From Ballet To Acrobatics, These Billys Have What It Takes

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday May 21, 2007

Valerie Lawson

ONE THOUSAND contenders, six months of searching, five major auditions, one Billy bootcamp workshop, and now four very excited boys are ready to share the spotlight.

Stephen Daldry, director of the musical Billy Elliot, and the film that inspired it, yesterday revealed the quartet of Billys who will share the role when the musical comes to Sydney in December.

One of the Billys, Nick Twiney, 14, seemed to speak for all the boys when he said he was "a little bit nervous" about holding together a show that calls for intense stamina and what Daldry called "the X factor, that star quality that carries the show".

Nick, of Sydney, Lochlan Denholm and Rarmian Newton, both 13 and from Melbourne, and Rhys Kosakowski, 12, of Newcastle, will play the role, with Daldry yet to name the one who will appear at the Capitol Theatre on opening night.

Does he know yet?

"No, I changed my mind the day before the opening night [two years ago] in London," he said yesterday.

The four-hankie story of how Billy turns from boxing to ballet and, against all the odds, successfully auditions for the Royal Ballet School was a hit because "the kid is a talisman", said Daldry, a "magical child" who unites a family falling apart from grief and a community falling apart from the strains of the miners' strikes of the 1980s.

"The demands on the kids in the show are 10-fold what Jamie Bell did in the film."

They must be "good enough at ballet to plausibly get into the Royal Ballet School, tap to an international standard, have an intuitive and emotional relationship with contemporary dance, and be able to do acrobatics to championship level".

Two of the boys' parents have a performance background: Rhys's mother, Alison, was a ballet dancer, and Lochlan's father, Andrew, is a musician. But all of them now know the stresses and highs of a show business life.

Sue Twiney recalled the first audition when parents' faces fell as most boys were sent home.

Rarmian's father, Leigh, has an interest in astrology and has been doing his son's charts to see how things stand.

As for Alison, "I did all the dance competitions and all the exams and I know the scene. But I don't know the Billy Elliot scene because it's just overwhelming."

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home