I have finally seen Billy Elliott, after years of people telling me I need to do so. It really was wonderful. Of course, the accents on some of the actors were so thick that I needed to rewind some parts two and three times to understand what they were saying. (There are a couple of lines that are still over my head!) But that in no way took away from my enjoyment of the movie. (I especially adored the final scene, where Billy, ahem, becomes Adam Cooper.....drool.) The look of pure emotion on his father's face as he leapt on the stage was one of the most beautiful moments I've ever seen on film.

I understand that the movie has been made into a musical, with music by Elton John. Call it a prejudice, but I really do associate "Elton John" with "insipid." That is not to say that sometimes I don't like insipid music, but....there's just something about translating this raw, beautiful film to the stage that somehow, at least in theory, does not sit right with me. I'd like to be proven wrong.

The musical is coming to Broadway in October. Is there anyone out there who has seen the show on the West End or in Australia? Is it good? Is it worth buying advance tickets? Please tell all.

The reviews from London have been quite good. Keep in mind that the writer, choreographer and director of the movie are the same for the theatrical production. Even more coincidental is that Ms GoldenGirl and I bought tickets for this show this very morning. We see it in previews in October.

Ooooh! Now there's a coincidence if ever I saw one!

I'm really on the fence about this one. I'd like to go ahead and get the tickets, but I don't want the vibe of the movie to be ruined for me.

I have been anxiously awaiting this musical for awhile. My nephew, who was one of the "orphans" in the Cameron Mackintosh production of "Oliver!" became very close friends with a boy named Colin Bates. Colin joined the company as one of the boy (Charlie Bates) and then later took over the part of the Artful Dodger. After he left the tour, Colin went on to do several different things, and then landed the part of Billy Elliot (there were three Billy Elliots) in the London production. He refers to Elton John as "Elton" and became friends with Idina Menzel when she was playing the role of Elphaba in the London production of "Wicked".

Last summer, when I visited my mother and sister in Virginia, Colin was also visiting. He is just an ordinary kind of kid--he happened to be thrilled to death that he was going to some little zoo in the area where my sister lives. This was kind of refreshing, from someone who had attended Elton John's b'day party. If you do a search for Colin Bates, you can bring him up on youtube. His voice is not the voice on the recording, but he's the one doing the dancing in the trailers.

The show is supposed to be great. I have no qualms about it compromising the integrity of the movie.

I loved that movie (finally saw it last year) and am curious as to how the music will be handled on stage. I thought the soundtrack was FANTASTIC especially the scenes of Billy dancing to T-Rex's (Marc Bolan) songs. I thought the choice of original music absolutely polished what was already a superb movie so curious what Sir Elton John has in store for musical. Thanks for the news!

A bit OT, sorry - Alto, if you are watching a DVD and having trouble understanding what someone is saying, turn on the captions or subtitles. (Not all movies have them but most do - you'll be surprised how much dialogue you miss!) On your TV remote control there is a "CC" button for the (closed) captions and on your DVD remote there will be an "Audio" button or somewhere in the menus on the DVD itself there will be choices for subtitles.

I started watching moves & TV shows with the captions on when I started studying American Sign Language and we talked about captioning in class.

N.B. captions have other info besides what people are saying, such as indicators that music is playing, or song lyrics if a song is being played, or descriptions of sounds/sound effects. Subtitles are usually just the words people are saying.