Billy Elliot: The Musical is a coming-of-age stage musical based on the 2000 film of the same name. The music is by Elton John, and the book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay. The plot revolves around Billy, a motherless British boy who begins taking ballet lessons. The story of his personal struggle and fulfillment are balanced against a counter-story of family and community strife caused by the 1984–85 UK miners' strike in County Durham, in North East England. Hall's screenplay was inspired in part by A. J. Cronin's 1935 novel about a miners' strike, The Stars Look Down, to which the musical's opening song pays homage.
Five years of West End Billys performing in the 5th Birthday Show on 31 March 2010
Billy Elliot advertisement on a Routemaster bus in London, 2007
Cesar Corrales in a scene from the Chicago production.
Billy Elliot sign in West End
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals.
The Black Crook was a hit musical on Broadway in 1866.
A Gaiety Girl (1893) was one of the first hit musicals.
George Gershwin
Chinese opera performers