THEATRE NEWS: BILLY ELLIOT
Musical coming to T.O.

JOHN COULBOURN -QMI Agency
17 Feb'10

Right now, they’re a little short on details, but Mirvish Productions still wants you to know that BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL will be kicking up its heels somewhere in Toronto by this time next year.

The announcement of Billy’s incipient but still nebulous Toronto engagement was made Tuesday at the Panasonic Theatre by David Mirvish, as co-producer Jon Finn, executive producer David Furnish and director Stephen Daldry looked on proudly. Based on the low-budget movie of the same name — made in 2000 for $2.8 million — BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL features music by Elton John, book and lyrics by Lee Hall (who also wrote the movie) and choreography by Peter Darling.

Since opening in London in 2005, the musical has spawned a New York company and an Australian company, with a Chicago company poised to open next month — bringing BILLLY ELLIOT's combined celluloid and stage box-office receipts to somewhere in the neighbourhood of half a billion dollars.

While Mirvish plans to make next year’s BILLY ELLIOT engagement a cornerstone of his 2010-11 subscription season, the remainder of which will be announced soon, he said that further details — such as whether it will feature a touring cast or a homegrown company, and in which of Mirvish’s Toronto theatres it will be staged — have yet to be worked out. Canada has already proven to be fertile ground when it comes to casting the musical, director Daldry said, pointing to the two Canadian boys that have played the title character on Broadway, and a third who will essay the role when the Chicago production opens in four weeks. Canadian Kate Hennig is in the Broadway company as well.

Each production has three young males playing Billy at any given time, and that’s a challenge. First of all, they have to be found — and there’s a team of talent scouts in London and another in North America that do nothing but search for young teens for the role, which Daldry compares to “running an Olympic marathon and playing Hamlet at the same time.” But that’s only half the battle, for then you have to keep them — at an age when puberty looms large. “Some kids can stay in the show for 18 months, and some can stay for six months,” Daldry said. And while he admits it can be frustrating, “It’s one of the joys as well,” he insists.

For Furnish, a Toronto native who married Elton John several years ago, bringing the show to Toronto represents a homecoming of sorts. Toronto, and specifically Mirvish productions, is responsible in no small part, he insists, for “all the fire in my belly that relates to theatre.” And the minute he heard about the potential for a Toronto production, he was onside.

“Of course I was,” he said. “For lots of reasons — for personal reasons and also because of my memories of theatre in this city.”
BILLY ELLIOT won’t be Canada's only opportunity to get up close and personal with John’s music in the coming year. On the heels of their success in transforming Joni Mitchell’s work into dance, the Alberta Ballet has been green-lighted to create a ballet based on John’s body of work that is slated to premiere in May.

While tickets will be available for BILLY ELLIOT as part of the Mirvish subscription season when it is announced, single tickets will go on sale in September.