Billy Elliot the Musical Tickets at the Adelphi Theatre
Billy Elliot is back in London for the first time in ten years, at the Adelphi from 12 February 2027 for a strictly limited season. Stephen Daldry directs, as he did the film and the original production, with Elton John's score and four young performers sharing the title role. Below: what seats cost, where to sit for a dance show, and whether to bring a child.
Ages 8 and up
At the Adelphi Theatre, 4 to 5 minutes' walk from Charing CrossBooking to 31 July 2027
Next available
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020 7193 9050 · Monday to Saturday 8am to 8pm, Sunday 10am to 8pm
Help choosing your seat
Who's Billy Elliot the Musical For?
- Families with children of about eight and up. At the heart of it is a boy and his friends getting somewhere, and Billy is played by a boy of about the same age. There are not many big musicals where a child in the audience watches a child do the hard part.
- Anyone who knows the film. Stephen Daldry directed that too, and he is returning to direct this revival of the musical.
- People who want a musical with something behind it. The miners' strike is the setting and the show does not skirt it.
- Anyone who missed it the first time. It has been away from London for ten years.
- Not for you if you want a light night out. There is strong language, a family coming apart, and a strike turning violent, and the show means all of it. Inspirational, yes. Happy, we're not so sure.
What Tickets Cost
Tickets run from £35 to £225, and what you pay tracks how close you are and how central.
Most seats cost between £60 and £110, which covers most of the Stalls and Dress Circle, and some of the better seats in the Upper Circle.
Premium starts at £125 and runs to £225 for the middle of the Stalls. It is a separate tier rather than the top of a range.
What you pay moves with the date as well as the seat, so if you are flexible it is worth comparing a few before you settle. The busiest dates are the school holidays and the Saturdays.
About Billy Elliot the Musical at the Adelphi Theatre
A boy in a County Durham mining town is sent to boxing lessons and finds the ballet class using the same hall. His father and brother are out on strike. That is the engine of it, and the show runs both halves at once.
This is the original production coming back rather than a brand new production. Details of who is in the Cast and Creatives tab.
The run is 12 February to 31 July 2027, a strictly limited season and the first London staging in ten years. The original home was the Victoria Palace, where it opened in 2005, so this is a different and wider room, and the seat advice below is written for this one.
A UK tour runs ahead of London, opening at the Sunderland Empire in November 2026 and playing Manchester and Edinburgh.
What's Billy Elliot the Musical About?
County Durham, 1984. The pits are on strike, the police are on the streets, and eleven-year-old Billy is sent to the boxing gym with his father's last fifty pence. He finds Mrs Wilkinson's ballet class using the other half of the hall and stays.
What follows is a fight on two fronts: Billy against a family that cannot see why a boy would dance, and a town losing the argument it is striking over. The two run alongside each other for the whole show.
Is it a true story? No. Billy and his family are invented. The strike is not: the 1984 to 1985 miners' strike happened, it lasted almost a year, and it ended the way the show says it ends.
The Music
Elton John wrote the score, and the musical exists because of him. He was at the Cannes premiere of the film in 2000 by chance, was so affected that he had to be helped out of the cinema, and it was he who wanted it staged. Stephen Daldry and Lee Hall took some persuading. Hall, who wrote the film, wrote the book and lyrics.
"Electricity" is the one people come for: Billy's answer when he is asked what dancing feels like, and the number the whole show builds towards. "Solidarity" runs the ballet class and the picket line together in a single number and is the clearest thing the show does.
Around them: "The Letter", from the mother Billy has lost, "Expressing Yourself" for Billy and his friend Michael, "Angry Dance", which is the rock number, and "Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher", which tells you how far the show is prepared to go about the strike.
The original production won four Olivier Awards and ten Tonys.
Performance Schedule
Evenings at 7pm, matinees at 2pm.
| Day | Matinee | Evening |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | - | 7pm |
| Tuesday | - | 7pm |
| Wednesday | 2pm most weeks | 7pm |
| Thursday | 2pm some weeks | 7pm |
| Friday | - | 7pm |
| Saturday | 2pm | 7pm |
| Sunday | - | - |
Saturday always has a matinee. The midweek one is usually Wednesday, but on some weeks it moves to Thursday instead. If you want a midweek afternoon, check the date itself; if you want a Saturday afternoon, you can book it without checking.
