Billy Elliot’s Dad will have been struggling with his son’s devotion to dancing for a decade by the end of the hit show’s new booking period, which today saw tickets made available for performances until 16 May 2015.
The stage adaptation of the hit film about a northern lad who discovers his feet are made for more than shuffling round a boxing ring first opened at the Victoria Palace theatre in March 2005. Since then the show, which sets its tale of personal triumph over prejudice amid the miner’s strikes of the 1980, has featured 34 boys in the title role, each given their own choreography to fit their own distinct talents.
Across the world – there have been productions of Billy Elliot The Musical staged in Sydney, Melbourne, Chicago, Toronto, Seoul, on Broadway and touring the US – 71 boys have played the unexpected ingénue.
Featuring music by Elton John, the show, which currently stars Anna-Jane Casey as Mrs Wilkinson and Deka Walmsley as Billy’s Dad, has been seen by more than four million people in the West End, more than nine million people worldwide, and, as this latest extension shows, is as popular as ever.