Wednesday 13th July 2016 and I’m back in Cardiff for my next instalment of the brilliant Billy Elliot the musical. An exceptional show that I truly adore, I think that’s why I keep visiting the centre so many times, even on a week off from work. To me this is the best holiday I could imagine, watching magnificent theatrical shows day after day, sheer bliss.

For tonight’s show we have Billy (Haydn May), Michael (Samuel Torpey), Debbie (Lilly Cadwallender), and Small Boy (Isobelle Chalmers). 

Let’s talk about the superb choreography for this stunning show. There is so much excellence in this field I’m going to narrow it down a little and look at my favourites. First off is ‘shine’ a great mix of comic dancing by the girls of the ballet school, brilliantly put together to show the audience how awful they are when we first see them. I’ve always admired actors who pretend they can’t dance when really they are amazing, this proves how good this show is when these children pull it off to perfection. 

Grandma’s song showcase a fabulous section of choreography,with the male ensemble dancing mainly in slow motion. So good to watch and so precise at such a slow speed. Amazing. 

Solidarity is just sublime with the adult cast dressed as miners and police dancing together with the girls of the ballet school. This is one of the best scenes in the show, superbly put together, mixing all the action together on stage,in unison,just so good. Also in this scene,we see the whole stage come to a halt to watch Billy,as he begins to show what he can achieve. I still have a tear in my eye at this point (in every show I’ve seen).

Billy and Michael join together for a really  funny dance where they dress up in women’s clothing and do an excellent tap routine, which is hilarious to watch. Another fantastic performance by these two actors, totally bringing the audience to life, with a huge round of applause. 

Born to boogie is just fantastic. With Billy and Mrs wilkinson showing off some great dancing with Mr Braithwaite, supplying the comedy for this scene. Here we see Billy rehearsing for his audition with a tap section complete with the three of them skipping in unison. So much fun with this, a really brilliant piece of choreography to take us to the final scene of act one.  Angry dance, a more contemporary piece that highlights the brilliance of the young actor playing Billy, and his command of the stage for this particular scene. A fitting end to a fabulous first act.

Act two is equally brilliant, with two stand out scenes. Firstly Swan lake, danced with Billy and his older self. As I’ve been saying for all the shows so far this is amazing, when the two dancers on stage mirror each other until Billy is wired to a hoist and performs in the air, some fantastic routines, and so good for a young dancer 20 foot off the stage.

Which leads me to Electricity (my favourite routine off all). A real treat to watch these guys perform this scene. After his audition, which hasn’t gone as well as expected, Billy is asked why he likes dancing, he answers in exquisite detail with a superb routine to a very vibrant song, which has the whole audience captivated,to watch every single move. For me this is the best scene in the show, always brings a tear at the end.

To sum up, this is a truly mesmerising show with superb dancing throughout, from all of the cast. I could watch this over and over again, (what am I on about, I do, as this is my 8th show and a I haven’t finished yet).