The run also sits across the dates families actually travel on. It opens in the middle of February half-term and finishes at the end of July, just as the summer holidays start, with Easter and the May break in between. Those weeks fill first on a show like this, and the Saturday matinees go before anything else.
Best Seats for Billy Elliot the Musical
Our Adelphi Theatre guide sends most people to the Stalls, and for this show that is only half the answer.
This is a musical with some incredible dance numbers, and height helps. You are watching bodies move across a wide stage, in formation, and seeing the shape of it matters more than seeing faces. That makes the Dress Circle a better buy here than for some other shows at the Adelphi.
It is still set a long way back. The Adelphi's Dress Circle sits further from the stage than most, and that has not changed. It is better for this show than for a straight play; it is not suddenly the best seat in the building.
The centre of the Stalls, rows C to L, is still the pick if you want one seat to book without thinking about it. Close enough to see the dancing properly, far enough back to take in a full number.
Sitting close is not as bad here as you might expect. The Adelphi's stage is high and the front rows do look up at it, but the show plays big and forward, so rows A and B work better than the usual warning suggests.
Row A is the front row of this production. Some Adelphi shows add a shorter row AA in front of it. This one does not have it, though that could change once the set is in and the production is settled, so check the plan for your date.
Behind row P in the Stalls the Dress Circle overhang starts to cut the top of the stage. On a show with this much happening high and wide, that costs you more than it would on a play.
Call us on 020 7193 9050 and we will tell you what is actually free in those rows on your date.
Cast and Creative Team
Four young performers share the title role: Noah Mannion, Rafferty Smale, Spencer Collins and William Gurney. One plays each performance.
Stephen Daldry directs, having directed both the film and the original production. Peter Darling choreographs. Elton John wrote the music, Lee Hall the book and lyrics.
Annette McLaughlin is Mrs Wilkinson, Deka Walmsley is Dad, Jack Bandeira is Tony and Lesley Joseph is Grandma. Liam Mower plays Older Billy.
Book Your Billy Elliot Tickets
12 February to 31 July 2027, a strictly limited season. All-in pricing, the price you see is what you pay.
Book tickets • Call us on 020 7193 9050
Dates & tickets
FAQs
It is recommended for ages 8 and over. It contains strong language, scenes of domestic conflict and some violence, and a lot of the adult content is the strike itself. At the heart of it is a boy and his friends getting somewhere, which is what children come for. It needs a small amount of parental judgement rather than a warning.
Between 2 hours 30 and 2 hours 45, including an interval of around 15 minutes. That is a guide from its last London run rather than a published figure, and nobody knows exactly until the show is up and running.
Yes, on stage. He joined the West End production at the Victoria Palace in June 2008 as Michael, Billy's best friend, was promoted to the title role that September and played Billy until 2010. He was not in the film, which was Jamie Bell in 2000, and he did not do it on Broadway. He is not in this production.
Four young performers share it: Noah Mannion, Rafferty Smale, Spencer Collins and William Gurney. One plays each performance and you cannot choose which.
Yes, the whole score. Lee Hall, who wrote the film, wrote the book and lyrics.
No. Billy and his family are invented. The 1984 to 1985 miners' strike behind them is real.
No. Performances run Monday to Saturday, evenings at 7pm and matinees at 2pm.
Usually it works out that way. Saturdays and school holidays go first on a family show, so the cheaper seats on those dates are gone earlier and what is left sits higher up the range. Midweek dates keep their cheaper seats for longer. If a Saturday is the only day that works, book it well ahead.
No. Under-4s are not admitted at all, and every child needs their own ticket and seat and has to be able to sit unaided.
The Adelphi Theatre, 409-412 Strand, London WC2R 0NS. Charing Cross is four to five minutes on foot.
Twenty to twenty-five minutes before the performance. There is a single queue on the Strand for the whole audience with bag checks at the front.
The original creative team is back: Stephen Daldry directing, Peter Darling choreographing, Elton John's score. It last played London ten years ago, at the Victoria Palace rather than here. We expect some minor tweaks, but effectively it's the same show.
Where to Sit for Billy Elliot
The Adelphi holds 1,474 for this production, which is the smallest of its three configurations, because the short front row some shows use is not in.
