Billy Elliot composer Elton John recently met up at London's Victoria Palace Theatre with 'Billy Elliot's' from the current London and future Australian productions of Billy Elliot.

Lochlan Denholm (from Melbourne), Rhys Kosakowski (Newcastle), Rarmian Newton (Melbourne) and Nick Twiney (Sydney) will share the title role in the Australian Billy Elliot, which will play its first public performance at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney on November 13, 2007. Opening night is set for December 13, 2007.

Billy Elliot the Musical, which features book and lyrics by Lee Hall, music by Elton John and direction by Stephen Daldry, opened in London in May 2005, where it received glowing reviews, broke UK box office records, and still plays to capacity houses at the Victoria Palace Theatre. The creative team behind the Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated film Billy Elliot, including Hall, Daldry, and choreographer Peter Darling, all worked on adapting the film for the stage. In London, the musical stars Colin Bates, Leon Cooke, Matthew Koon and Travis Yates.

Elton knew the names of the British boys sharing the title role in the London version of Billy Elliot, the Musical. But when he walked on to the stage on May 29, 2007 and met four more Billys – all from Australia – his memory for names was really put to the test. "Hi, howyadoin?' " Sir Elton asked the young Aussies. "Good," came the uncharacteristically shy reply.

Melbourne's Lochlan Denholm, 13, – one of four Australian teens to star in the Sydney production of the musical based on the film – later described the meeting as a "bit weird". "Elton was, like, talking to us and we were just listening," he said. "We gave him a boomerang," added Rarmian Newton, also from Melbourne. "He seemed to like that."

"The English Billys all told us we should look forward to each show and have a good time," Lochlan said before joining the other Australians in watching the show. "I'm going to remember that."

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