BILLY ELLIOT----THE NEXT BROADWAY HIT?

[keith2]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 2:26am

Does everyone think that BE is going to be the next Broadway hit, causing a huge advance on ticket sales? eg. WICKED and Jersey Boys

Updated On: 10/6/08 at 02:26 AM

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 2:33am

We really have to stop making so many threads about this show.

Yes, most people are expecting it to be the next big Broadway hit.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 2:35am

It's obvious. You could almost bet on it.

[Bobby Maler]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 2:46am

I personally think it's the only new musical opening this year that will recoup. I don't wish ill on any other show, but this economic climate is bleeeaak.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 9:14am

Well, don't forget Shrek. I'm not particularly looking forward to it, but it could become a hot ticket because of the movie. I mean, stupid shows can clean up (think Wicked, Mamma Mia, etc., etc.).

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 9:49am

Give Billy Elliot the Tony right now...it is an awesome show. I have tickets to see it again three more times, and I'm so excited!

[larry64]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 1:54pm

I think Billy Elliot has a year or two at best in NY. The show deals heavily on the political and class systems in the U.K., as well as the miner's strike to such a degree that U.S. auds will be left scratching their heads.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 2:44pm

"The show deals heavily on the political and class systems in the U.K., as well as the miner's strike to such a degree that U.S. auds will be left scratching their heads."

Assuming you're American, I'm not sure your fellow citizens would thank you for implying that they're incapable of understanding this. I think if British audiences (of all social demographic backgrounds) can understand The Deer Hunter, for example, then American audiences shouldn't have any trouble with Billy Elliot.

[JbaraFan1]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 3:06pm

Scripps2, thank you for your confidence in the ability of the American theatre-goer to understand BILLY ELLIOT.

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 4:09pm

Don't underestimate "9 to 5" in this climate. And there are always those spring darkhorses. But I agree that "Billy" looks like the show to beat.

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 4:24pm

I'm very curious about best actor at the Tony's.

They could give all the Billys.
There's Graham Phillips
and Marc Kudisch
and Brian D'Arcy James
then who ever is in West Side Story

[NGD2225]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 4:27pm

HELL NO! Graham will NOT not a TONY nod. Also, I think Marc will be considered featured.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 4:31pm

This production of BILLY ELLIOT does everything but hit you over the head with a frying pan to let the audience understand what's going on.

There's a handbill that's given out with the Playbill, there's a video at the beginning of the show that, as I understand, is longer than it is anywhere else.

You'd have to be dumb, deaf, and blind to "get lost" as to what's going on.

The Margaret Thatcher section got a great response from the audience when I saw it. Updated On: 10/6/08 at 04:31 PM

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 4:32pm

From what I hear, yes it will be I sure hope so. It's amazing.

[avab802]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 5:03pm

"I think Billy Elliot has a year or two at best in NY. The show deals heavily on the political and class systems in the U.K., as well as the miner's strike to such a degree that U.S. auds will be left scratching their heads."

Have you seen the show on Broadway? One would have to be quite dense not to understand what is happening. The video they play at the beginning of the show very clearly explains the situation of the miners and the political climate at the time. There is also an explanation and a short glossary printed on the back of the casting insert in the Playbill.

I actually don't think the show relies too heavily on politics. I would hope that adults know what a strike is, even if they don't know anything about the specific strike that the show deals with. It's all made very clear, in my opinion, and you can sympathize with the miners using only the information given in the show itself.

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 5:07pm

What is this video? Where is the screen?

[larry64]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 5:21pm

"Have you seen the show on Broadway? The video they play at the beginning of the show very clearly explains the situation of the miners and the political climate at the time. There is also an explanation and a short glossary printed on the back of the casting insert in the Playbill."


Yes, I have seen the show on Broadway, and it seems to me that all the extra effort to familiarize the American audiences with the politics of the time, are the producers in "worry" mode.

I would suggest a theatre trip to the U.K. for anyone who insists that American audiences are as sophisticated as the Brits.

PS- I am an American.


Updated On: 10/6/08 at 05:21 PM

[Testing1232]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 6:45pm

<< I mean, stupid shows can clean up (think Wicked, Mamma Mia, etc., etc.). >>

Ed, in your opinion, what makes a show "stupid"?

The fact that you might not have liked it?

[buddharich]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 8:25pm

Haven't most people allready seen the movie before they go see the show?? I didn't necessarily understand all of the politics but I LOVED the movie and am looking forward to this show very much!! (: (I'm seeing it on my birthday! Yay!)

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 8:43pm

Testing (I'm not being nasty, just trying to make my point), it seems that both Wicked and Mamma Mia have made it big time (financially) because the expectation bar is lowered to accommodate even the most non-discrimating of theatregoers. There's nothing wrong with that per se and I applaud any show that has its due success. I was just noting that the quality of those shows is appalling.

As you know,I'm not a theatre "snob" -- I don't expect everything to be a sublime masterpiece -- as should be evidenced by my love of Xanadu, which I saw 14 times. But if it's going to be good light entertainment, let it be -- well, good.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 8:53pm

<< I was just noting that the quality of those shows is appalling. >>

Ed, this is exactly my point. What makes them "appalling"?

That is totally objective. If YOU found them appalling, thats one thing, but you basically called the shows "stupid", along with the people that go to see them. (you dont find that to be nasty at all?)

That, to me, sounds like the exact definition of a theatre snob.

[bwayfan9]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 9:00pm

Seeing the grosses this week showed me proof that it will be.

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 12:26am

Sure looks like it. And from everything I'm hearing and reading, deservedly so!

I cannot wait to see it!

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 10:48am

Okay, testing, for the last time, IN MY OPINION, the quality of the shows in question was appalling. Now, can we go onto somethning else?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 11:08am

I think Billy Elliot has a year or two at best in NY. The show deals heavily on the political and class systems in the U.K., as well as the miner's strike to such a degree that U.S. auds will be left scratching their heads.

Yeah, that must have been why Les Miserables tanked so bad and why the movie of Billy Elliot was practically ignored in the US. When I saw the show in London, I could not make heads or tails of the story whatsoever. Recession? Strike? What the hell are those? Who is this Maggie Thatcher person they were singing about? Totally foreign ideas in the US. Nobody will get it. It completely obliterates the rest of the show to the point that nobody knows who Billy is, what he's doing, or why anyone else is even on the stage.

I would suggest a theatre trip to the U.K. for anyone who insists that American audiences are as sophisticated as the Brits.

Of course! Perhaps I'll catch a performance of the original production of Mamma Mia, or maybe We Will Rock You, Buddy, Dirty Dancing, Eurobeat or Never Forget so that I can learn how just by producing a show in the UK makes it more sophisticated than anything on Broadway.

Please. I am a fan of the West End and I have seen many wonderful shows there, but even I don't pretend that they are immune to schlock. Fame ran for over ten years, if I remember and Starlight Express was a staple in the West End. There are artistically sound works and corny fluff on both sides on the pond. And with all the complaints about how Broadway audiences are being "dumbed down" by the sort of popular entertainment on which Broadway was founded, I'm really looking forward to the rather obvious hit that will be Billy Elliot. It's going to the huge.