Billy Elliot welcomes forty-first Billy tonight

Nat Sweeney, 12 years old from Birmingham, will make his West End stage debut this evening (3rd July 2015) when he becomes the forty-first boy to play the title role in Billy Elliot the Musical (images below, click to enlarge).

Now in its eleventh year in the West End, the show recently extended booking at the Victoria Palace Theatre until 17th December 2016. In addition, the first UK and Ireland tour of Billy Elliot the Musical begins in February 2016 with tickets now on sale for performances at the Theatre Royal Plymouth.

Nat Sweeney makes his West End debut in Billy Elliot the Musical. He previously performed in Mathew Bourne’s Lord of the Flies at the Birmingham Hippodrome. He trained at the Sparkles School of Dance and was a Junior Associate with Elmhurst School of Dance. Nat is a keen gymnast and has trained, competed and won various competitions with the Revolution Gym Club.

Sir Cameron Mackintosh takes over Victoria Palace & Ambassadors Theatres & reveals renovation plans

It has been announced that Sir Cameron Mackintosh will take over ownership of two more West End theatres.

He will take over the Victoria Palace Theatre (current home of Billy Elliot) in June this year and the Ambassadors Theatre (current home of Stomp) by 2015, renaming it The Sondheim Theatre.

Please find full statements from the producers of Billy Elliot, Cameron Mackintosh, Stephen Waley-Cohen and Stephen Sondheim below.

Mackintosh has ambitious plans to significantly improve the 1,500 seat Victoria Palace Theatre. The theatre will close for around twelve months from autumn 2016, to tie in with surrounding redevelopment work. The stage will be extended by six metres, the front of house enlarged and completely overhauled and the auditorium and exterior restored to its full glory.

Billy Elliot welcomes first French-born Billy

Bradley Perret & Anna-Jane Casey

11 year old Bradley Perret from Juan les Pins, France will become the thirty-fifth boy to play Billy Elliot in the West End tonight (13th November). Perret is also the first French-born boy to play the title role.

Bradley Perret said: "“I'm 11 years old and I live in the south of France with my mum Karen, dad Henri and my sister Lea-Rose. I started dancing at the age of five. After auditioning and training for the Billy Elliot the Musical I was delighted to be asked to come to London to play the role of Billy and make my West End debut in this amazing show. It’s a dream come true!”

Also joining the cast today is 11 year old Freddie Butterfield from West Yorkshire, as Billy’s best friend Michael.

Freddie Butterfield said: “I am 11 years old and live with my mum, dad and dog in West Yorkshire. I have been singing, dancing and acting since the age of six and I attend Stage 84 – The Yorkshire School of Performing Arts. I absolutely love being on stage and I have performed at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford as Chip in Beauty and the Beast, Nibs in Peter Pan, Gavroche in Les Misérables and as one of the children in The King and I on tour. Being offered the opportunity to make my West End debut in the role of Michael is so exciting.”