Billy [Sub Par] Elliot

Crossed another off the list!

My Fall & Winter To Do List!!!

• Bake cupcakes from scratch
• Go to Pops for Champagne (A champagne bar in Chicago)
• Take pictures at a park in my home town
• Apple picking
• Pumpkin picking and subsequent carving
• Sew my own Halloween costume
• See a Drive-in movie
• Knit a scarf
• Learn to crochet
• Make spiced cider
• Grow out my hair
• Spend less money
• Eat lots of food on Thanksgiving
• Shop at a thrift store
• See a musical or play
• Have a Christmas party with my girls
• Snowboarding
• Learn to ski
• Get straight A's
• Buy my friends' Christmas presents at a resale shop
• Bake a pie from scratch
• Celebrate New Years in style
• Go sledding
• Cuddle with Jay... or maybe my cat... under a blanket 
• Visit my friends in Oregon

My family celebrated my mom's birthday last Thursday. Her real birthday was Saturday, but in a family of two nurses, a senior in college, and a medical technologist, it is super difficult to get the same day off.  So, miraculously we all got Thursday off and spent the evening downtown.  

We ate dinner at Grand Lux Cafe. It is a nice place to eat with reasonable prices.   Since it is a sister to The Cheesecake Factory... you know its delicious.  My mother loves this place, so we go there whenever she goes into the city.

[My dad and mom @ Grand Lux Cafe]

After our feast (which included two of Grand Lux's famous desserts), we hailed a cab to the Oriental (Ford) theater for my birthday present for my mom... Billy Elliot.  (You can see my review of the show below). The theater is gorgeous. During intermission I just sat in my seat and stared at all the details of the ceiling. Obviously, you are not allowed to take any pictures, so I have none to show you, but I bet the pictures would not do it justice anyway.  

[My brother, dad, and mom after the show]

 [We should SO try out to be Billy Elliot dancers]

 [After the show]

Overall, the night was great.  My mom really had fun.  After the show, we stopped at Starbucks, grabbed some warm drinks and walked back about 8 blocks to our car, enjoying the downtown area, nice and quiet on a Thursday night.

 [On the walk home]

 [haha]

My review: My family has seen our share of shows: Lion King, Wicked, Jersey Boys, Million Dollar Quartet, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat... to name a few off the top of my head. So, Billy Elliot was just okay to me. I was REALLY excited for the show and had really high expectations. I was kind of let down.  Overall, I enjoyed myself, but it just didn't totally hit the spot for me.  The whole story is set in the UK during the mid 80's when the miners went on strike and amidst all the chaos and commotion, this little 11 year old boy wants to become a ballet dancer.  The accents were SO distracting, they almost sounded Scottish to me.  I couldn't understand about 25% of what they were saying.  Also, the singing was only okay, none of the singers were really THAT amazing.  When people can really sing, I tear up. During Wicked, I got teary eyed. During Lion King, I was teary eyed half the time because not only was the singing great, the show is just beautiful.  Billy Elliot singers did not really hit me on that level.  Then, the dancing was only okay as well.  You could tell the dancers were really really talented, but the overall organization of the dancing was only okay.  Lastly, I felt each dance number did not really tie in with each other. It was like different people choreographed each dance without talking to each other.  I am not claiming that I am any expert, but just my thoughts.