After an Audience Vote, ‘Billy Elliot’ Musical Keeps an Anti-Thatcher Song

Even as much of Britain mourned the death of Margaret Thatcher on Monday, the West End production of “Billy Elliot the Musical” went ahead that evening with a song that refers to celebrating her death. The BBC reported that the musical, adapted from the Stephen Daldry movie, retained the number “Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher” when it was performed on Monday night at the Victoria Palace theater in London, after its audience voted in favor of keeping it.

The “Billy Elliot” musical, like the movie, is set in northern England during the 1980s and focuses on a boy who is determined to pursue a career as a ballet dancer while his father and brother become increasingly swept up in the coal miners’ strike of 1984-85. The second act, whose songs are by Elton John and Lee Hall, opens on “Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher,” a satirical holiday tune sung by the miners and their children, whose chorus includes the lyrics: “Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher / We all celebrate today / ‘Cause it’s one day closer to your death.”

Mr. Daldry, who is also director of the “Billy Elliot” musical, told the BBC that there had been “much discussion” about whether to include the song after Mrs. Thatcher’s death, and that the decision was ultimately left to theatergoers. “After an explanation of the song’s content and historical context from the stage,” Mr. Daldry said, “the audience voted overwhelmingly for its inclusion in the second act.”