Around this time next year, Billy Elliot will be tap-dancing, pirouetting, back-flipping and flying (with the help of wires) in Toronto.
David Mirvish announced Tuesday the Canadian debut of Billy Elliot: The Musical, featuring music by Sir Elton John and based on a British film about a miner’s son who wants to be a ballet dancer. The production won 10 Tony Awards last year after successful runs on Broadway and in England and Australia.
"I’m intensely proud to be part of the team that is bringing the show to Toronto," executive producer David Furnish, John’s partner of 16 years, said. "My family had subscriptions to the Royal Alexander Theatre. . . . All of the fire in my belly that relates to theatre, I learned from this town."
In May 1999, John and Furnish attended the screening of the film at the Cannes Film Festival.
"Elton was a working-class boy like Billy. . . . He wanted to be a rock ‘n’ roll star, and his father wanted him to be an accountant. At the end of the film, when Billy’s father gets on board, Elton was overcome, because his father never backed him," Furnish said.
"He was literally in uncontrollable tears. We snuck him out the back door of the cinema."
Mirvish said he has been trying to bring the show to Canada since seeing it at the London previews in 2005, when it also moved him to tears.
"We had long discussions about us being the gateway into North America, but it was a very complex show to do," he said. "They were in the early stages of finding more Billies. . . . They search all over the world for their Billies."
At the time, it would have cost $5 million to open a training facility for the youths, Mirvish said.
"It is like finding a needle in a haystack," Stephen Daldry, the director of the original film and the musical, told reporters assembled for the news conference at the Panasonic Theatre.
"No child comes with all skills, extraordinary tap-dancing skills, gymnastics, ballet, singing and able to do a North Eastern accent. . . . I’d liken the part to running an Olympic marathon and playing Hamlet at the same time."
The production team has auditioned thousands of young actors, and three Canadians have performed the coveted title role, including Montrealer David Alvarez, who played Billy Elliot on Broadway and won a Tony Award for best acting.
"There is something extraordinary about the children here," Daldry said. "It’s due undoubtedly to the National Ballet School and the amount of ballet training, but there’s something about the determination and the tenacity and the support that they are getting in this country that has allowed us to cast possibly more Canadian children than from anywhere else in the world."
The chosen ones train for about a year. The show runs "a boarding school" for children in London and New York is home to another training facility for prospective Billies performing in North America.
Billies also have a short shelf life, and you can’t predict their expiration dates. The boys must be between 11 and 14.
Their voices could break or they could have growth spurts. Also, the training builds muscle, so they could suddenly appear as strapping men.
"Unfortunately, they have a limited life with the show, which is between six months to a year," producer John Finn said. "We’re constantly starting over. We’re endlessly searching."
Mirvish said many of the details have yet to be determined. It will premiere in February 2011, but he doesn’t know for how long. The cast has yet to be decided, Chicago will stage the musical next month.
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