From Screen to Stage

 

Following the premiere of Billy Elliot at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, a sobbing Elton John, who by chance happened to be at the screening, had to be helped from the theater.

“It touched me so much,” he said. “The story is very similar to mine: Trying to be something out of the ordinary. Having a talent and wanting to break free from what your parents want you to do. Wanting approval from your father, especially when your father doesn’t approve of the profession you’ve chosen.” The five-time Grammy Award® winner, Kennedy Center honoree and Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Famer was so moved and so inspired by the movie that he immediately envisioned the piece as a stage musical.

Billy Elliot is the story of an adolescent who discovers he has talent and passion for ballet, and pursues it despite the vehement objections of his father and the derision of his community, a coal-mining village in Northern England. Intertwined with Billy’s journey is the unfolding of the 1984 coal miners’ strike in Great Britain, an event so devastating that the repercussions are still felt to this day.

To learn more about Billy Elliot, please visit SCFTA.org.