Billy Elliot the Forum

CJ-Rochester wrote:I think you missed a few dates from the tour. You can add these to your list:

Edmonton, Canada: March 19-24, 2013
Calgary, Canada: March 26-31, 2013
Vancouver, Canada: April 2-7, 2013

Yes I meant to go back and retrieve those locales too, thanks for making it easy

porschesrule wrote:Here's information for season ticket holders for the Arts Club Theatre Company. It's probably too far out for single show tickets sales at this point.

http://artsclub.com/season-tickets/lineup-20152016/

Single shows are for sale:

https://secure.artsclub.com/events/detail/billy-elliot

A Billy Bus advertising campaign has been launched to promote the Arts Club's productions.

Eltonjohn wrote:A Billy Bus advertising campaign has been launched to promote the Arts Club's upcoming regional production.

There's now an image of Vancouver Canada's
(Arts Club Theatre Co.) Billy Bus

http://www.Facebook.com/BillyElliotVancouver

Eltonjohn wrote:So far it looks like BETM, in one format or another, has been or will be enjoyed in half of Canada's 10 provinces: (list to be kept updated)

East
Ontario: Toronto, Ottawa, Windsor, Sudbury
Quebec: Montreal

Central
Manitoba: Winnipeg, Brandon

West
Alberta: Calgary, Edmonton
British Columbia: Vancouver, Kelowna

CANADA list updated with 2017 Kelowna BC

Runs from May 12 through July 10

May 22: Sunday Salon free talk 1pm, matinee 2pm

May 25: Teatime Wednesday free tea 12:30, matinee 1:30

May 31: Talk Back Tuesday chat with cast following the 7:30 performance

June 5: VocalEye Performance for matinee, where visually impaired audience members can obtain devices to listen to explanatory commentary of stage actions

There's a good possibilty for me to be able to give a 15-20 minute talk plus do Q&A before one of the Vancouver regional production performances in about 6 weeks from now.

What do you think are the top 5 things show goers would want to ask post show or could benefit from hearing pre-show if they've never experienced BETM before and are not from the UK? Without any spoiling that is.

I am thinking of explaining some Geordie-isms like 'bairn'
Explaining the worldwide phenomenom (Korea-Brazil-Holland etc)
Who the show's other Michael (Heseltine) was
Trivia like that Elton John's partner is Canadian (he is, isn't he?)
How Billy-ies are auditioned and prepared

Because I have yet to witness my first regional production, I have little grasp of the changes apart from no aerial in Dream duet. I hope I might be invited to attend a dress or other rehearsal to gain insights and perspective. I have yet to learn who they are casting for the leads, nor how many for each role, so whether they are coming off other shows, will have great dialogue (regional accent), etc.

(For Pride and Prejudice production, a member of the Jane Austin Society dressed up and gave a spiel.)

Thanks if you can offer any points from your vastly broader experiences from mine.

Here's a localized fansite: http://www.Facebook.com/BillyElliotVancouver with some shots I took outside of the box office yesterday.

Probably a more thorough explanation of the miner's strike for North American audiences, especially young folks. I always thought the billboard in the theater lobby was not enough information to help people understand what was going on in the community.

15-20 minutes is not much time. The art will be in deciding what to leave out. The main question is, What knowledge would deepen the audience's appreciation for the show? Some ideas:

• Historical background: nationalization of the mines, rivalry between the unions and the Conservatives, events of 1984.
• Language and culture: e.g., knowing about whippet racing and growing large vegetables would make some of Tony's lines make more sense; music builds on the colliery band traditions and "Deep into the Ground" is very much like an authentic northeast England folk song.
• Casting and training of the Billys: I would focus on the local production's Billys.

Knowing the details of the production would be important for deciding what to include. For example, no need to talk about union banners if they don't have one or Big Meeting if they don't show the intro video.

David Furnish is Canadian, but I don't think trivia like that is very important.