Young actor soars in ‘Billy Elliot’

November 28, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

CLEVELAND

For a musical that won 10 Tony and Drama Desk awards — and was cited as the best musical of the past decade by Time magazine — “Billy Elliot” has remarkably few memorable songs. In fact, there’s not a single tune in Sir Elton John and Lee Hall’s score that you’re likely to remember upon leaving the theater. Even more surprising is that the show’s lack of distinctive melodies or catchy lyrics don’t really matter.

Based on the Oscar-nominated 2000 film about an 11-year-old boy who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer in Thatcherite England, “Billy Elliot” — like its titular character — triumphs over adversity and somehow manages to beat the odds. After all, when was the last time a Broadway musical flirted with greatness despite having such an unprepossessing score?

What distinguishes “Billy” from just about every other musical under the sun is, well, Billy — specifically the remarkable young performer who plays the wee, ballet-lovin’ lad. Giuseppe Bausilio, who essays the title role in the touring production of “Billy Elliot” currently running in Cleveland’s Playhouse Square, has such a galvanizing stage presence that you can’t take your eyes off him, even in those rare moments when he’s completely still. Despite its blockbuster production values (the show looks absolutely sensational from start to finish), wizardly orchestration and incomparable supporting cast (including Tony winner Faith Prince as Billy’s tough-as-nails ballet instructor, Mrs. Wilkinson), it’s young Bausilio who makes “Billy Elliot” so utterly compelling and inexorably moving.

It’s a classic underdog/Cinderella fable, albeit one gussied-up with (British) socio-economic realities and lots and lots of political sloganeering (one of the show’s biggest numbers is titled “Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher”). Billy lives with his gruff, but loving father (Rich Hebert), older brother Tony (Jeff Kready) and comic-relief granny (scene-stealer Patti Perkins). He’s also regularly visited by the ghost of his dead mum (Beverly Ward). Billy’s father and brother are both out of work because of a mining strike, and the only ray of sunshine in his otherwise hard-knock life is ballet class. Under the wry tutelage of Mrs. Wilkinson, Billy blossoms from wallflower to aspiring dance star. He even gets accepted to a prestigious London dance academy.

Instead of the grim slog that a cursory plot synopsis might suggest, “Billy Elliot” pirouettes and soars into your heart even more indelibly on stage than it did as a film. While none of the songs are inherently hummable in their own right, they do a workmanlike job of establishing and maintaining the proper tone — whether righteous indignation or triumph of the human spirit — throughout the show’s nearly three hour run time. Kudos to director Stephen Daldry and choreographer Peter Darling (both of whom are reprising their duties from the original movie) for their brilliant and invaluable contributions.

If you’re a Gleek — or have any Gleeks on your holiday gift list — tickets to “Billy Elliot” should make for a very merry Christmas indeed. (And “Bah! Humbug” to you, Maggie Thatcher.)

“Billy Elliot” will run through Dec. 12 at Cleveland’s State Theater. Call 216-241-6000.