter. It seems that the vast majority of country-specific productions - Norway, Japan, Korea, Italy, etc. - always involve 4 Billys and that suggests they utilize the full Darling choreography. (Thanks to The Sky Kid listings for making it easy to glean that info.) In North American regional productions, I believe only Issaquah used four Billys and an extensive training program on the order of 4 months or so. They did not use the Darling choreography although it was more complex than the average regional that I've seen.
All other regionals use one or two Billys. And that necessarily requires a simpler choreography both to save on training costs as well as reduce risk of a Billy getting injured. I get why it needs to be done. If expenses are too high or if the star performer gets injured and is unable to take the stage, there is no BETM production to be had. And that's the worst option. But there is a difference. And I will dare to use a term that may cause some to bristle: Compromise.
So what are some defining characteristics of the Darling choreography? I found that an article in the Australia 2019/2020 BETM Tour Souvenir program (a PLAYBILL/SHOWBILL property, none of the articles have a writer credit) that captures a sentiment that has been discussed and mentioned in a lot of reviews, but this was the first time I had seen some of Peter Darling's comments on the subject matter:
Wide variety is one facet. Then considering that variety and deep complexity in each area, I would say the second term to describe Darling choreography: It is just so d*** hard. Hard to find boys with that combination. Hard to train them to master all those skills. Hard to perform all that in one show.BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL: A GLORIOUS CELEBRATION OF DANCE
Billy Elliot the Musical is a glorious celebration of dance - all kinds of dance.
Yes, it's the story of a young boy who aspires to a career in ballet, which is why people are often surprised to discover the broad movement palette utilised by choreographer Peter Darling. The choreography encompasses tap, hip hop, jazz, acrobatics, and folk dancing; even a pedestrian activity such as walking - no pun intended - is used as a form of expression.
That diversity was very deliberate. "I didn't want to convey the notion that only one form of movement is of value," says Darling. "I wanted to use as many different forms of movement as possible. We're celebrating dance; dance is worthy of celebration and all forms of dance can tell a narrative. Ballet can tell a narrative. Tap can tell a narrative."
Tap fuels the show at least as much as, if not more than, ballet. "Tap is rhythmically exciting and such an expressive kind of dance," says Darling. "At the same time, it's synonymous with show business and musicals. And Billy Elliot is very much a musical; it's not a ballet."
One specific number, Born to Boogie, is the best illustration. First, back to the article:
Consider all the elements Darling has Billy do for that number, a moonwalk, ballet of course, tap, rope skipping and a bit of acrobatics with the flip off the piano. A lot of regionals eliminate the rope skipping right off the bat, and I get it, it's a lot of hours of probably monotonous practice to get it consistently perfect because if it's not perfect, it detracts. Tap is also a common total elimination, why have Billy change shoes twice in one number.The dances in Billy Elliot either advance the narrative or reveal something about the characters. "Born to Boogie" takes place after Mrs. Wilkerson' Billy's teacher, reads a letter from the boy's dead mother. Rather than launch into a ballet, Darling upends expectations with a jazzy number."
What came to mind upon revisiting the Darling choreography after seeing various other entries was along the lines of how there are triathletes and then there are Ironman Triathletes. There are Navy soldiers and then there are Navy SEALs. For lack of a better term, graduates of Billy school fully trained in Darling choreography are Elite.
One HUGE problem with that analogy is that anyone with the skills (and financial backing) can become an Ironman triathlete at several dozen locations around the world every year. Any US citizen with the skills to be a Navy SEAL can apply anywhere in the country, anytime. Not so with Elite Billys. There is only a very narrow window of opportunity and if there isn't a production looking right then for that special boy, he goes under the radar.
So what about the many Billys who don't dance Darling choreography, what are they, chopped liver? Hardly.
My response is in the form of two specific cases that represent (in my opinion) the opposite ends of the spectrum. On one end, there are productions whose Billy did not do any ballet at all before receiving a period of intense training ahead of the show's opening. I've only seen a couple of these cases but I daresay the results are similar across the board in being glaring examples of compromise. Giving rise to the rhetorical question, Are these Billys and their 4 weeks of ballet training to be regarded in the same league as, say, our Tony winners Trent, Kiril and David?
I am aware that George Maguire had little dance training when he was selected by BETM's creators. I never had the pleasure of seeing George perform, but I am guessing that as one of the first graduates of Billy school, he did not at all represent a compromise in selection when he took the VPT stage on Opening Night. Also, while that may have been a particular choice when BETM was in pre-production, the selection parameters hardly were prescriptive. I do not know enough to say that there are no others chosen for Billy school with minimal dance training, but I feel safe in saying the vast majority of them had high level dance skills before selection.
At the other end of the spectrum is one of my favorite Billys of all time, Liam Redford, who never got the chance to go through Billy school or dance the Darling choreography. But one last quote from the article:
To my amateur eye, the body of Liam Redford's work abundantly demonstrates his ability to move gracefully, artistically, spectacularly. Pretty much the critical qualities that a product of Billy school has at his BETM debut. As such, Liam in my book is just as Elite. Graduates of Billy school have the distinction, but it certainly does not exclude those who did not have that chance.Darling infused the ballet choreography with contemporary movement, steps that would be anathema to traditional classical dance. When Billy auditions for The Royal Ballet in the number "Electricity", the ballet he performs includes street dance, hip hop and acrobatics. "The idea is that The Royal Ballet is looking for young dancers with potential, who are phenomenal movers," says Darling. "And Billy shows that he's a phenomenal mover who can also turn three pirouettes."
In between the extremes, well, I suppose it's really all in the eye of the beholder.
For my eye, it is the Darling choreography that defines 'pure' BETM as much as Lee Hall's script and Elton John's music. Darling made it extremely difficult in London in 2005 and given the opportunity to refine it for Broadway in 2008 did not make it any easier. If Hall's script were to change as much as Darling's choreography does from original to adaptation or Elton John's music were greatly simplified, what would we make of that? Of course they don't change appreciably because it is easy to keep them faithful to the original. The Darling choreography is so tough it often has to change. But here's to those productions where the challenge is accepted and accomplished. Like Australia 2019/2020.