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Daldry's Billy Elliot opens in New York
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent13 Nov 2008
IT IS more than a decade since Lee Hall first wrote the script and eight years since the quirky low-budget film of Billy Elliot became a surprise international hit, grossing $100 million.
Then three years ago, Sir Elton John's stage musical version of the fictional miner's son who dreams of being a ballet dancer became one of London's hottest tickets. Tonight the story faces its biggest challenge to date: Billy is opening on Broadway.
The production, said to have cost $20 million to stage, has already taken nearly as much in advance sales. Last week's box office was $1,074,139, making it the second highest grossing show in New York, just behind the mega-hit Wicked.
But the team behind the venture - led by Stephen Daldry, the ex-Royal Court boss who directed both the film and stage show - know that even in a city currently in thrall to British productions, Billy Elliot is a risk.
Although all the cast bar Haydn Gwynne are American, they are performing with north-eastern accents. The swearing also remains fruity in a country where taking God's name in vain induces intakes of breath.
Also, nothing of the politics of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's clash with the miners led by Arthur Scargill has been simplified for New York audiences. Daldry said: "I'm reluctant to change it, to destroy the authenticity. But I know the audiences are saying, 'We don't know what they are saying'." Only when the first reviews arrive will they discover whether the calculation has paid off.
Billy Elliot is also opening in another strong period for Brits on Broadway with many shows involving London producers such as Sonia Friedman and Matthew Byam Shaw. The Royal Court's production of The Seagull and the transferred Equus are both taking more than $500,000 a week at the box office and Boeing-Boeing recouped its entire $2.65 million investment in September, five months after opening.
British talent has been recruited for a host of other productions with more scheduled for the new year. David Grindley, who was responsible for the West End's Journey's End, is due to direct both a romantic cliffhanger, The American Plan by Richard Greenberg, and Christopher Hampton's The Philanthropist starring Matthew Broderick. Ian Rickson, another former Royal Court artistic director, is directing Mary-Louise Parker in Hedda Gabler in January and Anthony Page is tackling Waiting For Godot with Nathan Lane in April.
At The Seagull last night, it was clear that, for many, the pulling power of actress Kristin Scott Thomas was the big draw. Cynthia Cooke, 69, a retired doctor from Philadelphia, professed herself a fan of British productions. "I love British theatre. I don't think there are that many good American stage actors," she said.
Serge Rakhlin, 65, a Russian journalist who has lived in the US for nearly 30 years, said: "I love the British theatrical school. I still remember seeing Glenda Jackson in Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf which was one of my first theatrical experiences in America."
