Lee Hall News

The story of a boy who stumbles out of the boxing ring and into a ballet class, Billy Elliot is generally regarded as family fare; still, school groups hesitate to choose the show for their students, according to producer Eric Fellner.

ACT -A Contemporary Theatre announces its 2012 Mainstage play season-including three World Premieres and two Northwest Premieres - along with a house filled with new presentations from The Central Heating Lab at ACT, The Young Playwrights Program, and The Hansberry Project at ACT, several of which will take place in the new 49-seat Eulalie Scandiuzzi Space located just a few steps away from the Bullitt Cabaret.

On Saturday, September 17th Billy Elliot the Musical will hold its second annual open call for Ballet Girls at the Broadhurst Theatre (235 W 44th St). Sign up begins at 10am. Billy Elliot is on the lookout for dancers with strong tap skills from 8-12 years old to shine as Billy Elliot's Ballet Girls. The production is seeking a variety of shapes and sizes (tiny, chubby, lanky, quirky, etc) with expressive character and lots of personality - not your traditional ballerina.

13 year old Adam Vesperman from Seattle, USA, made his West End stage debut as Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre, becoming the twenty-seventh boy to play the title role in the hit west end show Billy Elliot The Musical.

Casting has been announced for the forthcoming West End production of Lee Hall's The Pitmen Painters, presented by Bill Kenwright. The climax of an extraordinary journey, which started at Newcastle's Live Theatre and continued on to the National, Broadway, and all round the UK, The Pitmen Painters is highly amusing, deeply moving and always entertaining as it examines the lives of a group of ordinary men who do extraordinary things.

TimeLine Theatre Company, named the nation's theater 'Company of the Year' for 2010 by Terry Teachout in The Wall Street Journal and 'one of the Chicago theater's most impressive growth stories' by Chris Jones in the Chicago Tribune, announces its four-play 2011-12 season

Palm Beach Dramaworks Announces 2011-12 Season 'All My Sons,' 'The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds,' 'The Pitmen Painters,' ‘'Master Harold'...and the boys' & 'Proof' 12th Anniversary Season Will Begin November 12th at their New Theatre on Clematis Street

Mad Cow Theatre announces its 15th anniversary season of live, professional theatre in the Heart of Downtown Orlando.

The producers of BILLY ELLIOT on Broadway announced today that Daniel Jenkins, Katherine McGrath and William Youmans will join the cast of the 10-time Tony Award winning Billy Elliot the Musical in the roles of ‘Dad,' ‘Grandma,' and ‘George,' respectively. Current ‘Dad,' Tony winner Gregory Jbara, ‘Grandma,' Tony nominee Carole Shelley and ‘George,' Joel Hatch will play their final performance Sunday, September 4, 2011 at 7:30pm. Jenkins', McGrath, and Youmans' first performance is scheduled for Tuesday, September 6 at 7:00pm.

The winner of the 2009 Tony Award for Best Musical (plus nine other Tonys) Billy Elliot the Musical will have you reaching for the ballet barre - or at least reaching out for your own dreams again if you've happened to set them aside. Playing now through September 17th, Billy Elliot is nothing short of amazing.

Palm Beach Dramaworks Announces 2011-12 Season 'All My Sons,' 'The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds,' 'The Pitmen Painters,' ‘'Master Harold'...and the boys' & 'Proof' 12th Anniversary Season Will Begin November 12th at their New Theatre on Clematis Street

Palm Beach Dramaworks Announces 2011-12 Season 'All My Sons,' 'The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds,' 'The Pitmen Painters,' ‘'Master Harold'...and the boys' & 'Proof' 12th Anniversary Season Will Begin November 12th at their New Theatre on Clematis Street

Billy Elliot has been playing to Toronto audiences since March, and sadly will be ending its very successful run on September 3rd. Recently the show welcomed some Canadian musical theatre veterans to the roles of Billy's Dad and brother. BWW was on hand to speak with Jake Epstein about what the journey has been like for him.

Billy Elliot the Musical today announced a new performance schedule. Beginning September 5, the show will now play Tuesday at 7pm, Thursday - Sunday at 7:30pm, Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday at 2pm; dark Mondays.

Billy Elliot has been electrifying Toronto audiences since it opened in March, and recently saw the addition of some new cast members as Toronto actors David Keeley and Jake Epstein joined the show in the roles of Billy's father and brother respectively. David Keeley, most recently seen as Dennis in the Toronto production of Rock of Ages, sat down to talk to BWW about the challenges associated with coming into the production after its been up and running for so long, and the differences between Billy Elliot and Rock of Ages.

Today 25 July 2011, in the production's seventh year in the West End, 13 year old Adam Vesperman from Seattle, USA, will make his West End stage debut as Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre, becoming the twenty-seventh boy to play the title role in the hit west end show Billy Elliot The Musical.

Manhattan Theatre Club has just announced that Tony and Emmy Award winner Cynthia Nixon will return to MTC to star in the Broadway premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play WIT by Margaret Edson, directed by MTC's award-winning Artistic Director Lynne Meadow. The limited engagement of WIT will begin previews Thursday, January 5, 2012 and open Thursday, January 26, 2012 at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

Billy Elliot the Musical is currently in San Francisco at the Orpheum Theatre (1192 Market Street at 8th). This multi-award winning smash hit musical concludes the 2010- 2011 Best of Broadway series under the direction of Carole Shorenstein Hays. Get to know the five boys that play Billy Elliot in the touring version of Billy Elliot in the video below, and check out photos of the rest of the cast from the production!