Patti Perkins News

Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films Old Vic Productions and NETworks Presentations, LLC bring the multi-award-winning Billy Elliot the Musical to Segerstrom Center for the Arts from April 16 - 28, 2013. Based on the international smash-hit film and featuring music by Elton John, book and lyrics by Lee Hall, choreography by Peter Darling and direction by Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot the Musical has earned critical acclaim around the world and was the winner of ten 2009 Tony Awards including Best Musical.

Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films Old Vic Productions and NETworks Presentations, LLC bring the multi-award-winning Billy Elliot the Musical to Segerstrom Center for the Arts from April 16 - 28, 2013. Based on the international smash-hit film and featuring music by Elton John, book and lyrics by Lee Hall, choreography by Peter Darling and direction by Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot the Musical has earned critical acclaim around the world and was the winner of ten 2009 Tony Awards including Best Musical.

When a show is as acclaimed as BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL, the worldwide megahit that won 10 Tony Awards, audience expectations are high to say the least. Mine were. And no matter how high my expectations can get, many a show surpasses them with ease. BILLY ELLIOT isn't one of those shows. Despite the incredibly talented cast of the national tour, now playing Austin's Bass Concert Hall, BILLY ELLIOT is wobbly on its feet due to the numerous missteps of its creative team.

BILLY ELLOIT has been playing around the U.S. to exuberant audiences. Janet Dickinson, who joined the tour in June of 2012, shares with Broadway World her experiences and knowledge as BILLY ELLIOT prepares to come to Austin, Texas from December 11- 16, 2012 at the Bass Concert Hall.

Billy Elliot the winner of 10 Tony Awards in 2009 has made its way to the Orpheum Theatre in Omaha. Knowing very little about this show, I was hesitant as to what I might think about it. I knew the general story behind the show and I knew that it had won several Tony Awards while on Broadway, I even lived in New York City the majority of its Broadway run, but never did I have any desire to see it. Boy was I wrong! Now that I have seen this wonderful show I am kicking myself for not having given it the chance in New York but at the same time I am happy to say that I can now check it off my list and I will forever remember this phenomenal cast and their performance.

Don't miss the short-run production of BILLY ELLIOT, as its electric, razzle-dazzle spirit leaps and soars across St. Paul's ORDWAY CENTER stage.

Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films Old Vic Productions and NETworks Presentations, LLC bring the multi-award-winning "Billy Elliot the Musical" to the Ordway stage in Saint Paul for a one-week run opening tonight, October 9.

Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films Old Vic Productions and NETworks Presentations, LLC bring the multi-award-winning "Billy Elliot the Musical" to the Ordway stage in Saint Paul for a one-week run opening October 9.

National tour of Broadway's Tony Award-winning 'Billy Elliot' retains all the power and punch of the original

Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films, Old Vic Productions and NETworks Presentations, LLC bring the multi-award-winning Billy Elliot the Musical to the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center from June 19 to June 24.

Charming and unabashedly buoyant, BILLY ELLIOT--which danced away with 10 fairly well-deserved Tony Award wins including Best Musical back in 2009--is a smile-inducing, pleasingly-staged musical based on the 2000 film. The stage musical version's national tour has finally stopped in Los Angeles for a five-week engagement at the Pantages Theatre through May 13.

blurbThe U.S. National Tour of the 2009 Tony Award winning musical BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL officially opened in Los Angeles April 12, 2012 at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood for a limited 5 week engagement through May 13.

In 1984 when Northern English coal miners went on strike in defiance of Margaret Thatcher's announcement to dissolve the unions, there was little hope for the future. Prospects were dim for kids like Billy Elliot who would be expected to enter the family business like his dad and his dad before him and on down the family lineage. Within 10 years, there would be no jobs, and where would Billy go, what would he do? Fortunately, this 11 year-old had unstoppable dreams that would perhaps take him far, if only he could defeat the tremendous odds and get his dad to agree to an audition in London for the Royal Academy - ballet. Since 2000, when the film Billy Elliot won the hearts of the entire world, there came a musical stage version - in 2005 on the West End and 2008 on Broadway, winning 10 Tony Awards. The stage version was as successful as the movie, mainly because the screenwriter Lee Hall and director Stephen Daldry stayed with the project. Billy Elliot has universal appeal for kids with artistic talent, and speaks to the young at heart in all of us. Finally Billy is in LA at the Pantages through May 13 only, with a sensational cast that will have you standing, cheering and singing its praises for years to come.

I was one of the lucky ones who had the chance to see Billy Elliot: The Musical on Broadway before it closed on January 8, 2012. Although this scaled-down NETworks version may lose some of its grandiose sets and sparkle, Billy Elliot still transmits enough electricity to power all of Columbus' Palace Theatre.

The stage continues to mine the movies for product, and sometimes it strikes gold (High Fidelity-although not hugely successful was, for me a better musical than a movie) and sometimes it strikes tin. The hugely acclaimed and multi-awarded BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL falls into the latter category, taking a gloriously fine and moving film and turning it into a bloated, tuneless production that's only saved by the winning performance of its lead (which rotates between four young lads) and some dazzling choreography Unfortunately, it tries too hard to cram into far too many plot elements, clocking in at almost three hours. And, it features a legendary pop tunesmith's worst work to date, leaving its audience with nary a hummable song in its score. It's a real shame because there are absolutely electric moments to be found here and there. But, too often, what worked on the big screen doesn't make the transition to the stage in smooth fashion.

NETworks Presentations, Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films and Old Vic Productions bring the 2009 Tony Award-winning Best Musical Billy Elliot the Musical to St. Louis' Fabulous Fox Theatre from November 1-13. Based on the international smash-hit film and featuring music by Elton John, book and lyrics by Lee Hall, choreography by Peter Darling and direction by Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot the Musical has earned critical acclaim on Broadway including 10 Tony Awards.