People loved Billy Elliot (DVDs). When Elton John (CDs) saw it for the first time in Cannes, he cried so much he apparently had to be carried out of the cinema on a stretcher. Even though it was more or less Flashdance (DVDs) with dirty-faced boys instead of sexy ladies. And Jam (CDs) songs instead of awful eighties power-pop.
But the new musical seems to be entirely more promising. Usually, musicals are about as enticing as stabbing unfolded paperclips into your eyes over and over again. But the Billy Elliot musical has a glimmer of possibility.
Firstly, the lyrics were written by the film’s writer. Whatever you thought of the film, at least this means that the play hasn’t been hijacked by a floaty drama teacher type who has written songs called things like "Open Your Mind, Billy" or "Reach For The Sky".
And the lyrics were turned into songs by the big crybaby himself, Elton John. Quite how he interpreted the words has yet to be seen. We’ve heard good reports about his work here, but at the same time, we’ve heard Crocodile Rock enough times not to completely trust his quality control.
The funniest news about the musical, though, is that the climax of the song is basically a massive death threat to Margaret Thatcher. "Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher, we celebrate today ‘cos it’s one day closer to your death", the cast sing. Four times in a row. While wearing Maggie masks.
hecklerspray wishes that it was in the theatre at the press preview of the musical. Purely so we could see all the dusty old critics grunting and waggling their jowls around when they heard this, all confused like a bunch of old ladies looking for their reading glasses.
Maybe musicals aren’t so bad, after all.