Composer Elton John was first introduced to the film 'Billy Elliot' during a 2000 screening at the Cannes International Film Festival. The movie's emotional story line touched John who found himself breaking down. His partner, David Furnish, who was accompanying him at the time, tells the Chicago Tribune, "He was inconsolable...I thought, ‘How the hell am I going to get him out of Cannes without him being photographed?'"
The story portrayed in 'Billy Elliot' is one which John can easily identify with. In the story in the Chicago Tribune, John says "I always used music as my escape, just as Billy uses dance." The article points out that despite the enormous success he has achieved John is "still dealing with the painful reality that his dad never really thought much of his choice of career."
"My dad never really came to see me after I had become successful...He didn't know how to be a good dad to me. My mum and dad married very soon after the war, when everyone was getting married, and they were so unsuitable for each other. My mum was really protective of me. But my dad and I never really got on. I reconciled with him later, after he remarried, and I took him to football games, when I was chairman of the Watford Football Club. But we never really clicked." John's wish of being understood by his father is reflected in 'Billy' where the character of the father eventually begins to understand the profound significance that dance holds for his son. As the article points out, "Billy mostly just wants to dance. His dad is the one who takes the profound emotional journey." John agrees, "That was what I wanted."
To read the rest of the story in the Chicago Tribune, click here.
'Billy Elliot' begins previews on March 18 and will officially open on April 11 at the Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St. in Chicago.
For tickets call 800-775-2000 or visit www.broadwayinchicago.com
Photo by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.
