Lee Hall on the Success of Billy Elliot as The Musical Begins Its Tour in Sunderland
Billy Elliot the Musical is heading back home, playing Sunderland Empire for just four weeks
One of the most successful and beloved British musicals of all time, Billy Elliot the Musical has been seen by almost 12 million people across five continents and honoured with more than 85 awards internationally. Not bad for a passionately Northern story that was born right here at home. Set in County Durham during The Miners’ Strike of 1984–5, it’s about Billy’s journey from the boxing ring to the ballet class, where he discovers a passion for dance that will change his life forever, and the musical is, of course, based on the highly successful 2000 film.
Lee grew up in the ‘80s and remembers the difficulties faced during The Miners’ Strike. ‘It was a moment where I grew up in my understanding about the world and understanding that a lot of the things that I took for granted (growing up in the North East at that time) were perhaps under threat,’ he recalls. ‘But at the same time, I was a kid who was lucky enough to be really encouraged at school, and in Newcastle generally, to get into the arts. I used to play music and I went to youth theatre, and I loved that. It was a thing that not just I did but quite a lot of kids did, and I just thought it was normal, because it was really encouraged at that time especially.
‘I still see a lot of my friends who went to Benfield School, in my work. Deka Walmsley (who played the role of Dad in the West End production) is somebody I’ve known since I was 16 because we went to Wallsend Youth Theatre and worked together. The people I met when I was a teenager are people who have been my creative collaborators all my working life. I thought all that was normal, but I realised when I moved away from the North East and started studying how rare that was.’
When Lee was in his late 20s, he was in America and writing radio plays for the BBC. ‘I was explaining what it was like to grow up in the North East in the 1980s and it seemed like a completely other world,’ he admits. ‘That’s when I came up with this story that was, in a way, to explain my own story about coming from the North East and wanting to do something different there. But also at a time when I could see, after the strike, that things weren’t going to be the same for people at home. For my bit of Tyneside, it was shipbuilding. I realised, looking back, my childhood was watching the cranes in the distance along the Tyne that were disappearing one by one. I think it was about the year 2000 when I was there that they shipped the last big crane out to China. So, in a way, it’s a very personal story. I realised that trying to write a film about someone writing was going to be tedious, but I thought dancing is a nice metaphor for being creative. I didn’t quite realise when I came up with the story that it had a bigger resonance than that, because it was about a bigger change in this place where I grew up.’
The film was a huge success, but Lee admits he never imagined the possibility of a musical until Elton John suggested it should be adapted. ‘When I met him to talk about it, I thought, this is a terrible idea. How could it be a musical?’ Lee laughs. ‘It was really Elton John who made it possible. I said to him, “well, who will write the lyrics for this? Will you get Bernie Taupin…?” He said, “no, you have to do it because you understand the characters and you understand the North East”, but I realised that it could be a different kind of musical than the ones that I was thinking of.
‘I realised that instead of trying to make it like something else, I could use the things that I knew about. So I thought about the folk songs of the North East, some of the brass band traditions, and trying to look at ways of making a musical that Elton could write, and Elton really loves all kinds of music. We would talk about it and I’d say could we make it like a folk song? And he would understand that and could write that. So much of it is Elton’s understanding not only of the story, because of his own history, but also what it could be.’
Now Billy Elliot the Musical is performed to audiences worldwide. ‘I didn’t design it to be that. But I think because so many people have dreams of expressing themselves differently, maybe to the situation that they find themselves in, it has become a universal story, in the musical especially,’ Lee adds. ‘You can see in different cultures that, although it’s always about the North East, mining and ballet dancing, those local cultures are seeing their own history in the play.’
Here at home, those themes remain relevant too. ‘In those communities, in Easington, Horden and all those places where the story’s set, people are still having really, really hard times. So the story references that, but also the story is really about hope, and it’s about how young people can be fostered by their communities to express themselves to do something different, and do it because they represent the community really. That’s why of course it’s something that I’m incredibly proud of.’
The story offered Lee the opportunity to pay homage to his fond memories as well as the culture of the North East. He thanks his teachers for supporting him to get to where he is today, and they are represented in the characterisation of Mrs Wilkinson in the story. ‘It’s also about about the humour of the North East, it’s about ordinary people, and it’s about paying homage to people’s creativity, the way they speak, their songs, the musicality, and the spirit and compassion that I love about about being a Geordie. You just feel it, you know, when you talk to some people and I’m just very lucky to have been born there and grew up there. It’s a homage to all those things. But hopefully it’s got a bit of grit in there as well. It’s about some of the conflicts that happen in families and communities, as well as the good things that can come out of that. I think that’s another reason why it’s lasted this long, because it’s about real life and real life is complicated and sometimes difficult.’
Previous Billys include Tom Holland, Layton Williams and Dean-Charles Chapman, and this time around four boys will play the infamous title role: Noah Mannion, Rafferty Smale, Spencer Collins and William Gurney. In a full circle moment, Liam Mower who originated the role of Billy Elliot (as one of three boys when the musical first opened in 2005) is returning to play Older Billy. The cast also includes Deka Walmsley returning to his role of Dad, Jack Bandeira (known for Smoggie Queens and Amazon’s Blade Runner) as Tony, and Lesley Joseph as Grandma.
‘I think it’s an absolutely brilliant cast,’ says Lee. ‘Some of the main actors have been in it before, and so I know how good they are – and they are absolutely brilliant. It’s really about seeing what those kids can do too. Because of Billy Elliot, a lot more kids, especially boys, have started learning dancing much earlier. So we were really worried whether we’d find enough kids, because we had a shorter time than usual to prepare them for the tour this time, but we had to close down the auditions because the kids were so fantastic! It’s thrilling to watch them. I think when you go and see it, it’s unlike any other show, especially if you’re from the North East, because it’s a show that’s about the North East, made for the North East.’
Whether you’ve seen it before, or you’re new to the story, Lee hopes everyone embraces the show when it comes home. ‘You’re seeing these extraordinary people and they’ve grown throughout this whole process. It’s a very unusual, special thing to see kids do something that should be impossible. But they’re doing it for you, and they do it every night,’ he says. ‘I think that’s the most thrilling thing about it and I think it’s why it’s moved audiences so much. It’s about the story, it’s about the songs, but it’s got something that no other musical has really. It’s heartbreaking in one way, because the story’s got all sorts of sad things, but seeing those kids knock it out of the park is just thrilling. I think it’s infectious to audiences. It’s not just me. So many people who have watched it have that experience.’
