Contra Costa Musical Theatre (CCMT) in Walnut Creek, CA, will present a regional production of Billy Elliot the Musical (BETM) from October 13 to November 11, 2017 at the Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center for the Arts.
CCMT is a community-based non profit organization that was founded in August 1961 with the express purpose of producing Broadway musicals. In that first season two such shows were produced – Anything Goes and The Student Prince. Throughout CCMT’s history they have performed on various different stages in the area. When the Lesher Center for the Arts opened in 1990, they finally found their permanent home. Since then, all their productions have been presented on the biggest of the Lesher Center’s three stages – the 785-seat Hofmann Theatre.
The 2017-18 season at CCMT consists of two big Broadway shows – West Side Story and Billy Elliot the Musical.
CCMT began casting for BETM in the summer of 2017, assembling a cast of mostly local actors, some of whom also performed in the production of BETM in Berkeley, CA, earlier this year. However, for the role of Billy, they had to throw their casting much wider – all the way to Virginia in fact. They cast an experienced Billy in the role, Braden King, who had already portrayed the title character previously in two other regional productions. Braden’s involvement in the CCMT production has been made possible by a generous grant from the Diablo Regional Arts Association (DDRA). DDRA is the non-profit partner of the Lesher Center for the Arts, with a mission “to invest in artistic excellence and create avenues so that everyone can experience the drama, pageantry and thrill of the arts”.
Rehearsals began at the end of August, beginning with a sing-through and some dialect coaching. Over the next few weeks the cast continued to rehearse and, on the 17th of September, Braden finally joined them. With all his prior experience, he didn’t need to be there for the initial rehearsals. By the beginning of October, the cast was ready to start full run-throughs in preparation for the show opening on 13th October.
Here is the official trailer for the CCMT production:
vimeo.com/238135217
Credit: Video by Minimum Wage Entertainment
To learn more about Braden, click on the Billy Profiles button (below) to be taken to his detailed profile.
To see a complete listing of the rest of the Contra Costa Musical Theatre cast, just click on the Cast Information button.
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