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This boy's life: choreographer Peter Darling tells Billy Elliot's story on Broadway.

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Peter Darling puts on a pair of red leather boxing gloves and spars with himself in the mirror of a dance studio above Times Square. He looks more like an athlete--a boxer even--than a dancer. But this month, it's Darling's choreography that packs a punch on Broadway.

Billy Elliot tells the story of an 11year-old English boy who wants to be a ballet dancer. He fights his family's expectations--and society's--to prove his worth onstage. As he struggles, his family becomes caught up in Britain's 1980s miners strike. First a popular movie, Billy Elliot opened as a musical on London's West End in 2005, directed by Stephen Daldry with music by Elton John and book and lyrics by Lee Hall. It was a smash hit. In 2007 an Australian production opened. Now Darling--who choreographed the movie and the stage versions--hopes for a Broadway knockout.

You've got to surprise your opponent in boxing to keep them on their toes. When moving a beloved British musical across the Atlantic, the same applies. Audiences here will see some moves that aren't in the other productions when the show opens this month.

Haydn Gwynne, who plays the brassy ballet teacher...

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