Kelowna Actors Studio presents the international smash-hit musical Billy Elliot with music by Elton John at the Kelowna Community Theatre, Thursday, July 27 to Sunday, July 30 & Wednesday, August 2 to Saturday, August 5, 2017. Shows at 7:30 p.m. with a Saturday matinee at 1:00 p.m. with one exception – on August 5th, they will begin their evening performance at 7 p.m. so that patrons will be out in time to enjoy the BC Day Fireworks being presented down town that evening. 

Photo Credit: Contributed 

Heralded as “A triumph! The #1 show of the year!" by Time Magazine and “Thrilling! Impossible to resist!" by The New York Times, Billy Elliot follows a young boy as he trades in his boxing gloves for dancing shoes. In an unforgettable story set in a small mining town in the English countryside, a dance teacher finds a diamond in the rough when she discovers Billy—a young boy with a passion for dance who inspires the entire community. The musical phenomenon is set to an explosive score by Elton John, celebrating Billy’s journey against the odds to make his dreams come true.

The production is directed by multiple award winner Randy Leslie (The Great Gatsby, Chicago, Mary Poppins), with resident Musical Director Roslyn Frantz and choreographer Jennifer Davies.

After an extensive search, Kelowna Actors Studio is pleased to announce that the title role of “Billy” will be played by Jonathan Fraser-Monroe.  “Jonathan is truly a triple threat with incredible talent. Jonathan has worked for months, honing skills in ballet, acrobatics, and tap (not to mention the acting and vocal lessons)”, states Leslie.

Jonathan Fraser-Monroe is a grade seven student in the Late French Immersion Program at Harwood Elementary School.  He has been dancing since the age of three, first with the Zirka Ukrainian Dancers and now also dancing with Accentz Dance Studio.  He studies ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, modern, musical theatre, hip-hop, Ukrainian dance (Zirka), and more.  Jonathan was honoured to represent the Kelowna Festival of Dance as the delegate to the BC Festival of Performing Arts for Junior Stage Dance in May 2015 and represented Penticton in Junior Ballet in 2016.  This year he represented Kelowna as the Junior Stage delegate in 2017. He was invited back by The Canadian School of Ballet to perform the role of Fritz in The Nutcracker for a third time and also danced the role of lead chef and menacing rat.  He is also an avid soccer player.  The Royal Winnipeg Ballet offered Jonathan an entrance scholarship to join their professional training division in 2015.  He also studies piano with Travis Saunders.

 Photo credit: contributed

Kurt Werner plays Older Billy as well as being a member of the adult ensemble. Originally from Brampton, Ontario, Kurt has been a dancer with Ballet Kelowna since the summer of 2012. Prior to his move, he studied with several of Canada's top professional ballet schools including Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, where he graduated from their Ballet Academic Program in 2011.

During his five years with Ballet Kelowna, Kurt has performed in numerous mixed repertoire programs locally in the Okanagan Region and throughout British Columbia and Alberta. Additionally, Kurt has been featured as The Cavalier, Nutcracker Prince, Snow King and Arabian Man in the local production of The Nutcracker staged by Canadian School of Ballet.

Karlisa Hiebert stars as “Mrs. Wilksinson”.  Karlisa was Eponine on the Canadian National Tour of Les Miserables as well as playing roles here at Kelowna Actors Studio including Rachel Lynde in Anne of Green Gables and Fantine in Les Miserables.

Desmond Parenteau appears as “Dad”. Desmond is a businessman by day and actor by night. Hailing from Edmonton, he is no stranger to the theatre and film industry having performed in dozens of productions over the years.

Susan Skinner appears as  “Grandma” (Miss Andrew; Mary Poppins) and Tiernan Lafleur-Johnson (Nick Carraway; The Great Gatsby) as “Tony”.

The cast also features Caden Hergott as “Michael”, Gracie Field as “Debbie Wilkinson,” Mark Sorestad as “George”,  Andrew De Pieri as Big Davey, Delphine Litke as “Mum” and Kirk Holland as “Mr. Braithwaite”

Warning: Adult Language

Tickets are available by calling Kelowna Tickets at 250-862-2867 or visiting them in Orchard Park Shopping Centre. Tickets are also available on line at www.KelownaActorsStudio.com