How can we possibly sum up the Billy Elliot ‘Gala’ . Emily was given the opportunity of a lifetime to take part in such an sensational and highly emotional show. For us as a family it was an evening we will never forget. All of the children who took part excelled themselves and I found myself in tears for most of the show. The highlight of the evening for me was the finale…. watching all of the children singing ‘Electricy’ with such passion, with tears streaming down their faces is something I will never forget. Thank you Trudy for giving Emily the chance to fulfil one of her dreams.

Can Lisa, Eavie and I pass on our sincere thanks for the fantastic weekend we have just experienced. having just recovered from the overnight “cattle truck” from Victoria coach station (It certainly smelled like it!!!!) We are able to reflect on such an amazing weekend that would not have been possible if it were not for you and Claire who looked after Eavie and the others so well.

Thanks also for all the other Stagecoach staff who have made this possible and considering the age and experience of the other participants equipped the Darlington and Yarm Stagecoach kids to enable them to put in a performance that put them up there with the best of the night.

Thanks also comes from Eavie’s grandparents who accompanied us to the West End to live a dream. Having never visited London before, Eavie’s Nanna and Grandad who’s grandparents, parents and siblings worked in the pits in County Durham (including Easington) , were able to realise an ambition of seeing a West End show.

Thank you so much and the best of luck for the “Billy of Billies” shows

Mark, Lisa and Eavie Proffitt

Firstly I hope that everyone got home safely last night.

I just wanted to write and thank you all for your incredible patience over the last weekend. It was an incredible task to produce a show with 390 young people in a building that is not designed for it. I understand that spaces were cramped, breaks non-existent and it was very hot but you and all the children and young people in your groups were unbelievably well behaved and cooperative. Their behaviour backstage and in the wings was exemplary. All of the Stage Management team commented on the disciplined way the children dealt with being on our stage. They were a great credit to you and their families.

The gala last night was one of the most emotional and awe inspiring performances we have ever seen here at the Victoria Palace. It is hard to describe the talent (both of the performers and their individual creative teams), passion and heart you all brought to the story. Stephen Daldry was incredibly humbled and impressed and Lee Hall almost too emotional to speak. It has been the talk of the building today, our 4 London Billys (Ollie Gardner, Rhys Yeomans, Dean-Charles Chapman & Aaron Watson) have literally not stopped talking about the show, I think that their spontaneous standing ovation at the end of Electricity summed up the evening. But the moment that we will all remember forever was the special finale, hearing 390 voices singing Electricity was truly breathtaking.

Finally I want to congratulate you all on what you achieved, you really did make history last night.

We always think of Billy Elliot as a big family and we couldn’t be more proud that you are all now a part of that family.

With very best wishes,

David Massey - Company Manager `Billy Elliot`

I couldn’t find you to say hello yesterday evening and am therefore
writing.

Dee and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole evening, and loved your students’
performances. It really was a fantastic show, and hung together very
well as a show despite the huge number of performers. The energy levels
were really quite astonishing.

I was very pleased that Stephen Daldry specifically said that we all
have to be grateful to you for putting Jamie Bell forward, and that
‘Billy’ might never have been so successful had you not done so. I
agree!

Please would you pass on my congratulations to everyone involved at your
end - and my thanks for such an enjoyable performance.

David Sprigg (Managing Director of Stagecoach Theatre Arts)

IT WAS MY VIEW THAT STEPHEN DALDRY`S REMARKS WERE OVER-GENEROUS BUT IMMENSELY TOUCHING - I WAS A SNIVVELING WRECK IN THE CORNER AFTERWARDS

On behalf of the entire Billy London team, thank you so much for your amazing contribution to BYT. We know how much hard work and commitment went into your performances, and actually getting your groups to London, and we thank you for everything you did to make Sunday night the amazing night it was! Everyone here is still buzzing about it, and we really hope you are as well.

Your groups were fantastic, so well behaved and patient, and responded brilliantly to our Resident team.

Donna Munday (Director of Theatre Production - Billy Elliot and Working Title)

I just wanted to congratulate you all for the performance on Sunday, a spectacular spectacle, you and your companies should be immensely proud. No mean feat on the part of Nick, Lee, Damian and Chris from Billy Elliot, Working Title and staff at Victoria Palace Theatre either.

Well done and very best wishes

Helen (from Cactus Productions who administered the BYT scheme and managed to get the tickets for those parents who did not have any.)

Dear Participants,

Firstly, I hope life is getting back to some kind of normality after the adventures of the BYT Gala. Our team were in at 10am on Monday getting ready to put on 3 new principal children - so definitely a case of “no rest for the wicked” (we must have been terribly, terribly wicked)!!!

As the dust finally settles on the inaugural BYT project, I had to take the opportunity to thank you one more time, on behalf of myself and all the creative team, for the remarkable talent, energy and passion you brought to the Victoria Palace Stage on Sunday. Not once did we encounter anything less than 100 percent commitment from every single person, and it allowed the performance to reach levels of detail and polish that we really had no “right” to achieve. When you work in professional theatre, you are constantly working to create an atmosphere of dedication and creativity. Faced with so many talented and hard-working young people - from ballet girls to rioting miners (!) - we couldn’t fail to make something special happen.

Indeed, on watching Monday night’s Billy Elliot show, I am utterly sure that actors, production team and our Billys, Debbies and Michaels were even more energised and inspired than usual - something to do with what you lot shared with them on Sunday I suspect!!!

2 special thanks. The first to the Billy from each group. I am very aware that I was throwing new ideas, blocking and direction at you at the rate of 100 miles an hour, in order to make transitions work. I was utterly impressed with the openness and positivity with which you listened, responded to, and repeated the ideas thrown at you. It was this as much as anything that made the piece a coherent show, and I hope you are proud of what you achieved. You, like every other young person on that stage, demonstrated maturity and professionalism way beyond what we expected.

The second thankyou goes to every Director, Choreographer, MD, teacher, chaperone, stage manager, rehearsal pianist, costume maker, parent, etc, etc, etc who worked so hard to produce such clever, intelligent work. As I said after the dress rehearsal, it was really humbling to us, to see just what is going on in drama classrooms, school halls and dance studios in every corner of Britain. I certainly learned a great deal from you, and hope you feel justly proud of the quality work and (more importantly) lovely young people you are encouraging. Many, many, many children have, I feel already found “their Mrs. Wilkinsons”.

Good luck in where you go now - for some of you it will be “Grease” for others it may be huge Shakespearian epics. It doesn’t matter. As long as the work is done with the warmth, passion and integrity that all of you so obviously bring to what you do.

“There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in”.

Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory.

With thanks, respect, and best wishes for future projects,

Nick Evans.

How are you and the team this week. We’ve all been a little bit tired but
what a fantastic weekend. I truly hoped you had a wonderful time.
Please thank all your girls and boy for being so fantastic.

Marlaina Darmody (Our backstage captain)