Billy Elliott to Close on Broadway in January

The hit musical Billy Elliot is to close in New York on 8th January, three years after it began its Broadway run. With music written by Sir Elton John the production has been seen by an estimated 1.65 million people in New York and won 10 Tony Awards in 2009.

The musical proved an early success on Broadway regaining its initial £11.6m outlay after a year and it regularly turned over weekly box office receipts of around £647,425. But in recent weeks the audience has been at around 70%, with discounted tickets cutting box office potential to around 50%.

Variety said that the show's young and constantly rotating cast had created a sustained expense, which it described as "an unusual cost for a Broadway show to bear". They also said that some people in the theatre industry have speculated that Billy Elliot's setting in 1980s England beset with industrial strife had prevented it from becoming a long-running hit in the US.

Its US tour is due to continue, and Billy Elliott is still running in London’s West End at the Victoria Palace where is it currently booking to 8th December 2012.