You Can Dance if You Want To

Billy Elliot comes to Anchorage

Since it was released as a feature film in 2000, Billy Elliot has captured the hearts of students and parents alike. A young boy growing up in an English coal-mining town finds himself in a ballet class and casts aside his boxing gloves to follow his new passion. With a story that has dance built in, it was an obvious transition to turn *Billy Elliot* into a staged musical.

Billy Elliot: The Musical premiered at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London's West End theatre in 2005 and was nominated for 9 Laurence Olivier Awards, winning four, including Best New Musical. It then moved to Australia for a 2007 debut and won best musical the following year. By now Broadway was watching and in November 2008 the production opened in New York, receiving fifteen Tony Award nominations, tying with The Producers for the most nominations ever received by a Broadway show, and winning ten. Billy Elliot: The Musical has had many touring performances and is still done regionally all around the globe.

The Anchorage Concert Association along with Plan-B have collaborated to bring the musical to Alaska. In fact, they have brought quite a few shows up to Anchorage. It is commonly thought that many of the musicals that travel to Anchorage are touring, but many of these productions are actually commissioned by the ACA. Plan-B then casts, directs and rehearses a finished product to open in Anchorage. There is something kind of amazing about this relationship. In Anchorage, where so much of our local theatre has limited runs, it’s comforting to know the performers hired by Plan-B are agreeing to a limited run in front of an Alaskan audience.

I was able to join the cast for a rehearsal. I learned that they are indeed very humbled and excited to be performing in Alaska.

Christine Negherbon plays Mrs. Wilkinson, Billy’s ballet teacher. She also served as choreographer for the production. Performing in all of the 49 states, Alaska will mark her 50th. While musing about her similarities to her character she says, “I knew I wanted to be a dancer at 7-years-old and I started studying from then until now. This show in particular is so meaningful to me because it kind of mirrors my life. Because I’m a mother, I have two young children, I’m a dance teacher in LA and [I have] a little bit of a hard soul with a soft side.

“This show is really about following what you really want to be. Do what you love and do it really really well. You know? And I’ve always lived my life that way.”

As a choreographer, Negherbon has been with the production team for six months in preparation for this show. When talking about Braden King, who plays Billy, and Ross Nemeth in the role of Michael (Billy’s outspoken friend) it was clear that these boys are impressive, “These two are exceptional, they are so well-raised and they’re just easy going and they go with the flow. If I need to change something they’re like, ‘okay, great,’ like they’re not so fixated on what it was or what they’ve done before.” It was a stroke of luck for any choreographer, as the two boys both are coming into this production after each playing their parts in other productions of Billy Elliot. Braden, only a couple months ago, was playing Billy in New Jersey and Ross only learned the new choreography for the production 3 to 4 weeks ago, coming straight out of another production of Billy in Arizona.

Ross Nemeth, who plays Michael, Billy’s good friend, turned 14 this Monday rehearsing in Alaska. Ross found his love for dance wearing tap shoes; he started about 3 to 4 years ago and was acting and singing throughout his entire childhood. “I’ve been enjoying just playing in the snow because I’m from Arizona so I never see snow,” Nemeth says. “So, it’s been really fun just hanging out in the snow, which I’ve never seen.”

For a boy who has already played roles like Oliver, and Chip in the Broadway national tour of Beauty and the Beast, Ross blessed me with good conversation and a very humble approach to his talents. But how does he relate to his own role as Michael? “Michael is very very very out there, he doesn’t care what anyone thinks or really anything, which is a cool thing to have. He just likes to have fun and do what he loves! He is very different from who I am as a person. So, it’s definitely a challenge having to become Michael in the show. But once you’ve got it, you just kind of let go. Now it’s just second nature to slip into that part and you just become that part for however long you need to.” Ross hopes to continue in Michael’s footsteps when it comes to not worrying so much about what other people think and just continue doing what he loves.

Billy Elliot is played by 13-year-old Braden King, a wide-smiled, freckled-cheek boy. And one hell of a dancer. He hails from Washington, DC, but has traveled from home to play Billy, both in Jersey and Anchorage. “This show has a lot of the Broadway choreography and in my last show our chorographer put her own spin on it. I liked that spin a lot, but I also like the Broadway choreography, so it was just fun learning that [Broadway choreography].”

As opposed to Ross, Braden shares much more in common with the role of Billy. He was only 4 when he began dancing. “Billy Elliot is a very important story right now because it’s all about acceptance and coming together as a community. To make someone happy or just having them do what they want to do, no matter what you believe, because it’s their choice and no matter what their choice is, you support them.”