Photos: Elton Leads Billy‘s Birthday Celebrations

Billy Elliot the Musical celebrated its fifth birthday at the Victoria Palace Theatre in style last night (31 March 2010), with a special show featuring 19 past, present and future Billy Elliots.

Also in attendance were the show’s composer Elton John, director Stephen Daldry and guests including comedian David Walliams and Russian millionaire Evgeny Lebedev.

Alumni of the multi-award winning show in attendance last night included the three original West End Billys – Liam
Mower (currently at the prestigious Rambert School of Ballet), James
Lomas (now in Dirty Dancing) and George Maguire (whose TV credits include ITV’s Renaissance,
starring Kelly Brook).

Based on the 2000 film by the same creative team and set against the North-eastern mining strikes of the 1980s, Billy Elliot
recounts the tale of a motherless boy whose father wants him to learn
to box but who instead discovers a love for ballet that leads him from
secret lessons to a place at the Royal Ballet School. The musical had
its world premiere in May 2005 at the Victoria Palace. The production on Broadway, where a glossary of the
vernacular is included in programmes, opened to critical raves on 13
November 2008 (See The Goss, 14 Nov 2008).