Billionaire Boy

After his Dad made eleventy squillion dollars inventing Bumfresh toilet wipes, 12 year old Joe has everything a boy could ever want including a golden underwater Ferrari, his own bowling alley and cinema, or so you would think, but all he really wants is a friend.

The world premiere Australian adaptation of David Walliams’ book, Billionaire Boy, is chucklesome, entertaining and appealing to all ages.

Best known for his work as an actor and writer for the TV show, Little Britain, David Walliams has become the biggest selling UK children’s author since 2000. He has sold over four million copies of his books in the UK alone and is dubbed to be the next Roald Dahl.

Billionaire Boy’s cast of five, Felix Jozeps, Alfie Gledhill, Shameer Birges, Kyle Kaczmarczyk and Beth Daly portray an array of believable characters from the book. These include Joe and his new friend, Bob; the school Bully, Grubb; Joe’s Dad, Len and his “surprise” girlfriend, Sapphire; newsagent owner, Raj and the school canteen lady who comes up with a rather unusual lunchtime menu!

I was impressed by the incredibly fast costume changes and the ability of the actors to completely switch from one individualistic character to the next. I was also pleasantly surprised by the music and dancing, particularly a choreographed jazz opening number full of pizzazz and sparkle and a rap take on Prince’s Purple Rain (called Purple Pain), which added a whole new element to the show and boosted the entertainment factor.

While there is plenty of quick wit and some toilet humour to keep the kids entertained, the show light heartedly conveys some important messages about the value of friendship and family. After standing up to the school bully, Joe learns that money can’t buy you everything and sometimes the best way to be a friend is to be beside someone and not try to fix their problems for them.

CDP has produced a number of stage plays which are adaptations of popular books including some of the Treehouse Series, The Gruffalo series, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and Mr Stink. I have seen a number of their productions which successfully engage young audiences and bring the characters from the books to life, fostering a love of reading and theatre.

A highly recommended school holiday treat!

Shannon O’Connell

Photographer: Heidrun Lohr