``Billy Elliot'' ballet boy sets Elton John on fire!

Elton John's talent for quickly spotting masterpieces

Many people may think that the musical was produced as a way to capitalize on the success of the movie. However, the truth is quite different. It all started with Elton John. When the movie version of Billy Elliot premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, he happened to be there watching it. At that time, Elton felt that the relationship between the main character and his father that was shown on the screen overlapped with his own, and he burst into tears while watching the movie.

Elton and Billy Elliot may indeed be similar. Elton also discovered his musical talent at an early age, and passed the entrance exam to the Royal Academy of Music. As you know, he has since embarked on a legendary career. There was a time when he was struggling with his relationship with his father. His father never showed any affection in public, and never told him he loved him. He never even came to see his performances. However, the father in the movie "Billy Elliot" overcomes his lack of understanding of his son, and is shocked as if an electric current had run through his heart, and then he works desperately to make his son's dreams come true. It is only natural that Elton was deeply moved by the series of changes in his father.

Furthermore, after the film was screened in Cannes, his partner David Furnish suggested, "This could be a great musical," which gave Elton a big boost. He immediately suggested to Stephen Daldry and Lee Hall, "I'd love for you to listen to my idea," and the first step towards making it into a musical began. Of course, Elton John himself served as the musical director. With his vast knowledge of music, he created a wide variety of songs to color the stage, making full use of musical styles such as union songs, hymns, and traditional folk songs. All of them are wonderful and emotional.

"Billy Elliot Musical Live/Little Dancer" Trailer

The background to the evolution of the movie version of "Billy Elliot" into a stage adaptation was the "passion" of those whose souls were moved by the work. And this is not just Elton John. Each person who participated in the production must have empathized with the story, remembered the past when they desperately tried to grasp their dreams, and sent their heartfelt thoughts to their families and their nostalgic hometowns.

This film has the power to bring everyone back to their roots. In this way, the "electric current that surges through your heart when you dance," as Billy says in the film, is passed on from the creators to the viewers, and new creativity is born from the recipients. Elton has sublimated this "passion relay" in his own way by adapting it to the stage, and we too can use this film to overcome our daily worries and difficulties, confirm the love of those around us, and continue to have the driving force within us to return to our roots when we feel down.

This is the reason why the movie "Billy Elliot" has never lost its appeal and continues to be loved by people even more than 17 years after its release, and it is also the reason why the stage version of "Billy Elliot" has continued to attract large audiences and generate enthusiastic repeat viewers for 12 years since its premiere in 2005.

Another successful example of a British film being turned into a musical