Charlotte NC

[ERinVA]

Billy is coming to my old hometown from Jan. 12-30! I may have to drive down for a visit and convince some old friends to see it with me.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/0 ... eries.html

[porschesrule]

This story at the "Creative Loafing" website (love the title!) in Charlotte, NC talks about the upcoming Broadway series season which, of course, will include a visit by the 2nd Tour production of Billy Elliot the Musical. The writer recently visited Broadway, saw several of the shows that will be playing in Charlotte and gives his impression of what he saw:

http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gy ... id=1011816

[Mike]

This story at the "Creative Loafing" website (love the title!) in Charlotte, NC

Creative Loafing is a magazine/newspaper that has been around Atlanta for @ least 25 years or longer. Pretty sure it was started here and they have outlets in Charlotte, Chicago, DC, Sarasota & Tampa now. I think you could say it is a counter culture type magazine. I used to get a copy every week when i lived in Atlanta to see what was happening around town.

[ERinVA]

Ticket for the Charlotte run at Ovens Auditiorium go on sale on September 24.
http://www.ovensauditorium.com/default. ... &objId=617

[ERinVA]

Surrounding the ticket launch in Charlotte, the Blumenthal organization has some special things going on.

http://www.blumenthalcenter.org/default ... &objId=185

It would have been nice to have a live Billy appearance in connection with this. I don't think Durham did one either.

[porschesrule]

Tickets are now on sale for the BETM 2nd Tour stop in Charlotte:

http://ev12.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerc ... =&appCode=

[porschesrule]

Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte is doing a live stream "Sneak Peek" of BETM at 1:00pm EST on Monday, November 8:

http://www.livestream.com/blumenthalperformingarts

[porschesrule]

Here's a report on the educational livestream from the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte yesterday:

http://notfromhereareyou.blogspot.com/2 ... pacts.html

[ERinVA]

I have heard comments that two runs of the show in one state (NC) seems like overkill.

No, I wouldn't call it overkill. Texas also has the production coming to two cities. You might say, "But Texas is huge, and North Carolina is not," but you must also remember that the East Coast of the US is the most densely populated area of the country.

I think that they are considering what areas each production will draw from. The Durham location is accessible by driving to people from Virginia and Tennessee as well as to North Carolinians. There is no performance scheduled anywhere north of Durham, including DC, until you get to New York, so Durham can cover that segment of the East Coast.

Charlotte, on the other hand, is almost in South Carolina, and it is the only venue from there to Tampa that is hosting the show, since it is not playing Atlanta, so Charlotte will draw from South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia.

Of course, there is the other side of the coin, which is that the company contracts with organizations that ask them to come, can provide the facilities they need, and have open dates at those facilities that fit with their touring schedule.

Finally, to be honest, the Durham bit was quite a coup and also a bit of a gimmick because of the fact that it's Durham. But in the Sneak Peek discussion in Charlotte, which I attended on Monday evening, Lee Hall reiterated his connection to Durham, NC, and even said that the idea for the story of Billy Elliot was born while he was living there (yes, he did ), so no wonder the tour opened in Durham.

[ERinVA]

Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte is doing a live stream "Sneak Peek" of BETM at 1:00pm EST on Monday, November 8:

http://www.livestream.com/blumenthalperformingarts

I checked on this at my friend's house on Monday afternoon, but to say the very least, it didn't seem to be working.

However, I attended the evening "Sneak Peek" in Charlotte, which was an invitation-only event for what I gathered were mostly subscribers to the Blumenthal Shows Broadway series, so got to experience the program live. Kylend had performed in the afternoon for the students, so we had Daniel doing "Electricity" for the evening version.

The evening began with a conversation between Mike Collins, who hosts the morning show, "Charlotte Talks," on the local PBS station (who did an excellent job, I must say), and Lee Hall, whom I was delighted to see. They discussed how and why Lee had come to write the script (including how he first got the idea while living in Durham, NC), the process Working Title had gone through to find Billy for the film, the story of how Elton John became involved, a description of how he and Elton worked together to create the lyrics for the songs, etc. All of this was information we Billy fans already know, of course, but most of the audience did not.

Mike also brought up the question of the language, saying he had seen the production in Durham and realized that Brits and Americans don't have quite the same "language sensibilities," which meant, of course, that he was a bit surprised by the strong language (to which I thought, "Wow! You should see it in London or NY"). But, of course, it was his job as a host to make the potential audience for the show aware of the nature of the show, and he did a great job, with the language discussion being only one facet of it. What Lee Hall said was this: "Every version of the show is different because it's our job to make it as accessible as possible to the audiences who will be seeing it, so we are always revising and modifying with that in mind." He did not seem concerned that changing the language (or “watering it down,” as we would call it) would have a negative impact on the quality of the show. I suppose he would be well qualified to “read” the sensibilities of American audiences, especially in the South, having lived here himself. In fact, he freely discussed how the sensibilities of Americans differ from one area of the country to another, pointing out the differences between what would work in NY and what would work elsewhere in the country.

After the one-on-one with Lee Hall, the next part of the show was, of course, “Electricity,” performed by Daniel. The audience seemed well and truly impressed, as indeed they should have been. The stage in the Booth Theater is smaller than the stage for BETM, but Daniel had no problem compressing a bit. At the end, I thought someone might stand, but as far as I could tell, no one did. However, there were plenty of shouts of approval and long applause.

At the conclusion of Daniel’s performance, Mike, Lee and Kylend came on stage, and the conversation continued, with both Mike and audience members asking excellent questions. Of course, one question was about how long the boys could stay in the show, and Daniel’s answer was “until we get too tall or too deep.” Another question was about the work hours, to which Kylend replied that their average working week is 60 hours, and that does not include tutoring time, which they fit in around all the rehearsals, performances, and appearances. This company is carrying three tutors, according to Kylend. But he and Daniel said they do have Mondays off. (Of course, they did not have this Monday, November 8, off, now did they… since they were in Charlotte doing two PR events). Both boys were asked about dancing and other kids’ reactions to them as dancers. Both have been dancing since around the age of four, and Kylend, in particular, said that he had been teased upon occasion, but his response to those who have teased him in the past is now, “In your face! I’m 13 years old and playing the lead in a major Broadway show. What are you doing?” The audience LOVED it!!! Also, we got introduced to Kylend's younger brother, aged nine, whose name I can't remember at the moment, but he was asked if he too dances, which he does, and he said he has now done his second audition for Michael.

After the program, there was a reception in the lobby with a very nice buffet. However, because the lobby was small, it was extremely crowded, so my friend and I decided to skip it and head back to the car. Fortunately, that decision brought us the extra bonus of running into Kylend, Daniel, and Lee coming out the stage door to board their bus back to Durham, so it gave us the opportunity to say thanks for the evening. I didn’t ask for any photos, but it was nice at least to speak to them all.