Lille, Orchies, and Tournai, France/Belgium

Will "Billy" be staged all over the world? A place to discuss.
We will move posts, if starts, so has own section, like London, New York etc
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thm
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Re: Lille, Orchies, and Tournai, France/Belgium

Post by thm »

Eltonjohn wrote:...The production is being billed as a 'musical comedy' incidentally.
Comédie musical simply is the translation for musical. And although there's a word for theatre play, 'comédie' is used more generally for any kind of theatrical performance.
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Re: Lille, Orchies, and Tournai, France/Belgium

Post by Lola »

http://culturebox.francetvinfo.fr/scene ... par-204666

A new article and - very interesting - a glimpse at the choir/orchestra practice. Sounds like they'll sing the songs in English?
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Re: Tornai, Belgium

Post by Katwoman »

kport wrote:Here is a try:
A young Frasnois (a location within Franche-Comté region in eastern France)) Henri Culot, will perform Billy Elliot in the famous musical, to be performed in Lille in 2015. The dancer,Sandrine Plouvier, (from the city of Tournai, Belgium), is very closely associated with this great Belgian adventure.

Billy Elliot is an English kid of ten years, son of mine workers in the mid-eighties, who, through his strength of conviction, convince his family to allow him to stop boxing courses where his father had enrolled, and to conduct studies in a local school of dance.

Released in 2000, the film was a huge success. The musical "Billy Elliot, the Musical" has been seen since 2005 at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London. In a year, more or less, March 21, 2015, exactly, several artists from the Tournaisis (from Tournai, Belgium) will participate in the two performances scheduled on the stage of the Sebastopol in Lille (in northern France) and maybe to a third in Tournai (nothing is yet arranged).

Billy Elliot (has brought together in) a few months the daily life of artists together under the banner of the Florence, the regional Orchestra of the Pévèle-Mélantois (region in France), based across the Franco-Belgian border. Rehearsals are linked, the choreographies, and partitions (each discipline) are refined. Hubert Gressier, the head of the Florence in which he runs 40 musicians, is at the base of the project. His Orchestra is not afraid of challenges. The latest? The Organization of a historic show staged for telling the Bouvine battle, and the meeting of two hundred singers and musicians around two works by Karl Jenkins (Karl Jenkins famous 'The Armed Man Mass' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAg2BRfjUE4 ). This time, it will be to gather around a single project of the singers, chorus, dancers and musicians. He did not know the existence of this English musical before 2012. "Not before I flipped through the pages of a program left on a table, during a weekend in Bonn", recalls the head of music who had loved the film. The spark having been sprung, there remained the need to convince its staff, and to find someone to assist him at the level of the choreography. "Chance made me meet Sandrine (Patil) a year more or less ago via someone who frequented his tap dancing classes in Tournai. We could talk about the project, and it became known that it was going to stick together. "

150 artists are involved.

The choreographer and dancer from Tournai has given 100% to the project. Among the choice of actors and dancers to accompany him in his long-term undertaking, that of Billy Elliot naturally fell into the role: Henri Culot, a 12-year-old resident of Frasnes, from Péruwelz (Péruwelz is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut) who dances in Tournai. "I give him a short audition. '' I immediately knew that he had all the advantages to hold the role.

(The role requires him to) "Dance and much more". Henri had practiced tap dance since he was five years old. He also likes contemporary dance, jazz and classical techniques. Thirteen hours per week he practices, plus now the hours of rehearsal for Billy Elliot. Henry does not ask too many questions. Passion is enough for him: he has the stage and dance in his skin. "I have not yet seen the film, I'll do it soon," he said. "In recent weeks, I will learn to better train my voice and sing my best for the role. Because not only I do I dance, but I have to act just like the French theatres, and I will sing in English.

