BILLY ELLIOT planning 'creative changes.'- Page 2

[dramamama611]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 9:43am

They could cut 1/3 or more of those annoying ballet girls and it would be better off! (Their screeching bugged the hell out of me!)

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 10:04am

How long do you think until they make these changes? I need to get out and see the show before they do.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 10:20am

If they cut the line "There's no time for half-assed frolics. Grab the buggers by the bollocks," then I will be supremely angry.

Anyway they're grasping at straws and I predict an exit with the January slaughter.

Edit: I also presume this is the death of "While you were on the picket line we went and F*CKED your missus!" Maybe even all of Solidarity.

Updated On: 9/3/11 at 10:20 AM

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 10:46am

I blame you this for this, America. (On a related note, I also blame you for the Kardashians.)

[GottaHaveAGimmick]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 11:32am

NO!!
Let's take out the swearing in "Goodfellas" and "Casino" while we are at it.
This makes me bloody angry!!

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 11:53am

What a stupid idea.

[willep]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 12:03pm

they've also brought the Tour to a Holt.

STEVE HOLT!?

[mikem]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 2:23pm

In response to the earlier question, the box office gross has dropped markedly this year. In the last pre-Irene week, the show grossed about $730K, which is a big drop from the million-plus gross during the same week the year before. And supposedly the show is fairly expensive to run because of the costs of the "Billy school" training that the new leads get.

Also, on the other board, the allegation was made that three of the original cast members (Greg Jbara, Joel Hatch, and Carole Shelley) are leaving the show tomorrow because the producers did not renew their contracts to save money by hiring cheaper replacements.

Whether or not the show, or any show, should markedly change to try to extend is a different issue, but I think the concerns that Billy Elliot will close if the grosses don't improve are real.

[willep]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 3:36pm

I'm pretty sure Greg Jbara is leaving because after two years, he wants to go back home and be with his wife and kids in LA. He was supposed to leave at the beginning of the summer but they got him to stay through.

[Kad]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 3:43pm

So, what? They're going to put out new advertisements that say "Billy Elliot: Now With Less Cursing and Less Artistic Integrity"?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 3:54pm

“Priscilla,” for one, hopes to do so by having its famous lead producer, Bette Midler, deliver radio ads and put her name on the theater marquee.

Does this mean they're going to start calling it "BETTE MIDLER'S PRISCILLA"?

[little_sally]

Posted: 9/3/11 at 11:07pm

I got an email the other day with a discount code to see Bette Midler's Priscilla.

[gypsy4]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 2:25am

I didn't really mind the changes for the Tour, The F*** word was still intact just taken down a notch. I'm guessing the changes for NY will be the same?

[Skywalker3]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 10:28am

Saw it on thursday, great show! Really loved it..
But the Mezz was pretty empty.. And then I mean REALLY EMPTY!

I just don't thing making any changes now could boost it..

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 9/4/11 at 11:30am

Such a shame. With everything else that kids see and hear these days swear words are absolutely no threat. I feel like this is such an important show for kids to see and I have always taken issue when parents won't bring their kids specifically because of the profanity when I guarantee a lot of those kids are allowed to watch action movies with fighting and death or play video games with the same. In comparison to violence, the profanity in "Billy Elliot" is nothing. Or, parents can actually decide to PARENT and can explain to their children that there is profanity in the show, but that doesn't mean you are allowed to or should use it in real life. The themes and lessons of this show are appropriate and (I feel) extremely important for kids to see, it's sad that some profanity that the kids already know would deter parents from taking their children to this show.

And, shame on the producers for letting these changes be made. I understand the money aspect, I just wish they would find a different way to market other than to change the script.

And, god help me, if they remove the gay undertones, I will have lost all my faith in the producers.

[justafan2]

Posted: 9/7/11 at 12:35pm

I love the script exactly the way it is----I've seen it many times, but will probably stop if they soften it too much. And, I hope they don't take out "hooha" :)
Updated On: 9/7/11 at 12:35 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/7/11 at 3:17pm

By the gay undertones, do you mean the homophobia and presence of a gay supporting character, or do you mean that Billy himself is gay?

