Billy Elliot the Forum

ERinVA wrote:Just a reminder: This forum does not condone illegal recording of the show, and any links to such recordings on youtube or other video sites are routinely withdrawn from posts on here, as would be links to sites offering such videos for sale.

Thats why I didn't post links - its easy enough to Google. I just didn't want people to totally despair that nothing has been saved for posterity.

The various productions of BETM have made official videos of the show, you can be sure of that. But if/when any of these will be released for sale is a good question that no one has an answer to at this point.

ERinVA wrote:The various productions of BETM have made official videos of the show, you can be sure of that. But if/when any of these will be released for sale is a good question that no one has an answer to at this point.

Unfortunately there is no way any of these will ever be released/sold to the public. There are a myriad of legal issues that have to be dealt with in order to do this (think consent forms, royalties, dealing with every actors agent, etc.) And the "house" videos I have seen all suffer from spot washout and other issues. I know we would really like to have one of these no matter what quality it is, but they aren't going to officially release them due to too many issues (both legal and quality).

I get "Study" copies of performances I do, and we have to sign our lives away that we will not share them, and will destroy them when we are done with them.

Not that they'd ever sell it, but I wonder if there is a copy of the first ever performance in London from back in the day. Would be interesting to see all the changes made from then to now.

ERinVA wrote:The various productions of BETM have made official videos of the show, you can be sure of that. But if/when any of these will be released for sale is a good question that no one has an answer to at this point.

As much as I miss the live production of BETM, I would prefer that any recorded version be only the best of professional work. A video made for training purposes would be interesting to Billy Fanatics like us, but would be demeaning to the power of the show if it was available to the public. If it is to be done, it must be done right.

The movie is a real inspirational story isn’t it. I remembered watching it and thinking.. mm interesting.. a boy who wanna do ballet. Dad says no. Brother says no. Grandmom says yes.
Its like where I’m from,wanna be an actress? Singer? People say ‘dream on, this is not America or UK, study and get a job! Partly true. Entertainment is not big business here.
But I like the part that it is inspirational in a different way. As in get out of poverty, he wants to make something of himself, be a ballet dancer. I like that. Don’t think of negative comments people say, do it, and do it well, and then let people eat their words.
Some parts of the movie which I can still remember is the scene where Billy showed his dad he danced well. In the hall. I usually ended up ‘rewinding’ dat on dvd actually, hes fun to watch that Jamie Bell (need to watch his recent movie which I haven’t).
I remember the part where Billy asked ‘You don’t fancy me Miss’ – something like dat, something which makes me smile (any of u guys has a crush on ur teachers? Different story totally dat) I like the part where Billy was told the story about the ‘Swan Lake’, that was on the ferry.
I remember the letter. Some other bits here and there.
Its just amazing when watching the BETM, these bits and pieces of the story just came together. I’ll be like thinking to myself.. ooo I know that part from the movie, etc.. Love it! I was with a friend the first time I watched the show, actually we were startled like ‘open mouth and looked at each other’ startled when the swearing came out of the kids .. haha..
If a musical movie is to be made, well, I duno..
I like the idea of the stage version like ‘Phantom’ though. Maybe its anniversary? Who knows?

rob_hanson1979 wrote:Not that they'd ever sell it, but I wonder if there is a copy of the first ever performance in London from back in the day. Would be interesting to see all the changes made from then to now.

There are several 2005 London performances floating around (Liam, George, etc.). And it is very interesting to see how the script/staging has evolved. For the most part I like how the tour has changed/refined it over time, and I don't think the set changes have made any meaningful difference - its the people and dialogue that drive it.

I wonder if theres a 'Making of Billy Elliot' dvd ever produced?

There's "Finding Billy," which was shown on TV in the run up to Broadway, but it isn't available on dvd. However, parts of it are excerpted in the clip included in this collection of videos from the Billy Elliot youtube channel. There is lots of good stuff here, so have fun watching.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BillyElliotBroadway/videos

And here's the London youtube channel's collection:

http://www.youtube.com/user/BillyElliotMusicalUK/videos