Billy Elliot Tickets : It Has Won A Record-tying Seven Helpmann Awards In Australia

Billy Elliot the Musical is a comedy musical based on the 2000 film Billy Elliot. The music is by Sir Elton John, and book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay. The plot revolves around motherless Billy, who trades boxing gloves for ballet shoes.

The story of his personal struggle and fulfillment are balanced against a counter-story of family and community strife caused by the UK miners' strike in County Durham, in North Eastern England. Hall's screenplay was inspired in part by A. J. Cronin's novel, The Stars Look Down, to which the musical's opening song pays homage.

The musical premiered in London's West End in 2005 and was nominated for nine Laurence Olivier Awards, winning four including Best New Musical. The production is still running strongly, and its success led to productions in Australia, on Broadway and elsewhere. In New York, it won ten Tony Awards and ten Drama Desk Awards, including, in each case, best musical. It has also won numerous awards in Australia including a record-tying seven Helpmann Awards.The musical opened in Chicago on 18 March 2010 in previews, officially on 11 April, at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre for an extended run. This is the start of the North American multi-city tour.

According to producer Eric Fellner, however, the musical "will be here until such time as Chicago says 'go away'. ... We can only do one production at once," and other North American cities will have to wait until the Chicago production runs its course.Emily Skinner plays Mrs. Wilkinson, and the cast features Tommy Batchelor, Giuseppe Bausilio, Cesar Corrales and John Peter (J.P.) Viernes alternating as Billy.The production closed early on 28 November 2010 and transferred to Toronto. The show ran for 37 weeks and 288 performances.

The production had been slated to run through the middle of January 2011. The early closing had been rumored among cast and crew for several weeks. Weekday attendance had been especially poor in recent weeks, despite heavily discounted tickets. Audience members at the Oriental Theatre in the Loop had reported an almost-empty balcony at some shows, and weekday attendance had been as low as 900 or so people. December sales are typically strong, so the decision to close then indicated that things were not expected to pick up.

The Canadian premiere of the show opened on 1 February 2011 at the Canon Theatre in Toronto, Canada. It was originally scheduled for 28 January 2011. The show received mixed reviews, the most critical being one published in the National Post: "The signal achievement of Billy Elliot The Musical is to be even phonier than the movie it is based on."The show will premiere on the West Coast at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, California with performances beginning 27 June to 17 September 2011.

A second tour opened at the Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, North Carolina on 30 October 2010. Although this is the first production of the musical to tour the United States and Canada in a "touring" manner, this is still considered to be the Second National Tour.Faith Prince plays Mrs. Wilkinson, and the title role is shared by Giuseppe Bausilio, Michael Dameski, Kylend Hetherington, Lex Ishimoto and Daniel Russell. The cast also includes Rich Hebert (Dad), Patti Perkins (Grandma), Jeff Kready (Tony), Joel Blum (George), Griffin Birney and Jacob Zelonky (Michael), Regan Haley (Tracey), and Rachel Mracna (Debbie).

The musical opened in Seoul on 10 August 2010 in previews, officially on 14 August, at the LG Arts Center, becoming the first non-English speaking Billy Elliot's production, starring Billys Jin-Ho Jung, Ji-Myeong Lee, Sunu Lim, Se-Yong Kim and Junhyung Kim.