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!
I certainly enjoyed the movie so I know that I'd love the musical. Now you have me wondering how old the actor truly is...perhaps if I follow your link I'll find out.
ReplyDeleteStopping by from Mary's Mosaic Monday to say hello. Love the post and your collage. Thanks for bringing a little bit of NYC to California. I enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteHappy Monday, hope you have a great week.
Aha! Just as I suspected... ;>
ReplyDeleteOh Pat, I'm so glad you joined us today! I'm ashamed to say that the last play I saw on Broadway was The Lion King, when my kids were still young! I love your mosaic! Thanks so much for sharing at Mosaic Monday. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, this looks wonderful, Pat! I would love to see it. It's funny, but this reminds me of the real life story of ballet dancer Edward Vallela. I think he was either from NY or NJ, and he was an AMAZING dancer. He literally took your breath away. I saw him years ago, and I am so thankful I saw him before he was injured. He danced with Patricia McBride, and I have never been so mesmerized by anything in my life. He injured his leg dancing at the White House, and he was unable to dance again... but he is the artistic director (or was) of the Miami Ballet after that. So this play looks like something I would really enjoy. Thanks for the heads up.
ReplyDeleteI'm exhausted. Yesterday was Cecelia's birthday. I posted a small pic of the dress we gave her on the sidebar. She was SO excited over it. :-)
XO,
Sheila
The theater looks so beautiful!! Who could tell by the outside how the inside would look!!
ReplyDeleteYou are a very lucky lady to have access to live theater!!
Love,
Marilyn
xxoo
Hi Pat, I absolutely loved the movie. I envy you getting to see the play. I too love the insides of the old New York theaters. Sitting in them is very special as today's modern auditoriums just cannot compare!
ReplyDeleteYou know, I've been and lived in many places around the world, foreign and domestic. I'm thinking now that maybe I ought to live in NYC for awhile as there's all sorts of amazing adventures to be had. You share the best stuff!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review. This is one of the plays I was thinking of seeing while in NY next month. I am not sure if it's one that I would be interested in but I hear nothing but good about it. I saw the Tony awards this year and it won a lot of awards. So I may see it. Still not sure.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it.
Hugs,
Joanne
You are always out and about...taking in something fun and interesting! I will have to be content with viewing the movie.
ReplyDeleteGreat mosaic...and review!
Hi Pat,
ReplyDeleteWhen that movie came out in the theater I wanted to see it so bad but never did...so sad!
The Imperial looks just magnificent!!
Don't you love all those old theaters?
Happy Monday my friend!!
xoxo Cori
Hi!
ReplyDeleteGreat Mosaic! New York is one of the places I would like visit some day! Have a great day!
Sherrie
http://splummer-aviewofmylife.blogspot.com/2009/07/mosaic-monday_13.html
Dear New York, friend, I am so glad you got to see that. I love that story. When we were in NY a few years ago, we wanted to see CATS and of course could not get in off the street. Did see something with Meryl Strept, Richard Dryfuss and Gene Hackman, something about a maidan. I remember the theater off Broadway so beautiful and lavish. Have seen a lot of the Broadway Series in Louisville. Finally saw CATS 3 times.
ReplyDeleteQMM
Hi Pat,
ReplyDeleteI've heard great things about this play! I hope to get back one day and see it.
The theatre is lovely!
Welcome to Mosaic Monday! Very interesting post!
ReplyDeleteI love musicals. the last one I saw was mamma mia last year :P
ReplyDeleteThe Imperial Theatre looks so grand. What a lovely place to see wonderful plays.
ReplyDeleteLOVED the Billy Elliot film, but haven't had the pleasure of seeing the staged production. Such fun with this post, Pat...Love seeing that old theater. Such interiors! Thanks for taking us along. :o) Happy week, my friend ((HUGS))
ReplyDeleteBilly Elliot is a real feel good story, I never tire of watching the film. You were so fortunate to see the show in such beautiful surroundings.
ReplyDeleteI truly enjoyed the movie, and reading your post I guess I would like the musical too. It's a luck I don't live in NYC, I would go broken in just two weeks!
ReplyDeleteI love the mosaic and it makes me really miss NY and my relatives. I did see the movie Billy Elliot but the live production must be amazing. I would think that the young men playing this role must be multi-talented. My SIL lives in Manhattan and never ever goes to Broadway performances and I think that is a real waste of NYcity rent:)
ReplyDeleteJoyce
Pat, I would love to see this play. I've heard only wonderful reviews of it.
ReplyDeleteAnd, your mosaic is spectacular. What a glorious blend of signs of promise.
Rachel and I saw the movie when it came out and we enjoyed it. I bet the show was great.
ReplyDeleteFunny story....I pulled your blog up at work yesterday and was trying to read this post between phone calls and stuff. The stuff won out and your blog was downsized on my taskbar for a long time. I started hearing music...it seemed like it was behind me. I could not figure it out. I even called a co-worker up to investigate as well. Then I remembered. Last week I learned that my computer has built in speakers...something we never had before. I was disappointed to discover that my sound would not play as loud as everyone else's therefore I forgot about it. Finally, I realized that the source of music was from the playlist on your blog. Thanks, I enjoyed it!
Okay, you have to know as an ex-actress from NYC and a current playwright, I am just plain jealous! Lucky you!
ReplyDeleteOh, I am jealous:) Billy Elliot is one of my favorite movies of all time. There is an element of Billy's character, his personality that has always reminded me of my eldest son. (Believe me, it isn't the dancing, that's for sure!)
ReplyDeleteI love the chandelier...gorgeous.