Photo: Alastair Muir
Now closed in London’s West End
Billy Elliot the Musical is based on the 2000 film with music is by Elton John and the book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film’s screenplay. The plot revolves around motherless Billy, who trades boxing gloves for ballet shoes. The story of his personal struggle and fulfillment are balanced against a counter-story of family and community strife caused by the UK miners’ strike in the ’80s in North Eastern England. Hall’s screenplay was inspired in part by A. J. Cronin’s 1935 novel about a miners’ strike, The Stars Look Down, to which the musical’s opening song pays homage.