Stage Write

  This fall Indy’s Broadway Across America season opens with a Tony-award-winning smash Billy Elliot.   Caught up in the midst of a miners’ strike in the 1980s, Billy Elliot watches as his father and brother struggle to stay calm as their union looses power. Billy has recently lost his mom and it’s not until he unexpectedly finds himself in the midst of a ballet class that he finds a place where he can shine.   The brassy ballet instructor, played by Janet Dickinson, and her strange group of misfit students provide a strange new home for Billy. He soon finds that he must choose between pursuing his dreams and following in his father’s footsteps.   The lead role is played by multiple boys in each touring show. The performance I saw in Louisville featured Ty Forhan as Billy. He is an incredibly gifted dancer. His Grandma, played by Patti Perkins, is a pip and the Dad (Rich Herbert) provides just the right balance of machismo and fatherly love. The rest of the cast embraces the thic