Billy On A Freebie

Last night we got to see yet another West End show for free due to The Wife’s workplace offering a free ticket lottery. Following on from A Chorus Line and Miss Saigon recently we headed down to Victoria after work to go and see Billy Elliot.

Now it’s a show that I haven’t really had that much interest in seeing before, and if I’m honest, I only went because the tickets were free. The only song I know from it is the much-overplayed one called ‘Electricity’ that Elaine Paige seems to play at least every other week on her Sunday show on BBC Radio 2. And the song annoys me.

Why? Well the kid who sings the version that is constantly played, which I presume is from first Original London Recording album, doesn’t pronounce the word ‘electricity’ correctly and drops the last ‘t’. “Electrici-eee” he shrieks. Every! Bloody! Time! I also have an issue with his northern accent and the way he says ‘ear’ and ‘here’ so that they are so over-pronounced and sound like ‘eee-yer’.

But I have to say I actually quite enjoyed it. It’s quite funny, there are better songs in it than ‘Electrici-eee’, there’s a lot of swearing and the kid can dance! There’s a few touching moments in it as well, mainly any bit involving Billy’s dead mum and then there’s the underlying story of the miner’s struggle to add a deeper layer to the story.