Billy Elliot on Broadway, NYC!

One of the bonuses of living in New York City is access to an abundance of live theater, most of which is located near Broadway and the Times Square area. The collage above shows just a few of the marques for productions that are presently in production.

My husband and I met with a few friends this weekend to attend a Saturday matinee of the musical Billy Elliot being presented at the Imperial Theater at 249 West 45 Street in Manhattan.

I took some quick shots of the inside the theater. Part of the charm of seeing a play in NYC is that most of the theaters are old, decorated with lavish style, and are intimate in size, so that hardly any seat is without a good view of the stage.

The Imperial was designed by Herbert Krapp in his trademark Adam-style. The recessed ceiling and ornamental panels that grace the walls are elaborately decorated with a number of motifs, including florals and geometrics.

There are elegant ornamental crystal chandeliers hanging throughout the auditorium.

Billy Elliot recently won 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Choreography, and Best Actor, and the theater has been a sell out for the show ever since!

There are presently four young boys who play the demanding title role of Billy, and we saw the newest addition, Tommy Batchelor. He was magnificent! He really looked like an 11 year old boy, as the character Billy is supposed to be in the story, and his singing, acting, and most importantly his dancing, was incredible!

Some information about the musical from the Imperial Theater's web site:

"Based on the enormously popular film, Billy Elliot is a powerful new musical about a boy who discovers he has a special talent for dance, while the boys all around him are more interested in boxing. This funny and heart-warming celebration of a young boy's dream features astonishing dancing and singing by a cast of over 50 performers! An unprecedented smash in the West End, where it has won 9 Best Musical awards, broken UK box office records and continues to sell out nightly, Billy Elliot has been created by the film's director (Stephen Daldry), writer (Lee Hall) and choreographer (Peter Darling), who are joined by music legend Elton John, one of the most celebrated pop songwriters of the last 30 years"

It truly was an inspirational story! Billy Elliot will make you laugh, and cry, and you'll be amazed by the talent of the young performer in the title role.

I highly recommend seeing the show if you get a chance, it was one of the best on Broadway that I've seen in recent years!

I am joining Mary of the blog Little Red House Mosaic Monday for the first time today! Thank you Mary!