Billy has a new home!

From today's Chicago Sun Times....
Sir Elton boosts 'Elliot'
THEATER Rocker's star power adds to luster of musical announcement

July 22, 2009

BY HEDY WEISS Theater Critic/hweiss@suntimes.com
Sir Elton John was on hand to help herald the latest Chicago theater news Tuesday afternoon, just hours before he was slated to join his musical buddy Billy Joel for their second arena concert at Wrigley Field. And his message was this: Put away your boxing gloves and pull on your ballet slippers.

"Billy Elliot," the smash-hit London-bred musical that won 10 Tony Awards this spring for its Broadway production -- including the one for best musical -- will arrive at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts/Oriental Theatre for an extended run beginning in March 2010. The Chicago production, which will remain here for as long as the box office supports it, marks the first national touring stop for the show that opened in London in 2005, in Australia in 2007 and on Broadway in 2008.

Based on the popular 2000 film, the show spins the story of an 11-year-old working-class English boy who upends all expectations by pursuing a life in ballet, and who does so at the very moment that a ferocious labor strike by British miners gets under way in the Thatcherite period of 1984. Driven by an emotionally rich (yet very English) score by Elton John, with book and lyrics by Lee Hall (who wrote the screenplay), the musical will once again be directed by Stephen Daldry and choreographed by Peter Darling, both of whom also were responsible for the film.

"Funny I should be here," quipped an ebullient John as he arrived for a news conference dressed in a warmup suit and shades. His devotion to this musical is palpable.

"The show has become such a cornerstone in my life now," said the musician, who recounted how moved he was after seeing the film version of "Billy Elliot" for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival. "In many ways it reflects my own life and my relationship with my dad, who didn't give me much encouragement in music. He was a strict, conservative man who wanted me to be in the military, or a banker.

"But I played piano from the age of 3, listening to Frank Sinatra and Kay Starr [an American jazz star of the 1950s], and then my life was changed by hearing Elvis Presley and Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis.

"The sad thing is that my dad never got to see me perform at the height of my success in the 1970s, and that's why seeing the scene of Billy Elliot in 'Swan Lake' is so affecting. This is not a show about ballet. It's about saying, 'Please give me the chance to do what I really want to do.' And in this story Billy wins, while the miners realize they have lost."

John's fourth musical
This is John's fourth musical in 12 years -- after "Aida" (which had its pre-Broadway tryout in Chicago), "The Lion King" and the ill-fated "Lestat."

"I'm just beginning to learn how to make musicals," said the composer. "I love the process, especially the collaboration. And I think the more I write, the better I get at it."

Eric Fellner, a producer of both the film and musical, confessed that when he first read the screenplay it had all the elements of a commercial disaster.

"It stars a kid, so that means no big-name star; it's set in the north of England, and it's about a boy who wants to become a ballet dancer," he said, smiling. "But it also had heart spilling out of it."

Another producer, John Finn, confessed that if they'd really known how hard it would be to cast the role of Billy, they might have had second thoughts.

"The kid playing that role is never off stage. He must sing, dance and act, and in addition to all that he also must master the northern England accent," Finn noted. "In New York we looked at 2,000 lads over a period of six months. We cast three, and needed to have a fourth as understudy."

Chicago a good starter
Chicago undoubtedly got the nod for the first national touring production for several reasons -- the excellent track record for such shows as "Wicked" and "Jersey Boys" not the least of them.

"Well, we weren't going to start it in Alabama," John said. "And of course this is a very sophisticated city with a great theater audience. The film did well here, I've always enjoyed performing here, and this is where I first got sober 19 years ago."

Casting for the Chicago production will begin in August.

"The training period for the boys varies, depending on how much ballet they've had," Finn said. "I knew nothing about dance until I worked on 'Billy Elliot,' but I've gained so much respect for dancers in the process."

Tickets are currently on sale for groups of 20 or more at (312) 977-1710. The Broadway in Chicago 2010 spring-summer subscription series, which includes "Billy Elliot," will go on sale in September, with single tickets ($28-$100) becoming available in November.