Electricity - Liam Mower (Billy Elliot The Musical 30th September 2006)

Recorded live at the Victoria Palace Theatre London on Liam's last night as the lead role of Billy Elliot. He was 14 at the time and is the youngest winner of a Laurence Olivier Award. At the end of the show he was presented with a dog named Billy. This was a very emotional evening for one of the West End's most celebrated child performers. The standing ovation at the end of this number lasted over one minute :)

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• electricity
• liam
• mower
• billy
• elliot
• musical

[dustyzomg]

Changed voice or not, he's still amazing. He is definitely my idol. Ive wanted to do ballet ever since i was little, but never got the chance. I'm only 5 days older than Liam, and it might be too late to start now. But who knows.

[aclnyc2008]

This is so epic. I just bawled crying to it. Too intense!! Amazing.

[pilchard96]

@sinatrabooth89 Well, this guy was only covering for a sick mate, so they probably pay different for regulars, But obviously, excluding wednesday and saturday, you could work office hours every day, or teach music/freelance performer, but you know what they say, as a musician you'll always be poor!

[sinatrabooth89]

@pilchard96 Do they pay them by the show in London? In NY its by the week. Altho if you brought it down to per show it works out to about 100 dollars per performance which is about the same. Altho you could never actually live on that pay. Unless you are the MD, Pianist, Lead trumpet, or other principal player you don't really make much more than the union's minimum, which is unfortunate. Yay for having a day job!

[pilchard96]

@sinatrabooth89 Hmm, I know people in the trade, and all say that the banter inside the pit, and social side afterwards, is good - someone i know covered trombone for Chicago London, and got £75 pound for a show, not bad pay!

[sinatrabooth89]

@pilchard96 Yea, any time your doing a long running production things will get repetitive. Altho if you were a musician in an orchestra, or for some other professional ensemble you would be performing the same thing over and over. But it is a good job. A good friend of mine did BETM a few years back on London's West End as well as a brief stint in Australia. He said he loved working with the MD in both location. He said the orchestra was very flexible for him as well as consistent and reliable.

[pilchard96]

@sinatrabooth89 I am a musician, and hope to conduct or play in the West End eventually, can see it being a bit repetitive tho!

[sinatrabooth89]

@pilchard96 Yea, and BE is a rather different case in the sense that there is a rotation of not only the lead, but a couple of the supporting characters. Most shows are able to, for example, run their lights automatically through a timer, with this show the technician actually has to press go for every cue. It's always interesting to see how the show changes with one of two different actors. I have a couple friends that have done the show, and they enjoy it throughout their long run.

[pilchard96]

@sinatrabooth89 I knew about the choreography changing for each performer, but I wasn't aware the music changed - must be a pain in the arse for the MD, but I can imagine it makes a 12 month stint playing the same music slightly more interesting for the band :)

[sinatrabooth89]

@pilchard96 Actually keys are frequently changed for the Billy's. For example Kiril sang it in a different key than Liam, and then sang in another key yet once his voice dropped. Along with that the choreography for electricity is slightly different for each Billy, so as to high their individual talents. For example some incorporate more acrobatics than others.

[sinatrabooth89]

@dustyzomg I hope in the last year since you have posted this that you have started taking ballet. It is definitely not too late. it is never too late to start dancing. You need to do what you want to do. And really If you have the capabilities to dance then you will be just fine even not starting till now.

[aclnyc2008]

@dustyzomg Definitely not too old for a musical theatre career. Begin to take as much ballet as is humanly possible, get stretches to do at home from your teacher & do them morning, noon & night every day of the week. Once you have a good grasp on the ballet, then work on singing and dancing for tap and jazz.