Will The Real Billy Elliot Please Step Forward?!
September 4, 2009
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Who is the real Billy Elliot? Is there even a real Billy Elliot? Well, according to well-built Fife council worker, Ken McCombie, 55, the real Billy Elliot was none other than – himself! The burly middle-aged bloke has surprised his workmates by stating that he was in fact the original Billy Elliot. “People don’t believe me when I tell them I used to be one of the best male ballet dancers in the world,” said Ken.
The uncanny similarity between Ken’s life story and was uncovered when his council bosses asked workers for interesting tidbits about their pasts, to feature in their in-house magazine. Among the coincidences are the fact that Ken and the fictional Billy both lived in coal mining communities and were forced to put up with abuse and taunts for their passion for dance. “My story is exactly the same as Billy Elliot’s; we both come from coal-mining backgrounds and had to endure some pretty bad bullying to achieve our dreams. Older boys were always trying to pick on me and call me a sissy and my family were always worried about me, but I never let it get me down and just ignored the taunts.”
Ken currently works in procurement and risk management at Fife Council, but he once won a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Dance and even danced alongside Russian ballet legend Rudolf Nureyev!
Ken was initially awarded a scholarship with the Royal Academy of Dance in Edinburgh. He studied there before leaving to dance with the London Festival Ballet in 1972. This was his big opportunity and he took it gracefully. Ken spent six years dancing in London before relocating to Houston, Texas. There he danced for world-renowned dignitaries and royalty, including Norway’s King Olaf V and US president George Bush Snr. Ken remembers, “I went on tour with my idol Nureyev. I worked with Cleo Laine and met people like Shirley MacLaine, Patrick Swayze and Larry Hagman. I hope, just like Billy Elliot, my story can help inspire boys to give ballet a go.”
It is highly doubtful that there’s another out there who quite fits the bill like Ken McCombie! When you buy your Billy Elliot Broadway tickets give a little thought to Ken – the real Billy Elliot!
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Billy Elliot Broadway Welcomes Budding NYC Playwrights
September 4, 2009
It’s not just Billy Elliot Broadway that’s attracting them to the Imperial Theatre this summer; Movie and music icon Queen Latifah recently hosted a gala event at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre, home of the Tony-nominated production of the Billy Elliot Musical. Months of rigorous playwriting and production development went into the Fidelity FutureStage Finale, which marked Broadway debuts for six different student-written plays. In all, over 1,000 New York City area students participated in the 2009 program, which was a huge success. Queen Latifah said, “I am thrilled to help them celebrate a night they’ll always remember.” Six plays were selected from work entered by the 10 schools participating in the year-long Fidelity FutureStage school program. The event honored Madeline Hendricks, the overall winner of the Fidelity FutureStage Playwriting Contest, a joint effort by Fidelity Investments and Billy Elliot the Musical to bring out more creative playwriting from New York area schoolkids. Hendricks, 17, from Mamaroneck High School in Westchester, NY, triumphed through her comedy play, “Driver’s Education”. The play covered the life of an over-talkative New York cab driver who, together with his daughter and various passengers, swapped some fundamental life lessons as the coasted through the streets. “Driver’s Education” was staged at the Imperial Theatre, home of Billy Elliot the Musical, on June 15, 2009.