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Initial Casting Announced for Broadway's Billy Elliot

Elton John with (left to right) Trent Kowalik, Kiril Kulish, and David Alvarez (© Tristan Fuge)

Based on the 2000 film of the same name, the show tells the tale of a young boy with a dream of being a dancer. The Broadway production will reunite the original London creative team of Stephen Daldry (director), Elton John (music), and Lee Hall (book and lyrics) and will feature choreography by Peter Darling, scenic design by Ian MacNeil, costume design by Nicky Gillibrand, lighting design by Rick Fisher, sound design by Paul Arditti, and musical supervisions and orchestrations by Martin Koch.

Over 1,500 young men audition for the roles in the U.S. "We needed to find people who could do ballet, tap, contemporary, acrobatics, sing an Elton John ballad, and have charisma," Daldry told members of the press and an invited audience at a special event on April 22. "Playing Billy is an extraordinary mountain to climb. It's like playing Hamlet and running a marathon at the same time."

John says that after he first saw the film at the Cannes Film Festival, his life partner David Furnish suggested turning it into a musical. "The story really mirrored my professional and personal journey," he told the crowd. "My father never approved of my job either, and I still have the letters to prove it. This show was easy to write, and it has turned out to be one of the most joyous events of my career."

Kowalik, who is 13, previously appeared in the London production, and was the youngest American to win the World Irish Dancing Championship at age 11. Alvarez, who is 13, has been studying at American Ballet Theater's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. Kulish, who is 14, is from San Diego and a former United States champion in ballroom dance.

 

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