Publicity for San Diego

[kport]

A nice publicity article by San Diego's Uptown News, with interviews with Patti Perkins, Drew Minard and Christopher Howard:

http://sduptownnews.com/out-of-the-ordinary/

[accessmenj]

Further evidence that there are plans for Billy Elliot The Musical after the current tour ends.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/apr ... for-billy/

[CJ-Rochester]

Not sure what you are getting at. The bebilly.com site linked in that article says this, which isn't new information.

TOURING NORTH AMERICA THROUGH JUNE 2013 AND BRAZIL THROUGH AUGUST 2013!

[accessmenj]

Very simply, beyond "bebilly" site, they are actively recruiting new Billys in May, when the basic tour ends in June. That's wasting the promotion if there are no further plans. London does not need as many boys as these big-city promotions will produce.

Television, Broadway, Germany, etc.......who knows? But they do not need new Billys for the dying tour. Something is in the works.

[porschesrule]

Like CJ-Rochester, I also don't see the logic in thinking they are actively recruiting new Billys for North America. I don't see any auditions listed on the BeBilly site beyond those from this past January, when they were obviously looking for potential replacements to complete the present tour.

And, as we know, the BeBilly site is set up for North American child casting only -- Nora Brennan's group only has responsibility for North America and would not be involved in casting elsewhere. There is a separate casting mechanism in place in London that handles casting for the VPT and elsewhere in Europe (if the show were to expand into another country there).

I think the article cited is just another example of how local theaters and local sponsors of the show have grabbed pre-written pieces of publicity and used it to publicize the show at their tour stop.

[ERinVA]

That is basically true. However, obviously, there has been communication between the casting divisions of the North American and UK shows. Otherwise, we would not have had Colin, Trent, Corey, Hogan, Tanner, and Adam, who all went directly to London. While there may be no need to cast more Billys for the touring production, I imagine that auditions might continue in NY for Americans to go to London.

[accessmenj]

So the question becomes whether the local theaters coordinate with the national producers when they get their material for promotions. I do not know the answer to that. But I can not believe that the producers of BETM do not know about the local promotions in several cities having encouraged parents and boys to contact "be billy" if they are interested in becoming Billy. The "be billy" website still encourages boys to send in video auditions.

No sane business would waste time and money to interview job applicants for a position that requires two months training, when they are planning on going out of business in two months.

[porschesrule]

That is basically true. However, obviously, there has been communication between the casting divisions of the North American and UK shows. Otherwise, we would not have had Colin, Trent, Corey, Hogan, Tanner, and Adam, who all went directly to London. While there may be no need to cast more Billys for the touring production, I imagine that auditions might continue in NY for Americans to go to London.

While I'm sure they will continue to be on the look-out for talent for use beyond the borders of North America, accepting and reviewing videos, for example, I would seriously doubt Nora Brennan would be as actively traveling to the US/Canada dance facilities and competitions as she has been while there's been an active show in production here. Unless her agency is in search of young dancers for other (non-Billy) productions, then she might. Because the bottom line is, who pays for her involvement? The London production? I tend to doubt it for the occasional American/Canadian boy that will appear in the London production.

[ERinVA]

No, I doubt she will be traveling around to dance conventions. But I do expect that the BETM machine will make sure that notices go out to American dance academies and dance conventions to encourage teachers to recommend their students for auditions. And I don't think it would be an unreasonable assumption to think that there might be a New York audition every now and then.

[porschesrule]

Broadway World has interviews with Mitchell Tobin and Patti Perkins as the show opens in San Diego tonight:

http://sandiego.broadwayworld.com/artic ... n-20130430?

http://sandiego.broadwayworld.com/artic ... s-20130430?