Emily Skinner Headed Back to Broadway in Billy Elliot

Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner will return to Broadway on October 2 in Billy Elliot, assuming the role of chain-smoking dance teacher Mrs. Wilkinson. Skinner, who currently plays the part in the show's first national tour will replace Kate Hennig. Hennig plays her final Broadway performance on October 1 before returning to her hometown of Toronto to launch the Canadian engagement of the show, which begins performances at the Canon Theatre on January 28, 2011.

Skinner is best known for her Tony Award-nominated turn (with Alice Ripley) in the original Broadway production of Side Show. Additional credits include Jekyll & Hyde, James Joyce’s The Dead, The Full Monty and Dinner at Eight. Off-Broadway, she has appeared in the concert presentation of Jerry Springer the Opera, No Strings, Pardon My English, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Broadway Bash. Film work includes voices for Anastasia, as well as roles in The Adulterer and Ten Stories Tall.

The actress joins a cast that features Peter Mazurowski, Jacob Clemente, Alex Ko and Dayton Tavares as Billy, Neil McCaffrey and Gabriel Rush as Michael, Gregory Jbara as Dad, Carole Shelley as Grandma, Jeff Kready as Tony, Stephanie Kurtzuba as Mum, Joel Hatch as George,Thommie Retter as Mr. Braithwaite, Georgi James as Debbie and Seth Fromowitz and Alex Dreier as Small Boy.

Set against the historic British miners' strike of the 1980s, Billy Elliot follows Billy's journey as a boy in a small mining town who, after stumbling across a ballet class while on his way to a boxing lesson, realizes that his future lay not in the boxing ring but on stage as a dancer. Featuring music by Elton John, book and lyrics by Lee Hall, choreography by Peter Darling and direction by Stephen Daldry, the show won 10 Tony Awards in 2009, including Best Musical.