The Billy Elliot Drama Film
December 16, 2009
The plot of the Billy Elliot movie is much the same as the Billy Elliot musical play;
Some people have actually never seen the movie of Billy Elliot – the thing that really sparked interest in a stage production about a dancing lad from County Durham, England. Following the release of the movie in 2000, in 2005 the Billy Elliot tale was adapted for the West End stage and Billy Elliot the Musical was born. The musical began its run in Australia in 2007, before finally coming to Broadway in 2008. Unlike the movie, Billy Elliot the stage production has ran and ran. You can buy tickets to Billy Elliot in several major cities today, including Billy Elliot Broadway (Billy Elliot New York), Billy Elliot Chicago, and Billy Elliot West End. But how similar was the movie to the stage show?
The Billy Elliot drama film set set in the rugged, cobbled streets of England’s hilly northeast – in a coal-mining town in County Durham. The town, “Everington”, is fictional, but the region was depicted as very true to its real character. A young lad wanting to be a dancer wold have stood out like a sore thumb in those terraced streets. The gritty backdrops – including the violence and social unrest created by the miners’ strike of 1984 – lent a clever touch to the coming-of-age trials and tribulations of young Billy. Violent conflict between picketing miners and policemen in helmets wielding truncheons and shields provided a contrast to the dancing dreams of Billy. Billy’s dad badgered his son (actor Jamie Bell) into taking boxing lessons, which of course Billy didn’t take to. It was whilst training in the ring that Billy first noticed a ballet class being taught in the same gym. Actress Julie Walters (Educating Rita) starred as Mrs. Wilkinson the ballet teacher, and it is her daughter challenges Billy to take up his dream. When Billy
s dad finds out about the ballet lessons, he insists his son remove himself from the class. Mrs. Wilkinson (Waters) is so impressed with Billy’s natural talent for the footwork, she offers free lessons with a view to Billy taking part in local auditions for entrance the Royal Ballet School. Billy misses the trials after falling foul of the local police,and it is touch and go whether the kid will ever realize his dancing dream. Billy’s dad once again tells Ms. Wilkinson the career path is wrong for his son, but she challenges him on this. Ms. Wilkinson’s insistence that Billy is a born star makes his dad realize that this could be the one chance Billy will get to transcend the rough and dangerous lot of an industrial worker in England’s northeast. Billy’s dad then determines to make the money to ensure Billy can go to London to London for an audition. The rest, as they say, is dancing history!
“Original” Billy Elliot in The Nutcracker
December 16, 2009
Back when the Billy Elliot tickets stampede was in its infancy, Kiril Kulish was one of the original stars to grace the stage in the Billy Elliot musical – in fact he starred as the first of the Billy Elliots on the Broadway stage. Kulish left the hugely popular production in early October, 2009. One the of the three Tony-winning stars who were honored recently, he is to take another leading role – this time with a holiday twist! The “first of the Broadway Billys” is heading down to Occidental Grand Aruba in Palm Beach where he will star in The Nutcracker for a select two-night-only run during the 2009 holiday season. The Billy Elliot schedule runs on without Kulish, but he carries many happy memories from his time with the show.
Kulish, 15, who immigrated with his family from the Ukraine to California as a small child, has a rich history in dance. He began training at the tender age of eight, and went on to become a prize-winning ballet and ballroom dancer. Kulish was part of the famed American Ballet Theatre stable. It was here that he was spotted by talent scouts and lifted to glory on the Broadway stage as the dancing English kid we all know and love. It could safely be said that the sale of Billy Elliot tickets was partly down to the skills of the agile Kulish. He was co-recipient of the 2009 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Trent Kowalik and David Alvarez, two of the other actors in Billy Elliot, were awarded the Tony alongside Kiril.
Occidental Grand Aruba in Palm Beach will stage helmer Leonid Kozlov’s version of the Christmas classic, The Nutcracker, featuring just two performances open to the public. There will be a free teaser date on December 27 followed by a proper performance on three days later. Nutcracker will be performed, along with other dance tidbits, when Kulish will give a special solo show in the New Year, 2010.