Billy Elliot the Forum

This is a quote from The Guardian: "It is also, of course, an almost absurdly moving story of one boy achieving his dream of becoming a ballet dancer in the face of adversity – one that has encouraged producers to venture into foreign-language productions with Korea in August, Japan in 2011, to be followed by Germany and Holland."

Was lese ich im Guardian??? (What do I read in The Guardian?)
Billy Elliot shall come to Germany? Does anyone know anything about this or is it just a "Zeitungsente" (in english, I suppose, it's a canard, right? )
I cannot believe it, I've always loved coming to London...

Germany has been mentioned numerous times as a potential location for the show, but nothing specific has ever yet been published.

Well, I didn't know that. I'm curious if I can figure out more details...
I just wonder if a musical in a foreign language will have a chance in Germany or if they are going to translate it .
Nee, I can't imagine Billy singing "Elektrizität"

Hesychius wrote:I just wonder if a musical in a foreign language will have a chance in Germany or if they are going to translate it .
Nee, I can't imagine Billy singing "Elektrizität"

Well, they are doing it in Korean in Seoul, so why not German?

Crucial points for a successful - long lasting - German production:

- First and foremost to look for a most careful transfer of Lee Hall's great lyriks and prose texts into German by keeping up the British flavour as much as feasible, and the lyriks then still fitting to Elton's scores - a task near to impossible (Hesychius is right about "Eletrizität") - so they need a very creative, witty, funky team for that!!!

- Secondly to find German lead adults who have already a "name" and can act as well as sing and dance (Tap!!!) - a very difficult mission, as for the "glitter-,flitter-, plastic-smile"- musicals we have mostly foreighn cast here who can sing and dance, but read the German texts of the mostly thin acting parts in-between the songs sometimes from phonetic prompters and speek them with strong accent - and German actors might be able to sing and do contemporary-, ballroom-, and rock dance, but tapping has no tradition in Germany sadly.

- Thirdly I would recommend to start BETM in the German capital of musicals - Hamburg - if you want to have it in one place for years and years / decades - like for example Cats, or Phantom went here, or - still on - Lions King, or now Tarzan etc.. Hamburg has all the logistics needed, has the potential for the audiences: a lot of tourism & business people due to the international habour, and is used to get busloads of audiences from all over Germany and nearby Scandinavia for sightseeing and then theatre in the evening - and has the international flights- and train-connections needed. And Hamburg is soo Anglophile (a little London - just a lot smaller and without Royalty, ha-ha)!! And a lot later-on BETM might then move on to places like Berlin, Stuttgart, Dortmund etc.

Berlin might be an alternative to start, but after the war they don't have the same kind of musical tradition like before - they are used to change programmes after a year latest and then want something different. And Düsseldorf - what had been mentioned by Stephen Daldry some time in the past as "perhaps..." (because it's the capital of the former cole-mining Ruhr-Area) - might not have the potential for long lasting full houses, and the German miners and pits there (though run down and closed as well) did not have the same kind of experience like the British, as they never were State-owned, and their transformation went under better social circumstances, highly subsidized by the tax payers for decades. (To establish a long running German BETM production there would be like having the British one in Manchester all the time instead of the West End London.)

Would there be problems to find high-standard Billys / Michaels? No, not so much: Apart from some even internationally renowned ballet schools and a few performing arts schools I would recommend the many, so traditional German gymnastics-clubs ("Turn-Verein") and look there for boys with especially gracefull floor exercises ("Boden-Turnen") and with potential to act and sing.

Would the German audience understand the story? Oh, yes!! I think very many Germans - at least in the North - have always been aware of what's going on politically and socially in the UK, as it is a neighbour in the West with common historical bounds - like having been on the same side in nearly all the wars up to 1914 (Napoleon etc.) - just apart from WWI and II - and like the current British Royal family having mostly German roots ("House of Hanover", Albert von Sachsen-Coburg etc.), and the German North occupied by British forces after WWII - and then they staid here as Allies and friends for decades with their families in large garrisons throughout the Cold War and took part in the local life - and like having phases of economical depression like in East Germany after 40 years of communism - and then transformation from heavy industry to High Tech etc. English is foreighn language No. one of course and whidely understood, and many German tourist get to London for shopping and sightseeing - and a lot of them have already seen the show. So an original UK cast on tour might be an alternative - and would get full houses for some weeks in all the major cities - but if you want to have BETM successfully running in one place for years and years, the language has to be German - think of the very many a bit elderly people as potential audience with very little English. And all the other worldwide-renowned musicals got German texts here - and that worked.
And BE the film is treated like an icon here (with a well-working lip-synchronus German dubbing btw) - nearly everyone knows it and loves it - and each year during Christmas time the movie is re-broadcasted at least 3 - 4 times on different German TV channels!

So Mr. Daldry, please have a careful look for a very creative team transferring the texts - the most difficult task! The rest can be managed by experienced production teams.
So I'm looking forward to the Opening Night of the German production of Billy Elliot somewhere in 2012 latest - hopefully...

One thing you have to consider here is that according to all the articles about Chicago, that is the last production which will be handled by the original creative team. So no Daldry, Hall, et al, involved with creating the productions from Chicago forward.

ERinVA wrote:One thing you have to consider here is that according to all the articles about Chicago, that is the last production which will be handled by the original creative team. So no Daldry, Hall, et al, involved with creating the productions from Chicago forward.

While that is true, I believe those reports refer to the day to day preparations/rehearsals for mounting a new show. I don't believe anything I've read precludes the original creatives from keeping their hands in from a conceptual and/or consultation standpoint. Indeed, I would be very surprised if that were not the case. BETM is their baby and they will forever be associated with it and obviously want it to continue to be successful.

I look at future productions in places like Holland and Germany being handled pretty much like the Seoul production has been. While all reports are that the original creative team has not been involved in the audition process and then the day to day rehearsals of the Korean Billys for the last several months, one would have to believe that the original creatives were very much involved in the conceptulization of how that production would be handled (as opposed to in the previous English speaking versions). I still see them being involved in that aspect of future, non-English speaking productions of the show.

So do I, porschesrule. I could not think of a German production without Mr. Daldry at least being invited to look into the rehearsals and give some most welcome advice from his so unique experience.

Wow PaulWilly, a very astute synopsis of the German musical landscape ("Mucicallandschaft").
Although, I am not an expert, I agree with you in all the crucial points.
Let's hope that Germany will have the chance to stage Billy.

Thanks - yes, let's keep our fingers crossed - or, as we do wishing "good luck" - our thumbs pressed!