WHAT A HEEL: Tony Deaf
By The Heel
Special To The Stiletto Blog
I am a theater buff, and see a great number of Broadway, off-Broadway, and off-off-Broadway shows – and in the interest of disclosure, I've also invested in a few shows (none of which are currently playing in NY).
Several days ago, I saw Elton John's "Billy Elliot” - one of the few shows I considered leaving at intermission, and the only one I regretted not having done so (I left the show with as little knowledge of and interest in the 1984-85 UK Miner's Strike as I started with).
Worse than the horrifically ham-fisted manner in which the clichéd political (workers of the world unite!) and social (being gay is okay!) messages were forcibly rammed down the throats of the audience, the much-vaunted score was utterly forgettable – with one notable exception.
The opening number of Act II, "Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher" (audio and video), which reflects the antipathy of striking miners towards the Tories (“Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher / We all celebrate today / 'Cause it's one day closer to your death”).
In a 2005 Times of London review, “Thatcher 'death' song shocks at Billy Elliot stage show," which took note of the odiousness of this song, John argued that he was striving to be historically accurate:
People may find it offensive and I know she is a very frail woman now. I've met her on several occasions and found her very charming. But those miners were so frustrated that they would have killed her. You are writing history and you have to tell it as it was.
By this logic, one would expect Sir Elton to defend “Springtime for Hitler” (video) as a historically accurate depiction of a time when the German people "were so frustrated that they would have killed" - but it's still in hideous taste (recall that the main plotline of "The Producers" was to put on a show so tasteless it would be sure to fail).
Needless to say, I was dumbfounded when this mediocrity somehow garnered 15 Tony nominations, including Best Musical. An added irony, the Tonys were announced exactly one day after the 30th anniversary of Thatcher's taking office as Britain's Prime Minister, a day which was marked by her supporters and her critics alike. It seems the only public figure in
Given the state of Thatcher’s health, Elton John would actually have displayed a touch more class had he restrained his crticism of the former prime minister to the sorts of crude sexual slurs he directs toward her former underling at the end of his odious song (lyrics): “Oh my darling, Oh my darling, Oh my darling Hesseltine / You're a tosser, you’re a wanker / And you're just a Tory Swine”.
More than a few Broadway lyrics have been reworked to better suit changing times – from “Anything Goes” to “Avenue Q.” If the show’s producers have a modicum of taste or tact, Billy Elliot will observe this tradition.
Editorial Note: This post was updated to correct an editing error, and to include additional explanatory links.
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