What you are buying here is dance. Formation, movement across a wide stage, and a boy who has to be seen from the feet up. That is a different purchase from a play, and it changes the level you want.
Stalls
Rows C to L in the centre is the seat to book if you want one answer. Close enough to see footwork, far enough back to see a whole number.
Rows A and B are better than the Adelphi's usual warning suggests. The stage is high and you will look up, but this show plays big and forward rather than intimate.
Row A is the front row for this production, because row AA is not in. That may change once the set is in the building.
From row P back the Dress Circle overhang starts to take the top of the stage, and on a show staged this high and wide it costs more than it would on a play.
More on the level itself in where to sit in the Stalls.
Dress Circle
433 seats, and a better buy for this show than for most things at this address. Height suits choreography, and Billy Elliot is built to be seen whole.
Rows A to C in the centre are the pick. Avoid the front row if you are tall: there is a wall in front of it and the legroom goes with it.
The level sits further back than a Dress Circle usually does, which is the standing caveat at this theatre and still applies. It is 41 steps up and there is no lift.
Upper Circle
405 seats and the cheapest level. The front block works better for this show than for a play, because you are watching shapes rather than expressions.
The back of the level is a long way up and back. 71 steps, no lift.
Boxes
Four, two seats each, at the side. They buy privacy rather than a view, and on a wide dance stage an angled seat costs you more than it would elsewhere.
Seating plan
Dates & tickets
Booking now
Getting to the Adelphi Theatre
409-412 Strand, London WC2R 0NS. The entrance is on the Strand.
Charing Cross is closest at four to five minutes, on the Northern and Bakerloo lines, and Charing Cross mainline is four minutes. Embankment is five to six and Covent Garden about six. Buses 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 23, 87, 91, 139 and 176 run along the Strand.
Arrive twenty to twenty-five minutes before the performance. One queue on the Strand takes the whole audience, with bag checks at the front, and that takes longer with a family.
Driving is a poor idea. You are inside the Congestion Charge zone at £15 before parking, and the Strand is slow at exactly the wrong hour. Full detail is in our Adelphi Theatre guide.
Access at the Adelphi Theatre
Accessible performances for this production:
- Audio described: Thursday 11 March 2027, 7pm
- Captioned: Tuesday 20 April 2027, 7pm
- BSL signed: Tuesday 6 July 2027, 7pm
No relaxed performance is listed for this run.
Access seats are booked directly with the venue rather than through us. The Adelphi's own team holds the live position.
The Stalls are the only level reachable without stairs, via a ramp and automatic door at the main entrance. There is no lift: the Dress Circle is 41 steps up and the Upper Circle 71. Three wheelchair spaces sit in the Stalls at the ends of rows L, M and O.
Address
409-412 Strand, London WC2R 0NS
Nearest Tube
Charing Cross (4-5 min walk)
The Four Billys
Noah Mannion, Rafferty Smale, Spencer Collins and William Gurney share the title role. One plays each performance, the theatre does not publish which in advance, and you cannot request a particular boy.
That is how the part has always been cast. It is physically beyond one child eight times a week: Billy is on stage almost throughout, dances most of it, and the role takes months of training before a boy goes on.
The Creative Team
Stephen Daldry directs. He directed the 2000 film and the original stage production, so the show returns with the person who made it rather than a new interpretation of it.
Peter Darling choreographs, as he did originally. Elton John wrote the score and Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay, wrote the book and lyrics.
Design is by Ian MacNeil (set), Nicky Gillibrand (costume), Rick Fisher (lighting) and Paul Arditti (sound).
The Adult Company
Annette McLaughlin plays Mrs Wilkinson, the part she had on the last UK and Ireland tour. Deka Walmsley is Dad, a part he has played in the West End before. Jack Bandeira is Tony, Billy's older brother, and Lesley Joseph is Grandma. Liam Mower plays Older Billy.
Billy Elliot the Musical: What the Critics Say
Previews start on 12 February 2027 and press night is 23 February. It has not been reviewed.
When the reviews land we will summarise them here, and what the critics said will carry them in full.
The show itself is not new: it ran in London from 2005 and has played on five continents since. Those are the original production's notices rather than this one's, and we will not present them as though a company that has not opened has been reviewed.
Gallery
Billy Elliot the Musical
Adelphi Theatre