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Billy Elliot the Musical

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Matthew Koon, Billy Elliot, 2006, The Billy Elliot Fansite

Billy Elliot the Musical is an award-winning musical based on the 2000 film Billy Elliot. The music for the show was composed by Sir Elton John and book and lyrics are by Lee Hall (who wrote the film's screenplay). The musical revolves around motherless Billy, who trades boxing gloves for ballet shoes. The story of his personal struggle and fulfilment are balanced against a counterstory of family and community strife caused by the 1980s coal miners' strike.

The work premiered in March 2005 at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London, where it is still showing. It is directed by Stephen Daldry and choreographed by Peter Darling as was the original film. The producers were Working Title Films, Old Vic Productions Plc and David Furnish. The original cast album was released on January 10 2006.

The musical is expected to open at Sydney's Capitol Theatre in January 2008 and on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre in summer 2008.[1] Productions have been proposed for Canada, Japan, and Germany as well.

Synopsis

Set in County Durham, against the backdrop of the coal miners' strike, which lasted twelve months in 1984-85, motherless eleven-year-old Billy inadvertently finds his way into a girls' ballet class run by Mrs. Wilkinson and is attracted to the grace of the dance. Without telling his family, who would prefer that he study boxing, Billy continues to come to the dance class, and Mrs. Wilkinson, recognising his talent, encourages him to audition for the Royal Ballet School in London. Billy's friend Michael is a boy with homosexual feelings, and Mrs. Wilkinson's daughter Debbie is another friend of Billy's. Meanwhile Billy's gruff, conservative father and brother are engaged in a daily battle with policemen in riot gear protecting strike breakers. They struggle to get the family by with very little strike pay. The father comes to terms with his son's desire to be a dancer, as he becomes resigned to the realisation that coal mining is a dying business. The musical gives more emphasis to the miner's strike than the film, and consequently its tone is a bit darker and harder-edged than the film's, but the ending is uplifting nevertheless, and the musical has many comic touches. The show contains language that may be too strong for young children.

Musical numbers

  • Stars Look Down - Full cast
  • Grandma's Song - Grandma
  • Shine - Mrs. Wilkinson and Ballet Girls
  • Solidarity - Full Cast
  • Expressing Yourself - Michael and Billy
  • The Letter - Billy, Mrs. Wilkinson and Dead Mum
  • Born to Boogie - Billy, Mrs. Wilkinson and Mr. Braithwaite
  • Angry Dance - Billy
  • Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher - Full cast
  • Into the Ground - Dad and Billy
  • He Could Be a Star - Dad and Tony
  • Electricity - Billy
  • Once We Were Kings - Full cast
  • The Letter (Reprise) - Billy and Dead Mum
  • Finale - Full cast

Awards and milestones

The show was nominated for nine Laurence Olivier Awards and won four of them on February 26 2006. These were best musical, best choreography (Peter Darling), best sound design (Paul Arditti), and best actor(s) in a musical (James Lomas, George Maguire, and Liam Mower). At thirteen, Liam is the youngest actor ever to win the award. They were also the first ever to win the award in a shared capacity. Lomas, Maguire, and Mower also jointly received the Theatre Goers' Choice Award 2005 for The Most Promising Newcomer. Billy Elliot the Musical has also won several other awards: The Evening Standard Award 2005, the Critics' Circle Theatre Award 2005, and the Theatre Goers' Choice Award 2005, all for best British Musical.[2]

On 12 May 2006, the three original Billies (Lomas, Maguire and Mower) came together for one final show together to celebrate the show's first anniversary. The three rotated the role during the show and were joined at the end by Sir Elton John, who led the audience in singing Happy Birthday. The musical celebrated it's second birthday on May 12th 2007. The occasion was marked by fans, but the Company itself did not celebrate as it did the year before. The occasion co-insided with the announcement of the new Australian Billys.

Cast

London

Billy

Original cast
Other past Billys
Current
Future Billys

Michael

Debbie

Other Cast - Past and Present

  • Ensemble: Craig Armstrong, Erica Ann Deakin, Rob Brownett, Damien Delaney, Susan Fay, Paddy Glynn, Kate Graham, Tim Funnell, Alan Forrester, Tom Linecar, David Massey, Francis Maston, Michelle McAvoy, Daniel Page, Lee Proud, Neil Reynolds, Mike Scott, Phil Snowden, and Dominic Tribuzio
  • Ballet girls: Justine Smart, Rosie Knox, Blaise Colangelo, Sienna Colangelo, Ellen Howard, Ellie Taylor, Hayley Smith, Emily Johnson, Jasmin Colangelo, Heather Nichol, Antonia Fawcett, Gaby Gregorian, Cara MacKinnon, Lucy Roberts, Lydia White, Georgia Brown, Alicec King, Katy Stephens, Megan Ellis, Hannah Partridge, Mia McKenna-Bruce, Francesca Lever, Libby Thompson, Shannon Cornish, Natalie Paris, Becky Smith, Rebbeca Webster, Michaela Price, Rennee Ocran, Emily Juniper, Eloise Smith.
  • Tall boys: Luke Nicholson, Nicholas Hockaday
  • Small boys: Harry Taylor,Raefn Webber and Danny Delaney
  • Past Tall Boys: Rupi Henderson, Kristjan Moore, Micheal Greenhill, Rory Gilchrist, Louis Hale and Joe Hawe
  • Past Small Boys: Alex Velleman, Bradley Ford, Dean Charles-Chapman, Thomas Higgins and Bradley Jorden White

Sydney

Billy

  • Rhys Kosakowski [1]
  • Nick Twiney [2]
  • Lochlan Denholm [3]
  • Rarmian Newton [4]

Mrs Wilkinson

  • Genevieve Lemon

References

  1. ^ Information about the Broadway production and possible changes to the show
  2. ^ "Elliot musical leads stage awards" from BBC News (accessed February 28 2006)
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