Best News: Billy Elliot will NOT be altered for B'Way- Page 2

[winston89]

Posted: 4/25/08 at 5:28pm

My initial concern with the show is the refrences to the minors strike. I had heard at first that they were going to alter some off the dailouge so that the american audiences could understand it. In other words do what most shows with any historical refrences do which is say the information that is needed to know what is going on in the show.

But, I am glad and suprised at what the reaction is going to be.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/25/08 at 5:55pm

At $ 135 a pop for orchestra seats, this will probably be the first anticipated show we will not see.

The prices went up a lot . In the middle of a recession & with people paying more for basics they are, IMO, crazy. If you want to pay it fine but this is getting beyond ridiculous.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 4/25/08 at 6:29pm

Maybe it would be a good thing to look up on some the English history of the 80s prior to seeing the show. It will help your enjoyment of the show greatly and prevent a lot people just turning up because its 'Billy Elliott' and 'its the big new show we must see'. A large percentage of the young English people seeing the London production are too young to know the details of the period but a little history is presented in front of them and they actually enjoy the history lesson that unfolds on stage! I'd forgotten a lot of the trouble times the UK went thru at the time. Its a very human, moving show.

I wish it all the luck on the Great White Way -its way superior to a lot of stuff we send you!

Updated On: 4/25/08 at 06:29 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/25/08 at 6:43pm

I noticed that ticket price also. Is that the new regular price? I rarely pay full price for a show or pay at all so I have no idea.

Posted: 4/25/08 at 6:49pm

I might be one of the only ones on here who is disappointed the show isn't being altered for Broadway - not because it was hard to understand (and it was damned hard to understand sometimes) but because there is some serious crap in this show. Now let me be one of the first to say that it's one of the best shows I've seen in London. The dancing is magnificent, and I was hooked on everything Billy did. For instance, the song the Grandmother sings has some of the worst staging I've ever seen and it's totally expendable.... and the Northern-London flavor seriously needs to be toned down if even Londoners get lost. Half the time I had no idea what they were saying.
But damn. The heights this show achieved were unparalleled in British musical theatre. At three hours and with a few rough bits, I'd be happy to see this show undergo the knife. But just minor surgery. Many of those moments were too affecting to lose.

[Craig]

Posted: 4/25/08 at 7:43pm

I disagree- loved the grandmother's #

And one of my very faves in the show was "Expressing Yourself"

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 4/25/08 at 8:03pm

Im with you on those 2 numbers Craig. It must be understood that those 2 numbers are steeped in a very British way of performing a musical comedy number. Its a long time since i saw that kind of staging in London. The reaction of the audience tells you that there was nothing wrong with those numbers!

[fairygodmother]

Posted: 4/26/08 at 10:08am

what i'm interested in is how US actors will cope doing geordie (newcastle) accents, something that many UK actors struggle with....

[LeaGirl]

Posted: 4/26/08 at 11:04am

Well since American children have had no trouble doing it in London, I expect they think they'll be able to teach our adults to do it as well.... I even think that the little boy in the press video montage they released for the London production is an American...

Posted: 4/26/08 at 11:27am

Yes, he is! His name is Colin Bates, and he was the first American to play Billy on the West End. He did a very good job!

[Scripps2]

Posted: 4/26/08 at 1:39pm

If you can understand this you'll be fine seeing Billy Elliot...

Geordie: Tekkin the dug fer a waak
English: I'm off to the pub.

(Geordie being the word used to describe the local people and dialect for the part of England in which Billy Elliot is set)

If you don't know what a pub is, don't see Billy Elliot.

Posted: 4/26/08 at 1:41pm

Haha! My favorite is "howay!" I say it all the time.

[yankees1253]

Posted: 4/26/08 at 11:03pm

i have never seen billy elliot before but i am so excited they wont change anything from either london or australia productions.
heres a video of the 3 billys at their introduction:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XmuR-QbByOg

[dramarama2]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 12:10am

"I haven't seen the AUS production, just the Original UK production, so I can't comment specifically. But have you? It seems interesting to say that they improved stuff if you haven't."

Craig - I, being Australian, have seen the AUS production, and the West End production. There are changes, mostly subtle. These include the addition of a new dance/dream sequence, script revisions (eg. Making sense Dialect, political background0, and my favorite - a grittier and more intense "Angry Dance" sequence (I would have thought they'd at least kept that!). There were no changes to the music or lyrics that I recall, aside from the new Angry Dance orchestration.

[StephenSondheimWHOO]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 12:17am

That is brilliant!! I was so scared they were going to ruin it.

[StephenSondheimWHOO]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 12:17am

That is brilliant!! I was so scared they were going to ruin it.

[somuchtodo]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 10:59am

The audition process for the children (Billy, Michael, Debbie) included working with a dialog coach.

[Salene]

Posted: 4/28/08 at 8:40am

Stephen Daldry, award-winning director of Billy Elliot, has defiantly refused to soften the show for Broadway.

Daldry told me how he was asked to cut some of the four-letter words uttered throughout the musical, which begins preview performances in New York on October 1st.

"You start messing with the authenticity of the story, you ruin it," Daldry told me after a presentation that introduced Billy Elliot to New Yorkers.

"They say general things like: 'Can you get rid of the swearing and take out some of the aggression on the picket line scenes?'

"And my answer is to do the opposite," he said, laughing.

http://tinyurl.com/6gavtk

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 4/28/08 at 8:56am

Problem is, families aren't going to be happy when they go to take their child to see the story of a boy who dances the ballet and overcomes the loss of his mum, only to hear words deemed offensive in the US used rather gratuitously.

[bundy5000]

Posted: 7/25/08 at 10:37pm

I already got a ticket to Billy Elliott for Oct 1st. But I was wondering, I have seen advertisements for it, and the poster for Billy Elliott, but they all look child friendly in a way. After I listened to the soundtrack, that turned around for me. Obviously they use language deemed inappropriate for younger children. Believe it or not I have the movie but haven't watched it. I will eventually before the show.

anyways bottom line would a 12-14 yr. audience enjoy it?

Cause i heard it won't be altered for the US which is fine to me but my younger cousins would like to see it.

[winston89]

Posted: 7/25/08 at 10:48pm

The Billy Elliot logo used on Broadway is pretty much the same one used in London. I think the only difference is that you can see the bulidings in black in the letters that say Billy Elliot. However in London they are just red.

I think that this show would be more enjoyed by someone starting as young as thier mid teens. This is just my guess after having seen the movie (which I haven't seen in a VERY long time.) I don't know what kind of audiences it has been getting in London considering the fact that I have never seen it there. So maybe someone who has can be a better judge of all this.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 7/26/08 at 2:41am

This is the best news I have heard! I was so frightened they would dumb it down for American audiences!
I saw it in London and after a brief adjustment period , where my ear clicked into the accents, I had no trouble at all. I went in really knowing nothing about the privatizing of the mines and the strikes but that didn't stop me from understanding the show.
I had a great time, and I was forced to pay attention and I learned a thing or two!
Imagine that!
I am so looking forward to seeing it!

[Salene]

Posted: 7/26/08 at 4:10am

would a 12-14 yr. audience enjoy it?

Yes.

[Chance]

Posted: 7/26/08 at 4:42am

i am confused. If it was so good in london why is it bad that they aren't ****nig with it?

[Salene]

Posted: 7/26/08 at 5:26am

In the West End production the Geordie accent is thickly applied, but director Stephen Daldry and his creative team have decided to give American ears a break when Billy Elliot begins previewing at the Imperial Theatre on October 1.

http://tinyurl.com/6867tz