This is probably a discussion for another thread, but I seem to remember the hair-color topic coming up before without a definite resolution (regarding the former practice of having several of the dark-haired Billys dye their hair a copper/blonde color). With all the information available here about stripey shirts, maybe someone also has some "inside scoop" on why they dyed the Billys' hair for a time. I remember one of the ideas mentioned was maybe that they wanted Billy to stand out as more of a "golden boy," but I'm not sure if this theory was ever substantiated.KeefyM wrote: I do know one London Billy had his Stripey Top changed because his hair changed colour during his Billy run, i.e. he is naturally brown haired but his hair was dyed blonde and became more blonde during his run and therefore it was decided another Stripey Top Colour would work better with his now blonde hair.
I thought I was going to finally find out the answer to this mystery 2 months ago when I was in London. I happened to be near the theatre where "Mama Mia" is playing - right about the time the performance that night was about to end - so I waited by the stage door to say hi to Leon Cooke when he came out. When he did indeed come out, I said hello and mentioned that I had seen him as Billy Elliot several times "back in the day." He was very nice and stopped to chat, and after a few minutes, the topic of his now-darker hair came up. He said, "Yeah, they dyed it blonde for the show." I replied, "I always wondered why they used to do that." He kind of rolled his eyes and said, "I don't know" . . . . as if he was thinking, "I always wondered why they did that, too."
So I guess that mystery remains unsolved.