The Stage

Billy Elliot recoups $18 million investment on Broadway

Published Friday 15 January 2010 at 11:01 by Judd Hollander

After 14 months and 492 performances on Broadway, the ten-time Tony Award winner Billy Elliot: The Musical has recouped its $18 million investment.

The tuner, with music by Elton John, book and lyrics by Lee Hall, choreography by Peter Darling and direction by Stephen Daldry, began previews at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre on October 1, 2008 and opened to rave reviews on November 13 of that year.

The show went on to win Tony Awards for Best Musical, Book, Actor (the three boys alternating in the title role), Featured Actor, Choreography, Direction, Orchestrations, Scene Design, Lighting Design and Sound Design. The show also received Tony nominations in the categories of Best Score, Featured Actress and Costume Design, as well as winning 10 Drama Desk Awards.

“It is very satisfying to have recouped on Billy Elliot so soon in the run,” Eric Fellner, the show’s lead producer, said in a statement. “Despite its setting being in the north of England, Broadway audiences accept it on a universal level. It seems to be a story that anyone can identify with and be inspired by. This result, the ten Tony awards and the warm critical acclaim are a tribute to the hard work and dedication of the entire creative team.”

The first US national tour of Billy Elliot is set to begin with an extended run at Chicago’s Ford Center for the Performing Arts on March 18, 2010, with a projected opening date of April 11. A second National Tour is scheduled to start in November. Elsewhere, the show is in its fifth year in London, where it won the Olivier Award for Best Musical, at the Victoria Palace Theatre. New productions of Billy Elliot are set to start in Korea this August and in Japan in the summer of 2011; with stands in Germany and Holland also being planned. A production of Billy Elliot played in Australia from November 13, 2007 to June 14, 2009 (Sydney and Melbourne), winning the Helpmann and Sydney Theatre Awards for Best Musical. (Billy Elliot was also recently voted Best Musical of the Decade by Time Magazine.)

Produced by Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films, Old Vic Productions, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Jon Finn and Sally Greene, in association with Weinstein Live Entertainment, Billy Elliot features scenic design by Ian MacNeil, costume design by Nicky Gillibrand, lighting design by Rick Fisher and sound design by Paul Arditti. Musical supervision and orchestrations are by Martin Koch. Executive producers are Angela Morrison and David Furnish.