The eleven months until the performances are not too many. "We are engaged with amateur artists and volunteers, but we want to achieve a level of excellence. We want to shine to the sight of dancing to the orchestration, the scenery and the story; everybody's work is demanding. The show will last two hours thirty minutes", says Hubert Gressier and Sandrine Plouvier. 150 people are affected by the project, including forty musicians, fifty singers, fifty dancers, a dozen of actors... Music (written by Elton John) was re-orchestrated for the occasion by Hubert Gressier. The staging is inspired by the English musical, but Sandrine Plouvier stood out from what is done in London, with new choreography. "To take account of our specificities of our dancers, the pace of rehearsals...". "As scenes are very long, between six and eight minutes on average, it takes much work to keep intact the energy and expression of interpreters.
(note: I have seen it spelled Tornai and Tournai.)

It's very difficult to translate journalistic French because the style used is very formal and ornate. Well done Kport, and thanks!

As far as the spelling of Tournai is concerned, I had never seen it without the letter u, so I can only assume that what you saw was a misprint! Just to check, I googled "Tornai" and all that came up was Pnina Tornai, a wedding dress designer!
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thm
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Re: Lille, Orchies, and Tournai, France/Belgium

Post by thm »

The French/Belgian production is past. I regret not to have seen it. Here are some pictures that give an impression about how they've done it:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/billyelliot-spectacle/
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Re: Lille, Orchies, and Tournai, France/Belgium

Post by angelenroute »

thm wrote:The French/Belgian production is past. I regret not to have seen it. Here are some pictures that give an impression about how they've done it:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/billyelliot-spectacle/
I think this is the first time I've ever seen Mrs. Wilkinson on top of the piano! :D Great photos, thanks for finding and sharing them here!

Sean

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Re: Lille, Orchies, and Tournai, France/Belgium

Post by ERinVA »

Thanks for finding those photos, thm. I am sorry that I didn't post about the production on our twitter when it opened, but I will post the link to the photos. It is getting quite challenging to keep up with the dates for all the productions. I guess that is the downside of the upside. ;) :D
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Re: Lille, Orchies, and Tournai, France/Belgium

Post by kport »

Wow - that one completely passed by without notice!

Here is an interesting article/video that may not have been seen before.

http://www.notele.be/list50-la-culture- ... lille.html

'The young dancer frasnois Henri Culot will play Billy Elliot on the stage of Sebastopol in Lille

They are 150 amateurs originating in Lille and Tournai , and they decided to set up a gigantic project : adapt the Billy Elliot musical for the play on the Sebastopol theater in Lille. Released in 2000 , the film was a huge success. The London musical "Billy Elliot the Musical " still showing , and tells the moving story of young Billy , 11, who , against the advice of his family miners became principal dancer. The spectacle of the choreography was entrusted to Tournai Sandrine Plouffe and Billy hero interpreted by frasnois Henri Culot. Anna Lawan and Jugurtha Sahraoui attended different stages of work to restore you the atmosphere of this crazy adventure .'

Note: Le Frasnois is a commune in the Jura department in Franche-Comté in eastern France. 'Frasnois' indicates a native of that region.
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thm
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Re: Lille, Orchies, and Tournai, France/Belgium

Post by thm »

Just for the record :
Billy : Henri Culot
Michael : Thibaut Cornez

Just browsed through all the many pictures (an excellent photographer btw.) and found this https://flic.kr/p/rwjxQA - young grandma in Grandma's Song?!

Few other things I noticed and found interesting:
A real boxing ring / the coach rather young.
The Letter : Dead Mum as a shadow behind a canvas - a different approach to emphasise she's dead/only a reflection in Billy's mind.
Four Kids in Express
The scenery very simple, which is lesser or least important as long as the story is told in compelling and captivating way, so the audience is not losing focus from the acting and singing and dancing. More like traditional theatre with adumbrative objects, locations etc.
(If you can tell me the shape of the leftmost cup inside the upper cupboard in the kitchen, you must have been extremely bored. ;) )
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