Sure, there are a few limitations for the boys who play Billy Elliot, the dancing, full-of-heart protagonist of the musical by the same name.
They can’t be more than about 5 feet tall. Neither do the boys fall far from the 12-14-yearold age range.
Everything else, such as hair color, ethnicity or background, matters not.
“Any boy who has the ability to play this role should,” says Nora Brennan of Nora Brennan Casting. For the production company responsible for “Billy Elliot,” Brennan has overseen the selection of many of the Billys, including the four who will alternate performances next week as part of the touring version that visits Fayetteville for an eight-show run beginning Tuesday.
Instead of a specific look, Brennan knows she’s found a new Billy - there have been 61 of them in all, culled from more than 2,500 applicants - when she sees a dancer with unstoppable desire. He is the kind of student in dance class that hears criticism, then takes immediate steps to correct his mistakes.
“They have to have enormous tenacity,” Brennan says by phone. “They’ll just go in the corner and work on it.”
Casting is critical in “Billy Elliot,” specifically in finding a set of Billys up to a challenge the show’s director, Steven Daldry, has compared to reciting “Hamlet” while running a marathon. The young boys who play Billy are on stage for the vast majority of the nearly threehour musical, singing, dancing, acting and more.
“It’s such a high level of many fields,” says Brennan, who adds that the typical boy wishing to play Billy needs at least threeyears of ballet training to be considered.
Other stage disciplines can to a degree be taught in rehearsals, but ballet is particularly critical.
The show centers around a young boy, Billy Elliot, who stumbles into a ballet lesson only to find he has a talentand passion for dance. Against the wishes of his father, Billy pursues ballet, working toward a prestigious audition. All the while, his father and brother are embroiled in a miners’ strike in England, complicating all of their lives.
The tale of “Billy Elliot” firstsurfaced as a movie in 2000.
With the help of the original screenwriter, and the addition of music by Elton John, it debuted as a musical first in London and then on Broadway in 2008. The production was nominated for multiple Tony Awards, winning 10, including a joint victory for Best Leading Actor by the three boys who alternated appearances in the role.
The touring production in Fayetteville uses four boys. One is always onstage, with another waiting in the wings in case of illness or injury. Another is usually working on technique, while the fourth takes a night off. Those nights away from the stage are well deserved, considering the boys alsocomplete 15 hours of school work each week with the help of a tutor who travels with the company. The boys work hard enough - or experience a growth spurt so swiftly - most go through at least one pair of ballet flats during their run in the show.
The boys who play Billy all have one major difference from the character in that many of the parents come on tour with them, and all support their young dancers.
And that is exactly what Billy Elliot eventually had waiting for him.
“It is the story of this boy, and they (the townsfolk) pull together to help this boy realize his dream,” Brennan says.
Whats Up, Pages 11 on 11/30/2012