I wasn't entirely sure myself if we were supposed to get that the title character is gay or not. On one hand, it made sense, but on the other hand, I feel like in a way having Billy as an explicitly gay character almost cheapens the story's moral by reenforcing the prejudice of the adult characters. The show seems to say "Dancing isn't 'gay...' Dancing is DANCING." If Billy is a young gay boy who wants to dance, he's reduced from a boy wanting to express himself the way his talents lie to a cliche, which undercuts the play's central theme of what is and isn't 'masculine' in a man's world.

Of course, maybe it's intentionally ambiguous that we never really get to see which way Billy leans. You can take his kiss goodbye as a genuine admission of feelings, or as a heartfelt farewell to a friend he knew liked him in a way he couldn't return. Who knows?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/7/11 at 4:08pm

Personally, I'm ambivalent about the curse words. I saw the show in London and Chicago with the words in and I honestly probably wouldn't even notice their absence. I found them neither necessary nor gratuitous. It's not like Avenue Q or Book of Mormon where they play an essential role in the concept of the show. To me, Billy Elliot is more about the story than an attempt at rooting the characters in realism with one or two specific no-no words. Do I think they "need" to be changed? No. Do I think it's an artistic travesty to change them? No. I'd enjoy the show either way. And if sales are dropping and a minor alteration is being made to keep it going that does nothing to alter the plot, staging, score or structure of the piece, I wouldn't consider it a blow to artistic integrity any more than replacing the word "fag" in Company's "You Could Drive a Person Crazy". Perhaps they should take a page from Paulus and retitle the show "Elton John's Billy Elliot" and let Sondheim close it down.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 9/7/11 at 4:21pm

STEVE HOLT!!!

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 9/7/11 at 4:23pm

[mikey2573]

Posted: 9/11/11 at 12:16pm

I believe in the tour, the word in SOLIDARITY was changed to "We went and SHAGGED your missus."
This reminds of two incidents I had to deal with in my role as a third grade teacher. One of my students mentioned that he is not allowed to watch THE SIMPSONS because it is not a good show for kids. A few days later the same kid was talking about a DVD he had watched called BLADE. Hmmmmm.....
I read the book PETER PAN to my students every year. As those familiar with the story may recall, there are several times when Tinker Bell says "You silly ass!" I have never changed that line. A parent came in and complained to me about this last year. I explained to her that is was in the book and I felt that 3rd graders could handle it. (These parents had recently bragged to me how their little girl had read ALL the Harry Potter boos, some of which are VERY dark and where one of the main characters' catch phrases is "Bloody hell!".)
I think some of the wearing in BILLY ELLIOT is unnecessary. Particularly Small Boys' "Fat bastard" line --it comes out of nowhere and is done for a cheap laugh only. I don't think Billy's "F*CKin' HELL!" when he sees Michael in a dress would be less funny if it were changed to "Bloody HELL!" But I think they need to keep the "Oooooohhh SH*T!" that Billy says after he confronts his father and says, "I hate you! You're a BASTARD!"
Sadly, I do think the show will be gone on Jan. 2nd 2013. Here's hoping for a long life in regional and community theaters (which may be another reason why they are cleaning the show up).

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 9/11/11 at 2:30pm

Where the little boy says "Fat bastard" it used to be "wanker." I think that was muchhhh better.

[athtrasna]

Posted: 9/14/11 at 7:54pm

Have seen the show four times in London and heading to the Broadway show next month. Since it was announced that Billy was going to Broadway I was fascinated as to how the language in particular was going to go down.

Part of the magic of Billy is the honesty and accuracy. It's set in traumatic times, a time when language and swearing was one of the ways people let off steam. Censoring this censors the soul of the production.

[justafan2]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 9:27am

When are these changes expected to occur? I have tix to see it again at the end of October---Selfishly, I hope they don't change anything until after that. I really wish they'd leave it alone---that language, etc., is what gives it reality and earthiness--which was probably the tone in England at that time of history.

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/15/11 at 9:30am

I believe they were implemented last week, when the cast changed.