Billy Eliot on Stage in London

I had enjoyed the emotional punch of the movie of Billy Eliot very much. The musical stage version had a promising set up, nice character touches and showy song-dance numbers. Billy's struggle wasn't difficult in this re telling. He just happened upon the girl's ballet classes and joined in.
There was a scene with Billy's cross-dressing friend that delivered nice gay positive messages. "Just cause a guy can't stop putting on his Mom's dresses, it doesn't mean he's gay."
The highlight of the show is a duet between Billy and a hunky ballet stud, danced to piped music from Swan Lake. The rest of the Elton John music is crowd pleasing and lively but uninteresting.
Billy escapes off through the audience to the big city at the end of the show.
Unfortunately, there is a song-and-dance routine tacked on after the story has ended, with all the cast slipping white tutus over their costumes and prancing around. The entire story is negated by this, but it sends the candy-munching crowd back to their tour buses smiling.
I overheard a woman saying that it was the best musical she had ever seen.
Written to formula, this is a real audience favorite. Just like central London seems now though: overcrowded, generic with only hints of distinctiveness.
Don't expect to be left with any thoughts or tunes in your head afterwards. Catching a rerun of Will and Grace is loads more fun.