The Changing Actors of Billy
June 26, 2010
As the production of Billy Elliot approaches its two year anniversary on Broadway it’s no surprise that a new “Billy” is in the works of replacing the current one. The character of Billy Elliot is the star of the show – a young boy chasing his dreams to dance in a time of struggle for northern England’s working class. Billy has a flawless, youthful voice and can pirouette, plie, and grand jete across Broadway’s stage for an hour and a half each show, eight shows a week. For anyone that knows dance, theater, and constant stage perfection understands that it can be extremely rewarding but also tiring. And for that reason alone is why Billy replacements are part of the game in Broadway’s Billy Elliot.
The search for new Billies is a continuous process that has been made into a system. “Billy schools” have been established across the world by the Billy Elliot creative team that help them discover fresh theater and dance talent. The Broadway musical has received multiple prestigious awards and tops the sales charts week to week, impressing audiences not just on Broadway but across the world as well. The role of Billy being the most important makes it crucial to find the perfect young boy to fill that spot. With a rehearsal process lasting four to five weeks and the training schedule long and demanding, these Billies get whipped into Broadway shape fast. But once they hit that Broadway spotlight and the standing ovation brings the night to an end, those boys know it was worth it.
Billy Elliot tickets are among the most sought after tickets that theater has to offer. The production snags a top 5 spot on the chart-toppers list week after week and the rave reviews continue to roll in. If you haven’t seen what this breath-taking musical has to offer, then you are missing one of the most heart warming stories, most talented cast, and most beautiful overall production out there. See what Billy Elliot is all about.
Stephen Daldry Will Oversee 2012 Olympics Ceremonies
June 24, 2010
- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
When the Olympics come to London in 2012 be prepared to see Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldry overseeing the creative aspect of the London Games. Billy Elliot tickets are very much on the radar right now, and they will be in 2012, you can guarantee that! Alongside Stephen Daldry we will see “Trainspotting” director Danny Boyle too, and what a couple they should make. The London games will have a great West End-meets-Hollywood feel about them for sure, now that these two are heading up the creative team. Boyle won an Oscar for his brilliant “Slumdog Millionaire”, a film that transformed the way people saw the world. Be ready to see Billy Elliot tickets meets “The Beach” in London in 2012, theaterlovers!
Billy Elliot’s Dad Loves the Show!
June 24, 2010
- Image via Wikipedia
With the Billy Elliot schedule extended a little longer for the Billy Elliot Chicago run, theatergoers, here’s a little glimpse into one of the people who are making Billy Elliot tickets sell so well. The Billy Elliot soundtrack by Elton John is as humorous as it is moving, and the emotions evoked by the story have propelled Billy Elliot tickets to the pinnacle of Broadway tickets sales. One of the central characters is Billy’s father, played by Gregory Jbara. Jbara has recently been honored for the way in which he plays a macho dad clutching for ways to deal with (the northern English tragedy of having) a son who likes to ballet dance. Jbara appeared on Broadway in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels several years ago, but he says his playing alongside the mercurial Billy has brought feelings out in him that he finds hard to disguise.
“It’s such a gift to surrender to my awe for this child and watch him dance,” says Jbara, who won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, one of Billy Elliot’s 10 Tonys. “It’s easy to get to that place. I get to take that ride every night and fall in love with that boy. I’m imbued with such amazing pride. I’m feeling it as an actor.” With sentiments like that, it’s no surprise that Billy Elliot tickets are among Broadway’s biggest sellers.
Jbara won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, and he is proud to have been the recipient of one of Billy Elliot’s 10 Tony Awards. Among the acting community is it known that whichever boy actor plays Billy, the inevitable breaking of the voice leads to that young man losing the role. It is a bittersweet commentary on life itself, and Jbara has now worked with 10 actors who have alternated as Billy. This includes the original three who won a Tony Award in 2009 for Best Actor in a Musical. The expressive-faced Jbara says one of his chief pleasures of performing this Broadway run is that he is often stopped on the street by men – not a common occurrence for a stage production. He puts this down to the fact that Billy Elliot is a powerful father-son story. “And, of course, happy endings are nice,” Jbara says, with a smile…get your Billy Elliot tickets now and experience this brilliant tale from the coal-pits of northeast England to the bright lights of London and Broadway!
“Billy Elliot: Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” – Elton John
May 13, 2010
- Image via Wikipedia
Many say that Billy Elliot tickets are selling so fast because of the story. Others say Elton John’s musical score is the driving force behind the Billy Elliot schedule and its amazing success on Broadway, and still others will tell you that the dance routines and cast are the reason. The truth is that Billy Elliot tickets are selling so well because of a combination of all these things. The production is such a perfect fit for the company, the technical crew, the writers and director, that Elton John’s score was like a vast pile of elegant icing on a huge layered cake. But how did Elton John become involved in the Billy Elliot story?
It goes back to the time Elton made a surprise visit to a screening room while at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. Elton made his way there unannounced, with no security staff or special plans, with his partner, David Furnish. Showing that night was a film made by theatre director Stephen Daldry. it was a film about an unlikely lad who dreamed of being a dancer, and it was set in the even more unlikely northeast England, where flat caps, coal-mining and heavy consumption of Newcastle Brown Ale were the order of the day, not pirouetting and prancing.
Daldry had called the film “Dancer” and the main character had been named Billy Elliot by screenwriter Lee Hall. Daldry’s film was set in 1984, at a time when the British coal mining industry was experiencing huge industrial unrest; the miners were on strike across the country and mounted police struggled to control riotious outbreaks of violence whenever “scabs” (men who wanted to work through the strike) tried to cross picket lines. Margaret Thatcher was in power at the time, hated by the blue-collar north, loved by the wealthy in the south, and the mood in Billy’s community was bleak to say the least. As Thatcher fought to destroy the National Union of Mineworkers with police horses, dogs and truncheons, Billy’s father and brother resisted them every day, and much blood was shed. As a backdrop to this dour mayhem the music is relentless, and it is the music of the people: The Jam, The Clash, T. Rex, etc, the kind of glam, rebellious stuff that Britain was full of back in the 70s and 80s.
Apparently, when Elton saw the film it sent him into emotional paroxysms, as he related Billy’s struggles to his own in life, especially his relationship with his father. Elton remembered using music as his escape in life, in the same way Billy used dance, and it moved him to tears. Elton’s partner, David Furnish, could only wonder how he would smuggle Elton John out of there breaking his heart crying at this epic story!
This was the first encounter Elton John had with Billy Elliot, and it is how Elton’s “Billy Elliot the Musical,” score came to be introduced to London’s West End in 2005. Could Elton have dreamed that Billy Elliot tickets would still be selling in the West End, and now on Broadway, and in Chicago?! The Billy Elliot story is one that touches everyone in different ways, and this is the real reason that tickets to Billy Elliot are in such huge demand. It makes no difference who you are, you will be moved by this awesome tale of the extraordinary boy with the talent and the desire to make a dream come true.
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