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“My favorite part of the role is being able to share the story with the other young male dancers in the audience. His biggest reward in “Billy Elliot” is connecting with and inspiring others. “I practice my songs on the treadmill, because a lot of times I’ll be singing them while I’m actively dancing.” “Pretty much I never leave the stage,” he said. Liam described the role as physically challenging he is on stage most of the show, and the dance styles shift from among tap, ballet and jazz. Said Liam, “That sense of individuality, but still of community, is really what the audience should take from it, and learn that life lesson.” The story addresses themes including homophobia and “toxic masculinity” that Bertone said remain relevant today, and well as the power of community to provide mutual support. Bertone, he said, has encouraged the cast to experiment with the characters and helped develop unique back stories to enrich their portrayal. and at Arlington, Virginia’s award-winning Signature Theater. The Seacoast Rep’s production of “Billy Elliot” has been unique, Liam said, despite his earlier starring roles in the production in Williamstown, N.J. “No matter how times I’ve seen him perform this role … I still get choked up and teary-eyed,” he said.
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I’ve come the full journey, to be fully supportive and proud of what my son’s doing.” “Fortunately, my wife, Kim, was there to help get me to see the light. When he first started with cheer I was hesitant and I was not sure how that would work out,” he said.
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Liam’s father, Charles Redford, said that like Billy Elliot’s father in the story, he had to overcome doubts about the direction of his son’s passion. “As an adult, I hope to still do the dance side of theater, but still be able to do musical theater,” he said. He is also improving his acting and singing skills. His dance training has included work in New Jersey, New York – with the Joffrey Ballet School, Seattle and Philadelphia. “As soon as there is an audience, he comes to life,” Kim Redford said of her son. He started dancing two years later, and made it his main pursuit when he was nine. Liam began his performance training on a cheer squad when he was about five or six, said his mother, Kim. “That spirit, that fire that’s in Liam, is what’s in Billy too.” He’s incredibly passionate about dance and about the arts,” Bertone said. “Liam really understands this role of Billy. She also helped recruit most of the cast for Billy Elliot, bringing about 20 fresh faces to the Seacoast Rep for the production.Īt the center of the cast is Liam Redford. Bertone is a theater and dance professor at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and is on the dance faculty at Emerson College. “It shows you what we will do for those we love,” said Rachel Bertone, director and choreographer of the Seacoast Rep’s production. The story depicts, with anger and exuberance, Billy’s journey to winning his father’s acceptance and his community’s support to enroll at the Royal Ballet School in London. At the same time, Billy’s family is shattered by his mother’s death and stresses that the strike is placing on his miner father.Īmid the turmoil, Billy happens upon a dance class in the building where he takes boxing lessons – an accepted path of masculine expression in his town – and develops a passion for dancing.
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It is based on the movie by the same name, which was also written by Hall.īilly Elliot is set in 1984-1985, as 11-year old Billy’s hometown is riven by a doomed coal miner’s strike that was a defining battle against Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s conservative agenda. The show, with music by Elton John and story by Lee Hall, has won top awards in London and on Broadway. 8 at the Seacoast Rep as the first mainstage production of the 2019 season. But that made me stronger as a dancer, to prove of myself, that boys can dance too,” he said. The fictional character’s path mirrors his own in some ways, he said, while the production sends a valuable message of acceptance and community bonds. Liam Redford is a New Jersey resident who started dancing when he was seven and has played as Billy in two previous productions. Thirteen-year-old Liam Redford has been preparing most of his life for his starring role in “Billy Elliot: The Musical,” the Seacoast Repertory Theatre’s new production about a boy who faces family doubts, gender stereotypes and community strife in an English mining town as he pursues his passion as a dancer.