Billy Ethnicities

[atreyu]

With the departure of Alex Ko and arrival of Tade Biesinger this past week, I believe we have for the very first time for BETM on Broadway no minority Billys among the current actors playing the title role. As one minority voice, I just want to say:
"I couldn't give a monkey's cuss; I couldn't give a fig."

Each of the current Billys deserve to be there (admitting I have not yet seen Tade, but do not hear of any reason why it would be any different with him) and if all four actors happen to be white, so what. Being that there have been numerous Billys on Broadway that have been minorities, it's clear enough to me that the producers are colorblind. If that had not been the case . . . well, we're probably better off not getting too deep into the hypothetical.

So I will merely note this fact for posterity and see what other opinions get expressed here.

[ERinVA]

In my opinion, just as it shouldn't make a difference whether a Billy is not white, neither should it make a difference if he is. The fact at any given time whether a particular production has a Billy or Billys on its roster who are not white, it seems to me, is simply a matter of who is ready to go on next.

[StevenKing]

For now they are all on the Tour or in Toronto...I'm sure it's just random, it's been awhile since Lomdon has had a minority but considering the quality of the ones they have had in the past I'm Sure that's just random too:) Yes some commenters can't comprehend color blindness in theater( took me listening to first line from Matthew to accept that) but owell...I doubt anyone will complain about the opposite though, no one will tend to notice a LACK of different ethnicity within the family itself while a few notice the opposite with most not caring.

[ERinVA]

Interesting comment about the "token blond." For a while in London, the company seemed rather obsessed with the idea that Billy's hair should be blond and Michael's should be dark--so much so that they turned Leon Cooke into a sort of blond, even though his natural hair color is almost black. They have highlighted the hair of many, many Billys, including (but not limited to) James Lomas, Liam Mower, Corey Snide, and Tanner Pfluger, to name a few. Of course they couldn't do that with Layton's or Matthew's hair, and eventually they seem to have caught on to the fact that a dark haired Billy is perfectly okay, so they left Trent's and Oliver Taylor's hair alone.

[accessmenj]

More important than the fact that Billy Elliot The Musical does not discriminate towards or against any ethnicity, it does not descriminate against any social or economic group. The Billy camps and training offered for free allow many boys from families who can not afford the best training to receive professional instruction.
A Canadian-Cuban Billy, whose parents own a dance school, probably does not need BETM as much as a Billy of any ethnicity whose family does not have the connections or money for proper training.

[Todd]

Totally random. Ty didn't become a Billy in Toronto cause we needed a token blonde. He got the job cause he's out of this world, just like the rest. They find the most talented and always have. Of that, I'm certain.

I would agree. Like Ellen said, I think it just happens to be whichever Billy is ready and trained up to go on next. I would guess it's just a coincidence that most of the minority Billys happen to be in the Toronto production at the moment, and the London Billys seem to be mostly blonde-haired lately.

I do think it's probably more likely that the London production will continue to have fewer Billys who are minorities than in the Broadway show, U.S. tour, or Toronto because of the simple fact that the U.S. (and maybe Canada . . .not for sure) have a higher percentage of non-white population than does Britain. Thus, the potential Billy candidates from America and Canada would be more likely to be non-white than in Britain.

I imagine the producers do pay attention to where the Billys come from when assigning them to a particular production. For example, all the Billys who are from New York have ended up in the Broadway production as opposed to the national tours. And all the ones from Canada - except for David Alvarez who came along too early to go to Toronto - have ended up in the Toronto production.

[cws8998]

I'm forced to comment somewhat on this subject as it is an issue I ran into quite frequently during my numerous trips to the Oriental, and my extensive contributions to the Ticketmaster's site during BETM's run in Chicago. I read through hundreds of reviews on Ticketmaster and had an occasional discussion with patrons around me regarding the Asian Ethnicities of two of our performers both of whom are now adoring the Canon stage in Toronto.

You can imagine how irate I was every time I ran across the thought process which suggested that the authenticity of the musical was "disconcerting misplaced" to some, because of the "Asian" performers. Some comments even suggested that because of the program inserts which listed Marcus and JP...they must have been "substitutes" in that day's or evening's performance.

I can feel the hair standing on end even now as I recall those readings and discussions, as I felt such observations were not only totally inappropriate, but an insult to the magical wonder that that these two young men represent every time they take the stage...notwithstanding, an insult to what the hell the musical was all about.

Being a coach/teacher, I can attest to the fact that my Asian student/athletes are some of the most qualified and beautiful people it has been my privilege to know. And, knowing Marcus very personally, JP to somewhat of a lesser degree, there are no more beautiful trained or elegant Billies out there who have delivered the message we all value so much through their magnificent presentations as have these two young men. In otherwords, who the hell should care who the messenger is, when considering all these youngsters have given us by virtue of their compelling artistry.

Hope I can calm down now...as this subject has always raised a deeply held ire from me given my long connection with this musical. Regards to all. Colin

[booth088]

It's fine i guess casting minorities, but then you need to recast Billy's family as well, especially the older Billy. It always takes me away from the show and out of the moment when I see Billy grow up to be a different ethnicity. It hurts the effect of the show. I can't think of any other production I have seen that has done something like this with casting. Just because someone is technically able to perform the role, and a great performer, if he doesn't look and fit the role he should not be cast. Welcome to the theatre world.

[booth088]

Maybe I'm confused. It sounds like you're saying Cesar shouldn't have been cast in the role? I don't get it. There are 4 Billys. You can't have 4 sets of families, so the show wouldn't be practical, unless ethnicity was a litmus test. No Cesar, No J.P. No Marcus No Alex..................................

yes, I'm saying my friend Cesar was miscast in this sense. Of course he is incredibly talented, and capable of acting, singing, and dancing at this level. However, why should casting a Billy be any different than any other theatre production? What if in Marry Poppins one of the banks children was black, asian or hispanic? Or for example the quote I have used from jacob Clemente when he said that he was told that he was "too white to play simba." Why should BE be any different? How someone looks is a part of casting in any other theatre production. I sit there as an audience member and one of the first things that comes into my mind is why is billy black and his older self white? as well as his parents and brother?

[StevenKing]

Personal opinion is that under perfect conditions you always TRY to cast ethnically...but the part is WAY to hard to cast, they probably have EVERY English speaking(and a few not) that can conceivably play the role on a list somewhere...and it's not long.if they ever thought it was possible to cast only Anglo-Saxons it went out probably before the show opened with Matthew and Layton in the pipeline.yes it makes dream dance a bit confusing...but that's potentially confusing enough even with same looking dancers(it wasn't clear even to me when I watched the music vid and they went out of their way to make older Billy look like Liam).they realize they are losing some of the audience but the number of potential billys is just too small to be picky about bloody skin color, lots of other things they need to be picky about lol.

Steven